In the Beginning...

They say ‘everyone has secrets’ but no one knew mine, as far as I knew. It really wasn’t anyone’s business you know? But they also say ‘Nothing spreads faster then gossip’ especially in high school and when the wrong person finds out one of your secrets in a matter of hours everyone will know.

Moving from 6th to 7th grade was harder on me then anyone had expected. At the beginning of the year I moved friend groups because my old friends had changed and weren’t the same people. Whenever I was around them I felt out of place and awkward.

I had a boyfriend since the beginning of 6th grade. He didn’t go to the same school so it was easy to hide. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to be that girl.

By the very beginning of 8th grade we were still going out. I was only thirteen when he died. Andrew had been killed in a car accident when he was fourteen. Still no one knew what had happened between us except my grandmother, him and me and as far as I knew it was going to stay that way. I never wanted to hear his name again but I knew that that wasn’t going to happen. 8th grade carried on as normal as possible, my teachers did not yet know me so they didn’t see a behavior change after his death, only my friends did and I tried to hide it from my parents as much as possible.

My birthday was during winter break. When we came back to school I learned one of my teachers, my academic support teacher was retiring. I was content with it and I didn’t really care much. She could be mean at times and wasn’t the nicest person alive. January 26, 2007, her last day came then a new guy would be taking over.

This new teacher was pretty young in his late twenties early thirties I wasn’t really sure. He was the assistant coach of girls cross country team and girls’ indoor and outdoor teams.

Those first few weeks were okay. He didn’t spend a lot of time talking to us he mostly stayed on his computer and occasionally came over to see if we needed any help or anything. Then in the middle of March he started to be more open with us. We actually had some normal conversations, but it wasn’t really anything.

Two of the other girls in my class became immediately attached to him, Katie and Alecia. They never left his side and at the time I didn’t see why.

The last few days of March my grandmother passed away which is where this story actually begins.

It was Wednesday March 28, 2007, the day of the middle school science fair. I was in it but only because I wanted to get that extra 4 points on my report card. After school my friend Katie and I went down to the cafeteria to set up our projects and waited to be judged. It was boring but I expected it to be. On our way back upstairs Katie and I were walking down the hall and I decided to check in with my mom to see if she was still coming and to tell her that I had gotten judged. “Are you coming?” I asked her

She sighed, I could tell there was something in her voice but I couldn’t tell what it meant. “Honey I don’t think I can.” She paused, “Grammy had a stroke, and she’s in the hospital.” I stopped dead in my tracks and then I knew that’s what was in her voice.

“Is she okay?” I asked finally.

“I don’t know I think I should go to the hospital to see her.”

“You should yeah I’ll be fine here. Or should I come home?”

“Oh no, no, you stay there and have fun, your dad and Dana are going to meet you there around seven” Dani was my little sister. I didn't like her name so i called her Dani.

I said goodbye then just stood there until Katie spoke “What’s wrong?”

“My grandmother just had a stroke.” I said almost out of breath.

“Is she okay?”

“I….I don’t know my mom said she didn’t know either she’s going to the hospital to see her.” I stuttered.

“Oh I’m so sorry.” She said sweetly. I nodded and we continued walking to Mr. Dillon’s classroom to grab our things. After science fair I went home with my dad and Dani and then my mom called.

My dad talked to her for a while, and then decided to join her at the hospital.

An hour later my older sister Addi came home from work. My mom had called her so she already knew what was going on. Then all we could do was wait. I put my little sister to bed showered, then tried to sleep myself. I dozed off around two A.M. then my alarm went off at six because of school, I didn’t think my mother would actually make go to school.

The phone rang a few minutes later and it was my mom, she said I should go and if anything new happened then I would find out when I got home. I told her that I didn’t want to go and that it would be fine if I stayed home. At this point she started to get mad and said if I didn’t go I would be grounded.

I hung up the phone and drifted off back to sleep when my sister came storming into my room “GO TO SCHOOL!” she screamed “Mom just told me you had to go!” she left and I was left alone… awake. I got up and looked at the clock 6:40.

Crap. 10 minutes until the bus came. I shoved everything into my bag got dressed did my makeup and ran downstairs without saying anything and without bothering to grab breakfast or money for a lunch. I wasn’t hungry in fact I wanted to throw up.

