Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy C. Cherry Page A

and can’t even look my way now. So yes! Talk to them. That will make everything perfect.”
    I saw his face strain and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Ashlyn…” he whispered, care in his tone. Then he looked up with worry. “Wait, Henry is your dad?”
    My heart broke at his biggest concern of the moment. “Out of everything I said…that’s what you chose to take in?”
    He frowned. “You should get to your next class.”
    I didn’t move right away, even though the silence was intolerably irksome. Shifting my weight around, I nervously ran my fingers through my locks of hair. I stared at him for a moment longer before I turned to walk away.
    He wasn’t the handsome man who’d awakened my spirits a few nights ago with his romantic vocals. He wasn’t the man who’d made me laugh and allowed me to cry into him. He wasn’t the man who’d reminded me that I was still alive when his lips had triumphantly found mine.
    No, he wasn’t Daniel anymore.
    He was Mr. Daniels.
    And I was his naïve student who he’d frostily dismissed.
     

 
    And I’ll ask you a question,
    You can tell me the truth.
    Are you thinking of me when I’m fighting for you?
    ~ Romeo’s Quest

     
    Two more hours passed of hiding out in the bathroom crying, stressing myself out with the idea that Daniel was my teacher.
    I also cried due to the bullies attacking me, because what could be more fun than being mean to the assistant principal’s daughter?
    I cried because I was lonely and sad and I missed my mom so much even though she probably didn’t miss me.
    I cried because Gabby was dead.
    And then I cried because that’s all I seemed to know how to do anymore.
    I cried so hard I was surprised I still had tears to cry. After blowing my nose for the twentieth time, I wiped my eyes and headed to the cafeteria.
    There was a silver lining in the day—I wasn’t forced to eat lunch by myself. Hailey was sitting at the back table near the tennis trophies. She smiled my way and waved me over.
    “Hey, Ashlyn. I see you found our table.” She slapped the spot across from her and told me to drop my tray down. With one swift movement, Hailey reached for my plate, picked up my chicken patty, and threw it to the ground. “Not real meat.”
    My eyes darted to my now dirty chicken patty and I frowned. I was okay with not-real meat when I was this hungry. My stomach rumbled and I reached for one of the fries on my plate, shoving it into my mouth.
    “So how’s your first day going?”
    “It’s okay. I’m fine.” I really wanted to tell her that I felt like crawling into a ball because high school could be tough at times, I had bullies already, and my teacher was my current crush… But I didn’t want to scare her off.
    “I know, it sucks, right? This whole town kind of sucks, but you get used to it.”
    “That’s scary. Getting used to sucking.”
    “Well, it’s not the sucking that’s scary. It’s the swallowing that’s the real bitch,” Ryan grinned as he walked up to our conversation. “What’s going on, hookers?” He pulled up a chair to our table and took some of my fries.
    I turned to see Daniel sitting at the table in the middle of the lunchroom. Of course he would be on lunch duty. I rolled my eyes as my shoulders slumped, and I shoved more fries into my mouth.
    “Whoa, slow down, Chicago. Or else you’ll pick up the Wisconsin fifteen,” Ryan said, sliding my tray away from me. He then proceeded to eat more of my fries.
    Ryan and Hailey were definitely siblings—their brown wavy hair and blue eyes were a dead giveaway—but they were pretty much the complete opposite of one another. Hailey was quiet and reserved. Ryan was a freaking monkey, in the best possible ways.
    “I broke up with Tony.” He pouted for a second, looking truly pained, before turning to the lunch lady a few feet away from us. “Are all the nachos gone?! Rwanda baby! I told you to save me nachos! Geez! It’s so hard to live in a world like