Chapter 5 - Exposed
946 Words
"What school did you teach at prior to this one?"
"Amalada, the all girl school," Emma explained, chewing her food in-between her words before adding, "very different environment."
Kara had been questioning her on her teacher's footprints, and Emma didn't mind; finding a new friend was always interesting, considering that she didn't have any after her prior relationship ended. Plus, Kara seemed intrigued by her, and having someone remotely interested in her life was enough for Emma to drop all her guards.
"I've heard of it—why d'you leave?"
Now that was something Emma did not want to get into. She shrugged her shoulders, "Issues."
"What type of issues?"
"Things happened, and I—"
"She cheated on her ex-husband with a colleague from her old school." Both of them heard the arrogant voice she had hoped she would not cross in the teacher's lounge, but unfortunately, he had to enter the lounge at the moment Kara and Emma were talking about her past.
But that was not the problem.
The problem was the fact that many members of the faculty were in the lounge, and a bunch of eyes turned to stare at Emma, who's face became a bold red and she felt her heart begin to pound, ringing in her ears. The silence filled the air with tension, and the smirk on Dr. Walter's face was enough to cause her eyes to glint with tears. Her fingers quivered at her sides, but she had to restrain her fists from landing on his face; it was not a good appearance as her new job to assault a colleague, and instead she stormed to her feet and headed for the door.
"No, Emma come on—"
Emma slammed the door behind her, causing all of them to turn towards Dr. Walker who had a strained smile, scratching the back of his head, "Um...just kidding?"
"Why would you say that, Dylan," Kara spat, furrowing her eyes.
Another teacher grabbed her food and began heading for the door, "That was extremely disrespectful. As a teacher, that behaviour is unacceptable. I will make certain to mention this to Principal Reese."
Dr. Walker widened his arms, "I said I was kidding."
"She's a woman," Charles from the math department spoke, heating his food in the microwave before taking a seat on the couches, "have some sort of filter regardless of its that's true or not. That's none of your business."
"I'll apologize, relax guys," he murmured, embarrassed as he sluggishly walked to Kara's table.
Except, all their eyes had been diverted from Dylan and to Bradley. He had been sitting in the corner with a novel in his hand, as he did every lunch breaks. Oddly enough, he closed his novel, stood from his seat and quietly began heading towards the door.
Emma had returned to her classroom, angrily mumbling curse words to herself, things she should have said to Dylan rather than running away. She used to have such fierceness to her, bold enough to tell any men anything that came to her mind. Unfortunately, ever since her divorce, she never really had been the same.
Now all these memories were returning, and she pressed her palms against her face, attempting to halt the embarrassing tears. Even her throat now had a lump, and she cursed under her breath again.
Until she heard quiet knocks on her door, and suddenly it opened, "Can I come in?"
Emma turned away without eyeing who it was, "I'd rather if you didn't."
"I just came to make sure you were okay." When she glanced in his direction, she was surprised to see Bradley, one hand gripping his novel and the other one stuffed inside his pocket. He pushed his glasses further along his bridge, approaching her and stopped in front of her desk, "You alright?"
"Yea," she sighed, chuckling quietly. "I'm just being a baby."
"No, you're fine. It's uncalled for that another teacher finds it appropriate to embarrass another teacher in that manner. Regardless of if it's true or not, that's personal business. Besides, if it is true, how does he know that anyway?"
That made Emma freeze for one moment; how did he know that? She had never even met this guy in her life before, and she couldn't remember even seeing him anywhere.
So how did he even know about Liam?
"I'm not sure either," Emma lowered her head, planting her forehead against the desk. "I just hope I don't get judged. I promise I'm a good person I just...have been through things that changed me."
"Don't worry about it honestly, people were scolding him in the lounging room so you're fine." He reached over and pressed his palm against her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly, "We're all here to welcome you, don't get bothered by that. We know how he is, most of us ignore him honestly."
That caused Emma to chuckle, attempting to ignore the tingles that filled her entire body when touched her, "You just ignored him?"
"I'm not friends with him personally, but I've heard a few stories about him." He began stepping towards the door, "If he ever bothers you again, just let me know." Then, he smiled, and Emma's breath fell caught in her throat. She attempted to speak back, but only an airy chuckle left her mouth, and she simply smiled back.
She memorized every single shifts of his back muscles as he turned away and left her classroom.
And Dylan, who had left the teacher's lounge to apologize to Emma, stopped at the end of the hallway when he watched Bradley leave her classroom with a childish grin on his face.
- Writer
