Cherilee Norman untitled story

Being Cherilee

>"I never thought I would see a case of bullying as grave as this one" the other teachers immediately raise their heads after listening the B word
>"One of my students is the laughing stock of the whole school just because a badly worded comment" I've caught their attention
>"The victim, a fairly normal kid named Norman. If I were to give him a nickname, I'd call him Normal Norman; however, to the students of this school, he's the chauvinist, the idiot, the faggot, the pedophile even, but mainly the racist" my colleagues lost all interest when I mentioned his name
>"After months of observation, I can say for sure that he doesn't deserve any of those insults, in fact, he's a good student and friend; always trying to be helpful to anyone who may need it" I think I heard someone chuckle
>"His case is a most interesting one; because, despite the constant harassment by the crowd of students in this school, he doesn't ask for help or gives up, according to what I've heard form his parents, he hasn't even asked to drop out or transfer away from here. He's the greatest example of resilience I've ever seen" some teachers give me a sarcastic look
>"But I must say, that even a stone can be broken by the constant pressure of water. That's why I'm presenting you this case; this boy could become a great person, but if we leave things as they are, he'll break for sure. We must take action and stop this torture we're letting our students do to that kid"
>"Norman doesn't need our help, he's not a baby anymore" one of the teachers says "it's just like you said, there's no one as resilient as him, if someone can take all he gets it's him"
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>"Also," another teacher adds "if we started paying special attention to his case, the other students would start saying that he's a teacher's pet, the bullying would only worsen outside of our sight. Here, we can protect him if the students go overboard, but if they begin bullying him outside of the school we won't be able to do a thing for him"
>Principal Celestia takes a turn to speak "please Miss Cherilee, don't think that we're not trying to help him. He hasn't asked us for help; if he doesn't do that, anything we try to do for him will be useless, because it would only increase the negative image he's got for the other students. If we take action, without him being actually harmed by someone else, his schoolmates would only say he's a snitch. I'm just as worried as you are but in this situation there's nothing we can do"
>With that, the meeting was concluded
>Darn it, can't they see that sooner or later this boy will reach his limit?
>So they need him to ask for help, well then, I'll make it so he cries for it
>Cases like this happen because the victim can't trust anyone with their feelings, it's a normal occurrence in abusive homes, not that Norman's parents mistreated him in anyway but I can notice that he doesn't confide in any of his teachers
>How can I win his trust? I guess the best way to do it would be taking direct action

On the next day
>"Norman, may you come to my office once classes are over" I tell him in front of the class, trying to sound strict
>"hahaha, Norman must have dun goof’d” "did you use the N word on someone?" great, it seems it worked, his classmates don't suspect that I'm actually trying to help him
>Once classes are over, Norman comes to my office, but he doesn't come alone, Twilight Sparkle is with him
>Miss Sparkle must be the worst of the harassers, she's always getting him in trouble and then she acts as if she didn't know what happened, so Norman gets punished a lot because of her mischief
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>"Miss Sparkle, I called Norman because I need to speak to him in private, please leave this room" This girl is probably the reason Norman hasn't been able to ask for help, she's always sticking to him, I wonder if she blackmails him or something
>"But I want to know why was he called, Norman's my friend and I don't want to see him be punished unfairly" yeah right, you surely want to gossip about why I called him and make sure he doesn't tell on you, but you will not deceive me with your tricks
>"I said leave" Well done Cherilee, you must stand your ground
>"Okay, good luck Norman" she leaves reluctantly
>"Now, little boy, is there anything you'd like to tell me? I'll let you know that anything you tell me won't get out of this room" Assertiveness is the best way to get things done
>"No, I just want to know why did you call me" so you're not going to cooperate, I'll have to spend a lot of time with you it seems
>"Norman, I've been hearing all over the school that you're a bad boy and a racist" let’s see what'll you say about this
>"That's not true miss Cherilee, it's just a misunderstanding" Great, I see progress, I guess that if I speak as if I didn't believe in his innocence he'll end up standing up for himself and telling me all about his problems
>"So, is it not true that you refer to everyone by their skin color?" I'm sure that Twilight girl and her group of friends are forcing you to act as if you were racist just to have fun at your expense. After all, they are always with you, but have done nothing to help you at all. They must be the ones spreading rumors about you
>"Actually, that's because I always forget the names" you won't fool me with that Norman
>Here comes my solution "From now on, as a punishment, you'll be my personal assistant" I'll become the wall between you and your bullies and by spending time with me, you'll begin trusting me enough to finally ask for help
>Best plan ever

