Rewriting History (10 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Jill

I’ve never been so filled with lust for someone that it consumes my days. It’s pathetic, really, since I haven’t been with Eli for long, not counting the months before we actually met.  My phone is being kept out of reach so I don’t get the urge to text him for a booty call. And my God, I’ve wanted to text him so many times in the last two days.

My phone vibrates as I’m walking to school. I fish it out of my bag, my heart dropping when I see it’s not him. It’s Alice.

“What do you mean he wants to wait five months? Fuck, is he a monk or something?” Alice screeches, her voice high-pitched.

I sigh. How can I explain it to her when I don’t understand it myself? “The thing is, I’m trying to be rational about it all. I get what he’s saying, but five months is a long time, especially when I have to see him every freaking day.”

“Well, at least you’re free to see other guys, right? I mean, he can’t expect you to do nothing for the rest of the year, can he?”

“I don’t want to see other guys,” I mumble.

“Just think of it as work experience, Jill. You won’t be there for a long while, but it’ll give you experience for the next venture.” She snickers and I groan. Sometimes she just thinks too far outside the norm.

“Really, Alice? You want to relate having sex with different guys to
work
experience
? Fuck, I may as well just be a hooker and get paid for it at the same time.” I laugh. 

“Hmm, I think you’re onto something there, Jilly.” She cracks up laughing.

“You’re such a dick, but that’s why I love you. I gotta go.”

Hanging up, I see Sophia walking in from the parking lot ahead.

“Sophia,” I yell.

She turns and waves, and I run to catch up with her. 

***

I walk down the hallway alone, heading toward history class. My stomach is a knot of nerves. We haven’t spoken since the other night. Every time I see him I walk the other way, because the thought of dealing with him is too much for me to handle right now. Even so, I’m pissed that not once has he tried to talk to me. How does that work? We had the most intense relationship, and now he won’t even fucking acknowledge me. He is the definition of the word ‘asshole.’ 

I take a deep breath and push the door open. I can feel his eyes on me, but I refuse to look at him. I scan the room until I see Sophia. I’m so freaking happy she was able to transfer into this class, because I really need the support. I walk over and sit down next to her. She eyes me sympathetically, and I nod, but smile to let her know I’m okay.

“Check out the hot, blond surfer boy sitting in the front row,” she whispers, nodding her head in his direction. Oh, wow. He
is
hot. Lean body, longish blond hair, and a really cute face. I’d go there. Or I
would
have once.

Sophia giggles loudly, catching surfer boy’s attention. He turns around and smiles at me. I smile back, fully aware that Eli is glowering at me. He looks angry and I feel a sense of satisfaction. What does he expect when he tells me that we’re over?

“Yeah, he’s cute all right.” I giggle at Sophia. She glances at Eli and smiles gleefully.

“Oh, he’s
so
annoyed,” she whispers.

I stare straight ahead with a smirk on my lips.

“Sophia, Jill. Both of you have detention.”

“For what?” I sputter.
For smiling at another guy?

“For talking during class,” he responds, his voice cool. “Anyone else want to join them?” he asks, scanning the room. Everyone sits up a little straighter, eyes wide. Eli never behaves this way, so naturally everybody is shocked. I scowl at him. For someone scared of drawing attention to our relationship, he’s acting like a nut.

The rest of the class goes by without any more hiccups. Eli ignores me, and I ignore him. Leaving class, Sophia and I are at the door when Eli’s voice cuts through the noise of students talking. 

“Don’t forget detention this afternoon, Sophia and Jill.”

I don’t even turn around. I ignore his comment and walk right out the door. Fuck him. 

Sophia catches up to me as I open my locker to change my books for Chemistry next period. “What was all that about?” Sophia asks me, wide-eyed.

“Beats me. We got in trouble for talking.” I wave her off like it’s nothing. I’d rather not talk about it right now.

“It’s more than that, Jill. I know there’s more going on with you two than you tell me. Have you guys had a fight?” I was hoping she didn’t realize my boyfriend,
or ex, now
—was Eli, but it wasn’t hard for her to guess.

“We had a disagreement over something.  It’s all good.” I slam my locker door.  “C’mon, let’s get a drink before the next class.”

