Chapter 3
An Awkward Position
I woke up in my room as the beeping of my alarm clock went off. I looked around and realized I was up-side down. My back hung over the side of my bed and the blankets weren't around my body. I used my arms to push myself up off of the floor. When my whole body was on the bed I stretched out my limbs… I felt something kick me in my ribs. I jumped out of the bed, falling in the process. I grabbed my chest. I looked over the top of my bed from the floor. I stood up to see what had scared me. Craig's body was sprawled out across my bed. I lightly kicked him in the leg,
"Craig, get up." I kicked him a few more times, but he just lay there and did not move. When he did not respond, I decided to tickle him. I grabbed his sides and moved my cold fingers all over the sides of his body. A small smile grew on his face when I did. I laughed; he could always contain his laugher, but he could not do the same with his facial expression. I picked up one of my pillows and threw it at his face.
"Ugh, Myra what the hell do you want," he grumbled out the words. His hands flashed up to cover his eyes as I turned on the light in my room. When his eye adjusted he threw the pillow right back at my head. The pillow split open a little bit and a bunch of feather flew around the room, because I wasn't quick enough to dodge the pillow.
"You know very well that you have to get up and get ready for school." He let out a groan, and I tapped my foot against the wooden floor. "Come on Craig, you're not the only one here that needs to get ready for school." He smiled up at me.
"You can change, I don't mind." I laughed at his expression.
"No way you perv, now get up and get out." He stayed there on my bed and scrunched up his face.
"But mommy my tummy really hurts." I laughed as he held his hands to his stomach and doubled over on my bed.
"Awe my poor baby." I made a sympathetic face, and he laughed. "Now get your lazy ass up and get out of my room." I pulled the blankets off the bed.
"Do I really have to?" He crouched over and smiled.
"Yeah you really do," I pulled him up and kicked his butt out of my room. I shut the door and walked over to my closet.
I got dressed, picking what ever I could find, which were my oversized brown cargo pants with my white off the shoulder shirt. I grabbed my brown hat off my desk and walked out of my room. I walked a few doors down the hall to Craig's bedroom. "Hey Craig," I said as I knocked on the door. "You ready yet?" He opened the door.
"Yep," He smiled as he hopped out of his room. We walked down the staircase and into the living room. We walked over towards the kitchen.
"Good morning." Craig's mother said as we entered the room loudly. I pushed Craig out of the way, and he shoved back. I laugh when I shoved Craig into the corner of the door frame.
"Ha that's what you get for messing with me." I stuck my tongue out at him. He made a face and we stumbled over to his mom on the other side of the kitchen.
"Good morning." I said as she handed us each a warm biscuit with butter spread on top.
"Good morning you two." She smiled at the both of us. "I still can't believe that you two never ended up going out with each other." As much as I love Mrs. Adams, she just always seemed to make a lot of things very awkward.
As long as I've know Craig's family, Mrs. Adams always wanted Craig and I to get together, but some of that hope partly fell apart when Craig became bi and started going out with Blake. Besides I grew up with Craig and I consider him a brother.
"Well we'll see you after school." Craig and I gave his mother a huge.
"Bye mom," Craig and I said in unison while grabbing our messenger bags and walking out the back door. We walked down the patio stairs and on the walk way on the side of the house.
"So what do you want to do after school," Craig asked as we walked over to the sidewalk in front of my house.
"I don't know whatever you want to do. It's not like I really have anything planned."
"Yeah this town is just so boring like that. I would go to the mall if it wasn't 2 1/2 hours away. "Craig and I walked down the street kicking stones as we did. We walked up to the corner where we usually met Blake every morning to walk to school.
"Hey Blake," I said as we approached him.
"Hey," Blake said, as we got closer to him. He looked at Craig and smiled a happy and relieved smile at him.
"Hey Blake," He walked up to Blake and wrapped his arms around him while giving him a kiss. Craig winced a little as Blake wrapped his hands around the back of Craig's neck. Craig gently grabbed Blake's hands in his. He held their hands in between their bodies.
Craig looked up at Blake and gave a weak smile. Blake looked down at Craig's neck. He saw the dark noticeable blue and purple bruises that Craig's father had given him last night. The hand marks were as clear as day and they looked really bad.