Walking up my driveway, I turned on my iPod to distract me from the pain in my stomach. I went to school and homeroom I didn’t like anyone in my homeroom and no one paid any attention to me except my homeroom teacher Mr. Dillon who was also my first period teacher. Science was my best subject, in 8th grade anyway.

Science went smoothly we just watched a random movie with this girl who ate French fries and drove a Volkswagen. Oh and there was also some science in it.

Second period was the worst class of my life. It was my academic support with the new teacher Mr. Bateman who actually wasn’t that new anymore.

Second Period

Everything was going normal I kept my mouth shut about what was going on in my life at home. We had a reading comprehension paper to do. These types of things we had to do before every academic support class except when we had a big test to study for instead. Sometimes they were about math, science, history etc. but they were always boring and didn’t hold my attention.

I finished it and handed in and sat in my seat and thought about Grammy, about all the times Dani, Addi and I slept over her house and about the last time I saw her. On Sunday my mom and dad wanted to go to the Burlington mall but I didn’t feel up to it so I went to hang out at Grammy’s because her house was on the way. As usual she insisted on taking me out to lunch and we went.

That was the last time she ever drove a car. On Monday Auntie Carolyn took her to the doctor who took away her license she was 84 years old. She had this knee problem going on sometimes it would freeze up on her and she wouldn’t be able to feel it. Tuesday there was no news about her that I heard. Then on Wednesday she had a CT scan scheduled. So my uncle, Ed, came to pick her up and found her on the floor dressed and ready to go, she looked like she had just gone to the window to open up the shades.

I snapped out of my thoughts because someone was calling my name. “SHELBY!”

“Oh sorry, what?” I asked.

“Did you do your math homework?” it was Mrs. Marchand she was another aid who worked in our class.

“I thought it was due tomorrow” I said.

“It is but that didn’t answer my question” she could always be mean if she tried. But at times she could also be nice… at times.

“No I didn’t, but I can do it at home I’d like to have something to distract me….” I trailed off knowing it would be a mistake to carry on.

“Distract you from what?! And why can’t you just do it now! If you really don’t want to do it then why don’t you go down to the office and tell them why you don’t want to do it, then maybe we’ll have some sense knocked into you!” tears started to build up in my eyes but I fought like hell to keep them back.

I nodded weakly, “can I please go get my math book in my locker?”

She sighed annoyed and pissed “Fine. Make it quick!”

I practically ran out of the room. Before this, I wasn’t aware on how Grammy being in the hospital made me so emotional. I got to my locker opened it and started shifting books around until I found it. Still fighting like hell to keep the tears back. I grabbed my math book then slowly walked back into class careful to keep my head to the floor so that no one saw I was starting to loose control of my tears. I sat back in my seat next to Katie and then silently started crying. Katie saw and put her hand on my shoulder not saying anything. But it was what I needed. I took a deep breath and started my math homework which was relatively easy I did it without any problems and without needing help.

After I finished it I dried my tears with my sleeve then went to talk to Mr. Bateman to see if I should do anything else. But first I had to hold my tears back before I went I took a deep breath then got up. I went to his desk.

“Hi.” He said awkwardly.

“I finished my math homework” I said quickly careful and trying to avoid my cracked voice.

“Okay” he replied.

“Should I do anything else?”

“Nothing that I can think of off the top of my head.”

“Okay.” I felt the tears coming back so I turned and went back to my desk but I turned too late, he saw me.

“Shelby.” He said, I turned to look at him but kept my head down because I could feel the tears streaming down my face. “What’s the matter?”

“My grandmother had a stroke yesterday. She’s in the hospital.” My voice was severely cracking and I sounded like I was crying really badly. “And I was doing fine until Mrs. Marchand threatened to send me down to the office and said I needed to have some sense knocked into me.”

“Come here.” He got up from his desk then took me out into the hall and shut the door where I stood in silence, then shut the door. “Your grandmother had a stroke?”

I nodded weakly tears still streaming down my face.

“How’s she doing?”

I took a deep breath then looked up. “She’s in the hospital unconscious, and a breathing tube. The doctors say she’s not going to make it out of the hospital alive and it’s only a matter of hours she has left.” I told him everything I knew, knowing it could be too much information.

He was silent for a while I figured he didn’t know what to say. I moved my eyes back down to the floor. “Do you want to go home?” he asked. “Or would you rather stay here away from all of that?”

“I would rather stay here.”

“You know you could always fake sick if you wanted to go home.”

“I’d like to stay here.”