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>"But I want to spend time with my friends" What friends? Scott who's always looking down on you? Rainbow Dash and Applejack who think you're a wimp? Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle who always get you into trouble? Fluttershy who's always acting as if you didn't exist, not even answering you when you greet her? or Rarity, the worst one, who just uses you to keep up her princess act? You’re practically her slave. At the very least you've got a good friend in Brad
>"No buts Norman, you start right now, help me get the copies for tomorrow's test" let’s begin our work, start being cold, and slowly warm up so he starts trusting me little by little
>"But"
>"What did I just say about buts?" Come on Cherilee, I know this is hard, but you must be firm for now
>"Okay" He finally gave up, good job
>I make him go with me to the copy center. Twilight was waiting for him outside of my office
>"So, what happened" she asks
>"Norman is my personal assistant from now on" I say
>"Oh, so he's like Spike"
>"What do you mean Spike?"
>"She's talking about her dog" Says Norman
>I can't believe this girl, is she really saying that this boy is on the same level as a dog?
>"Twilight Sparkle, I want you to apologize to Norman this instant" I'm getting angry, how can she do this? Years of experience and this girl is making me lose my nerve!
>"But, why?" can't she see why that’s wrong?
>"You can't compare him to a stupid dog, what are you thinking about?”
>"Spike is not stupid, you're the one who should apologize!" enough of her
>"Listen, I don't want to see you near Norman ever again, did you hear that?"
>"But" she starts crying, those crocodile tears wouldn't fool anyone
>"Now go before I get you a week of detention!"
>"Miss Cherilee, why are you doing this to Purple? She hasn't done anything wrong"
>"Can't you hear your own words? She compared you with a dog"
>"But that's nothing, compared to -"
>"So she has done worse things to you?" just how much harassment has this boy suffered?
>"No miss, Purple's one of my best friends, she wouldn't do a thing to harm me"

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>I think I'll need to add Stockholm's syndrome to Norman's record, poor boy; but don't worry, I won't neglect you like everyone else
>I really feel like crying right now, but I must be strong for his sake
>I force Norman to follow me under the menace of suspension and we leave the weeping girl behind crying her fake tears
>The boy's face is filled with worry, but I guess it's got more to do with the fear of Twilight's abuse on him worsening. Don't worry my student; I'll protect you, that's a teacher's job after all

>After this incident, I got to spend more time with Norman
>A week has passed since his first day as my assistant, today he told me that miss Sparkle was actually his friend, and that she's not a bad girls, just really strange, If he had told me that on the first day I wouldn't have believed him, but after seeing how everyday she tried to apologize to me and Norman, I finally could see the truth
>It was pretty wise from him to win my trust before telling me the truth, or else I may have closed up my heart to the truth
>Wait, wasn't my objective to do it the other way around?
>I fail as a teacher
>Let's think again, what did he do to win my trust and what did I do to not get his
>First, he just helped me out naturally, second, he didn't force me to do or say anything against my will, and third, he was sincere and direct when speaking to me
>I, on the other hand, set him apart from his friends, took away his free time and haven't told him what is it that I'm actually trying to do, I guess I need to start again from zero
>Let’s begin by being sincere "Norman, I know you're not a racist, why don't you do anything to clear your name?"
>"I don't need to clear my name," he says with confidence "My friends don't call me a racist unless they're joking, and the rest of this school is not worth the time it'd take to clear my name"
>I can only feel admiration for this little twig (gotta change this line)
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>Another week has passed. Now I know that Norman actually has made friends despite his fame
>I've discovered that the ones I thought were the worst off his bullies are his best friends; how could I fail noticing that. There's so much I need to learn; thankfully, working with this boy has made me see things I didn't think I would ever see.
>This guy became friends with people he can barely stand. If it wasn't for that little mistake he'd be quite popular. He should consider diplomacy as his future career choice
>Anyways, I've witnessed his willpower and resilience. And I must say that my colleagues were right; Norman doesn't need my help.
>"Norman, during your time as my assistant I discovered that you are a reliable and strong boy, I mean young man." his face lights up when he hears the compliment "Therefore, I'm relieving you from your duty"
>His smile disappears "Why? am I not doing it well enough?" I can see he's very responsible too, I'd love to meet someone like him
>Okay Cherilee, now it's time to be honest; take a deep breath and spill the beans "Look, the reason I made you my assistant was protecting you from bullies. I wanted to gain your trust in order to get you to ask for help; but after spending time with you, I realized that you didn't ask for help, not because a lack of confidence, but because you don't need it. I'm sorry for being a bother to you during these days"
>"You were not a bother at all, I really enjoyed these weeks. I also want to thank you for your concern, you're the first teacher who's done something to help me. Whenever you need help just call me, and your assistant will be ready to lend you a hand"
>He's such a good boy, why can't the rest of the school see this
>"Well then, see you tomorrow my former assistant" I say good bye to him as he leaves my office. Now back to work
>Wow, having Norman here made me forget how hard paperwork could be

