When Summer Ends

by Isabelle Rae

  He nodded, seeming to digest that information for a couple of seconds. “Okay, thanks. You should go,” he stated, letting go of my wrist. I stood there looking at him for a few seconds before I felt my eyes starting to prickle with tears so I turned and practically ran out of the room.

  I ran down the hallway to my locker. Amy was waiting there for me, smiling sympathetically. “Another detention?” she asked, turning her nose up.

  Another detention? What’s that about? “No, why would I get a detention?”

  “You fell asleep in his class then gave him some sarcastic comment and didn’t even apologise,” she explained, looking at me as if I was stupid.

  Oh. Actually, yeah, I guess I should have gotten a detention for that. Hmm, maybe he felt that lunchtime detentions for the first week of the semester were enough. I shrugged. “I got a lecture about it but no detentions,” I lied.

  She linked her arm through mine. “Well that’s too bad; I would love detention with him, more chance to stare at that face.” She fanned her face dramatically. My rage spiked immediately because yet another person was attracted to my ex-boyfriend.

  “He’s not that freaking hot!” I snapped angrily.

  A hurt expression crossed her face so I immediately felt terrible. I knew I shouldn’t be taking this out on her; she was being a loyal friend and trying to take my mind off of my ex-boyfriend. It wasn’t her fault she was just rubbing it in my face how hot that ex-boyfriend was.

  “I’m sorry, Amy, I shouldn’t keep taking this out on you. I just don’t want to keep talking about hot guys, it reminds me of Will,” I lied, hoping that made sense.

  She smiled sadly. “Okay it’s no problem,” she dismissed. “Right then, missy, we’re going for some retail therapy and then I’m going to buy you the biggest, most sickly piece of chocolate cake I can find.” She grinned wickedly and pulled me out of the school towards her car.

  Chapter Eight

  Almost two hours later we were done shopping and went to get some dessert from the café in the middle of the shopping mall. I’d honestly tried not to think about Will as I was browsing the stores, but he just kept popping back into my mind. Every time I saw a nice shirt I thought about buying it for him, or when a guy walked past with brown hair I would check to make sure it wasn’t him. I really was obsessed.

  Just as we were done with our cake, someone tapped me on the shoulder. My eyes flicked to Amy who was looking behind me with a flirtatious smile. I turned in my seat, looking behind me, seeing that Sam, Will’s brother, was standing there grinning at me.

  “Hey, Chloe.”

  “Oh… um hey, Sam,” I greeted uncomfortably. My eyes flicking back to Amy as I tried to hide my worry. Does Sam know that Will and I have broken up? What if he accidentally says something about him being a teacher in front of Amy?

  “How have you been? Long time no see.” He smiled his cheeky, make all the girls melt smile. It reminded me so much of Will’s smile that it made my stomach ache.

  “I’ve been good,” I lied. “Er, Sam, this is Amy. We go to school together,” I introduced, putting plenty of emphasis around the word school, secretly trying to tell him not to mention anything in front of her. “Amy, this is Sam, he’s Will’s brother.” I waved a hand between them both.

  “Hey, nice to meet you,” Amy said, smiling flirtily.

  Sam turned on the killer charm, his eyes seeming to sparkle as he regarded her with barely contained interest. “And it is definitely nice to meet you,” he replied, winking at her. “So, are you going to leave me standing here all day, or ask me to sit down?”

  I sucked in a ragged breath, already wishing this meeting was over. It was like walking on eggshells.

  “Sure, sit down,” Amy offered, patting the seat next to her.

  He smirked at her and went to sit there before turning back to me. “So you and Will broke up, huh?” he mused, cocking his head to the side, looking at me curiously.

  I gulped. “Yep,” I confirmed, shrugging, trying to pretend it didn’t feel like he was killing me with a plastic spork.

  He frowned. “It’s a shame, you two were cute together.”

  “Can we not talk about it?” I snapped. I instantly regretted it. There I go taking it out on others again! “Sorry, I’m being all snappy and bitchy today; I didn’t sleep very well last night so I’m taking it out on everyone.”