“Okay I understand that.” He put his hand down at the base of my neck not so it hurt but to comfort me. “Now calm down, it’s going to be okay.” I nodded again terrified that if I went home then I would see my mom lying on the couch saying her mom had died. And I was going to avoid that as long as possible. Then we went back into class which was ending and I was still sobbing.

I went followed him to his desk.

“I don’t think you’re in shape to go to your next class.” He said to me.

“You think?”

“You should go down and talk to your guidance counselor and see what she says. Who do you have?”

“Mrs. Goldberg.”

“Oh she’s good she’ll help you”

“She hates me”

“Why?”

I looked away quickly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well guidance or… what’s your next class?”

“English.”

“Guidance or English.”

“Guidance”

“Okay Mrs. Marchand is going to take you down; you can wait until classes start before you leave”

I was mad that I would be left alone with her but I hoped she would be a little bit calmer with me after all it was all her fault this mess started.

In the halls, Mrs. Marchand felt the need to talk to me even though tears will still streaming down my face.

“How old is your grandmother?”

“84 she would be 85 in June.”

“Well at least she lived a long life.”

I nodded weakly still not wanting to talk to her.

We were silent the rest of the way down until we got into the guidance office. And Mrs. Marchand went to get my guidance counselor, I just stood in the office with all these people I didn’t know…. Most likely 7th graders staring at me. It was always a good feeling.

Mrs. Goldberg came out with Mrs. Marchand, “Shelby I’ll tell Mrs. Whitson that you’re down here for you”

“Thanks” I said to her politely.

“Shelby lets go talk.” Mrs. Goldberg said to me.

I didn’t say anything I just followed her. We went into her office and I sat in the chair next to her desk. She sat in her own chair.

“Mrs. Marchand told me that your grandmother is in the hospital.” She started, “how is she doing?”

“She’s not going to make it out alive.” I said, and I moved my eyes to the floor.

“Okay you are in no shape to go to class, so what class are you in?”

“English”

“I’ll call Mrs. Whitson and tell her….and as for you, you can go sit in the nurse’s office until you calm down; let’s go.”

I didn’t like how she was talking to me. Was everyone in this school against me? I followed her across the hall to the nurse’s office. She told me to wait outside. She shut the door and I herd them talking quietly but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

With tears still streaming down my face, I waited for what seemed like forever. When the door finally opened the nurse and my guidance counselor came out. Mrs. Goldberg not even bothering to look at me walked away. The nurse turned to me, “you can take a nap if you want, schoolwork, whatever you want.” I nodded and went in the room where all the sick people went. But there weren’t any there currently. After a half hour I was still sobbing, I tried sleeping, homework, but nothing I couldn’t focus. So I sat there and thought then I started to come to my senses, I told myself that I should toughen up and stop crying and it worked 4th period was starting so I decided to grab my things and head off to health. I let the nurse know I was set to leave then went to my health class. We started talking about depression and loss what a coincidence huh? My teacher lectured us for a while then gave us a worksheet to do in groups. I was with my friends Allie and Jason, when I started to feel my tears coming back. Slowly I fought them back with all of my strength knowing that lunch was next when I could be with my friends and forget everything for a while.

We finished our worksheet and were dismissed. I had to get my things from my locker for lunch and gym and usually by the time we got to the second floor almost everyone had already gone to lunch and sometimes Jason went straight to lunch today being one of those days. Allie and I got up to our lockers I was still fighting back crying. I opened my locker and then lost it again. Tears just started streaming down my face. Allie already knew what was going on I had told her in science class and at the moment she asked “Shelby are you okay?” Mr. Bateman came walking out of his room probably off to get his own lunch. His door was right near my locker do it was impossible to hide.

“Shelby, are you crying again?” he asked.

I didn’t respond but Allie did. “We were talking about depression and death in health class today I think that’s why.”

“Why did you stay then?! I’m sure she wouldn’t have made you stay.”

“Where else would I have gone?” I asked.

He didn’t respond. “Alright Allie, go to lunch, Shelby you can stay up here.” Allie turned and went off to lunch and I followed Mr. Bateman back into his room remembering I didn’t have a lunch. On the way to his desk he turned and asked, “don’t you have a lunch?”

“No I didn’t have time to get one this morning I was in a rush.” I told him.

“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked.

“No, not really. I mean I’ll survive until I get home, then I’ll pig out.” I smiled.

“Yay a smile! That’s good!” he said and at the very moment Katie came storming in.

