Behind Classroom Doors

VIII

VIII

"He gave you detention again?" Jenny questions, shocked by Mr. Morgan's actions.

"Yup," I confirm, eating my Caesar salad.

"Damn girl. Sorry." I nodded absentmindedly, wondering if I should tell her about this morning.

"Liv?" I hear Dean from behind me and turn to face him. "Can I please talk to you alone?" His face holds so much regret that, despite my anger, I nod and follow him into an empty hallway. "Listen, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you." He apologizes, his eyes tell me his apology is sincere, so I decide to let it go.

"It doesn't hurt." I shrug, it's a lie, but his pained expression makes me feel worse than my arm.

"I'm so sorry," Dean repeats.

"That's not what I'm mad about." I remind him.

Dean looks down and sighs, "I'm sorry about that too." He finally caves.

"Are you? Because I don't like being treated like I did something wrong. Hunter came over and guess what? NOTHING happened!" I argue he looks me in the eyes. "Nothing! I've never been anything but loyal to you, and I don't see how you could not trust me after this long." My breathing is erratic after yelling all of that, and I instinctively look around to see if anybody had heard me. Thankfully the hallway is still empty, and everyone is either inside the cafeteria or outside to enjoy their lunch.

"I do trust you, I just don't trust them," Dean explains referring to other guys.

"That's bull if you trusted me you'd know that even if something happened, I would tell you," I respond.

"I know it's just, I get so crazy around you, I don't even like the thought of another guy looking at you." He puts his hands up to his head. "But your right," Dean comes closer to me and lightly touches both of my arms. "I'm sorry." I’m so sick of hearing his apologies.

"Promise you'll stop jumping to conclusions?" I question, and he nods.

"So you’re not mad at me anymore?" He asks lifting my chin to meet his gaze.

"No, I'm not mad at you anymore." I give in.

I didn't deserve the conversation yesterday, but we've been in fights before. I know that us being together this long has only been possible because we have forgiven each other's mistakes. And I am willing to move past this if he stops with his jealousy. No matter how mad he makes me I am not ready to give up this relationship. Not even close.

Dean looks relieved and then pained again. Then he grabs my arm and gently lifts the sleeve.

His forehead creases, making it seem like he is disgusted with himself."It's going to bruise isn’t it?" I press my lips into a firm line and nod, covering it up again so that he doesn’t have to look at it. "I hate that I did that to you." My thumb reaches up to loosen out the creases on his forehead.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It was an accident." I assure him and kiss him softly. Mr. Morgan has it all wrong, Dean won’t hurt me again. Gvf The bell rings, and he grabs my hand going to class.

------------------------

"I can't believe you have to go to detention again." Dean scoffs as we walk to Mr. Morgan's classroom.

"Well, you’re getting it tomorrow." I remind him.

"That seems reasonable I guess. I half expected him to call the principal after what he had seen." I decide not to tell him about the conversation Mr. Morgan, and I had after he had left. We stop outside of Mr. Morgan’s door. It’s closed so he can’t see Dean and me.

"I'm going to pick you up in an hour okay?" He kisses me lightly, “I’ll see you later.”

Dean turns to leave as I make my way into Mr. Morgan's classroom. The room is silent besides the soft snores coming from Mr. Morgan. I chuckle to myself, never have I caught a teacher, asleep. I can't help but smile.

Mr. Morgan has his head on his desk, breathing in the same soft rhythm. I almost feel sorry for waking him up...almost.

"Mr. Morgan," I say as I tap his shoulder. He jolts awake, a piece of paper is firmly attached to his cheek. I find myself laughing at the situation. His confused expression becomes clear when he tears the paper from his face and looks at it.

"I was reading some assignments." He justifies and I nod, trying to hide my laugh.

"Those boring, boring assignments." I joke and see a small smile form on his face. "Oh my god!" I exclaim in utter amazement, causing whatever smile there was to leave his face.

"What?"

"You smiled!" I beam, ignoring how his smile compliments his features even more. It reaches his eyes, making the green in them brighter. He shakes his head. "I didn't think you were capable of that," I say in a softer voice.

Mr. Morgan looks at me for a minute, I meet his gaze. He seems to notice he's staring and then clears his throat. "Have a seat Ms. Gardner." Mr. Morgan instructs, and I oblige, taking the seat closest to his desk.

"You know, you can call me, Livia. That is my name after all." I look up at him with a shrug. "I don't care for 'Ms. Gardner'. It's too formal." I add.

"Well, formality is my specialty." Mr. Morgan jokes and then shakes his head for the second time. "Livia...I like that name." He decides.

I give him a confused expression, "Why? It's just a normal name."

"Yeah, but it's not at the same time." Mr. Morgan sits back in his chair, putting his hands together. "It's not short for Olivia, or else you would be called Liv. Which I'm sure people still call you, but you hate it." His statement shocks me. He’s right, I hate being called Liv because of my mom.

"How did you-?" I start, but he cuts me off.

"Just a wild guess, I'm right though?" It came out as more of a question, I nod slowly. "I guess I just know what it's like to not want to go by something everyone calls you." He smirks, drinking in my expression. "Anyway, come over here, I have some papers I need you to staple."

The papers were already at his desk, so I walk over and pick up the stapler. I don't bother to read what I'm picking up, but I can tell that Mr. Morgan wouldn't have cared because he didn't warn me like yesterday.

"So," Mr. Morgan clears his throat causing me to look up at him. "Can I ask what that was about this morning?" I had almost forgotten that he witnessed the whole thing. "I can see your hiding it." He adds narrowing his gaze to my arm.

I shift in my seat feeling uncomfortable with this sudden topic. "It was nothing." I finally say. Mr. Morgan rolls his eyes in response.

"That was not nothing, he hurt you, and you’re protecting him." He argues with a judgmental tone.

"It was an accident." I shrug dismissively.

"Has he hurt you before?" Mr. Morgan questions and I immediately start shaking my head. It is none of his business.

He had a few times pryer, but it was always nothing. He sometimes grabbed me too hard and as soon as I would wince he let go. "Dean is a good guy." I defend. Mr. Morgan scoffs, and I can tell he doesn't believe me. "Why do you care?" I ask, getting upset.

"Because you’re my student and I witnessed someone hurting you. It's my obligation to worry."

Now it's my turn to scoff, "It's none of your business."

"It is when he left a bruise." I roll my eyes and staple to distract myself from getting too worked up.

"If you really cared then why didn't you call the principle?" I question hoping to make a point and drop it.

"Because you asked me not to. But you’re right maybe I should-" He reaches for the phone and I put my hand over his quickly to stop him.

"No, don't....please." I plead softly, and his eyes are now boring into mine. He takes what seems like an eternity to make up his mind and finally, he does.

I move my hand away from his, ignoring the heat I felt from it and sit back down in my seat. Without another word, I move my gaze to the stack of papers and begin stapling again. I can feel his eyes are still on me, but I pretend not to notice. He soon goes back to grading assignments, and we stay in a room filled with silence.

When the hour is finally up, I sit up from my chair and move it back to the desk where it came from. Grabbing my bag I walk to the door, stopping and turning to Mr. Morgan. "Goodbye, Mr. Morgan."

Without looking up from his work, he answers, "Goodbye, Livia."