Things will be better tomorrow.
Things were not better tomorrow.
I stand outside his classroom, fifteen minutes after the bell rang for students to leave, waiting for Mr. Ellis to open the door and welcome me in for tutoring.
The test on southern generals and their strategies is tomorrow, and he promised to see me again today. So, why the hell is the classroom dark and empty?
I wait another ten minutes before Mrs. Brown, another teacher in the History department, comes around the corner.
“Oh! Dear, you scared me!” she squeals, hand to her frail chest. “Are you alright?”
“I’m just waiting for Mr. Ellis. He was supposed to be here for tutoring.”
“I believe I saw him in his office,” Mrs. Brown says, pointing back toward the way she came. “E24, dear. Just knock on his door.”
Before I can say my thanks, she walks away, her hair bouncing stiffly as she heads to her class. I watch her the entire way there, holding my breath until her weakening body disappears into the room.
I wait for the crashing echo of her door before spinning on my shoulder against the wall and turning the corner. My stomping feet bounce around the white-painted walls. They’re the only hints he’ll get of my arrival. It’ll be his only warning.
As I stomp to his office, there’s a mission in mind, passing every single door with the question on the tip of my tongue.
Why are you avoiding me like the fucking plague?
But the closer I get to E24, the more this feels like a bad idea.
What the hell am I doing? I’m going to barge into his office, and then what? Demand he explain why he left me looking like a fucking idiot in front of his classroom? Waiting for him to show up? Command that he clarifies what I did to have him so clearly be avoiding me?
I started school on Monday! How could I have fucked things up with a teacher already? Tutoring on Tuesday went well! He seemed proud and happy to help me. He talked to me, was interested in my artwork, walked me to my car, and made sure I was safe.
He stepped close and made me feel something I’d never felt before… Mr. Ellis liked me two days ago.
What changed between now and then?
I get to his office door and ready my fist to knock, but something tells me if he hears my voice, he’ll just tell me it's not a good time.
Come back later.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
Some bullshit excuse. The same kind he’s been feeding me since yesterday. I didn’t come here to be stuffed with half-assed lies, though.
With one last glance around the vacant corridor, I twist open the knob and tramp inside.
He sits hunched over his desk, mouth pressed into a straight line with blue eyes shining like polished crystal. They’re as sharp as knives as they look up at me.
“Scarlett, what are you-”
“Did I do something to offend you?” I ask, cutting him off mid-sentence. Before I push away from the door, I press on the lock in the center of the knob in case he tries to run away from the conversation.
He drops a handful of circular magnets onto a black metal base and rises to a stand. “No, of course not.”
I would believe him if he looked me in the fucking eye when saying so.
“I must have because if not, I can’t think of any reason why you’d go from being so kind to so cold.”
“If I’ve upset you somehow, Scarlett, I’m sorry for that,” he says, eyes full of remorse.
“You definitely did upset me.” I stomp over the hardwood flooring to come around the side of his desk. “You left me waiting outside your classroom for almost half an hour. You could’ve at least had the decency to tell me tutoring was canceled. Oh, but wait! You’d actually have to look me in the eyes and talk to me for that! Which you haven’t. In days! So if I did something to piss you off, Mr. Ellis, then at least tell me so I can apolog-”
