Fake Girlfriend (A Behzinga Fanfic/AU)(unfinished)

FOUR

Shit. I was late on the third day. In my defense, I hadn't been getting much sleep at all lately, and in my failed attempt to stay up all night, I fell asleep at 4 AM and slept through my alarm.

I was able to change and freshen up, but I was a mess as I rushed to the school. I cursed when I glanced at the clock, seeing that I was fifteen minutes late and groaning. I was going to walk into an empty classroom, I just knew it.

I burst into my classroom and rushed over to my desk. "I'm so sorry I'm late, just let me get attendance done and—"

"I already did."

I looked up at the familiar voice and relaxed when I met Ethan's eyes. For some reason, he'd taken over my class and was standing at the front.

"Oh," I leaned back in my chair and put my head in my hands, out of breath and exhausted from lack of sleep. "Thanks."

"Mhm," He seemed uninterested in being there, but he still managed to get everyone working on what they needed to work on. They must have been scared of him or something. He approached my desk after a minute, raising an eyebrow at my tired state. "You look like shit."

I glared at him. I never worried about watching my language around the students, since they were mature enough to not make it a big deal.

"Flattering," I brought a hand up to my mouth and yawned, opening up my computer and starting up some music. "Well, thanks again for starting things up, but I can take it from here."

"You sure about that?" He asked.

I nodded slowly. "Don't you have a class this period?"

"No, I'm off first and seventh," Ethan shrugged, scratching his beard as he carefully planned his next sentence. "Do you need anything? You seem to be in pretty rough shape."

I smirked tiredly. "It almost sounds like you care, Mr Payne."

"If your students riot because you fell asleep in class, it becomes my problem," He muttered. "I'll just see what I can get you."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he'd already stormed out of the classroom.

I looked at my reflection in my computer monitor and sighed, attempting to tame my frizzy hair but knowing nothing could be done about the bags under my eyes.

It was a miracle I had time to change outfits. I was wearing dark-green pants and a striped, short sleeve shirt.

"Ms Wright?" A student came up to me so I sat up straight, smiling tiredly.

"Yes?"

"I have some friends that have heard about your art classes, and they asked me to ask you if it's too late to sign up," She flipped some hair behind her shoulder.

"Oh, well I would love for them to join. Unfortunately, I'm not the one you should be asking. Maybe ask the guidance counselor? I'm sure he could work to have them transferred."

"Okay," She nodded and went back to her seat, so I yawned once again before Ethan came back in.

He set down an energy drink from one of the vending machines, as well as a bag of crisps.

"Oh, here," I reached into my bag and pulled out cash to pay him back, but he didn't take the money from me.

"It's on me," He shrugged and turned to face away from me, leaning back on my desk and watching the students as they worked on their portraits. I explained to them that their portraits could be abstract or realistic, but all I wanted was something that represented themselves. As a get to know you type thing.

His broad shoulders were tense for some reason, so I changed the music playlist to something calmer.

"What classes do you teach again?" He asked.

I bit my lip as he turned to look back at me. "Uh, all of them. Ceramics, Jewelry, Photography, and this class."

"Hm," He searched my eyes before sighing and pushing himself away from the desk. "Well, I assume I'll see you at tonight's seminar?"

"Unless something comes up," I smiled warmly. "So you're one of the volunteers?"

It was small, but there was amusement in his eyes. "I wouldn't call it 'volunteering.'"

"Oh," I opened the bag of crisps. "So you were selected. They must have seen what a cheerful personality you had and deemed you fit for the job."

His lips curled up into a smirk, which shocked me. "Sarcasm isn't a good look on you, Ms Wright."

"It's not too flattering on you either, Mr Payne. I'd work on that if I were you."

He let out an amused breath, which made me grin. Was he actually enjoying spending time with me? He brought his gaze away from me once he saw the smile on my face, staring down at his watch before standing to his feet.

"Try not to fall asleep, Wright. Principal Olatunji may be nice, but he'll give you a hard time for it."

"Thanks for the tip," I shrugged before taking a large drink from the energy drink he'd bought me. "I'll see you this evening."

He nodded, taking one more look around before leaving.

*****

I finished cleaning up from ceramics class thirty minutes after school ended, letting my hair down and making my way to the seminar that I was encouraged to go to.

There were a lot more teachers there than I thought there would be.

"Ms Wright, nice of you to join us this evening," A tall, bearded man approached me and held out his hand. He had green eyes and a kind smile, so I shook his hand before he spoke again. "I'm Josh, the one that sent out the email. It's a really informal thing, so feel free just to go around and meet some new people."

"Thank you," I smiled as he walked away to greet the next person, and immediately a hand tapped my shoulder.

I turned around and met eyes with a woman around my age.

"Hi, I'm Ms Nightingale, but you can call me Freya. I started teaching maths this year."

"Nice to meet you, Freya, I'm Rebecca. I teach art."

"Hello ladies," The teacher that I remembered as Tobi came over to us. "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

I shook my head, sighing when I looked down at my watch. "I know this sounds bad, but I actually have to leave soon. I just thought I'd make an appearance, you know? Make my rounds."

"That's fine," He said. "The email mentioned that it wasn't mandatory, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it did."

I looked around the room and raised an eyebrow when I noticed Ethan watching us. He had a serious look on his face, and when I met his eyes he quickly turned back to his conversation with Simon.

That was weird.

I bit my lip. "Well, I should get going. It was lovely to meet you, Freya."

"You too," She grinned.