Before you Go 4

4

She heard the couple fighting in the science office's hallway as she opened the door. “Jeez, Gabe, you are so overreacting. We were not doing anything. He was just helping me with moving some things around in my room.” The woman said as she raised her voice, and then Larissa heard the man she had just met speak, “Ann, come on.”

“What?” the woman asked as it seemed like she was trying to think of something. Larissa had no patience for things like this or many people for that matter. She went to the classroom and looked around. It still looked pretty much the same as she went to sit down in her old seat. She was smiling again as she remembered the class and the older woman going after so many of her classmates, but she had a special place for Larissa, it seemed. The other students already didn’t like Larissa for many different reasons. A rumor spread by some old friends that had made it to the high school with the older brothers and sisters of the people in her grade. It could have been her siblings themselves.

It had seemed no one liked her at the time, and she spent most of the time in school dealing with the drama, which she hated. That was why she tried to keep to herself. She didn’t have a friend group like most people her age. She was often only in the company of the dead. She was fine with that most of the time. They didn’t cause all that much drama in the state that they were.

“Come on, what?” The woman demanded as the voices got louder, and Larissa picked up the textbook and started to review the chapter she was going to have to teach the class.

Gabe said, “Ann, I am not dumb despite what everyone thinks. I know you have been cheating on me. I don’t like the idea at all.”

“Get over yourself, Gabe.” She said as she stomped out the door and into the hallway. Then she poked her head back into the classroom and looked over Larissa. She walked back into the room, “Are you lost?”

“No,” Larissa said as she didn’t look up to the other woman. She didn’t need to see her to know what she was. She knew the people in the area. She knew the teachers for the most part. Larissa didn’t care what the features were on a person to see the person. She already had enough in front of her to know that she wouldn’t like the woman standing there staring at her.

“There is no class in here right now.” The woman said. Larissa didn’t need to address the woman with her name, which she had heard him say over and over again.

“I know that,” Larissa said as she waved her hand to the empty classroom that was in front of her. It was clearly empty.

“Then are you skipping or something?” The woman asked.

“No,” Larissa said as she lifted the newly printed teacher's id to the woman to be able to see.

“Oh. You must be new.” She said with a light laugh. She was eyeing Larissa up and down. “Geez, these teachers are getting younger and younger.”

“I am not a teacher,” Larissa said as she finally looked up and saw the woman who was in a low-cut shirt trying to show assets that she really didn’t have. It was not appropriate for school for a student, let alone a teacher. Though she was pretty, the woman’s attitude was showing on her face, and Larissa thought it was easy to see the woman’s intention. It wasn’t hard to figure the entire woman’s plan on everything in her life with a glance. “I am a doctor.”

“Sure.” The woman said as she rolled her eyes. This was a normal reaction from certain types of people. Larissa knew it well. They were the ones who liked to try and make themselves more important than her in any way necessary. They were the ones who needed the extra validation for themselves. “Of what exactly?”

“Medicine.” Larissa replied as she looked the woman in her face, “Among other things as well.”

“Right, you look like one of my statistic students.” The woman scoffed. “You really can’t be a doctor. You look like a little kid.”

“Well, looks can be deceiving,” Larissa stated and then went back to the book that was in front of her. Mrs. Libby walked into the room.

“Good that you are reviewing it.” She said as she looked at the other woman who was now glaring at Larissa. “This is almost the same book that you had ten years ago or so.”

“She was one of your students?” The woman asked Judy as she looked between the two women. She wanted to prove that the young woman in front of her was not what she said she was. That was plain to see for everyone in the room.

“Yes. Ann. Meet Dr. Larissa Walker.” Mrs. Libby said as she smiled her best smile, “She was my best student in thirty years of teaching and also a good friend for helping an old woman out.”

“Wait, she was your student ten years ago?” Ann finally asked.

“Twelve,” Larissa said as she kept her head in the book. “I was ten.”

“Ten or twelve, does it matter?” Mrs. Libby asked with a laugh. “Now I know you are tired.”

“I got off right before you called me,” Larissa said. She yawned slightly though she was fighting the tiredness. She had gotten used to working through being tired as she changed from the day shifts to the night ones. She preferred to work at night reviewing the other's work and handling what she had to do when it was called for.

“So I will only ask you to do one class today.” Mrs. Libby said with a sweet smile. “Ann, you might want to get on to your next class. It should be starting in a few minutes, you will find.” The woman looked between the two women and then turned on her heel and walked out of the classroom.

“She’s nice,” Larissa said as she looked up finally. It was plain to see what the woman really was. She didn’t need or want to know more about her. It seemed that some things never did change around here either.

“Making friends already.” Mrs. Libby said with a deep good-hearted chuckle that filled the room. “Larissa, that one is trouble. She is already disturbing my department with her relationship with him. Don’t get caught up in her drama as well. Though I rarely warn people to be careful that one will come to a bad end sometime.”

“Don’t worry,” Larissa said. “Not my scene.”

“Good.” Mrs. Libby said as she smiled again at the younger girl. “It is good to see you again, child.”

“Same,” Larissa said as she smiled at the older woman. Gabe walked into the classroom and looked between the two of them. It was plain to see he was still mad from the small tiff the couple had a few minutes earlier. The man unnerved her because of his looks, but Larissa just began to picture him without his skin, and she was back to normal. That was her trick. She used the old saying picture them naked but changed it to something she could actually do. She thought of them as an autopsy instead.

“So you were her student?” Gabe asked again, trying to be included in the small talk.

“Yea,” Larissa said. “This was my favorite class, and she was my all-time favorite teacher. She took a chance on me back then when most people didn’t want to have anything to do with a little kid. She was the one who treated me and talked to me like I was a person.”

“Must be weird to be back here.” He said as he looked around.

“It is a little.” Larissa laughed. “I was only here for a year, though.”

“A year?” He asked.

“Larissa was different in a good way. She only had to do a few required classes before she was moved on to the local university.” Mrs. Libby stated as she seemed to be enjoying getting a little praise from the younger woman. Larissa was one of the students the older woman had taken pride in. She had a short list of previous students that she liked to see from time to time. Larissa was on the top. She had known right from the start the little girl who walked into her class twelve years ago would be one of the ones who changed everything. 

“Then med school,” Larissa said. “I was fourteen when I graduated from college and then seventeen when I graduated medical school. I did my residency and fellowships at the same time. So when I was done, I was really done. I got fast-tracked because of my age and also my supposed intelligence level.”

“Wow.” Gabe said as he looked her over, “That is impressive.”

“She is all of that. Impressive is only one word to describe her.” Mrs. Libby said as she looked him over, “I am glad that you can see that, but you, however, need some work.”