Being Norman

>"Look everyone, the teacher's pet was dumped" man, I hate these faggots

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>Ever since I started assisting Miss Cherilee, I've been the target of more bullying than ever
>But, after becoming aware of her intentions for making me her assistant, I can't tell her about this
>Anyways, now that I'm not her assistant anymore, all the harassment is bound to stop
>In the middle of a sea of mockery, I'm lost in my thoughts. It's in this moment that a breeze of light takes me out of the storm
>"Darling, why are you not with miss Cherilee?" asks the precious voice of The Aryan Beauty
>"well, I was relieved from duty, I guess I'll have lots of free time from now on"
>We then walk through the hallway chatting about trivial things, while the other students keep trying to insult me. I ignore them as usual
>Until, some brown haired jock with a football on his shirt says "Yo, Rarity! trying to catch him on the rebound?" The Aryan Beauty averts his gaze, curling her arms around her body like a turtle hiding from a hungry eagle. This guy took it too far
>Without giving it a second thought I move my fist at top speed towards his face, stopping millimeters away from one of his eyes
>The surprise made him fall on his ass
>I look down to him and say "You can say anything you want about me, but don't even think about teasing her" I'm such a badass
>After witnessing the scene, the crowd goes silent and some people even get away from us
>"Just wow Norman, why did you do this? You never strike back at the ones who bully you" she asks me with the biggest smile and a bit of blush on her cheeks, maybe I can finally tell her what I feel
>"I wouldn't let anyone bother you because I..." her beautiful eyes open up as they place their sight into my own
>"Yes?" the melody of her voice sets my heart on fire, it's time to let her know about my burning passion
>"I... I consider you one of my best friends, and I will always stand up for my friends" I'm such a pussy
>"I'm glad to have a friend like you Norman" her smile becomes more subtle
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>"I still think you should stand up to your bullies more often" Says The Aryan Beauty
>"Nah, my parents taught me since I was little that paying attention to the people who teases you just worsens the whole thing"
>Saying that made me remember my childhood and the pranks my parents used to play on me, each time I tried to get back at them, they escalated to incredible levels of pain or shame to me. Specially that time they took me to a forest while I was asleep; when I woke up I was alone and scared shitless because I found myself alone and lost until I found the way out of that hellish place. At least they didn't really leave me alone inn there as they were just very well hidden but near me the whole time. I still think that was too much for a whoopee cushion in Dad's take your son to work day. I wouldn't even have thought of doing that if he hadn't done the same thing to me in that school event in front of all of my friends. Enough of that, this is no time to remember the past, this is the time to enjoy with The Aryan Beauty
>"Assertiveness is better when it's saved for these kinds of moments, that guy will think it twice before teasing you again" I smile at her
>"So," My love speaks "why did Miss Cherilee dismiss you? You told her about how people started teasing you even more than before, right?"
>"Actually, she made me her assistant, in order to protect me from bullies. She released me because she saw that I actually have friends and I don't mind the teasing"
>"But they even used violence against you!" she says
>"Come on Aryan, making me trip doesn't count as violence at all"
>"What about the times when they punched your back while you were carrying those copies; or that time when everyone shot you with water balloons when you were passing out flyers?" all valid points, but I don't want miss Cherilee feel bad because of me. She had good intentions after all
>"Well, they didn't get me to drop the copies or hit me with the water balloons so, no big deal"
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>Our conversation continues until the end of recess
>"See you later" says The Aryan Beauty
>I'm so glad to be able to spend time with her again. I would have liked if she hadn't spend most of our time complaining about how I should stand up for myself and how I should have told miss Cherilee and the other teachers about how most of the school bullies me. She looked angry the whole time
>It kinda makes me happy that she worries for me, but I'd prefer not to make her worry at all. Maybe I should...
>Nah not after finding out Miss Cheerilee's true intentions. I mean, she clearly just wanted the best for me; I don't want her to feel sad for trying to help me

