Saving Professor (Part 16)

After her lessons, Petra ran off to find Professor. She found Mrs. Sheralton at the front desk and asked where Professor was.
“He’s out back sorting junk,” she answered. “Do you need a snack? I have time on my hands, so I’d be more than happy to make something for you.”
“Oh—well, I’d love to, but I really would like to find him.”
“On a hurry?”
“Not really… You know what? Actually, a snack would be nice right now. What do we have?”
“Do you want something like crackers, or some fruit? What kind of a snack are you up to.”
“Is there any chance we have ice cream?” Petra asked, a childish grin spreading across her face.
Mrs. Sheralton rose up from her chair and began walking towards the kitchen.
“Well, Petra, how would you like some lime sorbet? I just got some yesterday. It’s Professor Stein’s favorite.”
“Oh, well, I wouldn’t want it if it’s his.”
“The thing is, he’s on an allergy medicine where he can’t have anything cold.”
“I didn’t know that cold things could affect allergy medicine.”
“Neither did I.”
“So he can’t have ice drinks?”
“No, he can’t.”
Mrs. Sheralton and Petra reached the kitchen. Petra leaned on the polished granite countertop as she watched Mrs. Sheralton take out a tall glass and a long spoon. She counted each of the three scoops of soft green lime sorbet Mrs. Sheralton plopped down into the cup.
Then Mrs. Sheralton took a bottle of ginger ale out of the cupboard.
She noticed the inquisitive look on Petra’s face, so she stopped mid-pour.
“Would you like any ginger ale in your sorbet?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. Sheralton, I’m good.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Sheralton sighed. “Professor Stein likes it that way.”
“Well, I’m really okay with this. Thank you, though!”
Petra took the glass off the counter and followed Mrs. Sheralton out the kitchen door. About halfway down the hall, Mrs. Sheralton pointed to a heavy door and said, “That’s where outside is. Professor Stein’s out there.”
Quickly thanking her, Petra opened the door and stepped out. The bright light of the sun surprised her. She squinted and could barely make out Professor lifting oversized pieces of cardboard into the recycling bin.
When her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that Professor was walking over to her.
“Petra, are you finished with your studies already?” he asked.
“Yeah, I am. It’s already 3:54.”
Professor checked his watch.
“Yes, you’re right, it is.” He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “I’ve been working out here way too long. I need to go inside sometime soon.”
Then he noticed Petra’s lime sorbet.
“That’s my favorite summer treat, you know,” he informed Petra.
“Yeah, I know. Mrs. Sheralton told me.”
“Oh, did she?”
Petra nodded.
“She’s been making snacks for me ever since I began working here. She was originally going to be a hotel restaurant chef, but she probably figured that she’s get a better pay working at the front desk here.”
Petra scooped out the last bit of sorbet. She was planning on getting more the next day. She wouldn’t tell Collier about it. He never enjoyed sweets, after all. But that wasn’t fair. She would tell him.
Only when she looked back up, she noticed that Professor had asked her a question.
“Oh… what? Sorry. I was thinking.”
“I asked if you’d like to help me with this loading.”
“Sure!”
Petra set her glass down on the steps and jumped down onto the asphalt.
“Put your arms out.”
Professor loaded cardboard onto her arms. She dumped it into the recycle bin.
That went on until the tall pile of cardboard had been successfully piled into the bin.
Petra wiped sweat off the back of her neck.
“Are you tired already?” Professor asked.
“No, not really,” Petra replied, holding her arms back out.
“Here’s something you’ll need to be more careful with. These are burnt out light bulbs, the kind that go in the tile ceiling. You’ll need to be very careful throwing them away, because—“
But Petra obviously hadn’t listened enough, because as soon as the lights struck the top of the trash can, they shattered and flew in all different directions.
Standing there, shocked, Petra could only stare ahead at the forest green paint peeling off of the garbage bin. Her heart pounded as she wondered what Professor may do.
She heard his voice behind her.
