When Summer Ends (32 page)

“You have your overnight bag in there. I got it out of Sam’s
car for you last night,” Will muttered, rubbing the back of his neck and
looking anywhere but me.

“Thanks, I’ll just be a couple of minutes then.” I grabbed
Amy’s hand and pulled her into the bedroom with me, not wanting to leave her on
her own with Will. Things were awkward enough as it was without her adding any
pressure or little comments about us being a ‘cute couple’ or anything.

She looked at me curiously as I grabbed my bag from by the
door and stripped out of my party clothes that I’d slept in. “So are you going
to tell me why you keep shooting me death glares?” she asked, laughing as she
sat on the edge of the bed.

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Will was going to kiss me but
you came out of the bedroom,” I admitted reluctantly. She squealed and practically
bounced on the bed. I shushed her and winced, hoping that Will didn’t hear that
and wonder what was going on.

“Sorry, oh God, I’m so sorry!” she whispered, giving me the
puppy dog face.

I sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans, a tank top, and
sweater from my bag, pulling them on. “Don’t worry about it. It would have been
a mistake anyway and would have just gotten my hopes up. It’s best that you
came out when you did because I can’t keep letting him sucker me in all the
time.” I tried to make myself believe the words as I said them.

“Chloe, what are you going to do? You’re still totally crazy
about him,” she said, looking at me sympathetically.

I shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do. He doesn’t want me so
I’m letting it go and trying to move on, like you told me to.”

She rolled her eyes. “I told you to move on because I
thought there was no chance of you two getting back together. Hell, you
told
me there was no chance, but believe me; that guy still wants you. There’s a
chance there alright and I don’t think you should be giving up. He made you so
happy when you two were together.”

I gasped in shock. She was the one that practically forced
me to move on to someone else. She’d even made me go out on that date with Olly
and give him a chance.
Holy crap, Olly!
I’d completely forgotten about
him. I was so caught up in the moment with Will in the kitchen that I would
have done anything with him, and Olly was only just now popping into my head. I
was a terrible girlfriend.  

“You’re the one that told me to give it up, Amy. Move on you
said.” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Besides, I don’t have a chance
with him. He doesn’t like me like that anymore, I think he still wants my body,
but he’s with Miss Teller now anyway. I don’t have a chance in hell competing
against her, I mean, have you seen her? She’s perfect,” I whined, plopping down
next to her on the bed trying not to pout like a three year old.

She shook her head. “You know what? I don’t think he’s
dating her,” Amy said thoughtfully. I looked at her like she was crazy.
Of
course he’s dating her; it’s been all around the school for the last week.
She
frowned and shook her head again. “I’m thinking he’s not interested in her at
all. No one has seen them kiss, or hug, or show any signs of being in a
relationship. Everyone’s just assuming they’re together. Maybe it’s innocent,
maybe they’re friends. He looks at you like he wants you, so why would he be
with her if he wanted you?” she asked, biting her lip like she did when she was
thinking really hard.

I sighed deeply. “Amy, he brings her to school every day and
takes her home with him. It’s pretty obvious that they’re sleeping together.
She’s beautiful, and nice, and smart,
and
old enough for him. They make
the perfect couple,” I admitted grudgingly even though every word seemed to burn
my throat on the way out.

She shook her head. “Maybe it’s something else. I just don’t
quite buy it.”

I’d had enough of talking about this, I didn’t want to keep
going over and over the same thing it was painful. I needed to get the heck out
of Will’s apartment because the more time I spent here the more I missed the
old times I spent here.

“Let’s just forget it,” I said firmly, letting her know that
this was the end of the conversation. She seemed to get the hint as she pushed
herself up from the bed and nodded sadly before heading into his bathroom.

I grabbed my bag searching through for a hairbrush, but I
must have forgotten to pack it. I sighed and went over to Will’s chest of
drawers where he kept a comb, so I could at least get the tangles from my bed
hair. As I rummaged through the top drawer looking for the comb I noticed a
picture frame on top of the drawers. It was right at the back, practically
hidden by a pile of clothes. Curiosity got the better of me so I reached for it,
wondering who it was of. I hadn’t seen any photos when I stayed here, so this was
a new one.

