The Not Gate (Tom and Alice #1) (4 page)

FRESH START

Friday
27
th
October

A
lice felt like she was on top of the bloody world. She couldn’t believe that her plan had worked so well and he’d nearly touched her. Okay, he didn’t actually do it and as much as she knew it meant nothing, she still couldn’t help herself from imagining that it did. She believed him when he said he didn’t hate her. There was honesty in all his looks and genuine concern when she very embarrassingly explained her problems about him, to his face. It had been hard, but so worth it.

It was a total triumph and the following week had been great. Mr Chambers talked to her in class, asked her for answers and gave her some really nice comments on her work. She had received an A for her essay and he’d mentioned it to the rest of the class as an example of a job well done.

Yes, he still didn’t look directly at her very much. She thought he was probably worried that he’d almost touched her and was fretting that her father was going to come bursting into the school to sort him out or something?

He smiled at her now and that was the best thing of all. Each time his cheeks pulled up revealing his neat square teeth. The cute dimples. She would smile. She couldn’t help herself it was the most adorable and hottest thing she’d ever seen.

Annoyingly though, it seemed that Mr Chambers was fast becoming the school stud and she was informed daily that all of her friends and most of the girls in the sixth form were thinking very much the same as her. The pitfalls of liking an attractive man were becoming the bane of her school life. The whispers, laughter, swooning and whistles as he walked by just made Alice plain jealous.

She walked to afternoon registration with the girls and even before she got to the form room her senses became heightened and the hairs on her arms shot up. The conversation she’d been having was now just a muffled background noise. He was nearby and her Tom radar was alert. She walked into the room and he was sitting at his desk. Life fell into slow motion, he raised his head and smiled at them, teacher style.

Totally hot…

‘Okay guys, I’ve got to go over your reports with each of you this lesson. So, if you’re not up here talking to me then talk amongst yourselves quietly. Do some homework or read a book? Also I have letters here about the sixth form trip to Hill End, so make sure you take a copy for your parents. It’s in a couple of weeks and we need permission slips and payment back by then.’

He sat down and called Claire Altman over. She walked towards him slowly like she was going to the gallows and imagining her report, she probably was.

Long minutes passed but Alice was always half watching him. The way the muscle in his jaw worked when he was talking. The way he gestured with his hands when he was communicating passionately with a student.

Then finally…

‘Alice, do you want to come over and we can have a flick through your report?’

His voice was amazing. It never failed to shock her. It sounded like singing but with a slightly rougher edge, a dangerous edge.

‘Okay sure,’ she walked to the chair that was sitting alongside Mr Chambers’ on his side of the desk. She was thrilled to notice that he actually watched her move over to him. He’d never watched her for that long before. She felt so self-conscious as she aimed to walk gracefully, straightening her skirt as she went and smoothing her hair.

‘Have a seat here,’ motioning to the chair with his hand, ‘so, is everything good with you?’ he asked with an embarrassed smile and a knowing little nod.

‘Yes, everything’s great, thank you. I’m a bit worried about this report though,’ she smiled weakly shuffling her chair slightly closer to his and pretending she wanted to look at the report he was holding more closely.

‘I think you know that there’s nothing to worry about. Without exception all your tutors are incredibly pleased with you, me included. There’s not a single report in here that says anything but good things. You should be very proud of yourself. You’re a very bright girl…’ he shook his head and corrected himself, ‘young woman.’

How does a man this amazing exist?

Sitting right next to him made her feel so alive. He seemed so much bigger and more like an actual man than when she sat away from him just watching. She could smell him, feel the heat of his body and confirm for sure that he was a living guy.

‘Thank you, that’s a relief, I don’t want to mess up now.’

‘No indeed, That’s a good attitude Alice, it will get you far,’ he smiled.

She couldn’t stop herself thinking, get me far with you?

‘Are you looking forward to Hill End?’ he asked.

‘Yes. I think so. Apart from all the mud and cold weather. Are you going this year, sir?’ she inquired innocently.

