Broken Ever After

by Natalie Graham

  To Jamie: When? Where?

  From Jamie: Any time. It’s up to you, when are you free?

  To Jamie: Well everyone is busy revising at the minute, so I’m free a lot… I’m just not so sure it’s a good idea.

  It was better to wait until I had finished school in three week’s so that I wouldn’t be his student any more. I wanted to go out with him so much, but I’d never forgive myself if a relationship between us caused either of us to get into trouble. I was pretty sure if school found out that he’d be instantly fired and I’d be suspended or permanently expelled; which made me laugh as I had so little time left, but that time was to do my exams which I could not miss.

  From Jamie: Why?

  To Jamie: Well after I’ve finished exams sure, I won’t be your student any more will I? I just don’t want to risk you or me getting into trouble. You risk being fired if anyone found out what we were doing earlier! And I can’t have that on my conscience. You are too good a teacher for me to let that happen. (Don’t let my inability to understand maths influence your thoughts on that!) Although it was good enough to risk being suspended for, but I can’t miss my exams!

  From Jamie: You are right, despite your lacking maths skills, you are pretty clever! X

  To Jamie: WOW… THANKS! Have you been taking lessons in confidence boosting? They are paying off!

  From Jamie: You know what I mean Miss Stevens! So… our date? What are you doing after prom? We could leave early and I could take you to dinner. That’s if you are going?

  I’d almost forgotten about Prom for a second, oh how I wish that I could go with Jamie.

  To Jamie: Yeah I’m going with Lily, Violet & Megan. We are all staying at Violet’s house on the Friday night, so can’t go out Friday. My ex bf keeps bugging me to go with him, but that is NOT happening! I’m sure Lily will be going with her new bf now and as much as I’m ok with just going with Vi, I can’t stand Megan! So excuse me if I’m not overly enthused with going. We could do something Saturday if you aren’t busy? x

  From Jamie: You have to go. If not for Violet to save her from that little witch, Megan! Then go for me? I won’t get to dance with you, but we can still talk. Saturday sounds great x

  That sounded better than not seeing him at all, I hadn’t actually realised he would be going. I really needed to find the most perfect dress, which meant shopping which I loathed.

  To Jamie: I never realised that you would be there. Consider that alone incentive enough for me to go.

  I was literally bouncing in my seat with excitement knowing I’d see him there, that meant I could hide away from Megan and just talk to him all evening. I stupidly spilled my hot cup of tea over my lap in a moment of sheer idiocy and had to run upstairs to quickly jump in the shower to get cold water over my legs. I threw my phone which beeped twice as it landed on my bed but I needed to get my skirt off, my legs underneath it were bright red. I quickly showered, rivalling the one I’d had the day before for speed so I could get out to see what Jamie had replied to me. I opened my messages to see one from my dad and a reply from Jamie.

  From Dad: Don’t make us dinner, won’t be home until after midnight. ANOTHER teenager killed in a car crash. You are NEVER learning to drive! LoL and hi from mum x

  I rolled my eyes at my dad’s message which was probably typed out by a nurse as he worked; my dad wasn’t one for putting ‘x’ at the end of his messages and his interpretation of ‘lol’ (lots of love) never failed to make me giggle. I sent a quick reply to tell him I understood and had lots of revision to get through anyway and that I’d just order a pizza once Lily arrived.

  From Jamie: Hell yeah I’m going if you are! I can’t wait. What are you wearing? X

  I giggled as I read his message again. I know he meant to prom but I figured I’d make it a little bit more interesting.

  To Jamie: A towel… I just had a shower. Want to see?

  I grinned as I held my towel in front of me in a precarious position, just covering what needed to be covered, but still revealing enough to be teasing. My hair was dripping wet and tumbled down in soft curls, sending rivulets of water cascading down my body. Holy shit… what the hell am I doing? I removed the stupid grin from my face, snapped a picture and loaded it into the message, sending it before I gave myself any more time to realise what a stupid idea it was. Yes… It was probably one of the dumbest things I’d ever done. I paced up and down my room, biting on the pad of my thumb as I waited for his reply.