“Petra. Petra, it’s okay. You’re lucky we’re outside. This happens all the time. That’s why I was warning you—oh, no. Petra, there’s a cut on your forehead… Wait. Stay there. Don’t move.”
Petra stared, horrified, at the green paint. She stared harder and harder. Her vision swam, and a deep red mixed into the green—
She shut her eyes.
“Professor.” Her voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat. “Professor. I think there’s blood getting into my eye.”
“No, Petra, there’s not. You’re just imagining that. You were probably staring too hard at that green color. Now don’t move. I’m trying to get this glass out of your forehead.”
In the blackness, Petra stood still. She didn’t really know why, but she wasn’t ready to open her eyes up again.
I’ll just keep my eyes closed until I’m calm, she thought.
Suddenly, a sharp pain blasted through her head, starting from right above her left eyebrow.
“There, I got it out,” Professor mumbled from behind her. “Okay, Petra, I’m going to need you to open your eyes. Put your hand right here to block the blood from coming through.” He took Petra’s hand and placed her finger over the cut.
Petra slowly opened her eyes.
“Come back with me,” Professor commanded.
Petra trailed behind Professor. When the door opened, the swish of air conditioned air felt good, but turned cold as soon as it touched her sweat.
Black fuzziness crept in from the corners of her vision.
Professor stopped her in the hall.
“Stay here, Petra,” he commanded.
She sank to the ground, keeping her hand over her eyebrow.
Grey pinpricks began making their way into her vision.
Soon enough, an unfamiliar voice asked, “When did this happen? Just recently?”
Then Professor’s voice answered, “Yes, just about three minutes ago.”
A door closed, and then the unfamiliar voice spoke again.
“Petra, let’s go. Come on, get up.”
Petra felt strong arms lift her up and carry her. She would usually have been embarrassed to still have someone carry her, but she was so dizzy that she didn’t really mind it. She could hear whoever it was huffing and puffing as they reached their destination.
She felt herself being lowered onto a soft bed.
“Take your hand off the cut, Petra,” the voice ordered.
She slid her hand off her head.
“I’ve seen worse,” was the only comment Petra heard.
Her eyes adjusted to the light and she could see the doctor. He was a middle-aged man with short brown hair, and he wasn’t exactly what you would call “in shape.”
He opened a cabinet and took out a piece of cotton and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He talked to Professor as he squirted alcohol onto the cotton ball.
“How’d she get the cut?”
“One of those long light bulbs exploded and hit her.”
The doctor nodded.
“That’s happened before.”
Then he turned around and began to rub the cotton ball onto Petra’s forehead. A sharp pain spread around the area, but she was too tired to react with much more than a jolt. Then the pain went away as the doctor rubbed on a yellowish ointment and placed a band-aid over it.
“You’re good to go, Petra. Come back to me tomorrow afternoon so I can change your bandage.”
Petra raised her head in an effort to nod, but her head fell back and the blackness returned.
“Is she okay?” she heard Professor ask.
“Well, how long was she out there?” A hint of worry showed through the doctor’s voice.
“About twenty minutes. It wasn’t that long, but it’s really hot outside today.”
“Did she have a drink before or during that time?”
“I really don’t know. She was eating a lime sorbet when she came out.”
There was a pause. Petra felt a shadow come over her, as if the doctor was leaning over to get a better look at her.
“I think she had a heat stroke,” he said. “You’d better get her some water.”
The door opened and closed. Petra kept her eyes closed as the doctor situated her back against pillows so that she was sitting up.
“Petra, you’ll have to open your eyes to drink water,” the doctor ordered in a low whisper. “Just for a second. You only need to get hydrated again.”
Then the door opened again and Professor walked in with a cup of water. Petra opened her eyes and took the cup. She lifted it to her lips. It was freezing cold. Because she was covered in tight blankets, the cool liquid was welcome. When she was done, she sucked on an ice cube.
After the ice cube melted, she closed her eyes again and fell asleep.

