The Coach

Martha Fights

Zoey

    Dinner was amazing, and the company was even better. We arrived to my apartment and Sebastian was a gentleman enough to accompany me to the door. His mom must be proud of him. One thing we never talked about at dinner was his parents. I wonder why they were never mentioned.

    I opened the door and turned around to face him. He was standing there, looking as handsome as ever, with that smile that melted my heart from the very first moment I met him in that office.

    "Well, this is me. Thank you for dinner, I had a good time" I said, leaning my head on my door and looking at him with hooded eyes.

    "I enjoyed your company. Thank you for accepting to go out with me, it really meant a lot" he replied, taking his hands out of his pocket and reaching for my waist. My heart was all over the place, and before I could even react, he had his lips on mine.

    "I will see you tomorrow" he said, caressing my chin as I nodded. I hoped it wouldn't be awkward when we are together in school. He gave me one more kiss on my forehead before he left. I closed the door and leaned to it, thinking about our confession.

    I was also scared. He comes from money, and he is a famous architect, and I am just..me. A simple teacher with a low bank account and not as pretty as other women. I took a warm shower and got changed. The bruise on my ribs was healing but still hurting.

    I decided to ignore it and go to sleep. There was no point in complaining anymore. It would go away soon.

******

    I walked in the classroom and saw a rowdy crowd in the middle of it. I decided to drop my things on the desk and squeezed in between the students to see what caused the commotion, when I saw Martha hitting Harold, one of the boys.

    "Martha!" I called while trying to get her off him. She was kicking and screaming, until I was able to hold her back, "Gale, go to Mr. Gibson's office!"

    He hurried to the office, and I sat Martha on one of the chairs until she calmed down. She was breathing erratically and started to sob in my arms. I rubbed her back, but was conscious that this kind of behavior was unacceptable.

    Alex walked in to see what had occurred and he saw Martha with her head down, and Harold had an ice pack I had given him to soothe his face.

    "Can someone explain what happened here?" he asked, looking at both of my students. I leaned against the desk and waited until the situation was dealt with. None of them wanted to say a word, so we stayed until someone spoke.

    A few minutes later, Sebastian walked in, and he headed towards Martha. He still had his coach outfit on, and I saw how his biceps glistened under the light.

    "What happened?" he asked, looking at Alex and then me.

    "Martha was punching Harold," I replied, with my arms folded on my chest, "I don't condone this kind of behavior in my classroom, Mr. Bradford"

    Calling him by his surname was uncomfortable after the kisses we have shared. He narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "Now you are calling me by my surname?"

    "We are attending a professional matter, and as much as I love Martha, I can't let her get away with it" I was acting like a total jerk, but I needed to act like her teacher, not her friend at the moment, and it really hurt my heart to see her like that.

    "I am sure there is a valid explanation for it. She has been bullied for days now, I wouldn't be surprised if she was being harassed again," he said, anger coming out of his pores. Especially anger towards me.

    "Okay, let's hear what she has to say" Alex mentioned, and I looked down, not daring to look at Sebastian in his eyes. He needed to understand that I couldn't give the kids special treatment.

    "Well, Martha. Tell us what happened" I asked her and shrugging her shoulders she spoke.

    "He was telling me to stop being a retard and go and disappear," she said, and I looked at Harold to confirm it. He did not want to look at me and that gave me the information I needed.

    "Well, Martha, I am sure his parents will be happy to know he has been bullying kids in this classroom and who knows if in the entire school," at the mention of this, he looked up with his eyes wide open, and begged me not to tell his parents.

    "It's okay, Miss Torres. There is no need, I am sure he learned his lesson. I just want to go home," she said, and Sebastian took her. I followed them to the car to make sure she was okay.

    "Sebastian, I am-"

    "It's Coach Bradford for you. Martha needs me so if you excuse me, I have to go home" he said, and without another word, he got in the car and drove off. I needed to make it up to her, but he had to understand I had a job to do, and as a teacher, I needed to solve the problem.

    I walked into the classroom and finished the class. We called Harold's parents and explained the situation. I was glad they understood and scolded him for what he did to Martha.

    At the end of the school day, I decided to stop by the pizza place and get a pepperoni party pizza and next to it there was a liquor store, so I stopped to buy beer. I was not sure how he would like cheap beer, but I had to try.

    I drove off to his apartment, and with nerves in my body, I knocked at the door. To my luck, he opened and lifting the beer and showing him the box of pizza I smiled at him.

    "Peace offering?"