My highschool was odd for a couple reasons. Firstly, it was an outdoor campus. If you've never gone to a school like that, here's a description.
There are several buildings that make up the highschool, different buildings for different subjects usually. Between those buildings are cement walkways, bathrooms, lunch benches with umbrellas, open grassy areas, an outdoor auditorium, some trees, a track for gym, and some basketball hoops.
It was pretty, and probably helpful for a lot of teens to not have to shamble around in tight hallways, instead getting some vitamin D by walking around outside. If you're curious, they did have an inside area for when the weather was bad.
During lunch and the morning break time, you could go anywhere you wanted to sit and relax with friends! It was nice to have a bit of freedom, walking out and about, eating where you pleased and choosing who you ate with.
That brings me to the other odd thing about my highschool.
Everyone. Fucking. Sucked.
It seemed like everyone was this hive mind, shifting from one trend to the next, one act of douchebaggery to the next, and I was the only one not in this hive mind. I didn't understand them. No one dared understand me.
I guess I was one of the weird kids, goth, emo, punk, whatever. I wore dark clothes so I wouldn't stand out. I liked edgy shit, I wasn't a heels-wearing spray tanned priss. Not adapting to basic 'pretty' stuff didn't make you
unpopular
, though. There were other black-clad socially awkward kids like me. But, ironically, I didn't even fit in with the other goth cliques. I was a loner.
I made a few friends over the years, most, ironically, were not originally from this school, but transferred in. It was funny, I, an outsider, could only make friends with other outsiders. Unfortunately, they always seemed to leave. I could never attain friends who stayed in one school. They always left.
I had a couple acquaintances, but by the end of senior year, I really didn't have anyone. Even during partner projects in class, I'd do it by myself. My teachers didn't even care that I was doing the work of two people by myself. They silently caught on. I was weird. I was not to be bothered. I worked by myself, but not by my own choice. I talked with no one, I was friends with no one, and no one attempted to know me. Even the few boyfriends I'd date always went to another school. Having gotten out of my longest relationship just a few months prior, I was back to little to no social interaction.
I was alone.
With our freedom of campus, can you guess where I'd sit?
A, crowded lunch tables. B, on the grass in little groups. C, Off to the side, then played some basketball. D, In the library reading/playing computer games.
If you guessed none of the above, you're correct! I sat against the wall to a quiet building, eating my lunch and doing my homework.
The first day, when I realized the tables filled up in two seconds flat, I decided to explore. I went to the building where my next class was after lunch, math, and I sat a good 30 feet away from it waiting for class to begin.
The math building wasn't very populated, being a good three minute walk away from the main tables, no one ever came over here. It was quiet. An occasional teacher would pass by, but that's it.
I liked it here. I guess.
I was just a few months away from graduation. I was so, so close. Obviously I was excited to get out of a school I hated.
Today was a particularly windy day, I had a bit difficulty keeping my papers in line as I worked/ate. Same with eating, it was getting a bit difficult to keep my wrappers from flying away.
"Oh
fuck!
" I gasped as one of my worksheets took to the sky. I slapped my supplies down, running after it. It only took me a few steps to grab it, thank God. It wasn't the first time I had to spring up to catch something, though.
I checked the time on my phone.
30 minutes left of lunch...fuck this.
The wind whipped at my knees as I went to sit down again. It was
supposed
to be early summer late spring so I had worn some black shorts, but this wind was particularly frigid.
I resumed my work, eating occasionally. Then, I saw a figure moving a few yards away.
It was my math teacher returning to his classroom, Mr. Alderman.
I smiled unconsciously. He was one of the few teachers I genuinely liked. He made math interesting somehow, and had never made me feel unequal to my loudmouth peers.
He began unlocking his door, then noticed my dark presence off against a wall. He looked up and smiled at me.
"Hi there Alice! Kinda cold today huh?"
"Hi! Yeah, it really is."
He looked down again, unlocking his door and swinging it open. He paused.
"Did you...want to come inside? I'd hate to see any of your stuff blow away, what with the fierce winds out here and all. You can wait in here for class to start."
Mr. Alderman was always nice to me, and the bitter air was pretty annoying. Why not?
"Sure, I'd love to! Let me gather up my stuff!" I scrambled to get my stuff together.
Finally, warmth!