“How come you let her stay up here during lunch and not me?” Katie demanded.

“Do you see the tears streaming down her face?” he responded calmly. “When someone you know goes into the hospital and they aren’t expected to come out I’ll let you stay up here during lunch okay?”

Katie, extremely pissed off, stormed out. There is something about Katie that made me unsure of being friends with her. First of all her mother was off in South Boston getting high and fighting to survive on drugs, her brothers and sister were also spread out through family, her sister and “twin” brother being in South Boston living with other relitives, and all her other brothers among other parts of Boston. But the thing that made me really unsure was that very often Katie would get in these moods, she would get extremely mad and refuse to do work then she would threaten to either kill herself to cut herself, sometimes both. And that’s why I questioned our friendship.

After she left I pulled up a chair and sat in front of Mr. Bateman’s desk. I took a deep breath then spoke. “I hate health.”

“Yeah it probably wasn’t the best idea to go today.”

“I know my friend Sarah even warned me not to go. But what would I have done skipped? Yeah that would have gone over well.”

“Well….if you were really in that situation you could have…stayed up here.”

“You were so quick to get me out of here before I figured…” I trailed off.

“You figured what?” He asked, now curious looking at me instead of his computer screen.

“Nothing it’s not important.”

“Ugh you’re such a liar.” He looked at me strangely.

“It’s just that you came here then you didn’t talk to us at all then a week ago you started talking to Katie and Alecia then they became like obsessed with you. You still barely said anything directly to me and now your wondering why I thought you kicked me out so fast.”

He looked at me confused and trying to process everything that I had just said. Then as if it all made sense to him he nodded as if he understood. “Well look, Katie and Alecia actually started talking to me. I don’t know they don’t leave anymore and it’s sort of getting annoying”

“Well I’m sorry….I think”

He laughed. “Thanks. Hey! You stopped crying!”

“Oh yeah I know my mom told me this morning that it comes in waves so it could come back later.”

“Well what class’s do you have left?” he asked.

“Gym, math history.”

“Hm. Well those aren’t the best classes.”

“You think?”

"Well you don't have to go to gym. You can stay up here but you have to tell them so you don't get in trouble for skipping class."

“Alright. Should I go now?” I asked

“Well lunch is over right?” I suddenly realized that there were people in the halls going to their next class.

“Oh no, I’m going to have to run. I’ll be back”

“Okay.” He said.

I bolted down the hall. Then turned around and ran down the stairs, down the ramp to the small hall that led to the locker rooms, until I saw my gym teacher, Mrs. Bridgeo. She was always really nice but can get in bad moods at times. And of course when I needed to talk to her she was in her bad mood.

“Um Mrs. Bridgeo?” I asked

“Yeah Shelby” she said obviously irritated.

“My grandmother is in the hospital, she’s not going to make it out. I have so much work to catch up on, Mr. Bateman said that I could work in his room this period and honestly I’m just too depressed for activity. Would it be okay if I did work up there this period?”

“Fine, whatever.” She said.

“Thank you.” I said then turned and left I walked back upstairs not bothering to run Mr. Bateman wouldn’t care if I took a while. I returned back upstairs went over to where Mr. Bateman was sitting at his desk.

“Your back.” He said.

“Great observation” I replied

“What did your gym teacher say?” he asked

“She wasn’t very happy but said it was okay.”

“Well that’s a plus.”

“Sure? I don’t think she likes me very much anyway, and half the time we have subs.”

“Oh well. So do you have any work you actually have to get done?”

“No. I’m going to get work the next two periods though.”

“You have math and history right?”

“Yep.” I said

“Nice well you can just hang out this period, drag up a chair sit on the counter, or you can find work to do.” He said. I walked over to the counter and sat. I put my head against the wall and shut my eyes because I was exhausted. “Tired?”

“Yes, very.”

“Well relax and think about how thankful you are that you’re not in gym”

“Oh I will.” I smiled and he turned back to his computer. A few minutes later he started talking again.

“So were you and your grandmother close?” he asked.

I opened my eyes then started to feel the pain coming back. I pushed the feeling away for the moment to a different part of my mind where I would find it later.”Yeah we were or are as far as I know she’s still alive. But yeah she probably knows me best out of everyone I know.”

“And why is that?”