"I knew I never should have left you there alone with him last night. I mean just look at what he has done to you now." Blake lightly touched the bruises and traced over the scrapes. "I cannot stand to see you hurt baby." A frown appeared on Blake's face.
"I am fine Blake, really I am."
"You don't look like it," Blake said in a sad voice. Blake looked down into Craig's hazel eyes.
"Really I am, now lets go or we're going to be late for school." Craig wrapped his arms around Blake's waist.
"Craig what are you doing? I thought you didn't want the school to know about you and Blake." I walked up right beside him.
"Myra, I only wanted to keep it a secret so that my dad wouldn't hear about it, but now since he knows, there is really no point of keeping Blake and I a secret anymore." A giant smile grew across Blake's face. Blake slung his arm around Craig's shoulders
I knew how hard it was for Blake not to act like Craig's boyfriend during school. It drove him insane not being able to kiss him in public, but now he looked so happy, and seeing them both happy really makes me happy too.
"Yeah I guess I see your point," we both laughed.
"Now all we have to do is find you a man. " Craig and Blake smiled at each other.
"Guys I'm fine being single. I don't need to a guy to make me happy. "
"Yeah, but if you had a boyfriend then we can all go on a double date. " Before I could reply Blake's face brightened in a sudden stroke of genius.
"Blake, I don't want to know what your crazy mind is thinking." Blake whispered something into Craig's ear. Craig nodded and turned to face me.
"Myra how to you feel about going on a blind double date?" Craig smiled down at me.
"No way," I said to both of them.
"Aw come on Myra," both Craig and Blake said in unison. Craig made his big puppy eyes, while Blake pouted.
"Ugh fine, you guys win." They gave each other high fives.
"We got the perfect guy," said Blake.
-;- *** -;-
We arrived at the school in no time at all. I saw Mr. James' car in the parking lot at the school. A bright gleaming smile spread across my face.
"Why are you so happy all of a sudden Myra?" Blake looked at my smiling face with a questioning look.
Why am I so happy? I've never been this happy about anything.
'It's because you're a crazy, creepy stalker.'
Oh great it's you again. Can't you just leave me alone?
'Nope, I'm just going to keep doing this to you.'
Ugh, but why?
''Cause I know it bugs the hell out of you. Besides I'm only saying the truth.'
You, you say the truth. That's hard to believe.
'Are you calling me a liar?'
Oh no, I would never call anyone such a thing.
'Well I hope you know that if you're calling me a liar then you're calling yourself a liar. Creepy stalker!'
"Shut up and go away," damn did I just say that out loud.
'Yes you did smart one.'
I looked over at Blake and Craig. They were both looking at me like I was going crazy.
"What'd you say Myra?" Blake asked as we all stopped.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all," I looked back to Mr. James car; I just couldn't wait to see his gorgeous face.
As I became happier, my head began to pound a little. My head still hurt form when Mr. James accidentally hit me with the door. Craig, Blake and I walked into the hallway inside the school. Craig and I said our goodbyes to Blake, as we went our separate way to our classroom. Craig and I walked to the door of Mr. James' classroom. I was about to open the door but someone was faster and beat me to the punch.
I took a step back from the door so that I would not by hit by it again. I leaned over a little to see who had opened the door, and I was happy to see who it was.
"Bonjour Mr. James," I smiled as he turned around the edge of the door to get look at who said his name. His shaggy black hair slightly covered over his eyes.
"Ciao Myra," a gleaming smile spread across his face. I could feel my heart pound uncontrollably in my chest.
I quickly walked to my desk and sat down as the bell rung. Mr. James closed the classroom door and started his lesson for the day. He started to read act 2 scene 2 from Romeo and Juliet. I stared at him not really paying any attention to the words that were coming out of his mouth. It was easily done since I knew Romeo and Juliet by heart. I took in all of his gorgeous features.
"'What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,'" Mr. James was looking at me as he said this line and I could feel my face starting to glow red.
"Does anyone want to take a guess at what Juliet means when she says this line about Romeo in the play?" He looked around the room to see if anyone had there hand raised. I looked at the class and the only one who had there had raise was Irene. "Umm, yes Irene. What do you think she means by this line?"
