49Author's Notes: First of all I'd like to apologize for the astronomical gap between this chapter and the last chapter but I think that I've finally found where I'm going with this. Hopefully now I'll be able to update this story more regularly and quickly. This chapter isn't really a full chapter in itself so let's call this chapter "Chapter 4 part 2". Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next part please let me know what you think.
"I . . ." For once Cody found himself speechless. He was so shocked by the instantaneous change in Charlotte from hysterical to completely calm he really had nothing to say. Maybe he over reacted? Cody didn't move.
"Fine. If you won't go then I will." Charlotte marched up to her front door and awkwardly opened it with the side of her hands so her bloody palms wouldn't leave marks on the door.
No one was home. For that Charlotte was glad. Her Mom would freak out if she saw her blood smeared palms. She would ask questions and Charlotte wasn't a good liar. Making her way over to the bathroom to wash the black gravel and sticky blood off of her hands she mumbled things like:
"Idiot . . . Make me fall over . . . Just made things worse than they already are." The blood and gravel washed off easily but she had to curse Cody again when the alcohol stung her. She took a look at the now clean wounds on both her palms and realized they were going to be hard to hide. "Idiot." she said in reference to Cody again.
Charlotte was so busy with cursing Cody to Hell that she forgot all about the situation with David . . . Momentarily, anyway. When the reality of the situation came back to her, it hit her hard. She ran up to her room and buried her face in her bed.
"I can't go back to school." Charlotte whined. "I'll just wait until Mrs. Karson comes back from maternity leave to go back." But Charlotte knew that was impossible. If she missed more than five days of that class she would fail it and that was something she couldn't afford to do. This was her senior year and failing classes was not an option. "I can do this. All the girls in the rest of the school would love to be in my situation."
But Charlotte knew that she wasn't like the rest of the girls in her school. Her mom had always called her an "Old Soul", Charlotte was the youngest of three children. She had two older sisters: Carly, who was ten years older than her and Hope who was fourteen years older than her. She grew up around intelligent conversation and brooding teens. Charlotte was a reflection of that, extremely smart and maybe just a little angsty at times.
Charlotte thought about calling one of her sisters and asking their opinion on this situation but she knew that Carly, the stay at home mom of two children would probably tell their mother and Hope, the lawyer in the family would want to file a law-suit.
"Could I tell Diana?" After a moment of thought she realized that telling Diana was probably her worst option. Knowing Diana she would be extremely jealous and probably not talk to her for weeks. Diana always did that when Charlotte got something that she wanted.
There was really no one that Charlotte could talk to about this and that was the worst part. When Charlotte kept things bottled inside it drove her insane.
"I guess there is one person I could talk to about this but I just ran away from him. How awkward would it be to drive back? He's probably not even at the school anymore." Charlotte let the idea sink in. "No! What am I thinking? The best thing to do is stay away from him. He's a teacher, a substitute teacher . . . but still a teacher. He would be leaving the school in a couple months though, right?" It was at that moment that she realized that she was having a conversation with herself. The madness was already coming on.
She tried doing homework to get things off her mind, any homework but english homework. It was a good temporary distraction but when she lay down to sleep that night her thoughts wandered back to the attractive substitute teacher with his jet black hair and sapphire eyes. His tall, lean form loomed in her mind and she imagined that if they were ever to embrace that the top of her head would probably fit snugly underneath his chin as if filling in an empty space.
Charlotte didn't get much sleep that night and when she finally managed to wake-up that morning she knew that no matter how much she hurried she was going to be late to class. As always, her first class was english and she wasn't really that sorry to be late.
For the first time Charlotte Olson was late to her english class and not just by a minute or two but by ten whole minutes. As she pushed open the door the whole class seemed to take an interest in her disheveled appearance. When Charlotte had woken up that morning and saw that school started in ten minutes she threw on an old pair of old jeans and a sweat shirt that was two sizes too big for her. She hadn't bothered to tame her curly locks or cover her freckles with make-up.
"Sorry I'm late." Charlotte muttered, taking her seat and never making eye contact with David, who was giving her a concerned look. There was an awkward silence for a moment which the class tramp Krista Hayes decided to fill in by making comments on Charlotte's appearance.
