You woke up to the smell of pancakes and fresh lemon, which instantly brought a sliver lining to the tiresome last day of the week. As per usual you messaged Madison and made an enquiry about the lessons that needed your attendance today. You had a long week and were really hoping for something calm and fun. Feeding your hopes was the reply "science and history". From then on you walked through the morning with ease, excited for the afternoon and not just because school would end, but you actually were excited to get to history especially after what happened last time.
You put it to the back of your mind as, what if it was just an accident? He didn't mean to do that, it won't happen again, surely. Anyway you made the most out of break time and the half tired, half ecstatic friendship group you had gratefully landed yourself in, and just focused on the conversation at hand. "Larry definitely happened, how can you not see it?", your first thought was always "it didn't happen, no one cares" but recently something had changed and you believed the words of your fit friend. Maybe you were going to watch a Larry compilation later, on your own, who knows? But for know ✨mitosis✨.
The bell rang signifying the end of science, unfortunately Madison had to leave just after break time as she was going for her last orthodontist appointment, so you had to do the short walk on your own. No matter the distance the loneliness always made you paranoid about those year 10's waking behind you. You were to busy focusing on not tripping over that you didn't even notice the stunning man holding the door open for you, but, because your polite, you still muttered "thank you".
Despite practically sitting on your own, you quite enjoyed the history lesson being presented before you. Involuntarily, you shared a few glances with Sir and even noticed some out of the corner of your eye, that you didn't respond to. He asked for the class to do a FUCKING exam question, which dimmed your light mood slightly. With everyone's heads down, silent and focusing, every breathe could be heard and so could the individual scribbles of pen on paper. As you were writing about Malcom X you glanced over to Sir only to be met already by his eyes, he showed a little smile before immediately looking down and clearing his throat. You let out a little giggle as you knew that you had made him blush but you noticed the timer on the board and so continued to write about Malcom. After the timer went off Sir came and collected all of the questions sheets from the end of each row, he planned to mark them by the end of the lesson whilst the class were creating posters. The lesson was coming to an end and everyone began packing up so you followed suit, before dismissing the class Sir handed everyone their question sheets with scores and next steps, although yours wasn't given out. "Brooke can you stay behind for a minute, please". The rest of the class ran out of the room like it was the last thing they'd do, but not you. You knew this was about your answer, it was shit.
You stood awkwardly by Sir's desk as he walked to the back of the room to shut the door. The eye contact as he made his way towards you was unlike anything you had ever experienced. As he walked around the back of you to reach his seat, you felt a hand softly trace a straight line on the bottom of your back. You didn't respond with words, or anything for that matter but your heart did, it was racing so fast it could beat Mo Farah.
He began to speak about, presumably your bad answer to the exam question he had set prior. On the contrary really, he was impressed as you had achieved full marks with the perfect answer. It was incredulous to you as he handed you back the paper for you to read. As you handed him back the paper, he caressed the top of your hand with his fingers, which made you drop it. He hadn't gotten a FIRM GRIP on it yet so it fell to the floor. Fuck, this was embarrassing. He got up from his seat and you both bent down to pick it up and ended up grabbing it with one hand each. Lifting the paper and returning to standing position happened in what felt like slow motion. You both watched each other's eyes as you stood up holding this single piece of paper between you. You now stood opposite him, adjusting your head slightly to look up to his eyes. Silence made up for the empty room as you two stood with only the paper between you.