I hesitated because I didn’t want to say anything wrong; I wanted to keep as many people out of my past as possible. “I don’t know she just helped me through a lot at the beginning of the year. That’s all I guess.” I said to him carefully. He eyed me suspicious. Then gave up because he knew I wouldn’t tell him anything else. “Maybe some other day I’ll tell you.”

“Fine.” He said obviously disappointed but I couldn’t tell if he actually meant it or not.

We sat in silence the rest of the period until people started switching classes then I had to go to math. “Thank you for letting me stay here.” I said to him as I was leaving.

“Your welcome.” He said back then I turned and left.

Math and history went by in a blur and I was not paying attention knowing that school would soon be over and I would soon have to go home. I was dreading it and I didn’t want to at all.

History got out and I had to go to afternoon homeroom. I started some of my history homework but couldn’t focus so I gave up. Afternoon homeroom was only 8 minutes anyway.

But the thing that got on my nerves the most was Jason, he sat behind me. He always pulled my long blonde hair. I don’t know why and I never did find out. My friend Eva told me that they had gone out when we were in 6th grade but they were both from the next town over so I wouldn’t have anyway of knowing. Jason started pulling my hair again and I turned and asked him to stop as usual.

“I saw you crying after second period today, everything okay?”

“No my grandmother is in the hospital and she’s not coming out alive and if you don’t mind I’d rather not talk to you about this.” The bell rang and I got up and left. I went to my locker and threw my things in my bag then went to Mr. Bateman’s room.

“I don’t want to go home.” I said.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Because I don’t want to walk into my front door and see my mother lying on the couch crying saying her mother had died I don’t want to.” I felt tears rushing back and I started to get all agitated.

“Calm down, its okay.” He waited until I relaxed. “Do you have to catch the bus?”

I nodded. “Yeah I do.”

“Okay. It will be okay and if it’s not then shoot me an email.” Just as he finished Katie walked in.

“I’m leaving bye.” I said fast then went to catch my bus. I walk fast down the hall then the stairs then turned to go out the front door of the middle school only then to realize that my bus had left with out me. I took out my phone and realized they had left five minutes ago. It was 2:30. ‘Crap.’ I said to myself. Then turned and went back upstairs I was hoping Mr. Bateman wouldn’t mind if I hung out there until I could get a ride home. When I turned the corner to his room he looked up.

“Miss your bus?”

“Can I use your phone mine is about to die. I left it on all day by accident.” I asked.

“Sure.” He answered. I called my house and my mom picked up.

“Mom, how’s Grammy?”

“Oh pretty much the same” she said. I could tell the sadness was still in her voice.

“Oh okay well I missed my bus can you come get me at like eh 2:45?” I asked her.

“Sure” She said.

“Okay bye.”

“Bye.” I hung up the phone then sighed.

“How’s she doing?” Mr. Bateman asked.

“My mom said pretty much the same”

“Well at least it’s not worse”

“It could be, she could be hiding it from me though.”

“Well that would...suck.”

“You think?” he didn’t answer. “So when do you leave?”

“2:50 when extra help ends then I go coach track practice.”

“Sounds fun”

“It is.” He said. “So how much work do you have to do tonight?”

“I only have a little history homework to do. That’s it.”

“Well if your really not up to doing it tonight then you can do it in here tomorrow.”

“Really? Thanks”

“Yeah don’t worry about getting crap from Mrs. Marchand about you doing you homework. I’ll just talk to her and tell her I told you it was okay.” I nodded.

“Okay.”

“So why are you and your grandmother so close?”

“Look I would tell you but I’, not completely sure I can trust you yet.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t worry you didn’t do anything to make me not trust you or anything but I haven’t really known you that long.”

“You’ve known me for three months.”

“Yeah but I’ve only really started talking to you today.”

“So what’s it going to take?” he asked.

“Time.”

“Ugh fine.” He said. I looked at the clock 2:45, then I went to the window and looked for my mom’s car but it wasn’t there. “Do you have to go?”

“Erm, no. My mom’s not here yet.”

“Yay Shelby! We get to hang out longer!”

“Yeah but my mom should be here any second.”

“Well I’m leaving in two minutes anyway.”

“Okay.” I said.

“So are you sure you don’t want to tell me?”

“Yeah. As long as I know I can trust you and I know that you won’t tell anyone then I promise I will tell you… one day.” I knew he would judge me and I didn’t want it. He started turning off his computer and getting his things together, I went to the window to look for my mom’s car only this time I saw it. “My mom’s here I should go.”

“Hold on I’ll walk down with you.” He said.