"Get caught in a tornado, Charlotte?" Krista asked unkindly, twirling her own perfectly straitened hair.
"Shut-up." Charlotte made an attempt to smooth down her unruly hair.
"Please be quiet Krista. As I was saying," David attempted to continue with his lesson. "The parallels between Gatsby's world and Fitzgerald's real life are undeniable." Krista wouldn't leave it alone though, she pressed on.
"Did you have to borrow some clothes from a homeless man? That sweat shirt is so tacky." Krista laughed and a few of her followers joined in. Charlotte bit back a retort, deciding that ignoring Krista was the best way to go.
"That's enough Krista." David said through tight lips. "If you can't be quiet maybe you can answer a question for me. What is the-" David never got the chance to ask his question, Krista decided to keep on pushing her luck.
"You could have at least tried covering up some of those hideous freckles. If I had your face I would never leave the house without make-up on." Krista's laughter was interrupted by the sound of David's hand slamming down on the desktop.
"I said that's enough Miss Hayes. Now you can leave this classroom and go to the principal's office." David furiously scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to Krista. He nodded toward the door. "Go." With an angry glare in Charlotte's direction Krista left. Charlotte knew that she'd be hearing more from Krista later. "Are you alright Charlotte?" David asked, placing a hand on Charlotte's desk and staring straight into her eyes.
"I-I'm fine." Charlotte stuttered, perfectly aware of the fact that every eye in the classroom was on her. Most were confused but as she looked at Cody she saw anger in his eyes but she quickly looked back into David's concerned face. "Really, I'm fine. Let's just get on with the lesson." With a sigh David walked back to the front of the class.
"Take out your pens." he began. "I want a one page essay from everyone about the similarities between Gatsby's life and Fitzgerald's life. It's due by the end of class." with that he sat down in his desk and was silent until the end of class.
When the bell rang signaling the end of class Charlotte tried to tried to slip out of the classroom as quickly and quietly as possible but David called after her.
"Charlotte, can you stay behind for a minute."
"Fine." Charlotte looked over her shoulder to see that half the class had taken an interest in what David wanted to say to her, including Cody. He had stopped right in front of the door but one of his friends grabbed his arm saying:
"Come on, I've got to show you something!" so Cody was pulled away and only a few stragglers putting their books away were left behind in the classroom.
"Charlotte, are you really ok?" Charlotte shuddered as David placed his hand on her arm.
"I always ignore Krista's little jibes, she tries to get everyone. It's just her way of boosting her own self esteem." Charlotte said jerking her arm out of David's grasp. David looked a little hurt but he kept on talking.
"You shouldn't let her say those things. You know their not true, right?" David moved a little closer to Charlotte.
"Of course I know that!" Charlotte took a step back from David. "I'm not some fragile little girl. I can take care of myself." Charlotte immediately felt bad for her outburst. Charlotte looked over her shoulder to make sure that no one was in the classroom listening. "Listen, I appreciate the concern but it doesn't feel quite as genuine after what you said to me yesterday. I'm not going to take your preferential treatment just because you say you're attracted to me." Charlotte whispered the last few words.
"I'm not giving you preferential treatment." David whispered back. Which was a lie and both of them knew it.
"I thought you said you were going to ignore me!"
"I can't! Krista was saying those things to you and I just couldn't take it."David balled his hands up into fists. "She can't say those things about you, you're beautiful-"
"No." Charlotte cut him off. "You can't say those kinds of things to me." Charlotte looked warily over her shoulder again.
"I know," David moaned. "I just can't help it. I can't stay away from you and I can't be around you either. I'm going to ruin any chance of a teaching career before I begin it."
"So you know what's best and I know what's best." Charlotte folded her arms over her chest. "We'll just stay away from each other. As much as humanly possible . . . If Krista starts bitching at me then you let me handle it." Charlotte couldn't believe what she was saying. She was being the adult here but she knew she couldn't risk anything. She had her road to college perfectly mapped out and a secret affair with a teacher was not on the map. That kind of thing could lead to expulsion and that wasn't worth it, even if the teacher in question was only a substitute teacher and extremely handsome and smart and caring and- She couldn't afford to think like that so she began walking toward the door, further away from David.
As Charlotte closed the door behind her the bell rang. She was late for math again.
