by Isabelle Rae
“Oh, I didn’t realise,” I muttered, chewing on my lip and wishing the ground would just open up and swallow me to take me away from this painful conversation.
“Yeah I didn’t tell anyone. I just wanted you to know why I was like that with you; it wasn’t just that I was being an ass I promise.” He stroked the side of my face with the back of one finger and I felt a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. It kind of made sense and explained why he would freak out, but that still didn’t excuse it and he still needed to know I wouldn’t put up with it from him again.
“I get it, Olly; she hurt you so you think that every girl will do the same thing. But I’m not like that, I promise. I don’t cheat.” I said the words, but my mind flicked to Will’s full lips inching closer to mine, and how the cold of the fridge had made me breakout goosebumps - or maybe the goosebumps were caused by the anticipation of the kiss, I wasn’t sure. I knew one thing for certain though; I sure as heck would have cheated yesterday if Amy hadn’t walked in.
He nodded and cupped my cheek with his hand. “I know and I’m sorry. Forgive me?” he asked, giving me the puppy dog face. He looked so cute when he did that, all big blue eyes and sad mouth.
I swallowed loudly. “Yeah okay, but you won’t do that again, right? I won’t put up with it so you need to take that on board pretty quickly.”
He smiled happily and nodded. “Absolutely, lesson learned I promise.”
I rolled my eyes playfully and nodded. “So how was your family dinner?” I asked, wanting to change the subject because the guilt of the almost kiss was making me feel terrible.
He smiled and shook his head dismissively. “We can talk later,” he whispered as he pressed his lips against mine. I whimpered, a little shocked that he was actually kissing me in the middle of the hallway with everyone standing around us. He didn’t pull back either, it wasn’t just a peck; it was a proper, full-on kiss. I kissed him back, but I could feel the heat flooding my face at the thought of the people watching this. I hated it when people made out in the hallway, Amy and I usually made jokes about it - and now here I was doing it.
He sucked on my bottom lip asking for entrance so I pushed him away, slightly breathless. There was no way I was full on making out in the hallway, not a chance in hell of that happening. He was grinning happily as his other arm snaked around my waist, pulling my body to his as he pressed his lips back to mine again softly. One of his hands trailed down my back towards my ass making me squirm and lean away so that the kiss broke. Looks like we need to talk about the rules of ‘taking it slow’ again.
Someone cleared their throat right next to us making me jump a mile. Olly pulled back a little reluctantly, and we both turned, expecting it to be Amy or someone playing around. It wasn’t Amy though. Instead, Will stood there with a face like thunder. My heart seemed to stop beating as my blood ran cold. His jaw was tight, his eyes hard and furious as he looked at Olly. I silently thanked my lucky stars that I wasn’t getting that death glare because he actually looked scary when he was angry. I blushed like crazy and stepped away from Olly quickly. I literally felt sick that the one teacher who had to walk round the corner was my ex. I guess this is karma’s payback for me lying to Olly about the party. Suck it up, Chloe, because karma can be a bitch!
“I’ve spoken to you about this before, Mr Hawk. It’s against school rules for this sort of thing to be happening on school property, and you know it. Therefore you’ll both get detentions for the rest of the week. Lunchtime. My room,” Will spat venomously.
My mouth dropped open in shock. A week of detentions for a kiss? Is he crazy? I couldn’t help the glare that I shot him. I knew he was a hero and that I was supposed to be grateful, but I hated this part of his personality with a passion. “What for?” I challenged. People do an awful lot more than that in the hallway and get away with nothing more than a telling off, and we get a whole week of detentions? What an asshole! He looked at me as if I had said something stupid as he crossed his arms over his chest arrogantly. I could have slapped myself for noticing how his white button down shirt had three buttons undone so it exposed the very top of his chest. I shouldn’t notice things like that when I was angry with him, actually, scratch that, I shouldn’t notice things like that about him at all.