  From Jamie: What are you trying to do to me? I meant for the Prom but if you are just wearing a towel to Prom, that works for me too.

  From Jamie: Oh god!!!

  From Jamie: Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I’m on my own here! If I die no one will find me.

  From Jamie: I want to take that towel off of you so badly.

  From Jamie: So. Badly.

  Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all, I smiled to myself.

  To Jamie: All alone like me then? My parents won’t be home for hours. And I’m not wearing it any more…

  From Jamie: I’m coming over.

  No way in hell! There is no way I can let him in! I knew I shouldn’t have teased him like that. I’m not ready to tell him all about me yet! I quickly went to his number and hit the call button.

  “Hey you, can I co-” Jamie said when he answered but I cut him off before he could say any more.

  “No, you can NOT come over!” I said, probably sounding a little more forceful than I had meant to.

  “Liv calm down; I was just kidding.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “I need to go and get a cold shower now though, thank you.” I tried to hold in a giggle and failed! Although the thought of him naked had me trying to stifle a moan at the back of my throat. “You are such a tease.”

  “Aww what are you gonna do? Give me detention again?” I asked him trying my best to sound seductive while crossing my fingers that he’d say yes. He groaned, just as he did in the classroom and it felt like every part of my body was listening to him.

  “I just might, it’s not funny; it hurts, Liv.”

  “I can just imagine my parents faces when I hand them the letter, ‘Reason for detention: Your daughter gave me a hard on’ you had better start running now! I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable though… Maybe you should umm… go fix it.”

  “Oh yeah? How do you suggest?” He replied. His voice had lowered making him sound so goddamn sexy; I could feel my insides heating up again. If I could have leaped through the phone right then and devoured him, I would have.

  “Well that’s up to you Mr Matthews, but I need to go get dressed now, I can’t exactly be sat on my bed… naked… when Lily comes over in a few minutes can I?” I heard him make that sexy groan again and checked my watch, gah I needed to get off the phone before Lily arrived.

  “You are so not helping matters!”

  “Hmm… I wish I could.” I half whispered to him, embarrassed again at what I had just said that to him.

  “So do I.” He replied again in his sexy low voice, the same tone he used when he was whispering in my ear while he kissed my neck. A shiver ran through my body as we just listened to each other breathing for a few seconds.

  “Hmm… maybe I can help you a little. I’ve got an idea. I need to go now though, I’ll talk to you later?” I ran to my drawers pulling out several pieces of underwear trying to match up a bra with panties. Why did I never keep my drawers organised?

  “Yeah ok, I’ll just… go and have a cold shower I guess” he sounded so sad I almost felt sorry for him.

  “Enjoy… Talk to you later” I hung up and threw my phone down on my pillow while I put on a black and red lace bra with matching panties, I checked myself in the mirror to see how they looked. Perfect. I grabbed my phone and lay down on the bed messing my hair around and snapping a couple of pictures from above, I decided to do a cheeky one and tuck the fingers of my free hand into the top of my panties. Again I questioned my sanity as I hit the send button. I’d neve
r done anything like what I’d done in those couple of hours! Oh well, too late now. If I’m going to Hell I may as well do it in style. I held my phone nervously as I waited for his reply.

  From Jamie: WOW! just… WOW!

  I quickly threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and ran down stairs. Just as I got to the bottom, Lily knocked on the door.

  “Hey!” I plastered a grin on my face and hoped she didn’t notice how on edge I was. She gave me one of her big smiles back, while rattling a bag in my face.

  “I brought a film and popcorn!” She beamed at me.

  “Cool, you set the film up and I’ll go make the popcorn” I smiled at her as I took the bag. I was thankful that she’d brought a film over as I wasn’t sure I could concentrate enough on conversation or revision. I made the popcorn, quickly ordered a pizza for us to share and grabbed a few more snacks and drinks before heading back to the living room.

  “So what film did you pick?” I opened my can and took a sip of the cool coke, wondering if it would cool me down enough to relax if I drank it all down.

  “Fatal Attraction” She announced with a wry smile as I choked on my drink.

  “Why?” I spluttered between coughs. She gave me her ‘are you serious?’ look. “What?”