‘Um, yes I am,’ he coughed his response and suddenly looked awkwardly towards the rest of the class, almost to see if anyone was watching him.

‘Cool.’

‘Here, let me get you a copy of the letter,’ he reached across her to the pile of letters on the far side of his desk and his knee brushed the side of her leg as he did. Alice sucked in a sharp breath that she knew he’d heard because he paused momentarily mid-stretch. He then sat back down and handed her the letter printed on blue paper (the school secretary probably trying to make it look more interesting.)

‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘You’re welcome, Alice.’

She looked up at him when he spoke… because the words… they sounded different. Not so teacher-like and confident. He held her gaze for a moment, but the moment was long enough… there was something else in his eyes? Was she fooling herself if she thought it was the tiniest bit sensual?

No way?

‘Go back and have a read of that report then and could you send Grant up next please?’ he said turning away from her and reaching for the next report.

‘Sure, sir.’

STILL OF THE NIGHT

Saturday
28
th
October

T
om sat at home. It was Saturday, well just, 2.26am to be precise. Propped up against the pillows with his nightlight on. He couldn’t sleep. The dull hue cast shadows over the old furniture he had borrowed from his parents’ years ago and had conveniently forgotten to give back. He had tried reading but felt as if he’d read page 116 about seven times already.

He couldn’t stop his mind from whirring away with stupid questions. Not even questions really, just problems.

Did he really believe that she wouldn’t have recognised that look he’d “accidently” given her? Jesus, it was the look he would give a woman he was trying to pick up in a bar, but even then he thought that would’ve held less passion or intent. Thinking her age would be his defence for letting his emotions slip was a mistake. Girls could be very experienced these days and Alice, as attractive as she was, would surely draw lots of male interest.

Her eyes had shown understanding and it scared him. Then the way she responded when his leg had brushed her knee, he knew she felt the attraction, as he’d felt hers. It was so dangerous.

Run Tom, run!

He had to keep saying to himself, ‘Teacher student, teacher
student,’
like it was some kind of mantra every time his tired brain fell into a fantasy that both sickened him and that he so desperately craved.

He had visions of her slender frame and full breasts under his own hard body, pressing her plump lips to his chest in a kiss, looking up at his face as he moved over her
.

Fuck no
…

He had to stop this. Leave the school or something. Was he really that weak? Could he not get this into check?

He thought then about talking to one of his mates, but feared none of them being from the teaching profession would understand the ethical dilemma. They may even pat him on the back and egg him on, relishing in the wrongness of it all. A younger woman, innocent, corruptible and all that.

He could talk to his sister but thought she would disown him. Thinking him a paedophile, which he wholeheartedly believed he wasn’t. A sick pervert maybe? But Alice wasn’t a child, she was a woman, in his eyes at least. The age wasn’t the draw at all, it was the person.

He had too many bloody questions.

He got out of bed and stumbled in the dark down the stairs and into the kitchen. He clattered about and found the single malt in the drinks cupboard. He sat only in his boxers at the dining table, his head in his hands, staring at the bottle for long moments wondering if it held any of the answers? Eventually he poured a glass and decided it may not bring answers but it would probably bring sleep and for tonight that would have to do.

HALLOWEEN

Tuesday
31
st
October

H
alloween was considered quite a big deal at Claude Bennett school. Without fail, every year the school would hold a Halloween fancy dress party for sixth formers. It didn’t matter if it was a school night or not they still had the party. That may sound strange but the tradition originated about twenty years ago. The story went – how much was true Alice wasn’t sure – that a teacher’s daughter, a girl with a bit of a wild streak had accidently killed herself while sniffing glue or something like that at a Halloween party hosted by some local youths in their garage.

Her mother, the teacher, grief stricken yet focused, had demanded that the headmaster hold supervised parties at the school from that year on. To keep kids safe or just because she needed to focus on something other than the pain. Tickets were sold and local businesses acted as sponsors. All the proceeds went to a solvent abuse charity set up in the dead girl’s name. Alice admired the woman’s drive and the school’s commitment to the cause, even though the headmaster and teachers had probably changed at least threefold since the incident had happened.