“Public display of affection, Miss Henderson,” he replied smartly, smirking at me. Is he enjoying this? Does he get off on making me angry or something?
“It was a kiss!” I cried, throwing my hands up in exasperation.
“Which isn’t allowed in the school hallway,” he countered, looking just as angry with me as I was with him.
“This is stupid; no one else gives a week of detentions for a freaking kiss. Check with them, ask around, the most they would give would be one,” I retorted, frowning. I could feel the anger boiling up inside me. I wanted to punch something just so I could let it out. Hmm, maybe I should punch him in his handsome face and actually earn the detentions!
“I don’t care what the other teachers would do, it’s not their decision, it’s mine. A week, starting today.” He turned to walk off, but Olly stepped forward quickly.
“I can’t do this week, Mr Morris, I have swim meets all week ready for time trials, at lunchtimes and after school,” he explained, looking at him pleadingly.
A smile twitched at the corner of Will’s mouth. “Fine, next week then.” He turned to look at me and I noticed that his smile turned into a stupid smirk which made my insides flutter a little. “Miss Henderson, you can still do yours this week.” He turned and walked off, and I wanted to slap myself for watching his butt in his jeans.
Olly looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, that was totally my fault.”
I closed my eyes and groaned in frustration. I didn’t want to spend the week trapped in a classroom with Will. Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this, this was more than karma, this was more like payback for something I’d done in a previous life or something, some kind of sick redemption.
“Don’t worry about it, Olly.” I sighed and shouldered my bag, trying not to be annoyed with him. “I’ll see you later,” I muttered as I headed up the hallway towards Amy who was grinning from ear to ear looking at me. I walked up to her, looking at her curiously. Maybe she missed the whole scene that Will had just made, or maybe she was grinning for some other reason entirely.
She grabbed my arm as soon as I got to her side. “Let’s go to the bathroom before class!” she squealed excitedly.
I nodded and let her lead me along as I shouted a “hi” to Nick over my shoulder. As soon as we were in the toilet she clapped her hands and jumped up and down excitedly like a five year old that just got told they were going to Disneyland.
“What did I miss?” I asked confused.
“Oh my days, Chloe, did you not see how freaking jealous Will was just then?” she practically screamed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
What on earth is this girl on today? Jealous, he wasn’t jealous he was just being an ass! I looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language and she rolled her eyes at me, still jumping up and down excitedly.
“He’s such a jerk.” I frowned angrily. What had I seen in him anyway? Obviously his looks, but he was never this guy when we were together, he was sweet and funny, kind and caring. So what had changed to make him start acting like this towards me? Did he feel like he needed to make a strict name for himself at the school so he could be taken seriously or something, and he was using me to do it because he knew me? Was that what this was?
“Get a grip on yourself, Chloe, for goodness sake! He just gave you a week worth of detentions for kissing in the hallway! Did you see his face? He looked like he wanted to beat the crap out of Olly. I’m surprised he didn’t just pee on you to mark you with his scent, it was that obvious!” she cried, grabbing my hand and squeezing it a little too hard.
Pee on me? She really has lost the plot here; he was doing his teacher duties and just went a little - okay
, a lot - overboard with it. “Amy, you’re reading things into it because that’s what you want to see!” I protested, shaking my head fiercely as I pulled my hand from her ever tightening hold.
She growled in frustration and gripped my shoulders, even shaking me a little. “No I’m not! I’m the only one seeing things clearly here. You’re missing things because you’re hurt, he’s getting angry because he’s jealous of you with Olly, and I’m the only one that can see both sides!”
She can’t be right. Why would he be jealous of Olly if he has someone already? Oh for goodness sake, my brain hurts! “Amy, I appreciate the effort you’re putting into making me feel better, but seriously, this needs to stop. It hurts to keep talking about it. There’s just over nine months left at school and then I never want to see him again. Just nine months, and then I can pretend like I never met him.” I said the words more for myself than her. I wanted to try and believe that I could pretend I’d never met him, but I knew deep down that I could never forget him. He was my first love, and it would take me a long time to get over it, but I would get over it eventually. At least, I hoped I would.