I gripped the frame and my breath caught in my throat as I
looked at the couple in the picture. It was me and Will at his sister’s wedding.
Our first date. It was the professional photo that had been taken in the back
of the church yard. We looked so cute all smiling at each other. I smiled at
how tenderly he was looking at me in the picture.

Why on earth would he have bought this? Were we still
together when he ordered it? But even if we were still together when he ordered
it, we weren’t together now, so why would he have it in a frame on his drawers?
Surely if he wanted to keep this then he would have hidden it in a drawer or something
so no one would see it. What if Miss Teller saw this when she stayed over or
something? She would obviously know it was me and would ask him about it. Had
he told her about us? Was he that into her that he’d risked telling her about
him sleeping with a minor? It must be even more serious than I thought if he
trusted her with the secret of it.

I rubbed my thumb over the picture lightly, looking at him
in his suit. In a way I’d forgotten about that day a little, photos always had
a way of reminding you of things that your mind forgot. I would actually really
love to have a copy of this photo, I didn’t have any photos of him at all, and
I would just love to be able to stare at a picture of him before I went to
sleep.
Wow, Chloe, lucky no one can hear your thoughts because you are
seriously sounding like a deranged stalker right about now!

Amy came out of the bathroom so I quickly put the picture
back and searched the drawer again for the comb, dragging it through my hair,
making myself look a little more presentable. I tried desperately to pretend that
my heart wasn’t trying to break out of my chest. I smiled at her when I was
done and pretended I hadn’t seen anything there, I didn’t want her reading
things into it again, I just couldn’t cope with anymore today.

The ride home was uneventful; we were all sat in an
uncomfortable silence on the way to Amy’s. He stopped the car a couple of
houses away from hers so that her parents didn’t see her arrive in a strange
guy’s car when she was supposed to have been staying at mine.

I smiled at Amy as she grabbed her purse and opened her
door. “Thanks for the ride, Mr Morris.” She smirked at him making him groan
quietly.

“No worries, Miss Clarke. See you at school tomorrow.”

“I’ll pick you up in the morning, Chloe,” Amy told me as she
climbed out of the car.

I nodded and smiled. “Yeah thanks, see you,” I called as she
shut the door and walked off up the street towards her house.

Will pulled out again, heading towards my house. I glanced
at him from the corner of my eye. I had no idea what to say to him, so I just
said nothing. I would actually rather he had dropped me off first so that I
wasn’t in the car with him on my own. That thing in the kitchen had made me
feel a little awkward around him because I just couldn’t stop thinking about
it. Then again, I didn’t really want Amy on her own with him either, just in
case she said something to him about me and made everything worse.

He pulled up a couple of houses away from my house and cut
the engine, turning in his seat to look at me curiously. “Do you think Amy will
say anything to anyone? Because if you do then I’d rather we just go and say
something first, it’ll sound better coming from us, rather than me just being
reported.”

I shook my head fiercely. “She won’t say anything, you don’t
need to worry.”

He seemed to relax a little. “Okay, tell her thanks from
me.”

I nodded, chewing on my lip nervously. “Thanks for the ride,
and for last night.” I didn’t really know how to show him how grateful I was to
him for saving me and then letting us stay at his place so we didn’t get into
trouble for it.

“No worries, you don’t need to keep thanking me.”

“Would it be totally inappropriate if I hugged you again?” I
asked, trying not to show him how much I needed it.

He smiled sadly and nodded. “Totally inappropriate,” he confirmed.

I sighed and gripped my hand on the door handle, resigning
myself to the fact that it truly was over, that he was back to being my teacher
as of now and nothing more.