This year Halloween fell on a Tuesday. Alice was happy, even though it was a school night, because she loved dressing up. It called to her kooky side. It didn’t matter the occasion, if someone said “fancy dress” her ears would prick up with sudden interest.

In August, she had started working on a chicken wire and papier-mâché creation. It was a giant orange pumpkin suit that she was sure would win her the best costume title. The arrival of Mr Chambers last month had unfortunately seen the much loved pumpkin slowly dismembered and placed in the very safe hands of the local refuse collectors. There was no way she could go dressed as anything but sexy now. Not her usual take on Halloween granted, she would normally leave that to every other girl in the school. But that was exactly the point. If every pretty young thing were going to be dressed as vamps or sultry witches and she was a massive orange ball… which way would Tom be looking?

She had finally decided on Saturday after two and half hours in
Mr Ben’s
, the local fancy dress emporium, and suitably annoying a very unhelpful shop assistant, on a faux leather cat suit and eye mask. Limited edition, the packaging had said, but in the decade where everything seemed to be limited edition she didn’t know how true that actually was?

Alice already had black leather boots and she’d pulled her hair into a high ponytail. Her blonde waves cascading, just as she had wanted them to, down her back. She looked at herself in her mum’s full length mirror and applied red lipstick. She had to admit that she looked pretty good, her fuller breasts that usually made her uneasy when she wore something that showed them off looked just right in the tight, shiny fabric and her waist appeared small, which was also important according to this week’s
My Guy
magazine.

She was uncertain though that when she walked downstairs dressed in this x rated number that her dad wasn’t going to order her instantly back upstairs to change into something more decent.

Alice, Ellie, Emily and Cara spilled out of Emily’s mum’s old Volvo parked outside the front of the school at about 8pm that night. It appeared that as it was a school event parents didn’t care that their daughters looked just a little bit slutty. Luckily for Alice her dad had been at the pub when she left. Her mum had clocked her appearance, raised her eyebrows and looked at the sky. After a moment she’d smiled at her daughter with a flicker of youthful reminiscence in her eyes. Alice kissed her quickly and ran out the front door before she could change her mind.

The gym had been decorated with crape paper and balloons, streamers and black sheets. Two plastic witches hung off the basketball hoops at either end of the room and the science department’s skeleton was dressed in a dinner jacket and top hat. The Halloween props were recycled year after year, so even though it looked good it felt pretty tired.

The DJ had set up near the piled up crash mats and was perched on the top of them, checking out the girls as they arrived. The overhead lights were off and his limited kit offered little illumination. Two sets of traffic lights and a smoke machine that intermittently blasted out a questionable smelling gas you wanted to move away from rather than dance in. That coupled with eighties disco hits and spookily themed songs made him exactly what you’d expect at a school function of this kind.

Alice scanned the room for Mr Chambers but she couldn’t see him. A few groups of teachers looking goofy in their costumes congregated around the buffet table, but he wasn’t among them. He wasn’t on the door taking tickets either.

Damn, she wanted him to be here.

‘Who’re you looking for?’ Emily shouted in her ear over the din of
Time Warp
.

Alice looked around at her sharply. ‘Oh no one, I’m just looking at the other costumes that’s all.’

Arrive… please arrive.

‘Don’t worry Alice, yours is still the best,’ her friend said kindly.

‘Don’t take the piss Emily, I know I’m a fancy dress freak okay!’ she laughed, linking her arm and leading her to the drinks table that just happened to have a clearer view of the main door.

Some of her class were already dancing and were beckoning Alice and Emily to join them. It was too early for dancing in her opinion, but she enjoyed watching them fooling around from the edge of the dance floor. She couldn’t dance until she knew for certain he wasn’t coming, then getting sweaty wouldn’t matter so much.