"Well there goes my A plus." she muttered, steeling herself for her the inevitable verbal abuse and guilt trip that she would receive from her math teacher.
Math was another awful affair and of course Diana had heard about what had happened in English that morning and her constant stream of notes that she threw at Charlotte's head didn't help with her stress. She ignored Diana's notes, trying to figure out a particularly difficult equation. When class was over Charlotte pretended that she didn't notice the notes bouncing off the back her head but she didn't think Diana believed her.
The next class period passed by without much consequence it was the next class that Charlotte was dreading. Krista was in the next class and Charlotte knew, and so did everyone else in the school, that Krista never let things go. So Charlotte walked into her history class hoping to avoid Krista but knowing that it was an impossibility.
When Charlotte walked into her history class she realized that her usual seat was occupied.
"It seems to me, Krista, that you're sitting in my seat." Charlotte took a seat on the edge of the desk. To Charlotte's great surprise Krista got up almost immediately.
"You better watch out at lunch, Charlotte." was all she said before taking her seat at the opposite end of the room.
"I'm so scared." Charlotte muttered under her breath. Truth be told, she was a little afraid, if there was one thing she learned from living with two sisters was that teenage girls can be vindictive. However, this whole situation seemed supremely unfair. Krista was angry at Charlotte for getting in trouble because Krista had insulted her? It didn't make any sense but of course Krista wouldn't project her anger on the handsome Mr. David Cambridge. If Charlotte were a reckless person she would publicly flaunt a relationship with David. That would make Krista jealous. However, Charlotte was a responsible person and a relationship with a teacher, even a substitute teacher, would put a dark stain on her perfect record. Besides, Charlotte wasn't so petty as to use someone to make another person jealous. She would just have to deal with whatever Krista threw at her when it came.
Charlotte was a little jumpy around lunch time, sitting with Diana in the hall where the two of them ate lunch everyday. Charlotte thought that maybe Krista had chickened out when she noticed that there was only five minutes left until lunch as over but as soon as Charlotte stood up to get to class Krista appeared around the corner holding a bottle of soda in her hand, flanked by a couple of her sycophantic friends.
"You didn't think I was going to let you off, did you?" Krista drawled.
"Let me off for what?" Charlotte asked. "I didn't do anything. Whatever punishment you got was entirely your fault." Krista walked a little closer to Charlotte.
"The temptation of making fun of your hideous clothes was too tempting." Krista sneered. "Maybe next time you come to school you'll wear something that you didn't find in the gutter."
"You're just saying that because you have to wear expensive clothes to look pretty." Diana said from behind Charlotte. "Charlotte doesn't have to wear those kind of things to look good."
"It speaks." Krista looked past Charlotte to Diana. "It would be smarter for you to just shut-up." Charlotte appreciated Diana's support but she had just made things worse. "Listen to me, Charlotte. I don't know why David pays attention to you so much but you better stay away from him."
"Is that really what this is all about?" Charlotte couldn't believe it. "I'm not interested in him and he's not interested in me." Another lie but she wouldn't admit what David had told her to anyone, especially Krista.
"Of course he's not interested in you." Krista spat. "He just thinks you're smart. Stop being a show off. No one cares that you've read all the stupid books we're reading in class a million times. You just want his attention." and before Charlotte knew it Krista had begun to raise her bottle of soda up over my head. She braced herself for the sugary liquid to douse her hair but after a few seconds passed and nothing happened she looked up to see that someone had grabbed Krista's wrist and had prevented her from pouring her soda on her.
"What the hell are you doing Cody?" Krista screeched.
"Stopping you from being even more of a bitch." Cody extracted the bottle of soda from Krista's hand and threw it in a trash can. "Don't you think you've caused enough trouble for one day?"
"You . . ." Krista trailed off, at a loss for words. Krista had always gotten along fairly well with Cody, they were both popular and good looking. They had things in common, she thought.
"It's extremely stupid for you to be fighting over that stupid teacher." Cody spat out the last two words.
"We're not fighting over him! This is about something else entirely!" Charlotte interjected.
"Don't lie! It's obvious what's going on." Krista said angrily throwing her hands up in the air and walking away. "Stay away from me, both of you." She called over her shoulder.
