Unreturned Love

Chapter 7

The three of them met in the hallway the very next day. Finn had just ended a lesson, and was on his way to the staff room when he was abruptly brought up short by the sight of the two girls standing by the lockers. They hadn't caught sight of him yet, and he was wondering whether he could sneak past unnoticed, or whether he really wanted to do that. But before he could make up his mind, Leeane caught sight of him. Her brows furrowed together in surprise, before she carefully smoothed them out and assumed a blank expression. Kayline had been attempting to open her locker without success, as the lock appeared to be jammed.

"Stupid, cursed locker", Kayline muttered under her breath, and caused Finn to smile slightly in amusement. "Damn you, this thing can NEVER be opened just when I need to get to a lesson in a hurry..." Frustrated, she gave up fiddling with the lock and pummeled the lock, resulting in a sore fist and a stubbornly locked locker. She turned to Leeane, who was standing unwavering gaze levelled upon Finn, who watched as Kayline attempted to open her locker. Kayline followed Leeane's gaze, and caught sight of Finn. Finn noted a hint of surprise, then anger, before she hid them, just as Leeane had. He strode forward, eyes never leaving Kayline's, and cupped the lock in his hand.

"Combination?" he inquired, hand poised above the lock.

Barely controlled fury kindled in Kayline's eyes. "I don't need some teacher to come along and offer help with my locker", Kayline snapped, turning on her heels in the opposite direction.

"That's no way to talk to a teacher". Finn's words were mild, but Kayline stopped where she was, and spun back to face Finn.

"Oh yeah?" She managed between clenched teeth. "Home visits is no way common for a teacher either, Mr Gerald".

"Kayline. I'm sorry I brought up a sensitive topic yesterday, but I had no idea-"

"Shut the hell up". It came in a low growl, filled with dark warning. Finn took a step back, startled at the burning rage in Kayline's eyes.

"Kat" Leeane spoke sharply. "Get a grip on yourself". At her words, Kayline swallowed, shuddered, and marched off without a backward glace at all. Leeane, sighed and forced herself to look at Finn. "I think you should know that you brought back unpleasant nightmares for her yesterday night. She probably blames it on you, and I don't blame her for doing that". With that, Leeane nodded to Finn, and hurried to catch up with Kayline.

Finn stood where he was for a moment, then punched Kayline's locker with his own fist, and rested his head on the row of lockers, silently thankful that the hallway was devoid of students. He messed it up, he realized. Messed it up big time. And it suddenly dawned on him that Kayline was due for remedial that very afternoon.

What the situation was going to be like, he had no idea. But he had a feeling it was going be very, very tense.

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The two of them sat opposite one another mutely, sizing each other up, but refusing to be the first to break the uneasy silence. Tension hung across the room like a thick blanket, and was thick enough to sliced with a knife. Kayline knew she had been extremely rude to Finn that morning, but she'd been to resentful to care. After all, he had been the one to remind her of her family, and bring back the nightmares. It was his fault, wasn't it?

On the other hand, Finn was unsure of what to say. Should he apologize? But that was kind of demeaning for a teacher. But he knew it would be totally wrong to chastise her for her insubordination that morning. So what could he talk about? Or should he just ignore the whole issue and move on to physics? But there she was, staring at him with those beautiful brown eyes. Was she telling him to drop it? Or did she want him to say something about it. If so, what? "A mind reader would be kind of helpful right now..." Finn muttered unaware that he'd spoken out loud.