When Summer Ends (18 page)

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “Good morning, girls.
Did you have a good weekend?” He smiled, but it seemed forced to me, not like
the easy smiles that usually graced his face.

Amy stopped next to him, which meant that I had to stop too.
He looked incredibly handsome today in his jeans and pale blue sweater. His
cologne filled my lungs making my heart rate increase.
Jeez, he smells good
enough to eat! Wow, pretending I’m okay is harder than I thought.

“It was okay, nothing special,” Amy answered, shrugging.

Will turned his attention onto me. “And you, Miss Henderson?
How was the date on Friday night with the ex’s brother?” His questioning grey
eyes bore into mine.

“It wasn’t a date,” I clarified. “But it was good thanks.” I
tried not to get angry again. The last time I’d seen him was in the parking lot
Friday night and he’d been glaring and angry at Sam.

“How do you know it was her ex’s brother?” Amy asked
suddenly.

Will smirked at her. “If I remember correctly you said so.
Something about getting over her ex by jumping his brother.”

She laughed sheepishly. “Yeah that’s not Chloe’s style.” She
elbowed me playfully in the ribs. “Even if he was hot as hell,” she added,
winking at me.

I frowned and gripped Amy’s hand, intending to pull her
away. “Enough talking about my non-existent sex life. Let’s get to class before
we’re late.”

“Miss Henderson, do you think I could have a word at lunchtime?
After you’ve eaten is fine,” Will called as we walked away.

I sighed and nodded. “Sure thing.”
Great, another lecture
about not dating his brother. Just what I need.

The morning passed quickly. I even managed to get through a
whole gym class without injuring myself. When the lunch bell rang I headed to
the cafeteria grabbing a tuna sandwich and looking through the drinks trying to
find a bottle of orange juice, but there wasn’t any. I frowned and grabbed
apple juice instead, pouting as I got to the cash register to pay.

After I’d paid I turned around, only to come face to face
with Will. He looked down at my tray and frowned. “I thought you liked orange
juice,” he murmured.

I shrugged. “I do but they ran out.”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. “Here, Cutie.” He put his
bottle of orange juice on my tray and took my apple instead. He smiled and
turned to walk off without saying anything else leaving me watching him walk
away in a state of shock.

Cutie? What the heck is that about? Why did he call me
that? All week he’s been adamantly calling me Miss Henderson! Darn, that guy is
confusing as hell sometimes. Maybe I should ask him when I go to talk to him.
I
sighed as I plopped down at the table with my friends. I tried my hardest to
listen to what they were talking about, but my stupid mind kept wandering back
to Will even though I didn’t want it to.

I hardly ate anything, just ripped my sandwich up and
prodded it a little. I frowned.
I guess I can’t put it off any longer. Time
to get another lecture about Sam.
I sighed and put all of my ripped up
sandwich onto my tray. “Guys, I better go see what Mr Morris wants.”

Amy waggled her eyebrows at me. “Maybe he wants to lock you
in his little office and take advantage of you,” she teased.

I laughed incredulously.
The chances of that happening
are pretty slim.
“You never know,” I joked, rolling my eyes. I threw my
food in the trash and headed to his classroom. I actually felt a little
nervous. I didn’t want to argue with him again, but I knew he was going to
bring up Sam and what happened on Friday after school.

He was sitting at his desk, writing, when I got there. I
knocked on the door and his head snapped up to look at me.

“Hey.” He smiled, a nice smile too, one of the ones I used
to get from him.
Why is he doing this to me? This morning I decide to make a
real effort to let him go and then he starts smiling at me and calling me Cutie
again? Life’s just not fair.

“Hey, you wanted to see me?” I looked around uncomfortably.

He nodded. “Yeah. Close the door.” He frowned and sat back
in his chair.

I sighed.
I knew this was going to be some sort of
lecture!
I closed the door and walked cautiously over to his desk, waiting
for him to shout at me or order me to stay away from Sam.

He frowned, seeming to look anywhere but me as he spoke, “I
just wanted to apologise about what I did on Friday with Sam. I shouldn’t have
done that, and I’m really sorry.”