Being Cherilee

>The bell rung, but I don't have to wory, this is one of my free blocks, I guess I'll just take a nap
>Having Norman here sure was good, but I really missed relaxing like this in my office
>*Knock knock knock slam slam*
>Who dares disturb my sleep!
>Someone's slamming my door just as I was starting to fall asleep
>"Who's there?! can't you see I'm working here?!" yeah right
>When I open the door, I see that the offender is none other than Rarity
>"What are you doing here? you should be in class right now little lady!" I can't hide the anger in my voice. She skipped class, slammed my door and interrupted my nap!
>Skipping class is reason enough for detention, but interrupting my nap gives me the will to follow through with it
>"Miss Cherilee!" is this girl raising her voice against me? it seems she wants to be suspended "you are the worst possible teacher, I'm seriously disappointed in you!" eh, please calm down Rarity, you don't need to be angry
>The rage in her eyes and voice made me lose composure, she reminds me of my teachers, how they used to yell at me whenever they felt like it. Just now I was going to do the same thing to her, so I decide to remain silent and listen to her reasoning for such a disrespectful attitude
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>"Because of you, Norman has been constantly harassed by the other students since he became your assistant; as if it wasn't already enough with all the torment he has undergone you had to come and increase his load"
>Rarity seems to be really angry, because her usually flowery speech has become really redundant.
>She says that Norman is being more bullied that in the past. That's not possible
>"Listen girl, I'm the one who has been with him for the most time during these last weeks, so I would know if Norman has been bullied; I assure you he'd have told me"
>He would have told me, he said I'm the first teacher who's done something to help him, so I should have won his trust; right?
>Rarity lets out a scream that may have been heard by the whole school, at least is seems like that to me
>"HAS HE EVER COMPLAINED ABOUT PEOPLE BULLYING HIM! WHAT MADE YOU THINK IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT WITH YOU?!"
>"But... he's been with me the whole time, no one would bullied him in front of me" I reply to her
>"WERE YOU REALLY WITH HIM ALL THE TIME? NO ONE WOULD HARASS SOMEONE IN FRONT OF A TEACHER!"
>I can't believe how stupid I am, that's exactly what the other teachers said would happen. Wait, what she says can't possibly be true
>"But he was always smiling while helping me! that proves that he wasn't being bullied"
>"Is that so?" the girl smiles, it seems that I finally made her see the truth. She must have misunderstood the whole issue
>"COULDN'T YOU NOTICE THAT NORMAN WAS SMILING JUST TO NOT MAKE YOU WORRY?!"
>It seems that all I achieved with my flawless logic was increasing her anger, because her angry rant continues for at least half an hour. I just listen and nod to her words
>I won't give her a detention, because I deserve this, I shouldn't have meddled
>Poor Norman, why are you suffering all this? you really don't deserve this
>Why didn't you tell me that they are harassing you even more?
>Is it that you don't trust me at all, despite the trust I have in you?
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>I listen to her until she gets tired of yelling
>Once she stops, she just glares at me with rage
>With a gloomy look in my face and a defeated tone of voice I say
>"You don't know how sorry I am. I didn't know any of this, could you ever forgive me?"
>I think some tears started to form in my eyes due to the sheer impotence I felt when I realized I worsened his life
>The sight of my disheartened self seems to have unlit the flames of anger in her heart, because the next thing she said was
>"Miss Cherilee, please don't worry so much"
>The girl's face shifts from anger to worry
>"I was just ranting because I don't like seeing how he forces himself to smile when everything goes wrong for him; I'm sorry for letting myself explode in front of you, it's just that I.."
>Her expression now becomes serious
>"No, there's no excuse for losing control over my emotions. A proper lady must always be in control of herself"
>It's as if she had matured in the span of a few seconds while I turned into a little girl instead
>she then pats my back and says
>"I'm sorry for my unruly demeanor. I know my actions have consequences and I'm willing to take full responsibility for what I did"
>The look of sincerity in her eyes made me wonder, how come this girl is more of an adult than me?
>I sign a paper and give it to Rarity
>"Don't worry, I won't punish you, because I deserved this; just, don't do it again because not everyone will think that you yelling at them is a good thing. Go back to class, and tell the teacher you were helping me with something"
>"See you later miss Cherilee" says Rarity "and, I'm sorry for being so outspoken"
>"It's okay, now go back to class before I change my mind"
>She nods and goes
>Once she's gone, I lock the door and the tars that had been formed in my eyes begin falling
>"Why Norman? I thought we had a special bond of trust. Yet you go and hide everything from me. Why am I such a bad teacher"
>Tears of defeat don't stop flowing until the bell rings