  “You didn’t? You need someone to volunteer to rock you to sleep? Because I’m definitely up for that,” he teased, smirking and waggling his eyebrows at me suggestively.

  I laughed despite the awkwardness of the situation. “Shut up, flirt, I just broke up with your brother. I don’t think I’ll be as quick to take up with another cocky, overconfident, brown haired pervert.” I stuck out my tongue at him. He laughed quietly.

  Amy bent down, picking up her purse and shopping bags from the floor at her feet. “Chloe, we’d better go, I need to get home, I’m babysitting for my brother tonight,” she interrupted, shooting me a regretful look.

  I nodded and stood up grabbing my purse too. “Nice to see you again, Sam.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, listen, you want to hang out sometime? As friends? Catch a movie or something?” he asked, smiling sympathetically.

  I looked at Amy for help, but she wasn’t that much use because she was nodding vigorously, telling me to accept. I pondered on it for a few seconds. Sam was a nice guy, I’d met up with him a few times with Will and we got on well. It wouldn’t make much difference being friends with him. At least I would have someone to talk to about the fact that Will is my teacher. Sam was the only one I would be able to talk to about it, actually.

  “Um, yeah okay. Just as friends though, I’m not interested in anything else,” I clarified.

  He snorted and rolled his eyes. “What makes you think I’m interested in anything? Jeez, you’ve got Will cooties all over you. Gross,” he scoffed, looking me over with a mock disgusted face as he faked a shudder.

  I burst out laughing. He reminded me so much of Will - they had the same humour. Sam grinned and pulled out his cell phone, passing it to me. I typed in my number and handed it back. “Come on then, Amy. See you around, Sam.”

  As we walked off, Amy looked at me with wide eyes. “Wow, he’s so hot! Seriously yummy,” she gushed. I nodded and shrugged. Sam was really cute, even I could see that though I didn’t look at him like that. “Does he look like Will?” she asked flatly as we weaved past people towards the pay machines for the parking lot.

  I took out a deep breath and blew it out loudly. “Yeah a little, Will’s better looking though, annoying as that is to admit.” I shrugged. My cell phone beeped in my purse. I pulled it out to see I had a text from an unknown number:

  ‘Just 2 let U know U can talk 2 me about Will if U need 2. I’ll call U later in the week and we can catch a movie. Sam’

  I smiled and messaged back a thank you. Amy was watching me curiously. “My mom wondering what time I’ll be home,” I lied, slipping my phone back into my pocket.

  That night I flopped on my bed doing my homework. I’d deliberately left calculus until last so I could take my time with the chapter we were supposed to read so I could let it sink in. I read the whole thing three times, but it still didn’t make much sense to me. I fell asleep with the book on my chest.

  The next day I didn’t see Will all morning which I was grateful for, but I still had the lunchtime detention to get through. Hopefully, like yesterday, he would ignore me and that would make it easier. I’d brought a book to read today so at least I wouldn’t have to watch the clock. When the bell rang at the end of the morning, I said bye to my friends and reluctantly trudged off to his classroom. Again he wasn’t there, so I made my way to the back and pulled out my iPod and book.

  A little while later I saw movement from in front of me and looked up just as Will was turning the chair around from the desk in front of mine. He settled himself in the chair and looked at me expectantly.

  I reluctantly
turned off my iPod. “I thought you said I could listen to music,” I muttered, frowning.

  “Yeah you can, I just wanted to talk to you about the assignment you did in class yesterday.” He shrugged, his eyes not leaving my face.

  I groaned. “I was asleep; I didn’t do any of them so I scribbled some stuff down so I had something to hand in,” I said defensively. “They were all wrong I’m guessing.”

  He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. “No actually, every single one of them was right, and I wanted to talk to you about joining the Mathlete team.”

  “Holy crud, really?” I cried, shocked.

  “No, they were all wrong,” he stated, laughing. “You’re so gullible.”

  I laughed and blushed at my stupidity. “Not funny.”

  “Seriously though, last semester you were buddied with someone. Do you have a problem with calculus?” he asked, snapping his teacher head back.

