It's Always Been You

Chapter 21

The following afternoon, Ben received a call from the principal's office, to meet in her office 'for a chat'. He groaned, but couldn't help feeling a little anxious. Student or not, it's not that great to be called into the principal's office.

Mrs. Rodriguez greeted him when he entered the admin building and let him know Mrs. Nelson was waiting in her office. He ignored her grin and moved around the secretary's desk and walked into Mrs. Nelson's office. Ariana was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the principal's desk.

He eyed her curiously.

"Thanks for coming, Ben. Could you close the door please?" Mrs. Nelson instructed.

Ben shut the door softly and sat down in the empty chair beside Ariana.

Mrs. Nelson smiled at both of them. "I'm sure you two know why I asked you to come by today."

Neither Ariana or Ben said anything.

"Now, I know you're both aware of our policies on romantic relationships at work."

Ben gulped.

"I know it's just rumors, but regardless. If there is something, we won't stop it, but please use discretion. This is a learning environment and we cannot allow distractions. It's inevitable for some people, I understand that but we're adults and need to show, not only responsibility but provide reasonable expectations for our students. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Ben muttered.

"Completely," Ariana responded.

"Good." Mrs. Nelson clapped her hands together. "That's all. I wanted to talk about."

They stood from their seats and exited the office. Mrs. Rodriguez eyed them, a wide smile on her face.

Ariana pushed into Ben's back, urging him out of the office. She breathed a sigh of relief once they were outside. She hugged her arms. "That was horrible."

"Your face is all red," he noted.

She covered her cheeks. "That was awkward as hell. I'm walking away now."

"Are you headed back to your classroom?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Yes."

"I need to go back too."

She groaned but waited as he took a few steps to catch up with her.

# # #

Ariana stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets and watched as the printer spit out her latest printouts. It was the day before Thanksgiving break and many of the staff had already gone home.

She concentrated on the hum of the printer and thought back to the awkward conversation with Mrs. Nelson the afternoon before. She couldn't help wondering who saw them last Saturday and were so piqued with interest that they needed to be chismosas about it. It had to be one of the secretaries. They loved to tease and have fun at the staff's expense.

"Ariana Flores, this is a rarity."

Ariana jumped and turned around in time to see Dakota Foster, the business and marketing teacher, smirk.

"What brings you to our neck of the woods?" He sauntered over to the other printer.

"The printer in the library ran out of ink."

"I see." Dakota placed a paper in the tray, pushed a few buttons, and soon enough the printer started shooting out lime green sheets. "So," he cleared his throat, "is it true?"

She kept her gaze on the printer before her. "Is what true?"

"About you and Suzuki. People can't help noticing how often you two are together."