"Have we met before?"
The words snapped Elijah from his trance, he jumped back with his hand covering his mouth.
Meanwhile — Samuel mumbled under his breath,
"That's so gay…"
James heard what Samuel said, his mouth trying to resist his urge to not laugh.
"I know right, like what's with the sexual tension?"
"You heard that?"
The two friends whispered to the other, joking about the tension between Elijah and Damian.
Who is that? Esther was genuinely confused — who was this guy, and why did it seem like him and Elijah knew eachother from somewhere?
"Sorry, what did you say your name was again?" Elijah asked, his eyes squinting, trying to get a better look.
"It's Damian," he paused before adding,
"Damian Miller."
Elijah's eyes widened at the boy, realisation hitting him like a truck at full speed.
Damian Miller was a boy in his summer camp, he was his friend before Damian had to move cities.
"What was yours?"
"It's Elijah Smith.." Elijah stammered, he doubted that Damian would remember him. The only reason he couldn't forget Damian was because of a small present he was given on his 7th birthday.
Damian's thoughts were running all over the place, trying to find that time he first met Elijah.
Although he couldn't exactly remember the memories he had with Elijah, he knew the boy.
He could never forget that day when they were sitting on the fence eating the ice-cream the counsellor had given out, how his smile was as sweet as sugar, how the sun's setting glow shined onto the boy's eyes, making them look like a pool of honey.
Din, Din, Din!
The school's intercom went on, the noisy hallway became quieter.
"Will all students please make their way to their classes. I repeat, will all students please make their way to their classes."
"When all students are present, will the teachers mark the attendance and send it to the secretary in the office."
"I guess that's our sign to get to class."
"Oh wow Samuel, we really needed a 'genius', like Sherlock Holmes over here, to tell us that." James said in a sarcastic voice as he rolled his eyes.
"Jeez James, you didn't have to break my heart like that." Samuel looked down, his forhead wrinkled and his hands placed on his heart dramatically.
"Oh my god—d!" James whined, as he stretched the word 'god'.
——
The group seperated when they reached the 600's, because for some odd reason the school decided that the rooms should not be in order.
Goodness gracious, if God exists, please change my class, I do not want to be stuck with these gay motherfuckers.
Thoughts like this ran through Samuel's mind, he'd much prefer it if he was with his best friend, James.
The way the dark room would glow when he walked in, and how his smile was so contagious you'd just have to smile with him too.
And his laugh. Oh, how Samuel loved that cheeky laugh of his.
He let out a deep sigh, catching the attention of the other two.
"Are.. you okay, Samuel?" Elijah asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just heard some bad things about the homeroom teacher by my friends, apparently, she doesn't let kids drink water."
Elijah looked a bit concerned, but Damian tried to lighten up the atmosphere between the three.
"I mean, maybe there's a reason?"
"Damian, no amount ofcontext could save that.."
"You're right. Drinking water is a need of survival."
"Sometimes I forget to drink water, so my mom decided to download an app that reminds you to drink water." Elijah said as if it was a normal thing for everyone.
"It didn't work though, cause during the summer I went 10 hours without water."
"WHAT?! "
"Stop screaming in the poor guy's ears, Damian."
"That's not normal the fuck?"
"I've went through 13 hours without water once."
"I can't go through an hour without drinking water.."
"GOOD FOR YOU!" The two said in unison.
"Stop shouting you three and get to your classes!" The monitor from across the hallway yelled.
"Sorry!"
The three scurried towards their classroom, laughing along the way.
Then they saw it, room 601.
They entered the classroom, the teacher wasn't there yet.
The three saw that there wasn't any assigned seats in this classroom, so they sat next to eachother.
Elijah mumbled under his breath,
"I wonder where the teacher went off to."
"Did you say something?"
"Huh? Oh, no, sorry."
"You don't have to apologise to the douchebag, Elijah."
"Sorry… it's a habit."
"Don't worry, just remember to not say it for things that aren't your fault."
The door slammed open, the slightly loud classroom was so quiet now that you could hear a pin drop.
"Sorry I'm late, class!"
It was a man who looked as if he was in his late 30's to his early 40's, he had a rather thick accent, but it perfectly fit his looks.