“Okay.” He came out and locked his door then started to walk to the left. “I have to go this way.”

“Fine we’ll go this way” we walked down the hall past my 4 main classes which were in a square English, math, science and history. After passing them we came to the stairs and then were down to the 7th grade. Each grade in the middle school was split into thirds 7 white, 7 blue and 7 red, then there was 8 white, 8 blue and 8 red. I was on 8 white, whoever was on your team you would have the same teachers but maybe the same class. There were about 100 kids on each team.

When we got off the stairs, we walked down the 7 white hallways then past the art rooms and finally I was at the door I had to go out.

“Alright well my mom’s right there.”

“Okay bye Shelby.” Mr. Bateman said.

“Wait,” he turned around. “When I left to go get my bus where did Katie go?”

“Oh I kicked her out.”

“You could have asked me to leave if you wanted to get work done.”

“No she was just annoying me and I wanted her out, so I told her I had a ton of work to do.”

“I’m sure she took that well, she has actually been getting on my nerves lately”

“Yeah well, I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll talk about her more behind her back”

“Your so nice”

“I’ll see you later Shelby.”

“Bye” I said then walked out the door into my mom’s car. Despite everything that was happening Mr. Bateman had put me in a relatively good mood.

“Hi” my mom said as I got into the car.

“Hi” I replied.

“How was school?”

I nodded and lied, “it was good.”

“Good.”

“So what’s going on the rest of the night?” I asked curious.

“Well Auntie Sandra and your Uncle Ed, are there now and later on your Auntie Carolyn and I are going for the rest of the night.” I didn’t say anything I just nodded.

I went home and tried to do my history homework but I didn’t finish. I ate dinner and my mom left, then I took a shower and went to sleep. The next morning my mom woke me up.

“Shelby, time to get up.” She whispered in my ear.

“Mom, what are you doing? You should be sleeping.”

“I got home early last night…” she hesitated. “Grammy died around eleven. I got home around twelve.” I herd her start crying. My mom stayed with my for a few more minutes then went to my bathroom that I shared with my sisters, and got a tissue for her nose. I herd her footsteps going down the hall then the stairs. I followed her down so I could get my own breakfast even though the last thing I was food.

After breakfast I got ready then got on the bus and sat with Lina, who was my best friend. She asked me how my grandmother was. I told her that she was gone. When we arrived at school I didn’t really feel like hanging around with my friend its was awkward and they didn’t really know what to say to me. So I went to see Mr. Bateman. He was sitting at his desk doing work on his computer like usual. “Hey you.” He said as I walked in.

“Hi.”

“So how’s your grandmother?”

I didn’t respond I just nodded no and looked at the floor.

“Is that a ‘she’s doing worse’ or a ‘she’s gone’ nod?”

“She’s gone.” I said quickly.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.”

“Why did you even bother coming in today?”

“I don’t know.” The thought had not even occurred to me that I could have stayed home today. “I should of.”

“I would of.” I glared at him. “So when did this happen because I didn’t get an email from you.”

“Apparently around eleven last night… but like I found out this morning.”

“Well you seem in a relatively good mood.”

“Yeah. I mean like I’m really sad and miss her but other then that I am okay, which is strange.”

“Well that’s good. So no breakdowns today?”

“No, I don’t think so. Well… I hope not.” I shrugged.

“Good I’m glad.”

“So my mom told me that I was most likely going to be out next Monday, Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. So during period 2 should I go around and get work?”

“Yeah that would probably be a smart idea. Then you won’t have to deal with it all when you come back.”

“That’s what I thought.” At that moment the bell rang. “Okay I’ll see you second period.”

“Bye Shelby.” He said.

Science went on as normal. Mr. Dillon taught for a while then gave us busywork to do at the back lab tables using our science books.

After class I went to Mr. Bateman’s room and reminded him that I had to go get work from my other teachers and left to go back science then history, math and English.

“Hey Mr. Dillon?”

“Hey Shelby. What’s up?”

“Um I’m going to be out next Monday, probably Tuesday and maybe even Wednesday.”

“Oh are you going away?”

“No, my grandmother passed away last night.” I said trying to hide as much emotion as possible.

“Oh I’m sorry.” I nodded in thanks. “So you need work?”

“Yeah anything would be fine.”

“Well how about you just get it when you come back. I’ll give you more time.”

“Really? Thanks.” I said.

“Where are you going next?”

