I tried to keep my mind off of the phone call I was expecting. Obviously, I was a nervous wreck on the inside; my stomach in tight knots. I tried to just have another relatively normal day, though I wasn’t exactly sure how long I was going to be able to avoid Gerard. I had art again today, and after ignoring him yesterday, I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to get away with it again.

Delilah met me once more outside the school gates with a warm smile and a hug. It was nice to know that she was here for me, whatever it was she thought I was going through. I suppose it made the situation a little bit worse – she wanted me to confide in her, yet I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. It was far too complicated to even begin explaining.

We were on our way to our separate English classes that Delilah brought up a point I had neglected for a few weeks, “I was thinking about why Mr. Way wanted to talk to you yesterday… Didn’t you say that he set you some sort of project? Like, just for you?”

I sighed. I remembered. It was before Christmas break – the day my parents were called in to speak to my angry art teacher, the day my parents changed. Gerard had complained about my supposed disruption in his class and if I couldn’t behave myself, I would have to be removed from his class. He had set only me a tough project to complete over the break, which I, of course, didn’t actually think about the entire time. With Gerard taking advantage of a very vulnerable me, it was hard to even think of much else.

I nodded as my friend waited for an answer, “Yeah he did. It completely slipped my mind,” I lied, “With everything that happened with Harry.” I hated that I was using Harry’s horrible ordeal as the reason for everything bad that had happened, but it was the only excuse I could use – I never really made a convincing liar. But Delilah accepted my lie without question, and we went our separate ways.

Delilah and I met up again for art, which was the second to last class of the day. As always, once we stepped in to Gerard’s room, we were silent. God forbid there be even a whisper in this class. It got me thinking; how was anybody supposed to show their true creative and imaginative side in this class when they had to work under such strict conditions?

“Continue with your work from yesterday. If you’re finished… Start again, because it’s obviously not good enough.” Were Gerard’s first harsh words when he had closed the door to his class. Everyone was present, and on time, and, most importantly, silent.

Students began standing up to retrieve work from yesterday and to collect paintbrushes or pencils to carry on. I went to get mine when I saw a male student raise his hand, looking extremely scared, and his hand shaking in the air.

“What is it, Mr. House?” Gerard spat, though looking very bored.

The boy, Evan House, stumbled over his words, “Sorry, sir… B-but I left my work in my locker…” Oh, Evan.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, to witness Gerard’s next actions. Judging by everyone else, this is something that has never happened before in this class.

Gerard slowly walked around his cluttered desk, standing near me – I didn’t miss the quick glance at my stomach he made – and glared at the student. What he did next happened quickly; Gerard grabbed a tray of dirty paint pots and brushes and aggressively hurled those at poor Evan. Evan raised his arms to cover his face, yet spots of paint still hit him, “Get the hell out of my class! Do NOT return to this class today! Don’t even bother turning up at all until you learn some basic organizational skills. Go! Now!”

Evan quickly gathered his things together and left, and the remaining students stood in shock, “All of you get your crap, and sit down!” We quickly sat back down, not daring to do anything for the rest of class. I prayed even harder that I wasn’t carrying this man’s child.

.

When the day finally ended with Math, I couldn’t have been happier to go home. I was on my way out of the school when the saw poor Evan by his locker, though not looking as scared now. I decided to talk to him, “Hey Evan. Are you okay? That was horrible was G- Mr. Way done to you earlier.”

Evan nodded but he had seemed pretty happy with himself, “Yeah, it was pretty scary, but to be honest, I knew it was gonna happen. I knew I didn’t want to be in that classroom today… Any excuse would do… I’ll happily take a bit of yelling from him any day of week over actually spending the entire hour in there.” He just smiled again and walked away.

I laughed to myself when catching on to what Evan actually did. I was about to start walking again when my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. My hands started to shake when I read the caller I.D.

.

After ending the call, I put my cell back in my pocket and walked in the direction of my art class. As big of an ass Gerard was, he had a right to know what was going on.

