Madame Williams ( teacherxstudent )

38

DIANE'S POV

I knocked twice on the door. I could hear whispering at the other end of the door, but I couldn't hear the exact words that they were saying, and I supposed it was Sarah who was talking. I took a deep breath and adjusted my purse on my shoulder, the nervousness slapping me in the face again.

The door opened a few seconds later, revealing Sarah in her bathroom robe, wearing messy makeup and her hair into a messy bun. Her lips curled into what seemed to be a smile, but it quickly faded back to a sad face.

"Is Nicole here?" I asked cautiously.

Sarah nodded and opened the door to let me in. Nicole was sitting on her bed, headphones on and her eyes glued on her laptop. They had fought before I came in, that was certain.

Sarah closed the door and immediately excused herself; "I'll be in the bathroom."

I gave her a firm nod and watched her walk away. I wanted to hug her, though. I felt like an awful friend for not hugging her. Sarah looked like a porcelain figurine that was so delicate it could break anytime, and I was scared Nicole was going to break her.

I sat on the edge of Sarah's bed, in front of Nicole's and stared for a while until I cleared my throat loud enough for her to hear me through the headphones. She knew I was there, she knew I was sitting a few inches away from her, but of course she wouldn't speak to me.

I stood up and touched her shoulder, hoping maybe she'd look up to me finally.

"Go away." She said, sounding oddly alike me, with that bitchy little tone.

I sighed, "Nicole, I just want to talk to you about Lou. About what I have with her. Please." I said nicely.

Nicole looked at me in the eye and got her headphones off, I took that as a silent 'yes', so I went back to sit down on the edge of Sarah's bed. "I care about her, that's why I'm here."

"You care about her?" Nicole raised an eyebrow at me, using a tone that most of my students used to be insolent with me.

I frowned, "Look, I'm not your enemy here. I just want to make things right, fix this for Lou's sake. It's not like it seems..."

"It's never like it seems. Right? That's what every one says." Her rude tone barked at me.

"I didn't meet your sister at school. We met a couple years ago in a cafe in Boston... and she took my breath away back then, and she did again when I saw her first day of school. It was crazy, seeing her again but as my student. I know that's what most predators say, that 'it's not what it looks like', but I mean it." I took a deep breath and started playing with my ring.

Nicole shook her head, "She's a kid, she doesn't know what she's doing, and clearly neither do you." She spoke again, her tone even drier than before.

I swallowed. "Laura is over eighteen now, she's basically an adult, and believe me I didn't want things to end like this." I said in my best lecturing voice, "I tried so hard not to fall for her, but I couldn't." I looked down to my shoes, feeling Nicole's gaze on me the whole time as if she was listening to everything I was saying.

I looked up and met her eyes, "Sometimes love takes us by surprise and makes everything so damn complicated for us... but it can be wonderful. And I found so much love in your sister, I keep getting surprised by her and her kindness... It's so crazy," I smiled involuntarily at the thought of Lou.

I cleared my throat again and ran a hand through my hair, "I wanted to come here and tell you this, to explain to you that I would never hurt her, and that we're in love with each other because of who we are as a person, not because of our looks, or because it might look like it's a hot role-play or something like that."