Saving Professor (Part 15)

Petra came back that night tired and annoyed.
“That Alexander guy is so weird!” she exclaimed, slumping into the couch. “So weird!”
“Yeah,” Collier replied. “Just have to get used to it.”
“What do you know? You’ve only been there one time.”
“Well, I had to get used to it. You know, Petra, we’re going to have to act the same. We’re pretty close already, but we’ll have to be like the same person.”
“Do you seriously think that Alexander guy’s going to notice?”
Professor walked into the room.
“Petra, you need to stop referring to him as ‘that Alexander guy.’ He was a very highly acclaimed student back at the boarding school, and you should respect him.” Professor glanced at Collier over his glasses. “You, too, Collier. You both have to respect him.”
Petra looked at Collier and sighed. Her mind was still stuck on having to act the same way as him.
“Well, anyways, it’s time for dinner,” Professor announced, before walking out of the room.
“Do I have to go? I’m really tired,” Petra whined to Collier.
“Petra. You know that dinnertime is the only time we have together.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like Professor’s our dad. He’s acting like he is.”
“Well, technically, he’s our guardian. For now. He got the papers signed today.”
Petra sat upright.
“What? So now he’s our dad?”
“No, I said he’s our guardian. He didn’t adopt us!”
“Why don’t I ever know any of this stuff?”
Collier shrugged.
“I didn’t know, either, until today. Hey, you know what’s weird?”
“Alexander?”
“Petra! No! Well… yes, Alexander is weird, but that’s not what I was going to say.”
“Okay, then what?”
“Professor has kids.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Kids.”
“How would you know?”
“I saw one today. He came to the office.”
“Again, another thing I don’t know!”
“Calm down, I only found out today, too!”
“Big day for us, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Hey, Petra, let’s go get some dinner. I bet Professor’s waiting.”
“Even you’re talking about him like he’s our dad,” Petra grumbled. Even so, she followed him out.

Early the next morning, Petra woke up long after Collier had left. In fact, she had woken up so late that she found Mr. Murphy standing at the door.
Jumping out of bed, she quickly began to apologize.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Murphy, I was staying up late reading last night, and I lost track of time and I fell asleep way too late, and I didn’t notice Collier leave this morning and—“
“It’s fine, Petra, really. I got here early. We actually start in fifteen minutes.” Then, with a hopeful look, he suggested, “Or we could start now.”
Petra could see his excitement, so she shrugged.
“Sure. Will do.”
“Which subject first? History?”
“Whatever you like.”
“You know, it really doesn’t matter. What do you want to do first?”
“I don’t know, but you seem to want to do History—“
“Oh, no, no, no, it’s okay if you want to do something else!”
“No! Seriously, Mr. Murphy, we can start with History.”
Mr. Murphy grinned.
“Okay!”
Petra pulled out her history book and flipped to the page where they left off. She took her white satin ribbon bookmark out of the book and began to stroke it.
As Mr. Murphy went off in a detailed description about the Battle of Bunker Hill, Petra compared him with Asher Alexander.
They were both kind of strange, but they looked nothing alike. They both had an extreme passion for what they did, but they showed it in different ways.
There were a lot of things in common about Alexander and Mr. Murphy, but for some reason, Petra just liked Mr. Murphy a lot better.

New Story Idea

I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a really long time... I haven't had the time to type up more of Saving Professor. I think I know what's going to happen next... I'll try to get that up tonight.
Anyway, I have an idea for a new story.
It'll be called either 'Rescuing Mr. Conrad' or 'Mr. Conrad is Back!' The first one sounds too much like 'Saving Professor,' but I probably will rename 'Saving Professor' sometime else when I finish the story and know what it'll be all about.
Anyway, 'Mr. Conrad is Back!' (I'll just call it that for now) will be about an Algebra II teacher at Rocky Coast High. He is a very eccentric teacher who dresses in wacky clothes every day. His classroom is nowhere near ordinary. Even so, he is a very good teacher. One day, he sang and danced randomly in class, and a student suggested jokingly that he should go on 'iHave Talent', a TV program showcasing talents. Mr. Conrad takes this offer very seriously and auditions for the show on live TV with a whimsical, disastrous dance in which he accidentally pulled down the thousand-dollar curtain and caused the lights to crash onto the stage. Back at the school, Mr. Conrad is called into a meeting with the entire school board, where they discuss his television antics. They tell him that it was a close call, but he would be able to still keep his job, only as long as he promises not to do it again. A couple of days later, Mr. Conrad is informed that his performance was the highest rated, bringing the most laughs out of the audience. He is asked if he wants to continue on the show. Mr. Conrad knows that he promised not to, but he decides to risk losing his job and go disguised as an Italian comedian with a thick accent. He makes it to the second round, but not without being unnoticed againt by the school board. Once he gets back to school, he finds that his job has been given to someone else and he is fired. This news upsets many students who loved him and described him as their favorite teacher. Allison McLeery and Jessica Keist team up with the new kid, Trevor "Blue" Calypso, to get Mr. Conrad back to Rocky Coast High.