"I hate confrontation." Charlotte said with a sigh, leaning against the wall.
"You ok?" Cody reached out and touched Charlotte's arm, which was what brought her back to reality.
"What did you think you were doing?" was Charlotte's loud outburst.
"What are you talking about? I was saving you from a crazy girl who was going to pour soda on your head!" Cody looked indignant.
"That's just it. I don't need saving! I can take care of myself so please won't you just leave me alone." Charlotte grabbed a lock her already frazzled hair and tugged at it out of frustration. "I don't need a man to save me. I don't need these complications, I know what I want and none of this is part of it!"
"Fine!" Cody put his hands in the air, his palms facing forward in surrender. "I'll go but before I do, let me tell you one thing." Cody's face was now inches from Charlotte's. "You can't plan every single little detail of your life, sometimes things are different from what you expect and you just have to deal with it." Cody lingered for a moment, staring directly Charlotte's my eyes. "Be spontaneous for once." he quickly turned and walked away.
He had left her speechless and all she could do was glare after him. When Charlotte regained the power of speech all she could do was say:
"Jerk."
Diana, who had been standing quietly behind Charlotte, spoke up.
"Really? Are you serious?" she asked.
"What are you talking about?" Charlotte said picking up her bag and walking in the direction of her next class.
"Cody just saved you from Krista-" Charlotte tried interrupting Diana but Diana wouldn't let her. "I know you didn't 'want saving'," Diana made air quote around the last two words. "But he did something nice for you and all you can do is call him a jerk?"
"Well what do you expect? Did you hear what he just said to me?" Charlotte was surprised at Diana. Diana always agreed with her, it was so unlike her say these things.
"You made him mad because he tried to help you and you shoved his help back in his face. I think you still see him as the boy who pulled your hair back in fifth grade but that was years ago."
"Fine, take his side." Charlotte continued walking away from Diana. "I'll see you later."
Charlotte felt awful after her confrontation with Diana. During her last class of the day all she could think about was how mean she had been to her.
'But really," Charlotte thought. 'Taking Cody's side like that. Saying maybe he was trying to make things right? That's absurd.' Charlotte couldn't believe that Diana had been taken in by Cody. He could be charming when he wanted to be but Diana knew he was, for lack of a better word, a cad.
Charlotte decided she was going to apologize to Diana. Of course Diana would accept the apology and then they would forget everything and talk about how stupid Cody and Krista were . . . but Diana didn't want to accept Charlotte's apology.
"No." Diana said with a shake of her head outside their french classroom after school. "I can't talk to you right now. You have been impossible to hang out with these past few months. I mean you've always had a one-track mind and you've always held grudges but you always used to be nice. I don't know what it is but you're just not yourself lately."
"I just am stressed . . ." Charlotte muttered.
"Well don't bother talking to me until you figure yourself out, ok? I can't take this new Charlotte." Diana walked away before Charlotte could say another word.
Charlotte didn't want to go home so she walked over to the school library and pretended to read a book but really she was going over all the different ways she could apologize to Diana. However, when the librarian shooed Charlotte out of the library at 3:30 she found herself in the now empty halls.
Still not wanting to go home, Charlotte wandered over to her locker to grab her books but she regretted it. Upon opening her locker she was greeted by picture after picture of her and Diana that she had taped up in her locker.
There was a picture of her and Diana on their first day of kindergarten, Charlotte's curly hair had been pulled back into a pony-tail at the top of her head and Diana's stick strait hair was fashioned into pigtails. There was another picture of her and Diana on the beach at eleven years old, another where they were fifteen heading off to their first high school dance. There were so many that looking at all of them made Charlotte's head spin. Diana had been there for Charlotte every step of the way and now Charlotte was treating her like dirt. This was all her fault. Charlotte slammed her locker shut and rested her head against it.
"It's all my stupid fault." Charlotte whispered as a flood of tears burst forth.
"Charlotte?" she heard a man's voice and immediately tried to stem the flow of tears running down her cheeks. "Charlotte, are you crying?"
"Go away." Charlotte said thickly. She turned to see the man who was speaking to her and a gasp caught in her throat. This man was the last person in the world that she wanted to see at that moment. "Please just go. I don't want to talk to you right now."