Distraction: The Distraction Trilogy #1 (11 page)

He doesn’t seem interested in my explanations, only my health and wellbeing. How typical of a teacher. “How do you feel now?”

I finally look up and watch as he leans against the wall, his body casual and relaxed. He’s the total opposite of how I feel inside. “I’m not sure.”

“Numb?”

I nod and he frowns in response.

“Come on.” He holds out his arm and motions for me to come closer. Feeling like a frightened little child, I do as I’m told and allow him to lead me from the room. “I’ll take you home.”

“But Crystal…”

“I’m taking you home. Crystal will understand.”

I shake my head and chew on my lip. My heart still hasn’t settled and I know I probably should go home, but I can’t leave the girls high and dry like that. “This is my job. The girls can’t cope on their own.”

He sighs, but doesn’t say anything else. I let him guide me into the front where the same faces from before, now seated, all look my way.

If I didn’t want to die before, I definitely do now.

Most of them smile, but some quickly turn back to their drinks. Nobody says anything and I’m glad of that. The last thing I need is reminding.

Hollie beckons me over to the till, where she has only one customer waiting. “You okay?”

I nod and turn back to Mr Price. “Thank you for… that back there.”

He smiles politely. “I feel bad leaving you, but I have to get back to work.”

“Of course.” Now I feel even worse. “Can I get you something before you go?”

He checks the clock on the wall and shakes his head. “No thank you. I’m good. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Right.” I follow him to the door and hold it open as he walks to his car. “Thanks again, Mr Price. I owe you one.”

“You owe me three,” he jokes, his smile charming and alluring. “Take care, Miss Blackburn.”

I don’t watch him drive away. I need to get back to work. Hopefully it’ll take my mind off it all.

It’s not until I’m behind the counter that Hollie asks, whilst fanning her face dramatically with her hand, “And who on earth was that fine piece of man meat?”

I roll my eyes and quickly swap my apron. “That was my teacher.”

Isaac

“He threw a hot coffee in her damn face!” I exclaim angrily and run my fingers through my hair. “If it had been any hotter…”

“But it wasn’t and she’s okay,” my dad responds and slides a tumbler of dark liquid towards me. “Did anybody report it?”

“I’m unsure.” I know I didn’t report it, but maybe that other guy did. “It’s just ridiculous. What kind of a person does that to somebody? Let alone a young woman.”

“A sick one.”

“Amen to that.” I sip the strong fluid and choke a little as it burns its way down my throat. “Holy crap, Dad. What the hell is this?”

He only taps his nose and winks, his way of saying ‘mind your own.’ I roll my eyes and feel my mood elevate slightly. “She’ll be okay, Son. Do you want me to call her parents later?”

Should he? Should I? “No. No use in worrying them. Besides, we don’t know what her relationship is like with her parents. Best to leave that one alone. She’ll tell them herself if she wants to.”

My dad nods and drains the contents of his glass in one go. Bloody hell.

“What are you two talking about?” My mum asks as she enters the room. I immediately notice the odd slippers on her feet. One is a Christmas slipper with a snowman image on the front and the other is her white, every day slipper. My dad notices too and his eyes sadden slightly. He doesn’t let her see it though, quickly putting on a smile and pulling her into his arms. “Are you hungry, my loves?”

We only finished eating the dinner she made for us thirty minutes ago. My dad holds her tighter and lets out a breath.

“I’ll make tea,” I say quietly, sliding my drink towards my dad. “Why don’t you and mum go and rest? I’ll bring it through.”

Eloise

Monday morning comes without warning and I can’t begin to describe how exhausted I feel after a long weekend of working.

Crystal did return on Friday, but not until five that evening. She’s not doing too well; her legs are swollen and working in the café as much as she does just isn’t an option anymore.

I worked all weekend, filling in her hours as best as I could, but we need more staff. I’m good at my job but I’m not Crystal and I have college, so I don’t know what she’s going to do during the day.

History is my first lesson and even though part of me is happy to see Mr Price and my friends again, an even bigger part of me is still humiliated over what happened on Friday. I wonder how I’ll ever look my teacher in the eyes again.

All I can think about is the way he looked at me, the gentleness with which he touched my face and held me in his arms. It’s plagued my mind so much I’ve even dreamt about it, but my dreams haven’t been as platonic as our exchange in the lavatory was.

Stupid hormones.

The second I step onto the pavement that leads to the main building of the school, Hayley flanks my left side and an arm comes over my shoulder from the right. I smile at both she and Garrett, sinking into his side slightly so as to accept his warmth, which is doing a brilliant job of protecting me from the chill in the air.

His arm feels nothing like Mr Price’s did though and I hate myself for comparing them. One is a man with no interest in a school girl and the other is a friend with definite interest. Neither of them should ever be compared, because they both look at me in completely different ways.