“Chloe?” He laughed and leant forward in his seat, slipping
one arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I smiled gratefully and
hugged him back, clinging to him, breathing in his smell. I really didn’t want
to get out of the car and back to normality. Being close to him, even for
little things like this, just made my heart race. I would give anything for
this to be normal, for this to be allowed and easy. But I guess not everything
in life is easy because where would the fun be in that? I just couldn’t see the
fun in this situation at the moment.

I pulled out of the hug as I felt my eyes starting to
prickle with tears; I needed to leave before I cried all over him. “Thanks, and
I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” I mumbled, forcing a smile.

He nodded and frowned. I swallowed the lump in my throat;
did he not want me to leave either? He didn’t say anything so I pushed the door
open and walked off without looking back, fighting tears the whole way up the
path.

The following morning Amy picked me up for school, quizzing
me about Will the whole trip and what he’d said after she got out of the car.
It seemed as though she wanted to know every single thing that had happened
since we broke up. I’d refused to speak about it on the phone last night when
she called; I just couldn’t force the words out while it was still raw. After a
good night sleep I felt much better about it. Yes, we’d had a couple of moments
that might have turned into something else had it not been for Amy’s
interruption, but those moments were passed now so I just needed to get on with
it.

When we pulled up at school I spotted Olly almost
immediately, he was standing chatting to a group of his friends with a couple
of girls standing there too obviously trying their luck with the swim team. I gulped
and immediately felt awful. What was I supposed to say to him today? The last
time I’d seen him we had a huge fight and he stormed off and left me to make my
own way home from school.

I decided just to pretend like I didn’t see him and head to
my locker with Amy. I definitely didn’t mind putting off a potential argument
with him. I linked my arm through Amy’s and smiled a big fake smile, which of
course she saw through immediately.

“Olly’s over there,” she whispered as we walked through the
parking lot.

“Mmm hmm,” I mumbled, chewing on my lip, looking at the
school, practically counting down the steps until we were safely inside so I
could avoid a probable painful and embarrassing situation.

“Not gonna say hi? What are you going to do about him
today?” she asked, guiding me around a group of girls who were squealing about
the Justin Bieber concert they went to see this weekend.

I sighed and shook my head. “No idea. I’m still trying the
whole moving on thing, but to be honest, he’s probably still pissed at me for
going to the party, and I’m still pissed at him for telling me I couldn’t hang
out with Sam. I’m not sure where we go from here,” I admitted with a shrug.

Just as we got to the safety of the front doors I heard him
shout my name. I groaned and immediately wondered how wrong it would be just to
carry on walking and fake temporary deafness. I could pull that off, couldn’t
I? I could just spend the morning asking everyone; ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I flicked
my eyes to Amy to see if she had the same idea as me, but she just looked at me
sympathetically and I knew I couldn’t be mean. Mean wasn’t who I was, I was the
person who did things for people all the time because I didn’t like to hurt their
feelings or tell people no.

“I’ll meet you in class,” I said to Amy as she unlinked her
arm through mine and nodded, heading towards our lockers where Nick was already
waiting for us with a big smile on his face. I took a deep breath and willed
myself to be strong. I wasn’t going to put up with Olly’s possessive nonsense,
so if he didn’t apologise then that was it, I was breaking it off. Instantly I
kind of wished he wouldn’t apologise, just so I could have an easy passage out
of it.

As I turned back in his direction I pretended I didn’t
realise he was there. He was walking quickly towards me looking a little
sheepish but cute as usual. “Hey, I was waiting for you,” he said as he got up
to me.

I shifted my bag on my shoulder uncomfortably. “Yeah? Sorry
I didn’t see you.”

He nodded, his eyes searching my face for something. “How
was the party Saturday night?” he asked. One eyebrow was raised questionably,
but no other emotions were on his face.

Okay how do I answer that question, do I go with the
truth? “Actually, I was drugged and almost raped, but my ex-boyfriend, who by
the way, is our teacher, burst into the room and beat the guy to a pulp before
carrying me through the house, taking me to his and letting me sleep in his
bed. Oh yeah and he almost kissed me this morning.” Yeah I don’t think the
truth would go down to well here! Okay so I go with a lie.