Chapter Nineteen

Eli

It’s unbelievably fucking hard to teach a class with Jill sitting less than twenty feet away from me. And for her to check out a guy in the room—well, that just made me livid. What’s worse is I had to pretend indifference and ignore her when all I wanted to do was go all caveman on her and lug her over my shoulder and back into my cave.

Maybe I shouldn’t have given her and her friend detention, but I just snapped. I’m trying not to draw attention to us, but I’ve done a complete one-eighty on how I act around her. I need to be careful, or it isn’t going to take much for someone to figure out what’s going on. 

Jill walks into the room, narrowing her eyes at me, Sophia on her tail.

“We’re here to report for detention,” Jill says, tossing her backpack onto a desk.

I watch her as she sinks into a seat. “Get out your homework and work on that for the next hour,” I order. I position myself at my desk with a stack of papers and begin grading, refusing to look at her.

I can see from the corner of my eye that she keeps looking up at me. I’ve been grading the same question on the same paper for ten minutes now. She’s distracting me, and all I want to do is grab her and pull her into one of the cleaner’s closets to apologize and hug her. It’s taking all my strength not to let them go now.

Walking out of the school to the parking lot, I unlock the door of my car. I’ve never been so glad for a day to be over. All my patience has gone out the window. However, I have one more stop before I can officially end my day. I need to see Dad.

“Excuse me, Mr. Anderson?”

I turn around, plastering a fake smile on my face. “Samantha. How can I help you?”

“Any chance you’d be able to give me a ride home?” She blinks at me and wets her lips, her fingers toying with the hem of her skirt, which has been rolled shorter than normal.
Hell fucking no.
When will these young girls get the fucking message? 

How different is she from Jill? Jill is just a more brilliant version of Samantha, but in reality they’re the same age. If it were Jill that came up to me asking for a lift home, I don’t think I’d be able to turn her down.

“Sorry, Samantha, we both know I’m unable to offer you a ride home. Can I call your mother or someone for you instead?” I ask politely.

She huffs and shakes her head before stalking away, leaving me standing there shaking my head.

***

I walk into his room, my eyes falling on the frail frame hunched over on the bed. He’s sitting up. That’s something. He glances over, his eyes meeting mine.

“You came.”

I resist the urge to shake my head at his indifferent tone. Instead, I move over to the chair a few feet from the bed and sit down, pulling my legs under me. I watch as he reaches for his robe, struggling to thread his arms through. I look down, focusing on a tiny loose thread in the beige carpet, the only sound being the occasional grunt or gasp from him. I lean forward and pick up the tissue that has fallen to the floor

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

“So, how are you feeling?” I ask.

He shrugs, a small smile on his lips. “Not bad. The worst part is how tired I feel. The girls won’t let me do much other than rest.”

I nod, trying to think of what else to say. “Your classes are fine. Though I do wonder about a couple of them. I don’t think I’d be surprised if they ended up on America’s Most Wanted in a few years.”

He chuckles and nods. “There’s always a few, huh? But then they’re usually the ones who surprise you the most.” He hesitates, before adding; “You’ve been keeping away from Jill, haven’t you?”

My jaw clenches. I knew she would come up in our conversation. “I told you I would, didn’t I?” I snap.

“Eli,” he sighs. “Why don’t I believe you? You have no idea what kind of trouble you’re setting yourself up for. You can’t have a relationship with Jill when you’re a teacher at the school.  Jesus Christ, why are you setting yourself up to get a bad rep against your name?  I’m telling you...
this
will ruin your hard work.”

I laugh. I can’t believe this. I can’t have this conversation with him again.

“Look, I have to go.” I stand up and rub my jaw, working hard to stem my anger. “I’ll drop by in a few days,” I mutter.

He nods, eyeing me with suspicion. He accused me of lying to him and I didn’t bother to address that, because at this point I don’t care. Whatever he thinks of me and Jill, I just don’t care. He lost the right to have input in my life a long time ago.