  “Come on! Don’t hold out on me Olivia!”

  “With what?” My stomach flipped, there was no way she could possibly know about anything that had happened earlier on. Was there?

  “I heard a little rumour that a certain hottie teacher gave a certain someone a ride home yesterday.” She raised an eyebrow at me and I blushed.

  “And?” She sat up and folded her arms over her chest, pushing her tongue into her cheek just begging for me to come up with a viable excuse. “I was sick and I was asleep ‘til like half three so he was just being nice.” I smiled at her hoping she’d leave it at that. “Now are you going to press play or are we going to watch ‘DVD’ bobbing around the screen all night?” Lily sighed and pressed play.

  “So what happened? What did he say to you?”

  “Are you not going to drop this at all? There is nothing to say! I was asleep remember?” She was like a dog with a bone when she got her teeth into something.

  “If there was nothing to say you would have called me last night to tell me about him dropping you home or told me in school this morning at least!” I sighed heavily, she was right.

  “I was sick last night; I came home and went straight to bed. I still never felt too good this morning so it slipped my mind.” I tried my best to sound as convincing as I could.

  “Something like Mr Matthews dropping you home does NOT. SLIP. YOUR. MIND Olivia Grace Stevens”

  “It was nothing, I was ill and he let me sit in his class as registration was locked, I put my head down for a minute and fell asleep. He sorted out Mr Wilson so I didn’t have to go to art and then offered to take me home when I woke up because I live on his way home. See. Nothing.” I defiantly refused to look her in the eye and folded my arms across my chest defensively.

  “Hmm… You’re hiding something missy and I WILL find out what it is. I may just ask him tomorrow.” She gave me her smug face, she crossed her ankles up on the coffee table and folded her arms back over her chest; determination washed over her face as I watched a plan unfolded behind her eyes.

  “NO!” I leaped up and turned around to face her. Shit. I should have just let her be.

  “Ah ha! I knew there was something! Spill it Stevens!” Lily bounced up from her position and seated herself on the very edge of the sofa, excitement brimming from her every pore. I groaned. Why didn’t I have a poker face?

  “OK… ok” I heaved a big sigh, nervously chewing on the corner of my bottom lip, wondering if I should say it. “He said I was cute” I mumbled as I paced the floor.

  “He said WHAT?” Lily nearly jumped off the sofa while I grabbed a pillow to hide behind as I flopped back down beside her. “What did you say to him?”

  “I couldn’t say anything! It was when he dropped me off and I’d gotten out of his car. He just handed me my detention slip and said ‘you’re very cute when you sleep’ and drove off! I was left stood there like an idiot wondering what the hell just happened! I literally stood watching his car drive down the street with my mouth hanging open. It was completely embarrassing.”

  “Oh my God! What happened in detention then?” I cringed back into the sofa a little at her question. There was no way I could tell her I just had the best almost encounter of my life! Best friend or not, no matter if she swore not to tell, I just couldn’t take the chance for the next three weeks. Those weeks were going to be hell.

  “Nothing. He acted like nothing happened at all. He let me finish my art plan as I was too ill to do it yesterday and then threw a maths book at me as I forgot mine so I could revise and that was that. Look, I’m not going to go all Alex Forrest 2.0. For one Ja- Mr Matthews isn’t married and two, I’m not clever enough to know how to blackmail or stalk anyone… can we turn this off now?”

  “So you never mentioned it to him?” She looked at me disbelievingly as she reached for the remote.

  “No, I just assumed he was messing with me and didn’t want to embarrass myself with it all. Who did you hear from anyway?” I shrunk down in my seat, trying to look disappointed.

  “Well Luke was hanging about outside school and he said he saw you getting in his car, he said you both looked really close. Too close.”

  “How close? He opened my door for me and we were never any closer than him sitting in the driver’s seat.”

  “I don’t know. I heard from Megan.”