"Well she means that she loves Romeo and compares him to how much she loves roses." Irene had a huge idiotic smile on her face. Man is she an idiot. She got part of it right, but that is not what Juliet means when she is saying this line. I smiled and raised my hand. This was the prefect chance to humiliate her.
"Umm that's not quite the idea that Shakespeare had when he wrote the play, but good try. Everyone this is a good example on how words mean different things to different people." Mr. James looked at me and my raised hand.
"Yes Myra, would you like to take a shot at it?"
"Yes, I would. I think what Juliet is talking about is language and saying that what really matters is what a person is, not what groups he belongs to. That words don't mean much... you can still smell a rose and appreciate its beauty even if you called a particular rose a weed instead. The line is just after Juliet finds out that Romeo belongs to the group that she has hated all her life. She's already head over heels in love with him, and realizes that no matter what group he belongs to, in this case his family, she still loves him for who he is. That's the point that Shakespeare was trying to get across." Mr. James started clapping.
"That was a very good explanation Myra." I smiled and looked over to Irene who was glaring at me. All I did was sweetly smile back.
While Mr. James was reading the book out loud he would sneak a glance at me from the corner of his eye every once in a while. Every time he did, my eyes would sink deeply into his and it felt like at any moment I would just disappear in them. The bright blue orbs drew me in. Everything about him was so inviting. When he smiled at me I just couldn't help but smile back at him, and every time he did smile at me I would savored it. Making them last until the next one that came.
"Myra…Myra," I heard Mr. James' voice. I snapped out of my hypnotic trance and focused my eyes.
"Uh what?" I looked up at Mr. James' face. "What did you say?"
"Do you know the answer to the question that I just said?" He looked down at me disappointedly.
"Umm, what was the question again?" He sighed and looked back towards the class.
"See everyone; this is why you must always pay attention in your classes. You never know when another teacher or I is going to call on you for an answer to a question." He wasn't just directing the speech to me; he was directing the speech towards the entire class. But he was using me as an example. I didn't really like the fact that he was using me as the example though.
I could feel the heat rush under my checks from embarrassment, but before Mr. James could embarrass me any farther the bell rung. A quick rush of relief swept though my body. I grabbed my messenger bag from off the floor and got up out of my desk.
"Myra, please do try and pay attention in class. I know I can be a little boring, but you still have to get a good grade in the class. I don't want to see any of my students fail." He thought I thought he was boring? He was far from boring. It's just that how can I focus on his words when I'm too busy focusing on his face. I've never been very good at multi-tasking.
"I know and I am very sorry. I'll try harder," he smiled and I left the room. Craig was waiting for me right outside of the classroom door.
"So what did he want to talk to you about?" Craig slouched off the wall.
"He was just telling me that I needed to pay attention in class, and that he didn't want to see me fail his class."
"Oh okay." We walked to the end of the hall and I went down the left hall while Craig went down the right. It really sucked that I only had one class with Craig, and it sucked even more that it was first period.
I walked into my 2nd hour and sat down at my seat in the back of the classroom. Ms. McCormick started her lesson plan for the day. I sat through half of her lecture before asking to go to the nurse.
I got up out of my desk and walked up to her desk in the front. She wrote me a pass and I walked out of the classroom. I walked down the long hallway that leads to the staircase. This time I walked in the middle of the hall so I wouldn't get hit by any more doors.
"Hey Myra," I turned around to a familiar French accented voice.
"Oh, hi Mr. James," I stopped in the hallway so he could catch up to me.
"So what are you doing out of class? Trying to get out of a lesson or lecture?" He laughed a little and I laughed alone with him.
"Oh no I would never do such a thing. My head just hurts a little so I'm just going down to the nurse to get some pain killers." His face fell.
"I truly am sorry for hitting you with the door." I put my hand on his shoulder, but I quickly removed it. If someone saw that they would get the wrong impression.
"It's not your fault. I should have been watching where I was going." His face brightened up a little.
"Well hey do you mind if I walk with you I have to go down that way anyway."
"Sure." We walked down the stairway in silence. His body was so close to mine. We went down the hallway to the staircase. We had already walked down two flights of stairs before I decided to say something.
"So Mr. James, why did you decide to teach here? Or better yet, why did you decide to move here?"
"Well you might not have known this, but I grew up here."
"You did?"