Wait, he’s apologising for it? That’s sweet.
“Why did
you do it then?” I asked, confused. It had been bugging me all weekend. Will was
a really nice guy so I couldn’t fathom why he had started suddenly acting like
a jerk all the time.

He sighed and shook his head. “No reason. I just kind of
freaked out a little because I know what Sam’s like. I don’t think a girl like
you should be mixing with someone like him.”

I sat on the corner of his desk and looked at the ceiling.
“A girl like me?”

“Yeah innocent, sweet, adorable. You’re too good for the
likes of Sam. He uses girls, and I don’t want that to happen to you,” he said
quietly. His leg accidentally brushed against mine, and I felt excitement
bubble up inside at how close he was.

“I’m not innocent.” I smiled teasingly.

He laughed. “Oh I know that.” He smirked at me knowingly. I
smiled and blushed as thoughts of just how much he knew about that bombarded my
brain. “Blushing again, that’s too cute.” He shook his head, his face soft and
tender as he looked at me.

I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing. I just sat
there looking at him. His beautiful grey eyes burnt into mine; I wanted to kiss
him so much that I could barely keep myself sitting still.

He sighed and looked away. “So how’s the tutoring going?” he
asked, obviously wanting to change the subject from our previous sexual habits.

I shrugged. “Yeah good actually, I think I should be okay.
Nick’s gonna tutor me twice a week.”

“That’s good. If you need any more help or anything then I
can run through a few things, but we’ll have to do it at the library at
lunchtimes or something.” He frowned looking a little annoyed about something.

“Why in the library?”

“Because I don’t like being alone with you.” He stood up, collecting
all of his papers up roughly.

He doesn’t like being alone with me?
“Why not?” I questioned.

He sighed and looked at me like I was stupid. “You have to ask?”
he snapped sarcastically.

The hair on the back of my neck bristled at his tone.
“Obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t have done!” I snapped back.

He sighed dramatically. “Forget it. Just go enjoy the rest
of your free time before the bell rings. I’ve got to get this stuff written up
on the board anyway.” He shrugged and headed over to the electronic board
behind his desk, grabbing a pen and starting to write out some sort of equation
that looked slightly similar to something Nick and I had been working on.

I refused to leave it like that though. This was the first
time we’d talked properly, and I wanted some answers. I deserved some answers. I
was fed up with wondering what went on in the stupid guy’s head. “Why don’t you
like being alone with me?” I inquired, gripping his arm and pulling gently,
trying to get him to look at me again.

He span around so quickly that it made me jump. His arm
wrapped around my waist as he moved me so that my back was pressed against the
board. He pressed his body against mine; his face was so close to mine that I
actually whimpered. His breath was blowing across my lips making my mouth water.
I could barely breathe.

His hand came up to cup the side of my face as he slowly
inched his face towards mine.
Oh my God, he’s going to kiss me!
Excitement bubbled up making my stomach flutter.

“This is why,” he mumbled. His mouth was so close that his
lips brushed against mine as he spoke. I gasped and closed my eyes, so excited
I actually thought it would kill me. Suddenly the pressure and warmth of his
body was gone. I forced opened my eyes, confused as to what had happened. Will was
a step away from me with his hands gripped in his hair. He had a pained, angry
look on his face. “You need to go.”

“Why?” I whispered a little hurt. I didn’t want to go. He was
so close, and I needed him.

“Because I need you to go. I have things to do.” His tone
was firm and final as he marched over to the classroom door and wrenched it
open. He didn’t even look at me as he silently waited for me to leave.

I felt my eyes stinging with tears again so I stomped out of
his classroom.
Stupid asshole getting me all excited then disappointing me
like that. I really need to let him go and just stop thinking about him like
that. He isn’t the hottest, most thoughtful guy I’ve ever met. Hmm, maybe if I
keep telling myself that I’ll actually start to believe it.