“My mum saw your Dad in that bar on Lumley Avenue,” Hayley tells me as we push through the crowd of students hovering around the entrance doors. “She said he was with your uncle and they were both off their heads on whiskey.”

“Yeah, he crawled home on Saturday night… literally crawled.” I giggle at the memory of my dad falling through the door laughing his arse off. Mum only rolled her eyes and helped him up to bed. I was completely invisible to the both of them, but I don’t mind. That’s the happiest I’ve seen them in a while.

“Your dad is funny when he’s drunk. Do you remember that time he attacked us with that bottle of foam soap?” Hayley elbows me in the ribs as more laughter bubbles up my throat.

“Your dad sounds cool.” Garrett comments and leans forward to bite my cheek. I push him away playfully and check my phone for the time. He sees my panic and picks up speed, only to finally drop me off outside of my classroom.

I’m shocked when I feel his soft, warm and strangely smooth lips press against mine. It’s a brief kiss, but a strong one. His tongue teases my lips ever so slightly before he releases me, leaving me breathless and swooning.

I sway on the spot for a moment as his hand comes up to my cheek and his fingers gently tuck my long, red hair behind my ear. “See you later,” he breathes through his charming and boyish smile.

I nod, ignoring the cat calls and wolf whistles as I enter my classroom, still dazed and swooning.

“You are so lucky,” Hayley whispers when I take my seat beside her. “He’s so bloody hot and so nice.”

“Settle down,” Mr Price calls. Apparently my public display of affection got everyone a little bit excited. A few girls in class stare daggers at me, but I ignore them and continue floating on my fluffy white cloud. “ENOUGH!”

The class stills and everybody quickly makes it to their seats. I notice the dark rings under Mr Price’s eyes. He’s tired; that much is clear. I hope he’s okay.

I try to make eye contact with him before he writes a title on the board for us to copy. Unfortunately, when he looks around the class to check we’re all doing as we’re told, he completely misses me and doesn’t bother looking at me at all. Not that he should. I just hoped he might.

When I finally accept defeat, I quickly copy down the notes and listen to him tell us stories of Churchill.

My eyes remain on my work and I make sure to actually do it this lesson, though I’m not sure if any of it is right.

Hayley chews on the end of her pen lid as her pen moves across the paper. “Josie and the others are annoyed that you get private time with Price.”

I shrug. I don’t really care. “They’ll get over it.”

“I heard little Miss Prissy Pants at the front has asked him for her own private lessons.”

I stare at Shannon’s braid, feeling a certain anger bubbling low in my chest towards her. I shake it off and turn back to my friend. “I thought you liked Shannon? Now suddenly she’s Miss Prissy Pants?”

“I tolerate her.”

Rolling my eyes back to my work, I continue writing as I’m supposed to do. “She’s not that bad.”

“Maybe not, but…”

“Girls!” Mr Price warns and Hayley quickly begins scribbling in her own book.

I don’t lift my head, which seems silly as I’ve been trying to connect with his eyes all lesson. For some reason I can feel his eyes burning into me and it’s knocked my guards a little, causing my cheeks to heat.

I can’t help but glance at him. It’s an automatic response when you know somebody is staring at you. Sure enough my eyes meet his, but I quickly flick them back to my paper. The strange intensity and curiosity in them makes bubbles pop in my stomach and butterflies flap around beneath the surface of every inch of my skin.

I look again, still feeling the heat of his gaze on the side of my face.

This time my eyes latch onto his and my mouth goes dry.

I’ve never lost myself in somebody’s eyes before. I’ve read about it and I’ve seen it on TV, but I always thought it was stupid and impossible. How does one lose themselves in a pair of eyes?

Now I know how. I can’t look away. I can’t think of anything but his breath against my lips seconds before he kisses me and his strong hands smoothing down my sides, appreciating every inch of my skin before cupping my arse and pulling me to him. My dry mouth begins to water and my tongue quickly wets my lips as I imagine the taste of him lingering there, maybe the bitter bite of his smoky scented aftershave.

I didn’t realise I’d taken a note of his aftershave. I must have done at some point, for I can suddenly smell the memory as if it were a fresh scent.

We both pull away at the same time, the connection broken, and how badly I wish I knew what he was thinking at that moment. I feel even more humiliated than I did before, but a large part of me doesn’t care. I just want that feeling back. I want to lose myself in his eyes once more and feel the heat course through my body again. Like a drug addiction, I need it now.

What if I never feel that way again?

Shit, I haven’t done the work!

I am so bad at this… I need brain camp.

I manage to get the majority done by the time the bell rings, even though the lesson is so long and quite boring. I do it and I’m proud of myself.

I pack away and linger behind after hugging Hayley goodbye.

