My ringtone was Girl I Wanna Lay You Down. With Jack Johnson and The Animal Liberation Orchestra. It sounded with them singing, 'I'm smooth and creamy like peanut butter.' Then went into the chorus.
My phone was in my bag, which was at a desk far away and Mr. Grant looked at me curiously. I got it, checking the caller ID, having it be a number I didn't know. I looked back at Mr. Grant as the song continued and he glared at me.
I answered it anyway. "Hello?"
"Is it weird I stole your number?" It was Andy. A smile found me and I turned away.
"It's a bit odd," I laughed quietly. "I'm busy right now, I can't talk." I told him apologetically.
"Oh, well I just called to flirt with you." He said. "I heard my brother has been a jerk."
"Yes."
"I'll knock some sense into him for you."
"Thanks," I smiled.
"Well, can I hit on you later, schoolgirl?"
"Yes, sir."
He hung up with a melodic laugh, making me feel fuzzy and warm in disbelief at how he called. And just to flirt with me.
I turned around, seeing Mr. Grant on his computer typing angrily. He hit one last button and looked up at me. "Are you done?" He growled.
I didn't know what came over me, maybe it was my hunger. "Are you always this angry?"
He furrowed in brows, not expecting that from me, but regained composure. "Don't talk to me like that."
"Well you do."
"I'm your superior, I'm allowed to." He snapped.
My stupid mouth wouldn't shut and I approached him slowly. "Is that what you think?" He was about to speak but I cut him off. "Do you know what a smile is? Do you even know how to act happy?"
His face turned red and I don't know why I would not stop talking. "Why are you always so angry all the time?"
He turned away from me and bounced his pen on his desk. "You're dismissed." He grumbled.
"Why is it me specifically? I don't remember doing anything to make you hate me so much."
"Leave Diana."
I shook my head and stayed there. He was silent, and so was I. I knew he wouldn't give in, so I sighed deeply and gathered my stuff, walking out calmly. In my car I was able to blast my music quite loudly and it was the only thing that relaxed my nerves, allowing me to go home to a house full of men and not look as uptight as I felt.
It wasn't just my brothers this time, there were many of their friends. It seemed like a party and when I shut the front door they all looked at me awkwardly. I didn't sigh out, although I wanted to because I wasn't happy at all about all their presences. Instead I walked up the stairs and into my room and finished my homework.
The music pounded below me and I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep there that night, so I did something that was- once again- out of character.
I called Andy and he was welcoming, very welcoming. I drove over to his apartment with my stuff for the next day and when I got there he had dinner set out. When he opened the door and greeted me I blushed, thinking how it was odd being there again. He was so handsome and happy to see me, it felt wrong. But we both knew nothing would happen, or at least we would try not to let anything happen.
"Hey!" He said kindly when I went in.
"Thanks again for letting me stay." I told him.
"Thanks for coming over. It's been a while since someone other than Toby even bothered."
I smiled at him and we had a friendly dinner together. It was strange, because he was always a gentleman around me.
We watched some movies and fell asleep on each other for a while, but soon after we woke up to go to bed.
He allowed me to take the guest room, the one Toby would stay at when he'd visit. It was a nice night, but when I woke up I knew I had to go to school.
I got ready and walked out to see Andy was already dressed for work. He looked classy, a suit and a tie, and a Rolex to top it all off. I stared at him and suddenly felt lucky he treated me so differently from other people. He caught me looking and smiled, walking over to me. Slowly.
"You look nice." He told me, brushing off my hair from my shoulder.
"You look better." I blurted.
He laughed and shook his head, "No, I just look different." Andy leaned in to give me a soft kiss, one where we said goodbye, because we knew it'd be a while until we'd see each other next.
"Thanks again, Andy." I waved and he waved back kindly.
Then began my day at school.
...
It was a good day, but I knew what was coming after my last class and dreaded it so much.
When it came... It was painful. "I know your secret." Toby said, brushing past me.
"What?" I turned to face him and everyone was already watching us curiously.
"I know you spent the night at my brother's apartment last night."
Gasps erupted throughout Mr. Grant's room and they all looked at me with shock. The girls, with jealousy and with a look saying they idolized me.
"I don't-"
"I went over there, Diana, I caught you two cuddling."
I felt my face heat up and I just said nothing because I didn't want to push things further. "By the way," Toby added, "Can you not tell Andy I came by? I went over this morning to talk to him but all I saw was you two kissing. Anyway, he doesn't like me going over there uninvited."
"You're not denying it?" A girl Amanda said.
I could only shrug hopelessly and plopped onto my seat. "Did you sleep with him again?" Someone asked.
I groaned loudly. "No, I didn't and I'm done answering your stupid questions."
"Wow I didn't know you could be so sassy."
I was done with them all at that point and just wanted to go home. I was tired of being the sudden topic in that godforsaken calculus class room.