When I arrived at his class, the door was closed. Was he even still here? I realized that I didn’t care and grabbed the door knob and turning it. It was unlocked, and I stepped inside.

I saw that Gerard was sitting at his desk, angrily grading his student’s work. I took a deep breath and marched towards him, “Gerard,” He quickly raised his head at the sound of my voice, as always with anger in his eyes, but I tried to continue with confidence, “I just thought I would let you know that I had an appointment with my doctor yesterday, regarding my – our – problem.” His expression immediately softened, which I took as a good sign, “And I just a moment ago got a phone call… I’m not pregnant.”

Gerard’s expression softened even further, and he stood up, putting his hands in his pockets, “Not pregnant?” I nodded, shocked by his calm and gentle tone, “That’s definite? Why the positive result the other day?” He wanted answers, that’s understandable.

“My doctor explained to me that external factors such as high levels of emotional stress can affect the menstrual cycle, which explains why I’m late.” I could tell he didn’t want to hear thatparticular part, but I quickly continued, “He also said that the stress can trigger a ‘fake’ pregnancy, which explains the positive result on the test.” I found myself wanting to laugh; it was strange to me that the only normal, civilized conversation Gerard and I could have was about whether I was pregnant or not.

He just nodded, understanding, “Stress?” I nodded again, “Right because your friend had that accident or whatever.” I remembered that he, as well as Frank and Mikey were present when I got that phone call. I didn’t think he would remember that, but that wasn’t the point; Harry wasn’t the only thing I had been stressing about.

I said, without thinking, “And you.” Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, “Since my first day here you’ve given me something to stress about. I haven’t been able to relax once since meeting you…” I could feel the lump in my throat, knowing I would start to cry, but I forced the tears back – if I cried here, now, in front of him, it would be pointless. I needed to feel strong for once, “I’m lost though… You give everyone such a hard time because you hate everyone… And you seem to hate your own life, too, but none of that even comes to close to how much you appear to hate me, and I try and try, but I can’t understand why?”

I thought I saw a faint smirk appear on his face, but the next time I looked, it was gone when he started speaking, "The second you walked into my classroom, I knew you were going to be someone I loathed with everything I have in me. Your appearance, the way you present yourself makes me sick. The fact that you feel so comfortable in your body that you walk the halls half naked makes me feel sick.”

He paused for a second, and then continued, "Your voice is something I hate also. What you say, the things you come out with. Stupid questions, a fucking fish has a bigger brain than you! It's not as high pitched as the some of the fucking stupid girls that come here, but it's still just as whiny. The way you walk... like you own the fucking school. I hate that too. When I hear your footsteps, you walk in a certain way, a certain pattern. I know when you're near me. Samantha - God! Even your name is annoying! Everything about you annoys the crap out of me."

I was extremely hurt by the things he said. I almost did let the tears fall, but I forced myself even harder to hold them back – I couldn’t look weak now after that! Everything he said was completely unfair – he didn’t even know me! How could he say cruel things to someone – a student?

Without even thinking, I brought my hand up to his face, the sound of my palm hitting his cheek almost echoed in the room… He seemed mostly unfazed by that. Before I really thought about it, I gave a rant of my own, “You are an awful human being. You’re incredibly cruel and hurtful – I don’t even wanna know how you managed to get in to teaching if you’ve always been like this! It’s you who think owns the school. You come here scaring everybody around you, no one daring to speak up, why do you want everyone to be so afraid? Your lack of professionalism in your job is disgusting.”

My words weren’t affecting him at all, yet I continued, “And you better change your shitty attitude real soon, Gerard… The things I’ve seen you do in this classroom to other students… Iwill report you and you will be fired, not to mention the things you’ve done to me! You took advantage of me! We slept together! I am your student… your UNDERAGE student. I could go to the police after what you’ve done, and you’ll end up in prison.”

I could see that this did affect him, even if it only showed in his eyes for a second – I saw it! He was scared now. He didn’t say anything more, and I turned to leave. However, I stopped near the door and said my final piece before slamming the door on my way out, “And it’s Sam… Not Samantha!”