  “Of course you did.” Stupid bitch couldn’t keep her mouth closed about anything. “And what? What does it matter? I was sick and he dropped me home. That’s it.” Lucas Fletcher was my ex-boyfriend, called so because he expected a little more from our relationship than I was willing to give. Why did he care what I did? He certainly didn’t care for me when we’d just broken up so he could have his fill of the selection of high-school sluts that clung to his every word. How could Luke be so stupid? So what if a teacher gave a student a lift home? I was ill and he was being nice.

  “Well Megan said that you won’t sleep with Luke because something is happening with Mr Matthews because they know you like him, which is just crazy, right?” I tried my best to look horrified at such a thought, although that was the one thing I wanted most in the world right now.

  “If there was do you think I’d be able to keep that a secret from you? That boy is such an idiot! Does he not know how much trouble that would cause?” I grabbed my phone and sent a message to Jamie.

  To Jamie: Hey, Lily just told me that Lucas Fletcher saw you giving me a ride home yesterday and is slowly spreading a rumour that there is more between us than there has been! I think I know why but I’m not sure how to stop him before another teacher or the head hears about it. -O x

  “Who are you messaging? Luke?” She asked trying to peer over at my phone.

  “Yeah” I lied furrowing my eyebrows as I glared at my phone, pulling up Luke’s number to message him.

  “You know he wants you back don’t you? He’s hoping you’ve changed your mind since you helped him out with his art plan.”

  To Lucas: Why are you spreading rumours about me? Do you even realise what you are doing? I thought we agreed to be friends? You aren’t exactly being ‘friendly’. Do you really think I would want you back when you act like a douchebag all the time and can’t stop screwing with the year 11’s? And now THIS?! -Liv.

  “I gave him tips on his composition and colours; it’s not like that means we are married now. God that boy is such an idiot!”

  From Jamie: Lucas? Why? I just gave you a ride home because you were sick. He knows nothing more than that. I’ll go to the head first thing and explain before he can do any damage. Don’t worry baby, it’ll be ok, I promise. -J X

  To Jamie: Will explain later. Lily is here. X

  Lily and I sat bitching about Luke thr
ough another DVD, but he never got back to me. I don’t know what I expected of him; I was starting to get a headache with worrying about what he was saying to all of my friends. Would they believe him? I wasn’t sure how many people knew about my crush on Mr Matthews, but I bet it was more than just my immediate friends.

  Realisation hit me in the face like a slap. “Lily? You can’t tell anyone what Mr Matthews said to me. If Luke hears about it, it’ll just make everything worse when there is really nothing there!”

  “Don’t worry, Liv. I’m not stupid, I’d never say anything to anyone; I swear it.” She crossed her fingers over her heart with her promise and I hugged her tightly until she couldn’t breathe.

  She had to go after the film as she had to do some studying for a mock test we had in the morning. She left so fast she forgot her DVD so I needed to remember that in the morning, I left it by the door so I wouldn’t forget it. I felt so alone and confused about everything, I didn’t even know what Jamie and I had and it was about to be ruined by a stupid boy before I even had a chance to find out! My head hurt; I headed up to bed early and sent Jamie a good night message as I tucked myself in.

  FOUR

  A few minutes after I’d closed my eyes I heard my door bell ring. I should have known better than go to bed; even though I’d never lost anything of Lily’s yet she still never trusted anyone with anything.

  “Lily, you know I would have brought your DVD to you in the morning” I called through the door while I unlocked it. I pulled the door open and was grabbed into a tight embrace by Jamie before he pressed a finger under my chin lifting my lips up for a kiss. He let me go so I could breathe again. “Jamie, what are you doing here?” I looked around frantically for anyone watching a strange man knocking on my door.

  “I couldn’t let you go to sleep without a good night kiss could I? And don’t worry; I checked for your parents cars before I knocked.” I blushed as his thumb stroked over my cheek. “I promise I’ll make everything right in the morning, try not to worry. I’ll tell Mr Wright that I gave you a lift home as you were ill and that’s it; that really is all that happened. That day.” He grinned and placed a small kiss to my lips. “He might ask you into his office to clarify but I’ll tell him that’s all I know and heard of until you came to me and told me about Luke after school today. Do you know why he’s doing it?” I looked down at the floor; he put his finger under my chin again for me to look up at him.