Throughout the rest of my afternoon classes all I could
think about was Will. ‘This is why’ he’d said. Did that mean because he wanted
to kiss me, or because he knew how I felt about him and he didn’t want to
encourage me? I couldn’t keep my mind off of how close he was and how his soft
lips had brushed against mine ever so lightly. My mind wandered to kisses that
we’d shared, and how he tasted. I sighed and shook my head, trying to
concentrate on what the Spanish teacher was saying and the assignment I was supposed
to be working on right now, but it was just pointless. My stupid traitorous
brain refused to focus on anything other than Will.

When the bell rang signalling the end of class I groaned. I
didn’t want to see him again. Not with everybody around anyway, on our own I
would love to talk to him and make him tell me what the hell he meant by
grabbing me like that. Could he still want to be with me even though I was a
student? Was that what he meant?

“Chloe, are you coming or not?” Amy laughed, knocking my elbow
that was propping my head up. My head dropped down quickly. I just managed to
catch myself before my chin collided with the desk. She laughed hysterically
and shook her head. “Love sick Chloe is so funny.”

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “Come on then, let’s go
test and see if Nick’s tutoring skills are worth me cooking for him.” I linked
my arm through hers, and we walked slowly to class.

“So nothing’s going on between you two? Just friends?” she
clarified, looking at me curiously.

“Just friends,” I confirmed.

She sighed, looking at me sadly. “That’s a shame because he
was always so sweet to you.”  

“I know he was, but it just wasn’t working out and I
couldn’t keep leading him on knowing that,” I admitted. Amy and I had talked
about it a lot before I broke it off with Nick. She didn’t think I should have
broken up with him and said that sometimes love grows. She thought that I
should have just carried on dating him and that I would have fallen for him
eventually. I wouldn’t have been able to do that to him though. Nick was already
crazy about me, and staying with him on the off chance of falling for him
wouldn’t have been fair on him at all. He deserved better than that.

“So what about you? Spoke to Ryan yet?” I asked, knowing
that if I brought up her long-term crush she would go off on one talking about
him and would completely change the subject from my love life.

She sighed dreamily. “No not yet. Did you see him this
morning? Wow he looks so hot in blue. I think blue’s his colour.” She fanned
her face, laughing.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “I thought you said he suited
black best.”

She grinned. “He did, yesterday. I must admit the boy looks
good in every colour. Whatever colour he’s wearing is always my favourite for
the day.”

Amy had been crazy about Ryan Everett since first grade but
had never even spoken to him once. To top it all off, whenever he was around
she seemed to melt into a quivering puddle at his feet and made herself look
like an idiot somehow.

“No one looks good in every colour, you’re just bias,” I
said, rolling my eyes.
Well actually, come to think of it, I’m yet to see
Will in a colour that doesn’t suit him.

I pulled her through the door of the classroom and scanned
the room. We were a little later than normal but Will wasn’t there yet. “Come
on let’s get a seat.” I looked around and spotted two together, but they were
at the front again.
Damn it, I don’t want to sit at the front of his class
every day! Why oh why does the Spanish block have to be on the other side of
the school so all the good seats are taken by the time I get here?

“There’s two,” Amy chirped, pulling us to the front row.

I sat down and pulled my books out, praying for this hour to
pass without a hitch. I was really hoping that all of the time Nick and I spent
studying on Saturday would pay off, and I at least would vaguely understand
what was going on today.

Will strutted in a couple of minutes later. I felt my face
immediately start to heat up as I remember how close he’d gotten to me at
lunchtime. He put his laptop down on the table and looked up at the class. As
his eyes met mine I saw him smirk.
Probably amused that I’m blushing yet
again no doubt.

“Right then, class, I want you all to partner up today with
the person sitting next to you and we’re going to be doing a project on
pressure and how math can be used to accurately predict the outcomes of certain
situations, even scientific ones. Math isn’t just numbers, it can be used as
the basis of a lot of things in life,” he said, grinning happily. He obviously
enjoyed this kind of thing.

I groaned quietly as he started talking about making a
rocket from an empty soda bottle and balloons and stuff. He ran through how to
work out the exact formula for the amount of pressure per square inch that
would make the bottle soar into the air and land on the target. Each pair would
be given certain variations of it, like a longer or shorter distance the bottle
had to travel, so each formula would be different.