  I groaned. “Yeah, I honestly just can’t do it. You could just fail me now to save us both the effort,” I suggested hopefully. Then I won’t have to come to his class at all!

  He shook his head firmly. “How about you get a tutor? I would offer to do it, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.” He frowned, seeming to think. “Looking at the work from yesterday there’s a girl called Erika Dennison who’s pretty good.” He flicked his head to get the hair from his eyes. I chewed on my lip so I didn’t make a sound. I loved it when he did that, it was sexy as hell.

  Suddenly it dawned on me what he’d just said. Erika Dennison tutoring me? I hated her. She’d picked on both me and Amy when we first started school. She was a bitch who liked to make people’s lives hell. I couldn’t have her do it and know I was bad at something; she would make sure everyone knew how terrible I was at it. She’d embarrass the heck out of me on purpose.

  “No not her, please,” I begged.

  He puffed out a big breath. “Well the only other one I would recommend from your class would be Oliver Hawk, but I don’t think that’s a good idea either.” He frowned, looking a little annoyed about something.

  Why is that not a good idea? “I’d definitely prefer Oliver, but he tried to explain it to me yesterday, and I still didn’t get it.” A wave of humiliation hit me. Jeez, I’m so stupid! Why does my worst subject have to be the one he teaches? I bet he’s wondering what he even saw in me in the first place… but then again he didn’t have any feelings for me so all he probably saw in me was an easy lay.

  “Well, seeing as we already have a week of detentions I can help you for this week, and then we can see how you go okay?” he offered, smiling kindly.

  “Actually, I’d rather just fail.” I shook my head in rejection. I couldn’t be that close to him, it was too painful.

  “What does that mean?”

  I sighed. “I just need you to stay away from me; I can’t be talking to you all the time. Just leave me to get on with it and I’ll struggle through somehow. I don’t need your help,” I replied, putting my headphones back in.

  He looked a little hurt as I turned the music up full blast. Without trying to talk to me again, he stood up and set a little brown paper bag on my desk, before storming back to his desk not looking back at me.

  Hesitantly, I looked in the little bag. In there sat a chicken salad wrap, tortilla chips, and a pot of sour cream dip that had the name ‘Old Giuseppe’ on the side. That was the name of the Mexican restaurant he took me to on our first real date. Damn, he is so freaking adorable! Did he bring this in for me? Maybe this is his lunch. I glanced up to see him eating a wrap of his own so it obviously wasn’t his. Why is he being like this? He wouldn’t buy lunch for another student, so why do it for me?

  I sighed and pulled open the wrap, just wishing that things were different, that either I was older, or he was younger. Anything. Whatever would make this painful situation better. The only thing that I didn’t wish was that I had never met him. I would never wish that, I had the perfect summer with him, and I was grateful for every second of it.

  My pocket vibrated so I pulled out my cell phone to see an unknown number flashing on my screen. I snuck a glance at Will wondering what he would do if I answered my phone. Screw it, what more can he do?

  I answered it quickly. “Hello?” I whispered, sinking lower into my seat trying to go unnoticed.

  “Hey, Chloe. It’s Sam.”

  “Oh hi, um, this isn’t a good time,” I whispered, closing my eyes.

  “Really? I thought it would be your lunchtime,” he replied, sounding a little bemused.

  “It is, but I have detention.”

  He laughed. “Oh I knew you were a bad girl,” he teased. “But wait, who the hell gives a lunchtime detention on the first week of school? That’s just cruel.”

  Cruel is right! “Your brother does. I have one every day this week.”

  He burst out laughing. “You’re in there with him right now? That’s too funny. Wow, talk about awkward.”

  A scowl lined my forehead. “Screw you, there’s nothing even remotely funny about this situation,” I snapped angrily.

  “Whoa, Chloe, chill! I’m sorry, I was just kidding around. Listen, I just called to arrange that movie.” His voice was apologetic so I felt my annoyance ebbing away.

  “If you’re going to keep making these lame ass remarks then I’m not even sure I want to go with you anymore,” I countered, pouting even though he couldn’t see me.