“History.” I said.

“What about history?” I turned around and saw my history teacher Ms. Shaw standing in the doorway.

“Her grandmother passed away, she needs work”

“Oh Shelby I’m so sorry.” Ms. Shaw said.

“Thanks” I said to her. “Do you have any work that I can get done over the weekend? Homework, class work, anything?”

“Yeah I do come over to my room.” She said.

"Okay.” I told her and started to follow her, “thank you Mr. Dillon.”

“Your welcome Shelby.” He said. I turned to catch up to Ms. Shaw even though her class was right across the hall.

“I’m surprised you came to school today.” She said as I walked in her room.

“My mom said it would be better then skipping when we didn’t have anything going on.” I told her.

“So what days are you going to be out?”

“Monday, probably Tuesday, and maybe Wednesday too. But I’m not positive yet.”

“Okay well I’m going to give you Monday and Tuesday nights homework and if your out Wednesday too then you can get it later. It’s easy anyway it’s just sections in the book no big deal.”

“Okay. Thanks”

“Oh No problem. But feel better, it will be okay.”

“Thanks” I smiled and left then went diagonal across the hall to my math class.

“Mrs. Afrow?”

“Yes? Oh hi Shelby. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, um, my grandmother passed away last night and I’m going to be out next week could I have work for at least Monday and Tuesday because I’m probably going to be out.”

“I’m sorry, of course let me grab my lesson book.” I followed her over to her desk and she wrote down the assignments on a sheet of paper.

“Thank you.” I said

“Your welcome, and take your time on those remember that family comes first.” She told me. I nodded then tried to go across to my English class but her door was shut. I sort of stood there for a second then went back to Mr. Bateman’s room where I was met by a not so happy face.

“Where have you been!?” Mrs. Marchand yelled at me.

“Uh getting work for next week.” I said scared she was going to get all mad again.

“Its okay I told her she could go. And I also told her that she could do lasts nights history homework.” Mr. Bateman said cutting into our conversation. I felt so relieved he did so.

“Why would you tell her that? It’s not like her grandmother is dead or anything.” Mrs. Marchand snapped.

At that point I felt the tears rushing back since I was standing right next to my desk I put my things down and then practically ran down the hall to the bathroom. When the door shut I noticed that there weren’t any people in there so I could be alone for a second which was all that I really needed. A few minutes later I started to dry my face and relax. Then I herd the door open.

“Shelby?”

I turned, it was a girl named Meridan she was in Mr. Bateman’s class too.

“Hey Meridan.”

“Mr. Bateman just sent me to see if you were okay.”

“Yeah I’m fine uh, tell him I’ll be back soon, I’m just making my face less red.”

“Okay. Feel better.” She said on her way out.

“Yeah.” I said to myself. When I was satisfied with how I looked, I left. Only to find Mr. Bateman walking down the hall.

“You okay?” he asked

“Fine.”

“Okay well you can go back I have to go copy this.”

“No! Please don’t leave me alone with her!”

“Ugh, fine come on.”

“Oh my god thanks so much.”

He smiled at me. “Smile Shelby!” I did. “See! There you go.” We walked into the library and he put his paper in the copy machine and started pushing buttons. Then we waited. There was a class in there, but I didn’t recognize anyone.

“Why is Mrs. Marchand so mean to me?” I asked finally.

“I don’t know.”

“I mean seriously! She’s not mean to anyone else only me.”

“I’m not sure.”

“What did she say after I left?”

“She tried to go after you and drag you back into the room.”

“Did you tell her that she died?”

“Yeah that’s what made her not chase you down. But it didn’t look like she felt bad about it either.”

“How can people do that? Just say things and not feel bad about what they said? It’s not right she has no idea what she’s talking about she doesn’t know me and she has no idea what I’ve been though!” At this point we were leaving the library and walking back to class.

“You should ignore her whenever she says something mean to you. As you said, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“Good advice, thanks.” We walked back into class, and Mrs. Marchand turned and stared at me.

“I though you told Ms. Meridan that you would be back in a few minutes, that was a lot longer.” She said to me.

“Um…” I said not sure what to say, but Mr. Bateman was right behind me.

“She was with me.” Mr. Bateman said. I smiled nicely at Mrs. Marchand. And she looked at me like I was stupid. But I moved on as he told me too. I did my history homework and started on some of the work that Ms. Shaw had given me. Before I knew it class was over and I had to go to English.