Chapter Text
Y/N POV:
I was glad it was finally summer and the last one before I headed off to college no less! Unfortunately, that meant my schedule lacked structure. Aside from my shitty part time job I really hadn’t done much at all.
So, here I sat on my floor packing for Europe. I was going with my old high school’s German and French programs on a 10 day trip.
Actually packing might be too strong of a word. Right now I was searching to find some clothes that wouldn’t melt my skin off. I wear a lot of black and it’s much colder here than in Europe. Overall not a lot of good options in my closet.
As a distraction I was reading back through a conversation I had with my friend Sasha about 2 weeks ago.
Sasha💜 10:35 am
“Heyyyyy you’ll never guess what I just found out! My orientation is the same week as the trip :((( so sorryyyyyy!”
Me 10:36 am
“Oh no I’ll miss you!”
Sasha💜 10:36 am
“Ik I’ll miss you too :(“
“ILY have sooooooo much fun tho!!”
Me 10:36 am
“TY I’ll try ;)”
Sasha💜 10:37 am
“Come onnnn you’ll have fun”
“Sorry I won’t be there to beat Jake’s ass tho :(((“
Ugh, I don’t know why I keep rereading that conversation. It only reminds me of two unpleasant things. Firstly, my only friend that was going on the trip now isn’t. Secondly, my asshole ex Jake is going to be there.
I looked back down at mess of clothes strewn across the floor. There were at least 4 skirts I would have worn without a care if not for him. Jake was always super weird anytime I wore short skirts- or anything short for that matter.
Unfortunately after I broke up with him that only got worse. It went from weird comments to flat out slut shaming me.
Ugh!
This was stressful already.
By the next morning somehow my suitcase had gotten packed. I managed to get a solid 5 hours of sleep. My brain was too busy fighting a battle with itself on whether or not the trip was worth it while I was trying to rest. I paid too much money to go though so not going was never a real option, just a thought my brain chose to entertain instead of sleeping.
Sasha was going to ride with me on the hour long drive to the airport. It was about 45 minutes in when I started to miss her never ending queue of shitty pop songs and silly rambling about her newest ‘situation-ship’ as she called them.
(there was always at least one)
Instead I started worry. I mean I didn’t have any friends going and I would be in a different country half way across the world. Luckily, before I could spiral too far I made it to the airport.
I parked the car and grabbed the small suitcase I’d somehow managed to shove all my clothes into.
Okay keys, phone, suitcase, and backpack. All good!
After a small struggle trying to find the shuttle, I finally walked into the Airport. It was big, but luckily thanks to the brief instructions I was able to spot the group that had already arrived. I wasn’t late! but I might have cut it close.
As I scanned the group I noticed Jake sitting in a corner talking to some random chick, Emily? Sara? Eliza? something like that. I ignored his blatant glance in my direction and the snickering that followed. Instead I made my way through the group to let my German teacher Mr. Smith know that I was here.
Before I got a chance to do anything else I heard a someone call out from behind me.
“Sprinkle!”
I recognized that voice immediately and even if I hadn’t, only one person called me that. I turned around, a smile already wiping the lingering worry from my face.
“Ms. Zöe!” I exclaimed making eye contact with my favorite teacher. I excitedly walked over to her. I contemplated giving her a hug. My brain landed on a safe no, but as I got closer she put down the bag she was holding and held out her arms.
I had to keep myself from falling into her arms. I really didn’t know how much I needed that hug. Ms. Zoë was a big role model in my life and one of the few teachers I would concider a friend if not for the whole teacher/student thing. She had known me for over 4 years. So at this point she had seen me go through a lot and was always there for me.
I pulled away trying not to draw attention, even though I could have hid in her arms forever. As I stepped back I got a much better look at her. She looked so much more comfortable outside of school. She was in a green tank top and cargo pants instead of her usual button up shirt, blazer and dress pants.
“I had no idea you were going to be chaperoning this trip!” I said.
Technically there was no reason she should be chaperoning this trip. She was a science teacher not a foreign languages teacher.
“Well one of the parents who was supposed to chaperone dropped out last minute so here I am!” she said with her usual smile. That smile was so contagious it could infect anyone-
“Plus I do speak some French so i’m not completely useless.” she replied winking.
“I had no idea you spoke French?!?” I responded surprised.
“Yea I used to live in France for a while.”
“Wow.” I was just now realizing how little I knew about her past.
Just then Mr. Smith started giving instructions to the group about security and boarding. I ended up separated from Ms. Zöe as she went to go help Mr. Smith get everyone through security.
I was very glad that she was going to be on the trip. Just knowing she was going to be there made me much more at ease. It also helped that she had heard about most of what had happened between Jake and I.
She would keep me safe.