Amy sighed and shook her head disappointedly. “All right, every time I see something that’s not right, I’m going to point it out to you and then you can make your own mind up about it. Believe me if you want to, don’t, whatever. But I’m telling you the truth, Will was jealous,” she stated, looking at me knowingly.
I nodded and smiled, pretending that I believed her, but she saw through it immediately and laughed. I never could lie to my best friend. “Okay you do what you want, let’s get to class though shall we?” I looked longingly at the door, needing to get this conversation finished. She nodded and linked her arm through mine as we made our way back to Nick who was waiting for us by the lockers.
“Hey, good weekend?” he asked, smiling as he slung his arm around my shoulder.
I opened my mouth to answer, but Amy cut me off. “Oh we had an awesome weekend, a lot of interesting things happened.” She smirked at me so I tried not to show any reaction as Nick looked at her curiously, obviously wondering what that meant. He looked at me so I just shrugged and pretended to be confused too while Amy laughed to herself knowingly.
We headed to our respective classes. Amy and I went to the locker room and got changed into our shorts and T-shirts because we were running today apparently. I sighed as I pulled my hair up into a messy bun. This has to be the worst class in the world. I just hope I can manage to run in a straight line and not fall on my face or something. Olly was there too. He hung back with me and Amy, slowly jogging along instead of pushing it like some of the other people in the class.
I noticed that Olly shot a couple of guys little glares as they went past, his hand touching my back possessively when Spencer slowed down to talk to us – well, more like flirt with Amy, but that didn’t stop Olly from taking my hand, purposefully putting himself in-between our bodies. I groaned quietly. I didn’t want to be mean or anything, but if he was going to continue with the jealousy thing then I would end it. I understood that he’d been hurt before, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try to trust me. I refused to put up with him being possessive all the time.
I frowned but didn’t say anything in front of Amy and Spencer; I’d talk to Olly about it again when we were on our own. “I’ll see you later,” I mumbled at the end of class as he walked me to the girls locker rooms so I could shower and change.
“Yeah, not until the end of the day though, I have swim practice at lunchtime.” He frowned.
I snorted. “Yeah and I have detention,” I grumbled.
He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry about that. Are you angry with me?” he asked, giving me the puppy dog face that he seemed so damn good at.
I shook my head in response. I was a little angry at him for kissing me, but most of my anger was directed firmly at Will. “No, it’s fine. Just don’t do that again okay? I don’t really like PDA’s or anything.” I cringed and blushed again just at the thought of it.
He nodded and looked a little sad. “Well I’ll see you at the end of the day. Hope detention goes okay.”
“Yeah, hope your swim thing goes well too,” I replied, then as an afterthought chanted, “Go team!” trying to be supportive and enthusiastic. He laughed and gave me a little push towards the locker rooms so I could change.
For the rest of the morning all I could think about was how Amy thought Will was jealous of Olly. Was he jealous? I’d once considered the same thing, but I knew that he’d moved on. He was the one that told me it was over, if he still had feelings for me then he wouldn’t have done that. What possible reason could he have for breaking it off with me? Unless he was scared or something; maybe he was scared of getting into trouble if it continued. I could understand that of course, but did he have to do it in such a horrible way? To tell me that it was lucky it happened now, before we developed feelings for each other? That implied that he didn’t have any feelings for me in the first place. So why would he be jealous?
“Oh for goodness sake,” I muttered. Why can’t I stop thinking about him?
“Chloe, you have something you want to share with the class?” Mrs Flats asked.
Oh crud, had I said that aloud? I shook my head quickly and looked at her apologetically. “No, sorry.” I winced, hoping I didn’t get into more trouble; I didn’t need any more detentions on top of the ones from Will. The only good thing I could see to come out of the detentions was that I wouldn’t see Olly for lunch for the next two weeks, that would give me time to stop feeling guilty about the ‘almost kiss’ with Will, and then we could put some space between us so he wouldn’t be getting all possessive all the time.