"I'm Mr. Wright. And yes, I am from Britain before anyone asks about my accent."
Mr. Wright put his bag down and grabbed a whiteboard marker.
"I will be your English and homeroom teacher. During homeroom, I will be taking your attendance, answering any questions you have, doesn't matter if they are related to school or not, I will still answer them, and I will be sharing advice about your exams and studying methods."
"Yo, what the eff Samuel? I thought that we were having a different teacher?"
Mr. Wright turned his face to the class, putting down the whiteboard marker after he had written his name.
"I heard that, Damian."
Samuel and Elijah tried their best not to laugh at the poor boy getting called out on the first day.
"But, you are correct, you were meant to have a different teacher."
"Mr. Wright, may I ask, why we were meant to have a different teacher?"
"Good question Jackson, she was arrested for CSA, also known as Child Sexual Abuse."
"…May I ask what her name was, Mr. Wright.?"
Elijah's stomach churned at the mention of CSA, it brought him back to the time he was crying in the corridor of the room, his hair was a mess, his clothes wrinkled and dirty, his face and limbs bruised.
"If the class agrees, I can tell you."
The class was agreeing with the decison of knowing the name of their supposed to be teacher.
"Well, her name was Eliana Jones."
Elijah's face turned white as a ghost, his old teacher who had sexually assaulted him when he had been a victim of bullying, was meant to be hsi homeroom teacher.
His throat closed, and his stomach hurt more than it could ever, his eyes darkening in fear. He could feel the vomit building up in his body.
"May I go to the washroom, sir..?
Mr. Wright saw the pained expression on his student's face, it hurt him to see a child who was no older than 15, go through a struggle on the first day.
"You don't need permission to go to the toilet in my class."
Elijah wobbled out of the classroom, trying his best to not fall all the way to the washroom, he fought back the tears but the disgusting feeling of her hands on his body made him want to recoil and hurl up in a ball right then and there.
He reached the toilets and his tears fell, he tried his best to not make any sounds as he cried. He fell onto the floor of the bathroom stall and vomitted violently, his hair getting in the way of his sight.
His hands trembled as he got his medication from his back pocket, he opened it and tried to get one tablet and not spill it everywhere.
——
When Elijah had calmed down, he looked at his watch, he had been in there for 25 minutes, Homeroom was about to be over.
He stumbled trying to get up, worried what others might think at why he was gone for so long.
As he walked back to class, he saw Mr. Wright at the door. His hands crossed and leaning on the door.
Elijah walked to the classroom, his swollen eyes slightly burning and a mild headache.
"Elijah, please come here."
Elijah hesitated but walked to Mr. Wright anyway.
"Elijah, do you want to walk with me for a while?"
"…"
Elijah just slowly nodded at the teacher.
"Do you want to tell me about what happened during class? If you're not comfortable you don't have to." Mr. Wright said as he walked with Elijah to the bench nearby.
"…I don't know if I want to tell you.. you could tell others for all I know."
"Elijah, look at me, I will take whatever you told me to the grave."
Elijah looked at his teacher, his brown eyes full of worry but a glimmer of hope at the same time.
When they reached the bench, Elijah was scared on what his teacher would do with the information, but he told him anyway. He started with the bullying and how he tried to tell his teacher, Eliana Jones, what had happened but had gotten ignored, and how she had looked at him with lust. He slightly mentioned the sexual assault and had to compose himself before talking anymore.
"Elijah," Mr. Wright said comfortingly,
"As long as I'm here, I promise, I will not allow anyone, anyone at all to touch you in any sort of shape or form. I just want you to know that if there's anything bothering you, please tell me and I can- No, I will get it sorted out."
When hearing Mr. Wright's words, Elijah felt a sense of comfort.
Mr. Wright held Elijah in a conscientious way, the warmth from his body made Elijah feel safe with Mr. Wright.
"Now, what do you say we get back to class?"
Elijah gave a small nod, his body still tense.
They walked to the classroom, everyone chattering happily and laughing, some kids were throwing notes and paper airplanes to each other.
"Attention class!"
The class abruptly stopped whatever mischevief they were doing and turned their heads to the teacher.
"Okay class, take out your textbooks and flip them to the introduction."