Black Velvet

I was in 4th period gym class, sitting on the bench listening intently to Alex's rambling about her week. I hung my blazer up on one of the hooks, moving my tie to the side to loosen it before slipping it over my head. I watched as Alex moved towards the mirror, her make up bag perched under her arm.

"Move," she ordered, pushing through a small group of girls who were already there. They moved worriedly, scuttling back to the bench they had been getting changed at. I got changed as well, folding my uniform neatly as we were allowed to wear our gym clothes for the rest of day.

"Come on ladies! Track isn't going to run itself!" Miss. Hellford yelled, clapping her hands and jogging on the spot. We all milled out groaning, especially myself. I had always hated running. Gym Class in my old school had never been as bad because our Gym teacher was in her late fifties and was understanding of people who didn't want to take part. Miss. Hellford was the opposite of that.

"Come on Mia, running's good for you and you really need some muscle tone on that little body of yours," Alex laughed, stretching and warming up. I pulled my arm across my neck, pushing on my elbow to stretch it.

"I hate running," I groaned, starting a slow jog with her around the field. As per usual, everyone slowly over took me and I started to walk instead of jog. Keeping a close eye on everyone I waited until my gym class had gotten so competitive they were all in the same general place on the track before I sulked off towards the bottom of the field.
Off in the distance I could see Mr. Way sat on the bench on the left side of the Art block. He waved at me and I walked towards him. He smiled as I approached.

"Not a gym girl huh?" he grinned.

"Do I look like a gym girl to you?" I asked, rolling my eyes and sitting next to him.

"I'm not entirely sure what a gym girl looks like! You look great though," he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. I blushed, redoing my hair quickly to try and do something with my hands.
"Thanks," I mumbled. I looked up to see Alex staring at me from the track. Her hands were on her hips and although I couldn't see her expression I could tell she wasn't happy, "Oh god," I muttered.

"She going to give you a hard time about coming over here?" Mr. Way questioned.
"I don't know, probably, she doesn't really like it when things don't go her way," I replied awkwardly, "I think she expects us to be life long gym buddies," I then said, glancing back at her, watching as she began to jog again.

"I get that," he chuckled, "you know there are other students in this school, ones that may be more suited to your personality," he then carried on, his tone careful. I dithered before I replied, gratefully accepting a crisp from the packet he offered to me.

"I know that but Alex seems really strict on who I talk to," I mumbled, biting the crisp in half.

"Speak of the devil," Mr. Way laughed. I looked up to see Alex strutting over to me quickly, her arms folded across her chest, "come to my art room after school, I have something you might like," he said to me quickly before grinning, "Afternoon, Alex," he smiled brightly.

"Mr. Way you do realise you're distracting Mia from being healthy right?" Alex said, her neat eyebrows raised.

"I didn't realise, no," he chuckled, putting the last bit of sandwich into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"Why are you eating crisps as well? Junk food just stays in your system and makes you feel like shit," she pointed out, flicking the remaining half of the crisp I was holding out of my hand.

"Sorry, they were mine -I forgot how you girls are always on strict dieting," Mr. Way teased.

"It's not strict dieting it's a sensible one," Alex spat, tugging me up by wrist, "come on," she ordered. I stood up lazily and started trudging back towards the track with her, "you really need to stop lingering around that man, he's creepy. Plus it kind of makes you look like a loser and you don't want people thinking of you like that, do you?" she told me, her eyes icy.

"I guess not," I mumbled, casting my eyes down.

"I'm not trying to upset you babe, just don't be dumb, it makes me look bad too," she stopped in her tracks and grabbed my shoulders, trying to hold my eye contact.

"Okay," I swallowed, feeling uneasy and also unsure of why I was letting her talk to me like she was.

"I'm so excited for us to be friends! Come on!" she grinned, starting to jog again. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mr. Way had left his bench.

After Gym I found myself in my last class of the day, Geography. I was actually happy to be away from Alex for once. With the finding of my new friend group I also came to realise no one else in the school wanted to talk to me. I tried to strike up conversation with people but all I got was a shy nod or mumbled answer. It put me on edge, knowing I had no friends outside of Alex's group. Even though these thoughts nagged at me throughout Geography I was excited to go and see Mr. Way at the end of day. As soon as the bell rung I packed my stuff into my backpack and flew out of the classroom. The corridors were still relatively empty seeing as I was one of the first students out and I made use of this, blindly strolling through them until I reached the courtyard.

I knocked timidly on Mr. Way's classroom door, my face pink and heart pounding from running so quickly to his classroom.

"Come in!" he called through the door, I stepped in shyly. Suddenly I wished I had checked in a mirror to see how I looked before letting him see me in such a pink, melted state. "You came!" he grinned, ushering me over and closing the door.

"Yeah, I did," I smiled, vaulting up on one of desks. He leant against his own desk, his arms folded.

"I'm glad, I thought Alex may have handcuffed herself to you," he said, grinning cheekily.

"I'm sure that's next to come," I said shiftily looking down at my feet that were dangling off the desk, "No one else really talks to me beside her, I should probably be nice," I then said, swallowing and looking at him in the eye.

"Why isn't anyone speaking to you?" he questioned, his held tilted to one side.

"I think they're a little intimidated by Alex and I guess they think I'm the same," I told him.

"That's not great," he murmured, unfolding his arms, "maybe this will cheer you up," he then added. His body moved swiftly and he retrieved what looked like a cardboard shoe box with a piece off cloth over the top.

"What is it?" I asked curiously. He came over slowly, steadily before leaning down carefully beside me. He set the box down beside me and carefully drew back the cloth. Inside was ripped up cardboard, sawdust and cotton wool, a small mouse buried inside half of a toilet roll tube.

"I found him earlier, there was a nest around the back of the Art block which got destroyed by a fox or something. Anyway, this little guy was left and he's hurt his leg," he explained.

"What's he got to do with me?" I questioned, gently stroking it with my edge of my thumb.

"He was alone and I can't take him back to mine, my wife won't let me," he started, shrugging as he said it, "-but I thought you seemed kind of lonely as well, he's only a baby, it may be good to have something to concentrate on... plus you were the first person that popped into my head," he then finished, standing up and sitting next to me on the desk.

"Why was I the first person you thought of?" I asked him apprehensively.

"You've been on my mind lately I guess," he then said, placing the cloth delicately over the box again.

I didn't want to question him any further on why I had been on his mind, I was just happy that I been.

"He's cute, I'll look after him," I smiled, plopping down from the desk quietly.

"What shall we call him though?" Mr. Way asked, cocking his eyebrow expressively, "I don't know if you've ever seen the television show House but the main guy in that has a limp and seeing as our new addition also has a limp we could call him Greg? Is that lame?" he laughed, also standing up opposite me.

"I've seen it, Greg it is," I chuckled, picking up the box carefully with both my hands.

"You and Greg going to be okay walking home?" he then questioned, winking. I laughed and nodded, trying contain my smile from over taking my face. He looked at me a moment longer, his hands reaching up before he cautiously tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. My heart raced and I swallowed all my saliva worriedly, "get home safe," he murmured, stepping aside and letting me hurry out of the classroom.

Notes

let me know what you think! hope you've all had a great week