A Proscriptive Relationship

:A Proscriptive Relationship: 40

"What are you doing?"

My eyes flew wide in shock and I took a sharp inhale of breath, turning around to see James grinning at me. Immediately, I relaxed, letting go of my breath.

"Why are you waiting outside the biology room?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. "Can't handle the smell?"

"Uh, sure," I responded, directing my gaze to my feet.

"Wimp," James joked with a small laugh.

A small forced laugh left my lips as well. I couldn't tell James the reason I didn't want to go in there was because of Mr. Heywood. My palms were sweating at just the idea of talking to him after last night. It was going to be so awkward! I chewed on my lip, reaching for the door handle, and then pulling my hand away at the last second.

C'mon, Holly. Man up!

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the doorknob with my shaky hand. Why was I getting so nervous? It's not like we could talk about what happened last night in class; there were too many students around. But it'd still be awkward. I sighed. I'd have to face him sooner or later.

Without hesitation, I quickly pulled the door open. To my surprise, an old man was sitting at the teacher's desk. He had a face full of white hair, and a small tuff of it sat on top of his head. I frowned, surveying the man with my eyes. He was someone I'd never seen before.

"Umm, where's Mr. Heywood?" I asked, looking around the room quickly.

"What?"

"Where's Mr. Heywood?" I repeated, louder this time.

"Come closer, I can't hear you."

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I walked up to the teacher's desk and leant over it, speaking loudly and clearly. "Where is Mr. Heywood?"

"What?"

Was he kidding? I stared at him incredulously. The old man cocked his head to the side, and then realization flashed across his face.

"Hold on, I think my hearing aid is off..."

This time I did roll my eyes, but a grin also made its' way onto my face. The old man fiddled with the hearing aid on his ear, and then looked up at me expectantly.

"Is Mr. Heywood here today?" I asked once more.

"Oh, no. He's absent today. I'm his substitute."

For some reason, I felt disappointed. Mr. Heywood had taken the day off? Was he sick? Did something happen? Disappointment was quickly replaced with worry. I cleared my throat. "Is he okay? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, he's fine!" the old man responded, speaking too loudly. "From what I hear it's just a personal day off."

I relaxed, nodding my head. "Okay. Thanks."

"It's nice to know young people these days still care about their teachers," the old man commented, smiling at me.

Like? That was an understatement. I blushed, shaking my thoughts away. "Haha, well we wouldn't want to have to have a substitute for too long..."

The old man nodded, but said nothing more. I quickly escaped to my seat, a frown appearing on my face. It was funny how much my mood could drop after just finding out Mr. Heywood wasn't in school today. That was weird too, since Mr. Heywood was always in school.

With a shock, I realized what the reason Mr. Heywood wasn't here could be. Was it that he was avoiding me? Horror dawned on me. It probably was, since I basically said I thought he way gay! I slumped lower in my seat, holding in a groan. Me and my stupid, big, lying mouth.