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>Some days have gone by since Rarity told me how, all my work to help Norman backfired
>All I wanted is to protect him but I only increased his load
>For almost a month I haven't been able to stop thinking of him, about how much he helped me and how I let him down
>Despite having him constantly in my mind, I have been avoiding him all this time
>I only talk to him when it's strictly necessary for my duties as a teacher; because, when I see his smile, I can only think about how he's forcing it just to make me think that nothing is going wrong
>However, I know everything's going wrong and it's all my fault. Enough of that, he's not my only student after all
>Okay, this is no time to ponder about that issue, I'm not even at the school
>Right now, I'm at the mall waiting for a friend, she was my classmate in high school and we kept hanging out after graduation. She called me because she wants to tell me something in person
>"Cherileewees" a familiar voice gets me out of my trance
>"Cakey" I reply to the call
>Cup Cake stands before me with a huge smile on her face
>After greeting each other, we look for a table and something to eat
>I wonder what her news are
>But instead of getting straight to the point, she does her usual routine of keeping me up to date of our classmates’ whereabouts
>I'm practically the only one who's not married yet, and the ones who are still single have been steadily dating
>Even though I enjoy Cup Cake's company, it saddens me to remember that I abandoned any possibility to form a relationship just to have more time to dedicate to my career. I can't say those years were wasted, but I can't help but feeling like that when I hear about the happy families my classmates have formed
>Most of them started dating in high school or college. I guess I'm too late for the train; after all, I'm an adult already and I barely have time for myself, let alone start a relationship.
>"Now" she says once she finished the update "it's time for the great news"

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>Damnit Cakey, why do you feel the need to make this so suspenseful?
>"I'm pregnant"
>Before my mind gets to react, a squeal of pure happiness escapes my mouth while I hug Cup Cake
>"Congratulations Cakey" I let out during my bliss
>The rest of the afternoon is spent planning a baby shower and thinking about possible names. I'm so happy for her
>As night is nigh, the time for us to part ways comes. I say good bye to her with my biggest smile
>Five minutes after our separation, it hits me
>I sit down on the first bench I find and start thinking about my life, losing all of my awareness of the world around me
>I could already be a mother, but instead of that, I dedicated all my time to becoming a teacher just to be of help to my students
>However, when I finally got the chance to help one of them I just went and made his life worse. what a nice teacher I've become.
>All those years and effort wasted
>Why didn't I just go on dates like my friends. It's not that life would be any easier if I had a man, but at least I'd have someone to listen to my complaints
>"..ss Cherilee, why are you so sad?" I hear a voice talking to me. I must have gone nuts.
>"It's just that I wasted my life studying instead of trying to get a boyfriend like all my friends did. I'm not even a good teacher" I reply to the familiar voice of my imaginary friend
>Why is his voice familiar? I've had him for just like 1 minute
>"C'mon, you're always there to help all of your students, with the most sincere smile ever. Everyone thinks you're the best teacher at the school"
>The voice in my head really know how to make me feel important, but my point stays
>"What about Norman? I wanted to get rid of his bullies and help him make friends, but instead, all I got was to worsen his already bad school life"
>"Not at all, my life is just the same as it was before I became your assistant" my imaginary friend takes a sip from his smoothie
>Why is my imaginary friend drinking a smoothie?
>Wait, his life?

