When Summer Ends (57 page)

Principal Sherman held up his hands innocently. “I’m not
suggesting it, I’m merely proving what I just said about there being space for
people to suggest certain things if you have a close relationship with a
teacher. There is always going to be someone that suggests that there is favouritism
going on. Just so I can prove that wrong before it is even suggested as an
issue, who is your tutor?” he asked, looking at me, his pen poised over his
notepad again ready to write it down.

I crossed my arms over my chest, still offended.
I worked
damn hard on my calculus, and I’m not going to let some balding little man tell
me that I’m getting off easy with it.
“Nick Golding,” I growled.

Principal Sherman wrote that down. He now had almost a full
page of quotes and things that we’d said. He nodded. “I think that’s
everything. The bell is about to ring in a few minutes. I’ll investigate this
quickly because I don’t want anything hanging over our heads like this. As soon
as I’ve finished speaking to the other teachers, I’ll let you know. In the
meantime, if you could just try and keep your distance from each other while
this is ongoing, I know that will be difficult with the nature of the
relationship, but hopefully I’ll have this all sorted out by tomorrow,” he
requested, smiling almost apologetically as he stood up, signalling the end of
the meeting.

Will stood and shook his hand and I grabbed my bag off of
the floor. That was so much easier than I thought it would be. I’d actually
been a pretty good liar; I was more than proud of both myself and Will. I
stalked out of the door, not waiting for Will; I couldn’t exactly wait around
to talk to him after we’d just been instructed to stay away from each other.

Instead of heading back to his class, I went to my locker,
grabbing my books that I would need for tonight’s study session with Nick.
Hmm,
should I tell Nick about Will, just so we would have someone else to back up
our story? I can ask Nick to lie and pretend that he’s met and heard of Sam
too…. That’s actually a great idea.
I loved Nick dearly and I knew that he
would be annoyed about it at first but he would get over it and help me. He was
adorable like that and I could always rely on him in a rough situation.

Once I had my books I headed out to the school grounds for
the last five minutes. I sat on one of the benches and pulled out my phone,
deciding to text Sam and tell him what had happened. We exchanged a few texts;
he sent me a couple of flirtatious ones and instructed me to leave them on my
phone as extra evidence of our relationship. While I thought about it, I
quickly deleted everything that Will had ever sent me. It was a little painful
deleting all of the ‘I love you’ messages and stuff that he’d sent me, but I
was pretty sure I would get a ton more once all this was over with and I’d left
school.

As soon as the bell rang Amy called me to see where I was.
Less than a minute later she came streaking over to where I was, and engulfed
me in a hug, talking so fast that I could barely understand what she said.
“I’ve-been-so-worried-about-you!
Tell-me-everything-what-happened-with-Principal-Sherman-did-you-get-into-trouble?”
she said it all in one breath. I laughed at her as I pulled her down onto the
benches and we spoke in hushed whispered about everything. She seemed to relax
as I got half way through the story; she obviously thought we’d done well too.

“You know, now that you don’t owe Erika anything, we should
do something to her. Like TP her house, or spray paint on her car,” she said,
rubbing her hands together with a wicked glint in her eye.

I smiled at the thought of doing that. I would actually love
to do that to her, but I had a feeling that she was going to be in enough
trouble as it is. “Let’s just see if she gets punished for lying first,” I
instructed, rolling my eyes at the evilness I could see flashing across her
face.
Oh yeah, I definitely need to keep Sam and Amy apart. Two evil
geniuses together could be a bad thing all round!

My cell phone beeped so I pulled it out. 1 new message, from
Will.

‘You
did so good in there. I’m so proud of you, Cutie. Call me when you get home
from Nick’s. Love you’

I smiled and hit reply: 
‘Thanks, you did great too. You should go
through your phone and delete anything I’ve ever sent you, just to be on the
safe side. Love you too, speak to you later x’

My phone beeped again almost immediately:
‘Good thinking,
x’

I sat with Amy for a little while longer before Nick came
out looking for me. We headed to his car and I bit my lip, thinking everything
through.
Should I tell Nick too and ask for his help? Jeez, I should have
asked Amy what she thought, she would know if I should or not.

