Love Bytes: Swap, Snoop, Swoon

Nathan

The bell rang again, that time, it was for the beginning of break. I let each row of my class leave, allowing them to leave their books on their desks and go straight to break. Once all my students had left, I walked around the room and collected the books to put them back on the shelf at the back of the room.
I picked the phone up from my desk, it had been beeping in the lesson, but I ignored it. I looked at the notifications.

WhatsApp – Pearl
You and Daryn were looking...

Who was Daryn? Why is this 'Pearl' talking about this girl and Daryl? Hmm. This should not bother me- I do not even know this girl.
I put the phone in my back pocket, stood up and left my room. I was on duty in the main cafeteria area, all I had to do was walk around and ensure that the students were not being rowdy, or on their phones, or doing anything they were not supposed to. Easy enough. As I circulated the cafeteria, I kept thinking over what resources I was going to need to take into this meeting that I had with Sahrina. I would not overthink it; I just needed to get a print off the current curriculum and take a few of the best students' books in there to show what we had covered in lessons already. That should be enough for Sahrina, shouldn't it?

Just as quickly as break started, the bell rang for the end of it. I walked back to my classroom to prepare for the next lesson I had. As I walked over the threshold of my room, however, I remembered that I was not teaching for another hour, so I sat down at my computer and sent for a printing of the English curriculum. Once that had sent, I wandered over to the back of the classroom and sifted through the books to find the students' that had been in-school every day, tried their hardest, and had good presentation. I took them to the front of the classroom and placed them on my desk in front of my computer before leaving to the library to collect my printed sheet. I got to the library and walked over to the printer, scanned myself in and waited for the curriculum to print, it was an A3 sheet, but should not take too long. After around 30 seconds, I collected the sheet and went back to my room. I had some free time, so I decided, I need to find out more about the woman who owns this phone.

I pulled the phone out of my back pocket once again, yet this time I swiped the screen, half-expecting it to be locked. When it opened straight onto her home screen, it shocked me. I assumed that she would have had a screen lock? But no, no code, no pattern, no password, no biometric lock? Strange, but convenient. As I glanced across the screen, there were many apps, she was on a lot of social media, no wonder I had never met her. She had Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Tumbler, Reddit, Discord, Pinterest; I had never used most of these apps, I was not a very- social- person. Social media, to me, seemed like a waste of time. Only recently, my friend Carter had convinced me to get Reddit, he thought I would enjoy reading the stories that people posted on there. I hate to admit that he was not wrong, however, I was not up for jumping into any other social media platforms; they are not for me.