  “Well that’s too bad. I’ll pick you up from school Friday. You finish at three o’clock, right?” he asked.

  Friday? I’m not ready to go out yet. I would rather curl in bed and eat chocolate all weekend. “What? No, I don’t want to go Friday.”

  He chuckled darkly. “Well it needs to be Friday because I’ll be getting laid on Saturday.”

  “You’re such a man-whore,” I teased.

  “Yeah, but being a man-whore is so much fun. Right then, I’ll be there at three o’clock Friday.”

  “Sam, no,” I hissed as the line disconnected. “Damn it!” I groaned and dropped my phone on the table roughly, wishing the ground would just open up and swallow me, putting me out of my misery.

  “Was that an emergency call?” Will asked, his voice harsh.

  “No it was a booty call,” I teased, expecting him to laugh. He didn’t. Instead, he got up from his desk and walked over to me, snatching my cell phone from the table and slipping it into his pocket.

  “No personal calls allowed in school unless they’re an emergency,” he snapped, shrugging and walking back to his desk. “You can get it back at the end of the day.”

  “Are you kidding me? Do you enjoy annoying me? Why are you doing this, Will? Seriously, you’ve turned into a freaking jerk!” I cried, jumping out of my seat and throwing my stuff into my bag angrily. I pulled out ten dollars from my pocket, walked up to his desk and slammed it down. “That’s for the lunch.”

  He glared at me. “You have half an hour of detention left.”

  “So go freaking report me,” I spat, glaring back at him. He didn’t say anything so I turned on my heel and walked out, marching to the cafeteria, spotting my friends sitting there still chatting over lunch.

  Amy looked at me confused as I walked up to them. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in detention?”

  “I feel sick, I’m going home,” I lied, shrugging. There was no way I was going to see that ass again today, if I did then I’d probably slap his face, either that or kiss it. I couldn’t exactly do either of those things in a class full of students.

  “You feel sick? You’re not pregnant are you?” Amy joked, looking at me with a mock horror face.

  “Yeah, how on earth did you guess that? I’m only three months, I shouldn’t be showing already,” I joked, playing along and rubbing my stomach. I saw Nick jerk in his seat, his whole body tensed up as he looked at me with wide eyes. I burst out laughing. “Relax, I was kidding.” I winked at him playfully.

  He blew out a big breath and rubbed the b
ack of his neck. “Christ that scared me.”

  “Sorry, Nick.” I laughed. “Amy, can you get anything I need from this afternoon? I don’t have my cell phone it’s been confiscated so don’t bother texting me or anything.” I shrugged and shifted my heavy bag on my shoulder.

  “Who confiscated it?” Emily asked, frowning and clutching her cell for dear life. Emily was someone who believed that you were helpless without a phone. She would probably have a mild heart attack if she didn’t have it on her at all times.

  “The new guy,” I muttered, not wanting to say his name.

  The table of people all laughed. Emily looked at me with narrowed eyes. “What’s up with you? That guy is awesome, funny, smart, and he’s a fair too, but you just seem to rub each other up the wrong way. Everyone else loves him; he’s the best thing to happen to this school since they got rid of the Thursday meatloaf,” she mused, shaking her head, looking a little baffled.

  And there she goes defending him again. “Really? Wow, you should tell him that, I’m sure that’ll earn you one of those oh so sexy smiles,” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. How could he come in here and have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand so quickly? It was just plain annoying. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I called over my shoulder as I turned to walk out.

  Just as I got to the front door someone grabbed my hand, making it hurt a little from the scratches yesterday. I turned back angrily, expecting to see Will there telling me I had to get back in detention or something. It wasn’t him though, it was Nick.

  “How are you getting home?” he asked, looking at me worriedly.

  I shrugged in response. “I’m walking.”

  He sighed and slung his arm around my shoulder. “I’ll drive you. You can’t walk home if you’re sick.” He led me towards his car. I smiled, not wanting to admit I was faking. I didn’t want to walk home. I knew it was selfish but I liked his company, he took my mind off Will for a little while because he wasn’t talking about how hot he was all the time like Amy did.