Nick frowned and looked at me from the corner of his eye.
“Everything okay, Chloe? You’re a little quiet,” he observed, sounding
concerned. I smiled. He probably wouldn’t know that I got dragged out of class
to go see the Principal; he didn’t have calculus with me.

“Yeah, er, everything’s fine.” I winced because my words
just didn’t sound believable, even to my own ears. He clearly didn’t believe me
either. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised, waiting for me to tell him the
truth. Nick always was good at detecting my lies; I’d known him long enough.

“Oh really?” he said sarcastically.

I sighed and we pulled up outside his house. I shook my head
and avoided looking at him, not really wanting to do this, but I just felt like
I needed to, to get some extra backup. If I was supposed to be so loved up with
Sam, then wouldn’t I have bragged about it to more than one friend? If the
Principal looked into this like he should, then he might find it a little weird
that I hadn’t spoken to anyone else about Sam.

“Actually I need to talk to you about something,” I
muttered, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. He turned in his
seat and looked at me curiously, waiting for me to continue. “Not here, let’s
go inside, yeah?” I nodded towards his house. He didn’t say anything, just
climbed out, grabbing both of our schoolbags from the backseat and walking towards
his house, waiting for me at the door.

I took a deep breath and followed him into the house,
praying I was doing the right thing. He dropped our bags by the door and looked
at me expectantly. I headed into the lounge and sat on the sofa, putting my
head in my hands.
Okay this is harder than I thought. Is he going to think
Will did something wrong by being with me? What if he thinks he’s a paedophile
or something and refuses to help me? What if he demands that I break it off
with Will or he would tell my parents? Jeez, do I really need his help this
badly?

He crouched in front of me and took my hands, looking at me
with concern etched across his face. My worry started to ebb away as I looked
at him. This was Nick, sweet, loving, dependable Nick. He was one of my very
best friends yet I was freaking out about telling him about the love of my
life. I was just being stupid right now.

“You know I’ve been seeing a guy?” I started, frowning and
wondering how to word ‘hey I’ve been sleeping with our teacher’. I couldn’t
exactly just blurt it out like that.

He nodded. “Yeah, Will, right?”

I winced.
Wow, it’s lucky I am talking to him about this,
because if I hadn’t, and Principal Sherman had asked him my boyfriend’s name,
then Will and I would have been screwed right then!

“Er… yeah.” I sighed and closed my eyes, deciding just to go
for it. “I’m in trouble.”

He gasped, and his grip on my hands tightened to the point
of pain. “What the hell? Are you pregnant? Did that asshole get you pregnant?
Jesus, Chloe! What are you gonna do? He’s sticking with you, right? He’s not
leaving you to do this on your own, is he? If he is I’m gonna…” he trailed off,
muttering a string of expletives under his breath as he jumped to his feet,
dragging me up with him where he didn’t let go of my hands.

I felt my mouth drop open in shock at his little rant.
How
on earth did he get that I was pregnant from that? Wow, this boy has some
imagination.
“Nick, I’m-” I started but he cut me off, cupping my face in
his hands, looking at me fiercely.

“You don’t need to worry. You’ll be okay, I’ll make sure of
it, I promise. Everything’s fine. I’ll look after you. I’ll always be here for
you, I won’t run away like that asshole,” he stated, pulling me into a bone
crushing hug.

I felt my eyes fill with tears at how very sweet he was; I
was such a lucky girl to have someone like him in my life. I couldn’t help the
little giggle that escaped my lips at the lunacy of this situation. I hadn’t
had sex for months yet here I was, pregnant, abandoned, and being comforted by
my ex-boyfriend. This had to be one of the weirdest things that ever happened
to me. I pushed him back and shook my head, grinning because I had one of the
nicest guys in the world as my friend.

“I’m not pregnant, Nick,” I told him, watching as he frowned
and looked at me confused.

“But you said…”

I smiled and took his hand. “I said I was in trouble. I’m
not pregnant,” I confirmed.