I clicked on the Instagram icon, the screen loaded up and- wow. On the screen there were photos of her, she was gorgeous. I assumed her name was Carlise? Her username was @CarliseFotear3975, seemed like a basic one, but I was not judging. I scrolled through her profile, looking respectfully at each photograph of her. Her hair was quite long, but beautiful- it came down just past her shoulders. It suited her, she looked stunning in each and every photo. My thoughts were interrupted by a faint knock at my door. I looked up from the phone to see a young boy at my door. "You ok Leo?"
"Hi sir, uhm- can you help me?" he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear. He sounded rather nervous.
"Sure, are you ok? What do you need help with?" I stood up, placed the phone face down and edged around my desk.
"Uh- yeah. I am good, but-"
"Is everything ok? What's going on?"
"Well- Axel just told me that he is going to fight Aspen, uh, now?"
"Oh- uhm, where are they both, right now? Do you know?"
"Well, Axel is in the main hall, skipping, ready to catch Aspen in the corridor because- uh, one of his friends had texted him. Uh- that Aspen was headed to the toilet, and –uh, he told me, that when she walked past- he- uh, was going to jump her."
"Wow- you want to take me down there? We can sort this out."
"Uh- ok sir."
"Right, ok then. Thank you for coming to tell me, we will stop Aspen from getting hurt and we will have to put a sanction in place for Axel if he is trying to do such things to his peers. Are you friends with Aspen?"
"Uh- yeah, but, Axel, uh- doesn't know."
"Ok then, that is ok. Would you like to go back to lesson- actually, what were you doing out of lesson? You should have been in lesson 15 minutes ago..."
"Uh- Axel- he-"
"Did he do something to you?"
"Uh- he stopped me from going to class. He dragged me by my bag into the toilets and told me his plan. I then went to go to lesson, but he stopped me, and told me not to go yet, and to just skip with him and help him fight Aspen. Uhm- I said no- that was hard- but I followed him into the main hall- uh- and he turned around, looking for Aspen, so I ran off, and- uh- came here."
"Oh, ok then, you go to lesson and tell your teacher to email me, and I will just say I wanted to talk to you, ok?"
"Ok, sir, Thank you- uh- bye." He rushed off, Leo was a good kid.
I hastily walked down to the main hall, and just as I caught a glimpse of Axel, Aspen appeared in the corner of my eye. I looked towards her, then back at Axel. I walked over to Aspen and started talking "Hello Aspen! What lesson are you in now?"
"Hi Mr. Montgomery! I am just heading back to Chemistry with Mr. Minearle, I enjoy chemistry."
"Ok, I have been meaning to check in with him actually, am I ok to walk with you?"
"Uhm- yeah, sure. I don't see why not."
"Ok then!"
We walked down the corridor until I knew for a fact that Axel could no longer hear us. "Aspen."
"Yes sir?"
"I am going to come and pick you up at the end of this lesson to talk to you about something, so you mustn't leave this class at all before then, ok?"
"Why, sir? You are kind of scaring me."
"I was told that a certain student was planning to harm you. They are not in your lesson, but I know that they are waiting. I will collect you for your dinner 5 minutes early and let you get your food and then we will have a conversation about this, ok?"
"Oh- ok then?" I could see the fear in her eyes, mixed with confusion.
"I just must see you into this classroom, and then I will be back. Please don't worry, I will ensure your safety."
"I appreciate it sir, see you at dinner."
I opened the door to Mr. Minearle's classroom and shot him a forgiving look, to which he nodded and continued teaching. I walked back down the corridor towards the main hall; I couldn't see Axel. I walked over to reception and asked what lesson he was scheduled for right now. He was meant to be in IT. I walked up the stairs to the IT department and checked each classroom, he was scheduled to be in 2/41, Ms. Anderson. Lovely woman. I knocked on the door and quietly opened it, "Hello miss! You don't happen to have Axel Johnson in here, do you?"
"Hi there sir! I am supposed to have him now, however I had to mark him as missing- he hasn't showed up."
"I thought something of the sort. Thank you."
"No problem, sir, see you later."
"Goodbye" I slowly closed the door behind me. Where did he go? He must have known that I know. I better head to Leo's class, make sure that he got there. Oh no- I told him to get his teacher to email me- I would not have gotten it. I did not have my phone. Damnit. He was meant to be in History, I rushed down to the history corridor, to which I spotted Axel. He was stood outside of Mr. Bremmant's class- that must have been Leo's class.
"Axel."
"Oh- shit." the blood drained from his face when he saw me.
"Axel, come wi-" Before I could finish, he ran past me- barging me into the wall. ~Rude~.
I knocked on the door of Mr. Bremmant's class, to which I heard a response "Come in!"
"Hello, Mr. Bremmant. I apologise for Leo being late, I am to blame for that."
"Thank you for the confirmation, sir. I was wondering whether or not his excuse was valid due to your lack of response to my email."
"Yes! I apologise for that as well. I told him to ask you to email me but forgot that I don't actually have my phone and cannot respond. Sorry for all of the confusion."
"That's ok! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes Mr. Montgomery!"
I nodded, "See you later!"
"Goodbye."
I closed the door and headed back to the science corridor to collect Aspen. Considering this was meant to be a free period, I was exhausted and stressed.