I followed him inside, him locking the door behind us. He sat down at his desk, opening a container, probably his lunch.
I sat in my usual seat in the middle of class. I set up all my papers and my lunch, eating and working. After a few minutes, he broke the silence.
"Your birthday was recently, wasn't it? I always forget to do the class birthday thingies."
"Oh yeah, last month!"
"18 now, right? Are you excited to be an adult and have your freedom? Graduation's coming up pretty fast for you guys huh?"
"Haha, I guess so, everyone still treats me like a stupid kid though. My parents can't decide if I should be acting like a mature adult, or if I'm still too young to be on my own. Yeah, I'm very excited to graduate."
"Aha, yeah. I remember feeling that way at your age."
How old was Mr. Alderman anyways? His looks said mid forties, he was witty and quick on his feet, obviously very intelligent to be a math teacher. I had a bit of trouble discerning his age. Roughly a minute passed before he spoke again.
"I'll miss you when you graduate, Alice. It was nice having you in my class."
Well, that was unexpected. I was a bit lost for words. I wasn't the type of student to leave an impression on anyone.
"...r-really? I don't really talk much or...anything."
"That's not bad at all. You're smart judging by your grades, everything is on time, and you actually act like you care about your schooling. You don't talk too much, sure, but then at least you aren't like some of your more annoying, outspoken classmates. It's nice to have students who are polite and try hard."
I wasn't expecting any compliments today. Especially not from, well, he was definitely my favorite teacher now!
"...thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. I do try hard on my grades. I, uh, have a question. What is it you're eating? It smells really good."
"It's eel sushi. Ever had any?"
"O-Oh yeah! I have! I thought it smelled familiar." I absentmindedly put my finished lunch away and turned to my work to focus. Might as well keep up that productivity and good grades he praised me for-
"Did you want any? I think I made too much, and it's in individual pieces so you wouldn't be touching any of my germs."
I...how could I say no? I agreed and thanked him, making my way up to the front. He began pulling out a spare chair for me. He handed me a spare plastic fork, and I sat down. As soon as I was in close contact with him, I could smell him.
I love manly cologne like that...
He motioned for me to push a few pieces off to one side of his plate, which I did. I took a bite of one. I loved sushi but...damn this was really good!
"T-This is super good! Did you say you made it? You're so talented!"
He chuckled and dismissed me with a wave. "Ah, thank you. Life gets boring when you're a bachelor so you pick up some skills."
Odd, he seems like the kind of nice man who would have a loving family and be a great dad. They say you're a better teacher if you have kids since you understand the younger generations...and judging by how great he was at teaching, he should have about 10 kids.
I ate next to him happily, making idle chit chat every few minutes. This was nice. I can't remember the last time I ate with someone and really enjoyed it.
I glanced over at him. He had warm, kind eyes and a big smile when he talked about things he liked. It was always a compliment in itself for him to smile at you in class, whether you asked a good question or answered correctly. He had that effect on people.
He leaned forward to take another bite. I watched his body. Mr. Alderman had wide shoulders that stretched his button up shirt, appearing to be well built and agile.
Hot- no, Alice, no thinking about your teacher like that.
He glanced down at my legs. I felt my cheeks become hot as he stared intently at my bare thighs.
"Are you regretting wearing shorts today?"
"Oh, ah, yeah," I swept my bangs out of my eyes. "I hate this time of year when the weather can't decide to be decent or not. I just want summer to come, I don't care if it's hot I just want rid of this weird weather!"
My teacher laughed, sitting back in his chair. "Weather does get unpredictable around this time of year...do you like wasabi at all with sushi? Honestly for me it's just too spicy, I only prefer normal soy sauce."
I nodded, swallowing the piece in my mouth. "I'm the same, though I took a bit of time to get used to soy sauce, I didn't like it from the get-go."
Mr. Alderman nodded. "It's an acquired taste, I'm sure. I actually have some soy sauce in my bag, did you want any?"
"Oh yes! I'd love some!"
Fuck yeah, soy sauce!
This was turning into a wonderful day, over just one lunch.
Sure enough, he pulled out a brand new bottle of soy sauce and began attempting to open it.
He grunted, clearly having some trouble with it. I looked on intently, and I was about to ask if he wanted help when it went
pop
! Oh shit, it broke! I saw the soy sauce flying free in an arch before landing directly between my legs and splashing on my seat.