She was right about Shannon, who scowls at me as she skulks past, her lack of one on one attention from Mr Price clearly affecting her. It’s a good thing that I don’t do teen drama. I’m not a fan of the dramatics that come with school life.

Unfortunately others seem to have noticed the fact I’m staying behind and, as they leave, they look back curiously, their eyes darting between myself and Mr Price, who either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. It looks like they’ll be asking for extra time too, which begs the question - I know I’m not the only one in class who is close to failing before I’ve even begun, so why aren’t there more of us in our lunchtime group?

Isaac

“Okay, so I think we can get this done by tomorrow lunch if we work hard enough during this hour.” I state, holding my hand out for her work today. She hesitates before giving it to me and I can’t stifle my sigh. “You didn’t finish did you?”

“I…”

“What’s the point in this if you don’t care about this class?”

Her eyes widen with panic. “I do! I just…” She trails off and chews on her lip.

“You just what?” I snap, feeling more irate than usual. It’s probably due to my lack of sleep and need for the coffee I never got to have due to being late and then being interrupted by Shannon, who decided to ask for a lunchtime slot. I refused to give one to her due to her work being exemplary.

“Nothing, I’m sorry.” She mumbles and this only spikes the fiery anger in my chest further.

“You can go,” I order and place her paper on the desk.

“What?”

“You can go, straight to administration to drop this class.”

She blinks, her lips part and her hands ball into fists on the table. “Drop this class?”

“You heard me.” I rub my temples and move to my seat behind the desk. “I’m not wasting any more time on you.”

I expect her to get angry. I expect her to shout or demand I rethink my decision. She doesn’t. Instead she lets her silky, glowing red hair fall as a curtain to shelter her face from view as she picks up her bag from the ground beside her and stands slowly.

Guilt slaps at my heart a few times as she merely walks towards the door looking defeated, her jaw set and slightly clenching. I bite on my lower lip hard and run my fingers through my hair.

A sudden wave of clarity pierces the red fog that lies heavy on my mind. “Wait,” I find myself saying before my brain has even given the command. “Look… we should just pick up tomorrow when I’m in a better mood and you’re not so tired after a long weekend of work.”

“No thanks,” she says quietly, her hand gripping the handle of the door. “I’m done.”

“Done?”

She pulls it open and shrugs, her back to me. “Done.” It slams behind her and the guilt I felt before multiplies.

Blowing out a heavy breath, I slam my forehead against the table a few times and growl against the wood.

Fucking hell. I really need to get laid.

I get like this when I’m filled with sexual frustration.

I just wish I wasn’t stuck in the most depressing town in the history of the world.

“So, are you ready to talk about the October festivities yet? The party is in three weeks. We really need to make a start.” Katherine announces as she walks through the door that closed just moments ago.

I imagine racing towards her, grabbing her and forcing her willing body into the wall behind the door. I imagine myself lifting that ridiculously tight black skirt and plunging my fingers into her core, preparing her for me to lose myself in her depths.

I can’t though. As much as I feel like I need to, I really can’t use her like that. I don’t want to be that guy here.

“Sure, it’s not like I have anything else to do.” I look around the empty room, my eyes lingering on the spot the pretty redhead vacated not long ago. “Where do we begin?”

“We need to write a list of how much food we need.”

“Don’t we do that after we confirm how many students are attending?”

“Already got the list.” She waves a small sheet of paper at me, with the number of students attending and possibly attending. “Food will be store bought in packets, not including sandwiches, which your mum usually handles.”

I flinch. “My mum is fine handling it this year too, I’m sure.”

She looks unconvinced but says nothing more on that subject.

“Don’t do that.” I say, my tone hushed.

“What?” Her wide eyes only get wider.

“Don’t assume you know something about her condition that I don’t. Yes she’s ill, but she still has her own mind and can make a few fucking sandwiches.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you.” She places her hand over mine and leaves it there. It’s not until I pull away that she does the same. “Okay, so we need a list of food and chaperones.”

What? “Chaperones?”

“Yes, usually the sixth form students help supervise, but this year has less students than any other year, so it’ll be hard convincing them to join in.”

This is so boring. “Right. Well I’ll talk to my class on Wednesday and see if I can’t get them interested.”

“Sounds like a plan, so… food… your thoughts?”

Eloise

I can’t drop that class… I can’t drop any class. I need these grades. What the hell is wrong with me?

Why can’t I focus at the moment? School work was never hard for me before.

I just feel so… distracted.

I stand outside the door that leads to the principal’s secretary. My entire body seems locked on the spot.

I shouldn’t have waited until the end of the day to come here. I should have just come here during lunch, but I was hoping my afternoon English class would help me calm down and make a decision. Instead it only made me feel worse about my impending doom.

My dad is never going to forgive me, not to mention the fact I won’t get into University.