FicWad

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Eva got up early which she hated doing on weekends. She got ready, deciding that the cold weather meant she needed to wear her boots. Once again she looked wonderful in a red coat, stockings a white dress and black heeled boots.

Her mother dropped her off at the front of Gloria Jean’s and told her she’d pick her up at 4. Eva felt an odd sensation walking into the small and warm coffee shop. She could see Amanda and three other girls and another boy in her class called Michael there laughing with Mr. Way. Mr. Way was facing his back towards Eva, and all the girls once they caught a glimpse of Eva went quiet staring at her shocked then continued laughing trying to hide the silence. Mr. Way turned and everyone said “Hello.” To Eva. She took a seat next to Micheal and Amanda.

“You’re a bit late, so we ordered for you,” said Mr. Way staring at Eva.

“Yeah! Mr Way. Paid for all of us,” said one of the girls there.

“Oh, thanks,” said Eva. “I can pay you if you want.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Mr. Way quietly and bluntly. There was no emotion is his voice when he said that sentence.

“Well, thanks again,” said Eva.

The group continued talking about people at school and gossiped but Eva did not contribute at all. She kept silent and laughed at all the right points. Their coffees were brought out within 15 minutes and it was at this point that they decided to head across the road and to the library. Eva walked in front of everyone, as always no special group to fit into. Once they reached the library, Eva drank the rest of her coffee very quickly and walked in to begin work.

“Eva, come back here please,” said Mr. Way standing in between the rest of the people. “I need to talk to you all before you begin.”

Eva walked over and Mr. Way gave her the once over before beginning.

“I want you to access whatever you can to revise. I will be here to go through things if you have trouble,” he said. A few strangers in the library were looking at him adoringly, but did not run up to him to ask for autographs.

They all headed off and Eva picked up a legal studies revision book and sat at a table. Michael sat by her. He was one of those kids who also didn’t fit in and he was very big and hairy, but he was funny and Eva thought he was a nice person.

“What time are you leaving?” asked Michael.

“The time it finishes, 4,” answered Eva politely.

“Oh, everyone is leaving at like 12 or 1 o’clock,” said Michael a smirk on his face. “Get your Mum to pick you up earlier.”

“Yeah, I probably will,” she said.

“Do you remember when you were obsessed with him?” said Michael.

“Yeah, how stupid,” laughed Eva.

“It is weird though...him teaching here,” he said.

They continued talking and eventually got down to work. Eva got bored after a few minutes and got up to go and explore.

She headed towards the back of the library to where the science-fiction section was. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw Mr. Way reading something.

“Bored of study?” he asked trying very hard to ease the awkwardness that had built up between them over the past week.

“No, I was just looking for a book to write Liza’s essay with,” said Eva trying to piss him off. He rolled his eyes.

“You know, you can quit being spiteful all the time,” said Mr. Way.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise I was spiteful ALL the time,” she said.

“I meant to say to me,” he said quietly.

Eva did not answer.

“What time are you leaving?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, I don’t fit into the usual teenage mould that leaves four hours before the note said. I told my mum to pick me up at 4, but I’ll probably call her since everyone else is leaving at 12,” said Eva annoyed.

“Well, I can stay till four,” he said.

“No it’s cool, we wouldn’t want another storeroom incident,” said Eva and she was just about to walk off when Mr. Way grabbed her arm.

“I am sorry, about that incident, but I don’t have any chocolate to give you so I don’t know whether you’re likely to forgive me,” he said.

Eva smiled. She could never stay mad at anyone for long. She looked down to the ground and started laughing. He let go of her arm and smiled too.

It was at that moment the rest of the group found them and announced they were leaving. When they left, Eva stood there awkwardly before saying that she had better call her Mum.

“You can stay, I was going to stay here anyway, it’s no big deal,” replied Mr. Way. After much insisting that it was OK, Eva decided on staying.

She departed for a moment to go to the bathroom, but when she came back Mr. Way was nowhere to be found. She sat at a desk and continued reading but not taking any of it in.

Within five minutes she finally saw Mr. Way through the glass at the back. He ushered her to come outside and he was holding a bag full of what looked like McDonalds and some more cups of coffee.

“It was the only thing I could find,” he said nervously.

“You didn’t have to get anything,” said Eva ineptly. “Thank you, you’re very hospitable.” He just shrugged nervously.

They walked over to a large tree and sat beneath it. The weather was chilly but the coffee in Eva’s hands made her warm up.

“So, how are you liking Australia?” asked Eva.

“They make nice coffee,” he replied. Eva laughed.

They spoke and spoke about the most pointless things all while munching on fries and burgers. Eva found out a lot about Mr. Way except why he had come to Australia, it was a personal subject that Eva did not want to touch. After all, he never asked personal questions to Eva about why she was always crying all the time. They couldn’t- they were student and teacher.

4 o’clock crept around quickly, and Eva had just received a call from her Mum saying she were five minutes away.

“Wow, we didn’t actually get any more work done,” said Mr Way getting up and brushing the grass off his pants.

“Well, thanks anyway for the coffee and the lovely chat- you’re an awesome dude, Sir,” said Eva smiling. There was that brief moment where they just stood there and stared into each other’s eyes before Eva’s phone vibrated to alert her that her mother was at the front of the library.