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>I look up and notice "Norman?"
>"The one and only" he says with the straw of his smoothie still in his mouth
>I can't believe that after all the effort I made to avoid him, I ended up spilling the beans in the most stupid manner possible
>"What made you think my life is worse than before? Do people actually spread rumors behind my back? That’s a new low. I thought I was just a running joke" Norman makes a face I don't see too often. He looks worried and slightly annoyed
>I guess I'll tell him the truth but I'll omit who told me because I really don't want him to lose a good friend just because she was worried for his well being
>"Actually someone spoke to me regarding your situation"
>"Who was it?" he quickly asks me
>"I won’t tell you who it was if you are going to have such an attitude. I will only tell you that this person was really worried about you, to the point of being angry with me for making you my assistant" I use a stricter tone of voice this time
>"Anyways," I continue "this informant told me that some students have been physically attacking you when you were helping me, taking advantage from the fact that your hands were occupied. They've also been calling you the teacher's pet in addition to the usual racist claims"
>I take a moment to muster my courage
>"I'm so sorry Norman, I didn't want to make it harder for you, and I'm sorry I avoided you all this time instead of actually telling you the truth"
>After saying all of that out loud with Norman right there beside me, I couldn't help but just cry.
>The surprised boy just pats my back and lets me cry on his shoulder "It's okay miss Cherilee"
>"But I kept making you the school's laughing stock" I say while sobbing
>"Don't worry, I can take that and much more" he smiles at me in  way that makes me feel really safe in his arms
>"How did you become this tough?" I really want to know this, my tears won't stop my curiosity
>"I learned that the best way to deal with bullying is to pay no mind to it"

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>His face showed a darker expression, as if he had experienced a trauma related to bullying. I wonder what kind of life did he lead before coming to Canterlot High. What could have turned him into the reliable young man he is right now
>"You're indeed the son of a tiger my boy," A man's voice is heard , Norman distances himself from me "I leave you alone for 15 minutes and you're already breaking hearts. Ouch"
>A woman smacks the back of the man's head "C'mon dear, can't you see the girl is crying just like Norman when he wet his bed at 10" she says with a smirk
 >"Mom, you know that only happened because you put my hand inside that bucket of water... Oops" I had never seen Norman reply to his bullies. wait, those are his parents?
>"Mwahahahahahha" the couple's guffaws resonated all over the mall
>I pity the girl that will have to deal with them as parents in law. Although, a guy like Norman is worth all the hassle. Maybe if I had met him in my school years
>Wait a second! What the hell am I thinking?
>The tears on my face are replaced by a very notorious blush when I come back to my senses
>"I thought you liked that other girl, what was her name in your poem? Asian Fruity? Anyways, this one seems better for you. But she's not as good as that shy girl" the man says. I didn't know Norman had a girl he likes, I Really didn't learn anything about him during the time he was my assistant
>"Cheh, the shy girl pales in comparison to Applelady. But yeah, this girl is much better than the Saurian Slutty" they really don't like this Victorian Pretty, especially Noman's mom. At least I have their blessing. Damn, stop thinking that, he's a student, you're not that desperate
>"Mom, dad, please stop teasing me, she's my teacher! Wait, were you reading my journal?"
>"Of course we did sonny, we're your parents so we need to know everything about you" his dad says
>I just chuckle while enjoying my spaghetti
>Am I dinning at his place? Stupid brain with your stupid autopilot