Why is it so hard for me to have a civil conversation with Dad? Things are worse now that he knows about Jill. The fact that I ended things doesn’t matter. I was still with a student, and for whatever reason he thinks he’s better than me now? He’s fucked up so many things in my life, and no matter what I do I just can’t get past that. Whenever I’m near him it’s a constant reminder of the hell he put both me and Mom through for someone a year or two older than me. 

Maybe I’m so angry because the reason I hate him so much is something I’m doing myself, with Jill.
I’m a fucking hypocrite.

I hear the door open and close and Mel sits next to me. She glances at me, worried, and places a hand on my shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Eli?  It’s more than Dad, isn’t it?”

“It’s nothing that won’t sort itself out,” I mutter. Can you imagine Mel’s reaction if I told her how deep I was with a student? The psychologist in her would have a field day with that one.

“Are you having money problems? I can lend you money if you need it,” she offers.

I laugh. God, if only it were money troubles.

“No, I’m not having money issues. It’s girl troubles.” Letting out a breath, I look back toward the street.  “I like her so much, but I’m not sure how things will be perceived. That’s what is bothering me.”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned about relationships, it’s that you’re never going to make everybody happy. The best advice I can give you is to do what’s best for you. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. If you love this woman, let her know that and hold onto her. Fuck what everyone else thinks.” She wraps her arms around my shoulders and gives me a squeeze.

I regret not spending more time with my sisters. 

***

“Hey, Mom.” I speak through the phone with my mouth full of cold leftover pizza.   

“Eli, so good to hear from you—although I taught you better than to talk with your mouth full, didn’t I?” Mom laughs. “I miss having you home. How’s my boy?”

“Good. How are you?” I ask, realizing how much I miss her. After looking after her for so long, we have an extremely strong bond. “How’s Kenny? Did he take you away for your anniversary?”

“He sure did. He took me to Hawaii and we stayed in this beautiful hotel. It had its own private nude beach and everything. It was so much fun.” She giggles.

“Way too much information, Mom,” I groan, closing my eyes. That is an image I never want in my head again. “But seriously, I’m so glad you had a great time.”

“What’s happening with you? How’s work?”

“Yeah, it’s all right.” I sigh, because I can’t believe I’m about to ask her this. “Can I get your honest opinion on something, Mom? I really don’t know what to do.” I’m not sure asking Mom for her advice is a good idea, but I’m going to roll with it, because at least I know there will be no judgment.

I fill Mom in on Jill, and she stays silent the whole time.

“After what Dad did to you, I made a promise to myself that I’d never be like him. This whole debacle is tearing me up.” I let out a big sigh. “I mean . . . I didn’t even meet her as a student, and that’s what makes this so hard.” 

This conversation is embarrassing. It’s not the sort of talk you have with your mother.

“I think she’s it for me,” I state with finality.

Mom is quiet for a good moment. I give her time to let it sink in. 

Finally, she speaks. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, the right thing for me to say as your mother is to stop seeing this girl.” She pauses. “But I can tell how much you care about her. Do what makes you happy Eli.”

Do what makes me happy?  Jill makes me happy, there’s no doubt about that.  Her advice nearly mirrors what Mel told me. Talking to Mom definitely gave me more perspective on what to do. I feel much better now.

Lying in bed, I flick through the photos on my phone. I come across the photo I took of Jill at the Spanish restaurant. She didn’t see me take the photo. Her head is turned to the side and her big eyes are trained on the artwork on the wall. Her hair is flowing over her shoulder and her mouth is slightly open as she bites on one side of her bottom lip. She’s so beautiful. Her plump lips beg to be kissed and bitten, and that mouth screams to be ravished. 

Pulling my hardened shaft out of my boxers, I start stroking the tip slowly, imagining myself fucking Jill’s mouth.  I throw my head back on the pillow and close my eyes, my breathing getting quicker. 

Tightening my grip and working my full length, I think back to when we were alone in my office. That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. She looked so young and innocent as I grabbed tightly on her hair, forcing my dick down her throat and the way she stared up at me as she swallowed my load . . .

“Fuck yes,” I moan as I release onto my stomach. 

I’ve made the decision that I need to patch things up with Jill.  I can’t be without her.  To see her around school every day and not be able to touch her is hell, but to not be with her after school and on the weekends—it’s fucking unbearable.

We just need to be careful.