Every question that came by, I shot down immediately and finally came class with the most irritable man I knew. "Stop talking." He often snapped when someone whispered to someone else about how confused they were.
I could only watch as he turned his back to right on a Smartboard and stare. When I didn't focus on his stern and tense voice or facial expression I saw a sexy man. He was a toned man and I took the small and secretive time to appreciate his appearance instead of his attitude. His stupid attitude.
When he turned around he caught me staring; I didn't feel embarrassed when he shot me glare, instead I diverted my eyes to his confusing mess of numbers and lines and felt frustrated at how I had no idea what it was about.
He went on with his stupid and annoyed tone and threw class work on our desks for us to fail. It was a packet that took until the end of class to even try to finish the first page. I stayed behind for tutoring and stayed in my desk, trying to understand something about his teaching.
It was too much and I had no idea what I stared at and groaned loudly, rushing a hand through my hair.
"What." Mr. Grant practically sneered.
I stood up and plopped down in the chair that I scooted beside him. The unhappy look on his face made me think how unattractive he was. Or at least how unattractive his attitude was.
"I don't understand anything."
He made a noise at the back of his throat that sounded like an angry growl. Honestly, it scared me a bit.
Mr. Grant looked over the work and began like any other day. His phone rang again while he was in the middle of explaining something to me with a usual grumpy face. Usual, it never changes. It just gets more and more angry.
He looked at it and looked away and to the paper in his hands, ignoring his phone that wouldn't shut up. "Do you understand?" It was more of a demand, like when a mom scolds a child and at the end sternly says, 'Do you understand.'
I didn't answer him and instead took the paper, making him snatch it back. "You're getting bolder everyday, you know." He snarled. "Testing my patience."
I scoffed. "What patience?"
He slammed the paper in front of me loudly and I jumped in surprise. He stood up abruptly and walked to the board with his hand on his hip and his other rubbing his face thoughtfully, then turned around to face me, fuming. He opened his mouth to say something, but his phone went off again.
"Goddammit." He cursed angrily, marching to his phone and answering it rudely.
"Hello." Mr. Grant growled. His eyes widened in fury at a voice and he spun around, away from me. "Stop calling me, Savannah."
A muffled voice came on the other end and he tried walking further away from me. "I'm with a student right now, I don't have time for this."
I watched him closely and saw his eyes flicker to me, then he walked out of the classroom and shut the door. At first I wondered if he had actually left, but then I heard his voice. "...So I could live alone. I didn't call any of you for a reason."
At this point I wondered if the women he was talking to was his sister and I thought over how I would've felt if one of my brothers talked to me like that. Then I wondered if it was me acting like Mr. Grant. No, I wasn't mean. I wasn't cruel. I wasn't unappreciative and livid and sad and lonely. Maybe I was a little lonely, but I was in no way to compare to Mr. Grant's terrible attitude. "Fuck, and stop calling me." He said, sounding angry but also exhausted. I kind of at the time felt bad for him. Why was he so angry all the time? There had to be a reason, and he had to stay after everyday to tutor me, it was just so troublesome. Wouldn't it be easier if I just transferred out of his class?
I would have had to check with him first and he would be angry again and say something about me accusing him of being an awful teacher. Which... He kind of was.
When he came back in, I realized how tired he really looked. He was quiet and searched through his brief case, running his fingers through papers and I could feel the tension coming from him. The phone call made things worse.
"Are you okay?" I found myself asking. He froze for a few seconds, but soon continued looking through his papers.
Asshole.
I ignored the fact that he was terribly mean and continued with my work. I was pretending I was alone in the classroom, relaxed and filled with knowledge. I somehow managed to understand what I was doing and flipped over the last page with ease and soon realized that a shadow appeared over my paper. Mr. Grant stood right behind me, looking over my shoulder at my work. Before I figured out the last problem he took the paper from under me, making me drop my pencil in frustration.
I turned around, suddenly uncomfortably close to him, but that was my fault and I tried inching back a bit. Mr. Grant looked over my papers and the light from the blinds shined and hit his intensely warm and mean eyes. Soon they locked with mine and he handed the paper back to me.
"You seem to get it." Was all he said, but I could tell that I impressed him. That didn't really matter to me as much as the fact that I understood what I was doing in the class.
"Yeah." I said back, finishing the last problem and looked to him, waiting to be dismissed.
His back was to me and said nothing, though I was positive he knew what I wanted from him. Tell me I can go!!
"Bye." He finally said when his eyes did a side flick to me.
I immediately hopped out of the chair and gathered my stuff, about to leave, but I had to stop and turn around. He had stopped doing what he was doing and stared out the window. There was so much negative emotion in his eyes it stressed me out just looking at him. I had to say something. Whether he appreciated it or not, which he wouldn't, I had to. "I hope you feel better." And just when he was about to turn around to say whoknowswhat or ignore me completely, I opened the door and called, "Have a good night!" from behind me, walking to my car in a little less fear than usual.