_____________________________________________________

>Cherilee, how could you not notice you rode a car to your student's house?
>Well, a mix between my nervousness and the interesting relationship between Norman and his parents made me just follow their pace
>I can't help but laugh at their antics; however, Norman turning out into a good boy from this kind of upbringing is something that really surprises me
>The rest of the night is pretty uneventful, and by that I mean we were teased to no end; well, Norman was the one they were teasing, but every time they motion the possibility of us being together my heart skips a beat. This is so wrong, I shouldn't allow them to tease us like that, I'm not in high school anymore; but, I just can't believe I'm actually considering being by his side
>C'mon, I'm not that desperate
>"Sonny," Norman's dad says, for a change, he's not making a joke this time "could you go get us something for dessert?"
>Norman gives him an annoyed look, but obeys anyways
>Once Norman leaves the house, both of his parents look at me
>"We're truly thankful for your efforts Ms. Cherilee" Norman's dad says "out of all the teachers in that god forsaken school, you're the only one who has shown a bit of worry for our little boy"
>This is completely different to how he acted while Norman was here
>"I was really regretting coming to this town when I heard my son was branded as a racist on the first day of school and the teachers did nothing to help him" asserts Norman's mother "but then, you appeared in his life, you really are a godsend"
>"But I did nothing for him at all, in fact, he's been pestered even more ever since he started being my assistant" I say, losing my composure once again
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>"Please don't worry about that," the woman replies "what matters the most to us, is that your attention renewed our son's strength to go on. I mean, he was so happy when he told us you wanted to protect him from bullies. He even told us that you scolded his purple friend, you don't know how much I'd have loved to see that"
>"Come on dearie, she's one of Norman's friends" the man chuckles, he clearly liked Twilight being scolded despite of what he said. "Back to our son, to him you’re an example of how an adult should be like. That’s something we, sadly can’t do”
>”How so?” I reply, “you’re his parents, you are the ones he’s supposed to look up to”
>”Has Norman never told you anything about us?” the couple asks
>”Not at all, he never really speaks about his life”
>”Well then,” the man continues, “what do you think about how we treated our son today?”
>I’ve gotta be careful, so I don’t step on a landmine, here
>”Well, you’re a pretty normal family, parents always tease their children”
>They look at me, in silence. I better break the ice up a bit
>”Anyone would tease their son if they saw him speaking to a woman as beautiful as myself”
>There, just wait for it, they’ll chuckle and go back to their lively selves
>The mother speaks “I know you’re joking, but this is serious, we’re talking about our son here”
>Oh dear, I jumped straight into a mine there
>”You didn’t even see the tip of the iceberg on how we deal with our son” she says “but, even though regret it, we have our reason to act that way”
>“Norman is our only child” the father takes the word “and, as such, we sheltered and spoiled him a lot during his first years. The problem started when he entered pre-school, our son had become a crybaby and it was our fault. Even looking at him wrongly would make him cry, he didn’t have any friends and his teacher hated him because of that. We realized we had been bad parents and started trying to solve the issue right away. We tried counselors, therapists, we even went to some seminars; however nothing would work, he was as delicate as a flower, no matter what we did”
>I don’t think Norman is that frail at all
>“That’s when we decided to listen to our parents, they told us we had to roughen him up by doing exactly the opposite of what we had been doing. We took away all the special attention we were giving him, and when that was not enough, we started being aloof with him and even playing pranks on him from time to time. Our mistreatment of him became progressively worse, up to the point in which we completely lost his trust in us; however, thanks to all that, he gained enough of a backbone to not mind adversity”
>”Now I get why he’s so resilient,” I say “but, why do you keep your act up, if you already accomplished you objective?”
>“Well,” the mother said “he doesn’t trust us anymore, so whenever we try getting close to him, he’s wary of us. We can’t even give him a birthday present without him doubting our intentions. I sometimes wonder if he even loves us at all, we’d deserve his hate if he didn’t, but I’m glad that thanks to what we did, he was able to make friends”
>They really care about Norman. Of course they would, he’s their son, but still, they should just be honest with him
>”He had a nice life, except for us bothering him every day, and he was very social; until when we moved to this town. I was very worried, because our normally cheerful boy always came back home looking sad and tired he also didn’t bring any friends home” the woman’s expression turned sour for a bit “well, that is until he brought Twilight for the first time, though I’d prefer not to talk about our first encounter”
>”Barring our first encounters,” Norman’s father says “I’m grateful of that girl, thanks to her, our boy could finally have friends in here; and then, we met Pinkie, who told us he had problems at school, thanks to her, we get to know about the things he doesn’t tell us”
>Why are they telling me all this?

>"Ms. Cherilee," Norman's mother says, "we're truly thankful for what you've done for our son, we must ask you something though. Please be what we can't hope to become, the adult who Norman looks up to, the example we can't give to our son"
>That's way more than what I can do, I'm nothing more than a worthless adult who abandoned everything to become something I haven't been able to, a good teacher. But in this kind of situation, I have no choice other than saying
>"I'll do my best to help him, but I can't guarantee anything. As you can see by the results of my attempt at helping your son, I may be the worst teacher for this"

>Norman's mom gives me a pat on the back "What's important is that you tried helping. Trying is as valuable as succeeding when it comes to a person's heart"
>"Norman's at the door," says the father, "conversation over"
>"Not even a word about this to Norman, understood?" Noman's mother uses a menacing tone that would make a gangster need another pari of pants
>"Uh-understood!" That was a bit scary, but I understand their reasons
>Norman brought icecream, the rest of the night was exactly as how it was before Norman went out. It's hard to believe these are the same parents who are worried to death about him
>Once dinner was over, Norman and his dad take me home
>It's hard to sleep tonight, so much stuff to think about
>On one hand, I have a student in need of help who comes from a disfunctional family; on the other hand, I have a teache whose life is a complete mess. However, this teacher is the only one willing to help
>I guess I found a new objective, I'll do my best to make Norman trust his parents again
>But first, I must gain his trust myself