“Get on with it then please!” Mrs Flats snapped, nodding at my textbook that was unopened on my desk. Wow, how long had I been thinking about Will for? I sighed and pulled open my book, trying my hardest to concentrate.
The morning passed slowly because all I could think about was Will and what he was going to say to me in detention. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything to me; maybe he’d ignore me completely. I kind of hoped he did in a way; it would be easier than having a blazing argument with him or something.
I trudged behind Amy to the canteen, buying a sandwich and ignoring her sympathetic smiles. “Have fun,” she joked, squeezing my shoulder in a supportive gesture.
“Thanks, I’m sure it’ll be a laugh a minute,” I mumbled.
I took a deep breath and headed to his classroom, feeling my heart sink with every step I took. When I got there he wasn’t there yet so I let myself in, taking a seat near the window. Hopefully there would be other people that got detentions with him today so that it wouldn’t be as awkward. I started munching on my sandwich absentmindedly.
He trudged in about five minutes later and smiled a little sadly at me. “Hi,” he greeted sheepishly.
“Hi,” I muttered, pulling out my English assignment so I could make a start on it.
I grabbed my iPod, but just as I was about to turn it on I saw him pull the chair out from the desk in front of mine and sit on it backwards so he was facing me. “Look, I’m sorry I keep being a jerk to you all the time, but you really need to stop talking to me like I’m more than a teacher to you. You can’t answer me back and challenge my decisions in front of everyone. I know I went a little overboard with the weeklong detentions, but you wouldn’t talk back to another teacher would you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and looking adorable.
I shrugged. I guess he’s right I would never challenge another teacher like that, but he just makes me so mad all the time. “I guess not, sorry.”
“I get that I make you angry. I know that most of the time I’m behaving like a jerk to you, but I don’t realise until after when I have time to think about it. I’m really sorry. I took this too far; you don’t have to stay for the week. Just do today and we’ll call it quits okay?” he offered, smiling. I couldn’t help but smile in return. His smile was beautiful.
Why did he have to be so good-looking, sweet and charming? I secretly wished he’d just stick to being the jerk so I could hate him easier.
“Really?” I asked hopefully.
He nodded. “Really,” he confirmed. “And I’m sorry I’m an ass.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and tried desperately not to smile when he smirked at me, but I just couldn’t help myself. “You are an ass,” I agreed. I felt a blush creeping onto my face, which seemed to make his smirk grow more pronounced.
“Yeah, but I’m an ass that apologises with Malteasers.” He dropped a bag of Malteasers onto the desk, smiling wickedly.
I grinned. Those were my favourites, he knew that. “Well then you’re forgiven,” I chirped, grabbing the bag eagerly.
He chuckled. “So easily bought. A bag of those and you’re putty in my hands,” he teased, winking at me.
I laughed and ripped them open. His hand shot out grabbing one quickly. “Hey!” I protested, pretending to look annoyed as I slapped the back of his hand lightly. He just laughed and threw it up in the air trying to catch it in his mouth, but it missed and fell back onto the desk making me giggle. “Fail!” I chirped, laughing.
“Damn, let me try again.” He grabbed another one from the bag and tried again, but it hit his cheek and fell to the floor. “Damn it, one more.” He laughed getting another one from my bag. This one didn’t even get near his mouth and I giggled hysterically at him.
“Lucky you’re not a gym teacher because your throw sucks,” I teased.
“Well you do better then, little miss cocky.” He looked at me challengingly, crossing his arms over his chest. I grinned and grabbed one from the bag trying to throw it into my mouth, but it hit my teeth and bounced across the desk making him laugh. He picked it up and tried again to catch it, but it was apparent that both of us sucked at the game. “Ten points for the first to do it. I’ll go buy more.” He grinned and practically ran out of the room to go to the vending machine.