"Yeah. I used to live over by the cliffs when I was little, and now I live there again."
"Why did you decide to come back?"
He smiled, "Well after my dad died, I was left with the house. A few weeks before school started I thought what was the point of having the house if I wasn't using it. I found out a little later that this school needed a new teacher. So I moved back."
"So everything pretty much just worked out in your favor."
"Pretty much," he shrugged his shoulders. We walked down another flight of stairs and turned to go down the next one, but Mr. James stopped me in the corner. His body was very close to mine. I took a small step backwards and I felt my back hit the brick wall behind.
Mr. James placed his right hand up against the wall stopping me from being able to go down the staircase. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but I was so nervous at the point 'cause he wasn't talking at all. I stared up into his bright blue eyes and couldn't help but get lost in them.
He leaned in closer to me. My heart beat quickened, and my eyes went wide. Could this be it? Was he really about to do what I thought he was about to do. I panicked as his lingering lips became only inches from mine. My eyes shifted back and forth from his eyes to his lips.
"Umm, Mr. James w-what are you doing?" My voice was shaky from the adrenaline rushing through my veins. He simply smiled and moved his left hand up to my hair. His fingers lingered on my hair for a slight moment before his hand pulled something out. I looked up to see what he had pulled out of my hair.
"Sorry but I noticed that you had a feather in your hair." He showed me the feather and pushed himself off the wall. He started to walk again towards the stairs and I followed. "So how old are you Myra?"
"I'm turning 18 in a month." My voice was still a little unsteady from the close encounter. He nodded his head like he was contemplating something. We continued to walk down the stairs.
We walked in silence the rest of the way to the nurse's office. When we got there, he took the doorknob in his hand and opened the door for me. I said goodbye to Mr. James and walked into the nurse's office while he continued to walk down the hall.
"Hey Myra, feeling any better?" The nurse was busy helping another student that had hurt his ankle. She walked over to the freezer and got the guy an ice pack to hold against his ankle. She looked up at me, waiting for an answer.
"Yeah a little, but my head started to hurt a little bit ago. I was wondering if I could have an aspirin or something." She walked over to the cabinets and pulled out some of my medicine that I brought in the beginning of the school year. She spilled a little bit into her hand then scooped some back into the bottle to make sure I got the right amount.
"Here you go." She handed me a small pill. "Would you like a glass of water to take with the pill?"
"Umm no thanks, I'm good. Bye," I quickly swallowed the pill and walked out of the room. I walked back up the stairs and paused when I got to the corner that Mr. James had me trapped in. My heart beat rushed as I remember how close his lips where to mine.
Ugh! What am I thinking! I can't be thinking like that. He's a teacher for crying out loud. It's not like he will ever be interested in a student. I'm jail bait for him. He would never risk his whole life over a student.
I felt a little dizzy and light headed as I kept thinking about Mr. James. What was he doing to me? I sat down on one of the steps in the stairwell. I took a couple of deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth to calm myself down.
"Hey, are you okay Myra?" I knew the familiar voice in front of me. I looked up to see Craig standing there. His eyes and expression filled with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to sit down and take a little breather." He didn't believe me and I knew it. I could never successfully lie to Craig. He always knew what I was really thinking.
"Are you just going to tell me what's wrong or do I need to badger the problem out of you?" I didn't feel like getting annoyed so I decided to just tell him. After all he was my best friend, no matter what I told him he was going to love me.
"I think I really like Mr. James," He started to chuckle. "Don't laugh at me," I pouted folding my arms over my chest. I got up and started walking away. He grabbed my wrist.
"I'm sorry." He was still laughing as he said it. "Do you really think you're in love with the teacher?"
"Hey I didn't say the L word, I said like. You know how I feel about the L word being thrown around like that. "He rolled his eye like he has heard me say this thousands of times. Which I think I actually have.
It's not like I have a problem with the word love. Or love in general. I just think that people are so careless. People today, my age and younger, just throw that word around, even when they don't mean it.
I mean love is so much more than just saying it. To me it's just how you can never stop thinking about the person. When just seeing their face sends you in a spin. Where nothing else exists when you are with that one person, and it feels like you're in your own little world. It's the can't eat can't sleep feel. That's what love is to me and you never know if you're ever going to find that person.
