Male!Teacher!ReaderxFem!Student!Canada Chapter 3

YOUR POV

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In the days that followed, Maddie had come to your room every day during lunch. She came so often that by the end of the first week of school you had come to expect her regularly. She would come in with her bag lunch which, no matter what she was eating, always had a thermos of tea mixed with maple syrup (she treated maple syrup like a beverage itself). The two of you would sit at your desk and she would vent to you and get things off her chest while you did your best to provide helpful advice on how to handle her problems.

Outside of lunch and class, you did your best to look out for her. She certainly wasn't kidding; it seemed like everyone who knew her had it out for her. People would be picking on her and hurting her without knowing why it began in the first place. If you managed to catch it you would end it. But the problem is that you're only one teacher! You can't be everywhere at once, and you knew that Maddie's tormentors were well aware of that. The whole situation with Maddie was nothing short of chaos.

Speaking of Maddie, something about her had caught your eye; she always wore long sweaters. You thought nothing of it the first day of school because there were heavy winds that made the temperature drop to about 50 degrees. But there were times in the past few weeks where it was gorgeous outside, the kind of weather that made you want to wear shorts and flip-flips to school (of course you couldn't since you were a teacher). But when other students had on skirts, shorts, and flip-flops, she was always wearing those heavy wool sweaters that were so big on her petite figure that she was swimming in them.


"So, what's new?" you asked as you and Maddie began eating your lunches.

"Nothing much. Just the same old torment. Although I've noticed that Gilbert hasn't come within five feet of me since you chased him off a few weeks ago." She replied, taking a small bite of her sandwich.

"That's good." You said smiling. For some reason, you had an unusual satisfaction with the fact that you scared Gilbert shitless the first day of school.

Maddie kept talking and you did you job and listened to her. But you soon lost your focus when you noticed she seemed to be cradling her arm. She usually did this, but today something seemed off about it. She seemed to be much more defensive about her arm for some reason. Your eyes then focused in on some small spots of red on her pink, oversized sweater.


MADDIE'S POV

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Maddie kept holding her arm, doing her best to be discrete. For some reason, it seemed to sting more than it usually did. Her throat got a bit dry from talking, so she reached forwards to grab her thermos. Suddenly, just as she was about to grab it, Mr._______ grabbed her wrist and held it firmly on the desk. Maddie looked into his (eye color) eyes and saw an intense look that sent a chill up her spine. Mr._______ then flipped her hand over so the wrist would face the ceiling.

Then he carefully pushed her sleeve back to reveal the fresh, still dripping cut on her arm, as well as the scars from her cuts from over the years.

Maddie flinched, half with pain and half with shame, and turned her face from his, shutting her eyes firmly. She waited for him to start degrading her, saying how stupid she was or how disappointed he was. She kept her eyes shut tight, but no words came.

"This will sting a bit" Mr._______ finally said in a tender voice, still holding her arm firmly. There was suddenly a sharp stinging sensation on her arm that felt like someone jabbed a bee's stinger into her arm and was twisting it inside the wound. Her eyes shot open and she let out a small cry of pain. She looked and saw Mr._______ cleaning her cut with an anti-bacterial wipe, doing his best to be gentle. The pain stopped after a minute and then it felt more soothing than it was before.

When he stopped cleaning the cut and discarded the wipe Maddie looked and saw that she had accidentally cut much deeper than she intended, which explained why it still hurt even after a half hour.

"Keep your arm like that." Mr._______ said, reaching for something inside a drawer. She did as she was instructed and kept her wrist facing the ceiling. Mr._______ pulled out a large, square bandage and carefully stuck it to her arm over the cut. Once the cut was covered she drew her hand back.

"Th-Thank you, Mr._______." She said, barely above a whisper.

"Maddie" he said solemnly, folding his arms on his desk "Why?"

She was quite for a while. "I…I don't know" she finally said, her voice full of shame.
"Why would cutting yourself ever seem like a good idea?"

"Mr._______, I know it's wrong, but it just happened one day and…I don't know…it became my release."

"It needs to stop. Today" he said firmly. All Maddie could do was nod "Do you have whatever you cut yourself with on you now?"

"Y-yes." She stuttered out, keeping her head low. She couldn't bear to look at him.
"Give it to me." He held out his hand. Maddie reached into her pocket and pulled out her old, crimson stained razor and dropped it in his hand. He then dropped it into his trash bin, where it landed with a 'Clink!'

"Maddie" his voice returned to a soothing, caring tone "I don't want to see this anymore. You have me now, okay? If you really feel like you need to release your pain, you come to me. Call me, find me, whatever. But self-inflicted pain is never an answer."

"I know. I'm sorry." She said quietly, her head still low.

"Maddie, look at me." She slowly lifted her head until she was looking into his gentle, warm eyes.

"If you're really sorry" he began "Then you'll never do it again and trust me to help you, okay?"

"Y-yes sir." She dropped her head again.

"Maddie, look at me" he said again. She once again looked at his handsome face "Part of trusting me is having the courage to look at my face. You don't have to be afraid of me, I promise." He gave her a kind smile that could melt even the coldest hearts. Maddie turned a bit pink and nodded quickly. She prayed that he didn't see her face change color like that.

Just then, the bell rang. They both quickly cleaned up their things and packed them away.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Maddie." He said as she was leaving.

"See you tomorrow" she said back before closing the door behind her.

In the hall, she leaned her back against the wall and lowered her head. A hundred thoughts began flying through her head.

'Why did his smile make me feel like that?' she thought panicky 'He gave me a smile like that a hundred times before but I've never felt like that before! It was like my heart jumped into my throat. Could I have…NONONONONONONONONONONONO NO NO NO NO! I couldn't have! There's no way I'm in love with him! I just…love all that he's doing for me is all! Yeah! I mean, everyone feels a little lighthearted around good friends like him, right? A-and I was probably still just shaken from being caught like I was. Yeah! When people are scared, their hearts start beating just like that! There's no way I'm falling for him! Absolutely no way!'

She let out a heavy breath '… Yeah, sure.'