At 20.37, as indicated by the massive digital clock on the far wall, he walked into the gym. He was laughing with Miss Smith, the French teacher. She wasn’t very attractive, with a pointy nose and long skirt, frumpy but still a female and clearly enjoying his attention if the flushed look on her face and the frantic smoothing of her hair was anything to go by.

Alice would have certainly felt more panicked and annoyed by the whole spectacle if she hadn’t been knocked sideways by the way he looked.

He was a vision of zombie perfection.

Alice actually felt her knees go weak, they really did feel like jelly.

He stood there, about ten metres from her. She was all too aware that she was staring like a groupie now but she couldn’t look away. His hair was sprayed upright at different angles. His face was streaked with camouflage make-up giving the appearance of mud, as if he had clawed his way out of the ground. But then it really got good. He was wearing a tight white t-shirt that had been ripped at the sleeves and frayed, there was also a massive rip from the neck down to his midriff and even from that distance she could make out the rounded edges of his pecks and the start of his perfectly sculpted abs.

She licked her lips instinctively. It took everything she had not to walk straight over to him and beg at his feet.

Miss Smith laughed again and Alice watched him put his hand to her arm. Alice tensed, he moved his mouth close to her ear and said something. She nodded and he turned away from her and took in the room. She watched his eyes scan, moving efficiently over people and faces, very much as she had done when she’d entered the room. Alice held her breath… he would see her in a matter of seconds.

Three, two, one…

He stopped. His body shifted slightly. His eyes drifted down her body quickly and she felt every caress like he was touching her with his bare hands. She shivered when the punch of arousal hit her in the stomach and exploded, spreading a fast acting sensual poison through her veins. She closed her eyes. She had no idea how to process the feelings he stirred in her or how to control them, they betrayed her. She opened her eyes and he was gone.

She needed air.

Shit
, she needed to breathe.

Long minutes later she sat alone in the dark, under the outdoor metal stairs that lead to the sports changing rooms. It was cold but she was thankful for the cold, it was a distraction. The methodical beating rhythm from the bass seeped through the concrete and at times she thought she could make out the song that the DJ was playing solely from that bass. She was probably wrong more times than she was right.

She didn’t hear anyone approach her from behind, people were scurrying past her all the time to get to the nearest toilets in the Humanities building, so it wasn’t exactly a haven of tranquillity.

‘Are you alright, Alice? Not enjoying the craic?’ he said quietly.

She shot up, spun round and nearly collided with him. He was standing that close. He stepped back as he realised her shock.

‘Sorry,’ he whispered.

Alice couldn’t explain the instant and massive increase in her heart rate. But it was present and as real as night and day. She desperately struggled to conceal any obvious signs of it, though she knew her breathing was staggered.

‘The craic...? Oh right… having a good time,’ she nodded nervously, ‘yes, I just needed some fresh air, sir,’ she smiled and couldn’t help glancing at his body again.

I want you.

‘I like your costume,’ she muttered shyly.

I want you. Listen to my thoughts…

‘I like yours, it’s very…’ he paused, ‘very authentic. Just like Michelle Pfeiffer in
Batman
. Listen you won’t get too cold out here, will you?’ Tom smiled at her, despite his attempt at light chit-chat Alice felt the small space between them heavy with tension and unspoken intention.

‘It’s kind of hard to feel cold in PVC, Mr Chambers,’ she said feeling a bit more dangerous now. That second glass of MD 20/20 at Emily’s house was definitely starting to pay off. Should she push this…

‘Indeed, I guess… I can imagine,’ Tom looked at her.

Neither of them knew what to say next. She felt it all around them. What was happening here?

‘Well I better get back in there then,’ motioning towards the gym with his head. His brilliant blue gaze travelling over her and then pulling away.

Alice smiled. She loved the way the words ‘there’ and ‘then’ rolled off his tongue in that husky Irish burr.

‘Okay,’ she whispered. Adjusting the costumes utility belt. His eyes followed her hands to her waist again, then they darted to the left as he realised what he was doing.

‘Right,’ he said turning and in that moment as he walked away from her she thought she sensed his reluctance to leave.