"Hello," Craig was snapping his fingers in front of my face. "So what do you really think?"
"I don't know what to think. I don't like him like any other teacher and that's for damn sure." He looked at me with a confused expression.
"Well, what ever you do Myra, just don't get caught up in anything to deep. You know I don't want to see you hurt."
"Yeah, yeah I know." I started back up the staircase to my class. The bell rang right when I entered the door. Which I was so happy about. I grabbed my stuff and went to my next class. Class after class all I could think about was Mr. James and that's the way it has been since I met him.
The bell for C lunch rang and my class started to empty out. I slowly got up and walked out the classroom. As I walked out the door I bumped into something hard. I looked up and saw Reed.
"Hey Myra," he smiled down at me and I just grimaced back. I hated this guy, but I used to be such good friends with him until high school. Ever since high school he became your stereotypical jock that you did not want to get involved with. Most of the people, who did, ended up smoke, drinking, or anything else like that. That's why he earned the nickname Weed.
"Get out of my way Reed," instead of moving out of my way he did the complete opposite.
"Hey, hey now. I only want to talk to you. What's a few words between good friends anyways."
"You are no friend of mine."
"Anyways, I'm having a party at my house tonight. Why don't you and the guys come over? It'd be fun to hang out like we used to." I rolled my eyes at him.
"You ask me this question time and time again, and I give you the same answer time and time again. I would think that you would be smart enough to get it through your big fat head by now. The answer will always be no." I walked around him and went to the cafeteria.
I went into one of the lines and just grabbed an apple and milk. I paid for the two things and turned around to go to my table. When I walked up I saw Craig and Blake already. What I also notice was a lot of people staring at them too. I started laughing to myself. Everyone was just so surprised that they were a couple. It was really funny 'cause Blake had pulled Craig onto his lap. Craig's face was beat red.
"Awe, now aren't you two just the cutest little things ever." I smiled at them both as I sat down in my chair.
"Ugh Myra, you know how much I hate it when you do that." Craig always complained when I did that, but I couldn't help it. It was just so much fun and not to mention it was so true.
The last bell finally rang and I walked to my locker and then down to the front of the building to meet Blake, and Craig. For the first time I saw Blake and Craig hand in hand at school. I just wanted to say awe but I knew that would annoy Craig. We walked to the corner and said our goodbyes to Blake as he went his way.
When we got to the house we noticed that there was a car in the front. We got a little closer and saw that it was Craig's, dad's car.
"Fuck!" I said as we got closer to the house and started to hear screaming. We ran the rest of the way to the house and burst threw the door. "What the hell are you doing in my house? Get the fuck out before I call the police!" Craig's dad looked at me. My nostrils flared with rage.
"Those two are coming home with me now. "
"Oh no they are defiantly not. Maybe if you weren't an abusive ass they would, but I don't see you changing any time soon. Now get out of my house." He walked out of the house and left. I walked over to Craig's mom and gave her a hug.
"Come on lets get you up stairs. I'll get a nice bath ready for you."
She nodded her head and made her way up stairs. "How do you do that?"
"What." I made a confused face.
"Act so nice and so much like a mom, when inside you just like the people you comfort. You always help my son and I can't thank you enough for that, but I can't help but think that you deserve to act like the teenager you are."
"Years of practice." I smiled at him and went up stairs to start filling up the bath tub. When it was done filling up I put out a nice clean towel and some other stuff. "Your bath is ready."
"I know you stopped kick boxing at the gym, because you didn't have time to clean, do homework, and everything else."
"Yeah, but I don't mind not doing it."
"I want you to get back into it." I went to interrupt her, but she put her finger to my lips. "No, I don't want to hear any excuses. I'll take care of all the house work and shopping, I just want you to do what you like and act like your age." I smiled and gave her a big grizzle hug.
"Thank you Mrs. Adams," I smiled at her as she smiled back.
"No I really should be thanking you Myra. You're like the daughter I never had." I smiled and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. I was so beat, I got Mrs. Adams' bath ready and then walked down to my room after Mrs. Adams walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
I fell on my bed not bothering to change out of my cloths . I turned on some music to help me fall asleep faster. I looked up at my ceiling and just stared at it. All of the stress and things throughout the day played through my mind. Before I knew it I was already fast asleep.