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he slumped down
onto the sofa and closed his eyes. “Well thank God for that. I was envisioning
us getting married and me changing diapers at two in the morning whilst working
three jobs just to support us,” he muttered, his face relaxing as he spoke.

I sat down next to him.
Why would he think that anyway?
“What? Why would you see yourself doing that?” I asked, giggling again at how
crazy he was.

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t let you do it on your own. We’d get
married, and I’d take care of you and the baby,” he stated as if it was no big
deal.

I felt my insides tingle with emotion; I was overcome with a
rush of love for him, not love like what I felt for Will, but more like a
brotherly love. I loved Nick dearly and I always would, we’d been through so
much, and every single thing only ever brought us closer. I hugged him tightly,
digging my fingers into his shoulders as I tried not to cry.

“You have to be the sweetest, most adorable boy in the
world, Nick Golding.” I pulled back, and he smiled at me softly. “You would
really do that for me?” I asked, biting my lip at how thoughtful and selfless
he was.

He nodded. “Sure I would, you’re my best friend and always
will be.” He wiped my tears away with the back of one finger and looked at me
curiously. “Okay so if I’m not gonna be a stepdad, then tell me about this trouble
that you’re actually in.”

I pulled back as reality set in. I still needed to say the
words and get it out there. “Okay, so I met Will in the summer. We broke up for
a few weeks when school started, but then we got back together two months ago.
You know all that already.”

He nodded. “Yeah?” he confirmed, his tone prompting me for
more.

I gulped. I was less worried now though, Nick was willing to
ruin his life to help me had I been pregnant; surely he would help me by
telling a couple of little lies if the need arose.

“Will’s a bit older than me. He’s twenty-two actually, and
when we met he didn’t realise how old I was, and I didn’t tell him because I
thought he knew. And… and…”

“And?” he prompted.

“I’m so totally in love with him, Nick. He loves me too,
this isn’t just some fling or anything, we’re both completely serious. I need
you to know that before I say it.” I looked at him, begging him with my eyes
not to freak out.

He nodded, looking a little sad for some reason. “I know you
love him, Chloe, I can tell. You never once looked at me the way you look when
you talk about him; I’ve known for a while that you’re in love with this guy.”

He looked a little hurt and I was struck with a rush of
regret that I couldn’t love Nick the way he obviously wanted me to. I wished I
did. I wished I could make him happy and give him what he wanted because
goodness knows he deserved it. He smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I
think it was a forced smile so that I wouldn’t know how much I was hurting him,
but it was too late, I’d already seen it and he couldn’t hide it from me now. I
knew right then that Nick wasn’t over me, which was probably why he wasn’t
seeing other girls. That thought broke my heart because I never wanted to hurt
him, ever. I wanted him to be happy, but we just weren’t right together, we
never were. Deep down we both knew that, but I guess he still wished something
different.

“Well?” I jumped as his voice cut through my mind ramblings.
I shook my head to clear it a little and looked at him; he was obviously still
waiting for my ‘trouble’ to be revealed.

“Will is, well, he’s,” I took a deep breath, “he’s our calculus
teacher,” I stuttered weakly.

Nick sprang up from the sofa, looking at me like I was
crazy, but the hard, accusing glint in his eye told me he believed what I had
said. I gulped and waited for his reaction.

Chapter Thirty-Six

“He’s what?” he cried, shaking his head in disbelief. “Mr
Morris? Are you freaking kidding me? A teacher? Tell me this is a joke, Chloe,
for God’s sake, this is insane!”

I gulped, immediately regretting my decision to tell him. On
top of the anger that I could see plain across his face, I could also see a lot
of hurt. I hated the fact that I’d hurt him, Nick didn’t ever deserve to be
hurt.

“Nick, calm down,” I pleaded, giving him my best persuasive
face.

He frowned and shook his head again, his hands gripping into
his hair. “You’re serious? This is for real; you’re dating the damn teacher?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I love him,” I whispered, looking
at him apologetically.

He looked at me sceptically. “You love him? How can you love
a guy that would date a minor? Not only are you a damn minor but he’s in charge
of protecting you and looking after your wellbeing. He’s taking advantage of
you!” he shouted, looking at me as if I was stupid.