The Teacher's Pet

Chapter Seven

Kat Claire:
The inside of this room is more beautiful than I could ever expect it to be. They said it would be inside a sports hall, so I didn't think too much about it. But I don't recognize a single thing about the sports hall anymore. Not the smell, the walls are completely covered, the floor has a thin carpet and a dance floor that lights up.
This place looks like a literal palace, and I feel like I am the princess here, especially in this dress. And a boy on my arm, the prince on the white horse. Except, no horse. I can see past that for tonight.
Although I am on this prom with one of the prettiest guys ever existing, I can't keep myself from looking around for James. Just being curious how he decided to dress today, curious if my act of revenge or jealousy worked.
Many eyes are focused on us as we walk over the red carpet, both looking around to this delightful place.
For just a few seconds I am the center of attention, never in my school years have I noticed how popular Liam actually is. Then the realization hits, they are not staring at me, they're staring at Liam. At how good he looks, that he has a girl on his arm, which usually doesn't happen often.
"Come on, I'll get us some drinks. Wait right here." Liam sits me down at one of the tables, all alone.
My friends are saying 2 tables to my right, 2 of them give me the dirtiest looks.
How was I ever friends with them? They're the biggest bitches ever.
"What a lovely date you have brought with." A voice speaks, right next to my ear, sending deep shivers all the way down my spine. I have to do my best to keep my entire body from trembling.
"Does he know you like I do?" His lips touch my ear. No longer I have control over my body and I turn around.
"James, you don't know me either."
"Are you sure sunshine?"
"You were the one saying no to going to prom to me," so stop torturing me and find your own date. The last part, I don't say out loud. Not only because I don't dare to, I don't mean it either. The jealousy in me already grows when I think of another woman with him.
No, this boy is mine.
"You know I had to." He pauses to breathe heavily in my ear. The silence is killing me, when there is barely a silence through the music. "But you coming here with Liam Sallow, is one of your dumbest mistakes."
One question can definitely be answered, the jealousy trick worked better than I ever hoped for.
But I also got a answer to a question I didn't even know I had.
'Is he just as obsessed with me as I am with him?'
Yes, yes he is for sure.
"Hey mister Levine, how good to see you here as well. I hope you are enjoying yourself." James jumps back from behind me. The breath that was in my ear a few seconds ago get replaced with the hand of Liam on my shoulder. Suddenly the touch of Liam doesn't feel so good anymore, not when I know how James feels like.
Not just that, the eyes of James are burning right through the hand of Liam, until he pulls it back from my shoulder. These two boys talking together give me a heart attack.
"Can we help you with anything?" Liam asks when James doesn't move a muscle, aside from the muscle ticking in his shoulder, ready to explode.
"Sure, I will be seeing you in class Monday." James says specifically to me, while Liam is also in my class. "Liam." He nods at him and walks right past him, bumping his shoulder into him as he goes.
"What's up with that guy?" Liam picks up the drink he set on the table earlier and hands it to me. "What did he want from you?" There is an awkward silence. If there is one person I don't want to discuss right now, it's James.
Liam seems to be thinking for quite some time, reading my unreadable expression. "You can sit with your friends if you'd like?" A wild guess, a totally wrong guess.
"I'm good, they're not my friends anymore."
"What happened?" Well they thought I was too obsessed with James.
Every single conversation brings me back to James.
In one chug, I throw back the drink he just bought for me. Somewhere it tastes sour, no idea what was in it.
"Let's dance." The playful grin on his face tells me he would love to dance with me.
Just as we step on the colorful dancefloor, the song turns into a slow song. His arms wrap around my waist tightly, pulling my body right against his. I have no idea what I am supposed to do with my arms, so I let them awkwardly fall against my side.
"Around my neck Kat." I do as he says, it feels a lot less awkward.
Now I have no other option then to stare right in his eyes. To see all the pretty structures of his face. The wrinkles starting to form of age. They don't suit him as well as James. I roll my eyes at the thought of him bubbling up in my head once again.
"What is it? You don't like dancing? We can do something else?" Liam pulls back in an instant, but I pull him back just as hard. His chest bumping into mine. For the first time, I feel how hard his chest actually is. Somehow I get curious with the kind of muscles buried beneath his shirt.
"I love dancing with you."
Throughout the song, one of his hands travels over to my hips. Which causes my hips to swing more freely to the song. Right into the palm of his hands. My eyes still deeply focused on his.
His eyes speak a thousand words without needing to say them. He likes this, he likes me, he likes being here with me, he wouldn't want to be anywhere other than here, with my arms around his neck. I love feeling this moment with him.
The song ends not too long later, I wish this song would go on for hours. Luckily the next song is a slow song too, somewhere I hope the DJ saw me dancing with Liam, so he can only play slow songs for us.
For a split second, I open my eyes to see that I am still in the same spot we were dancing in two seconds ago.
The wall a few feet in front of me is red, a deep dark red, that makes the room appear a lot darker. A tall figure is leaning against it with full body weight, his head down, so all I can see is his hair and suit. The suit seems familiar to me. The exact black suit James was wearing too. No one in this room is wearing the same suit. Purely because of the way it is ironed, and the logo of the expensive brand it's from.
Something registers in the back of my mind. This is James, he only looked away because I caught him. But he is keeping a very close eye on me.
I pretend to close my eyes again but keep them open for the smallest part. As we are dancing again, his eyes are piercing into the back of Liam, on my arms around his neck, on the shape of my face.
A grin forms on the face of James, he does notice that I have my eyes open. Of course he does, he is everything but stupid.
James uses two fingers to sign me over to him. If I didn't feel this huge invisible attraction to him, I would've yelled no at him. But something inside of me makes it impossible for me to ever say no to him.
"Wait here." I say to Liam, not even bothering to look him in the eyes, but I know there must be a confused look.
With my feet stomping angry over the thin carpet, I make my way over James. Who seems to be walking away already, expecting me to follow him through the hallways. Which is not allowed, unless you have to use the bathroom. But just like classes at daytime, you have to have a hall pass. James doesn't seem to care one bit, he is the teacher, the rule maker.
He turns around, the grin on his shows fury and rage. No more sweet innocent James.
Using the force of his hand he pushes me with more force then necessary, my back crashing hard into the wall behind us. His face is just a few inches behind me, whilst his hand is wrapped tightly around my wrist, it's the thing keeping me pressed against the wall.
"You are making me crazy, letting him touch you like that."
"You don't own me, mister Levine."
A sarcastic laugh replaces the fury on his face.
"That's where you're wrong."
My brain is still processing what to reply next, when his lips are firmly pressed against mine. This doesn't feel like love, it's pure anger and possession. That doesn't stop it from feeling good.
I can't even remember if I'm kissing him back, the kiss feels too intense. My head spins, for once, I have an empty brain, not a single thought running around. It's peaceful.
The grip on my wrist weakens as the kiss gets deeper and more intense. I can taste every bit of his mouth. He tastes minty, whilst at the same time I can smell his cologne. The cologne would only fit with his type of clothing.
I'm smiling against his lips, smiling like never before.
James pulls back, only to breathe. His breath is heavy, not heavier than mine. I feel like my heart is going to explode. For days, and hours I have been craving his lips.
I need more of him, more of his touch, more of his lips.
"Stop." He orders me when I lean in to get more of him.
James leads my hand to his chest, the left side, right over his heart. It is pounding a million times in his chest. Compared with mine, my heart seems to beat slowly.
"That's what you're doing to me." The combination of his heart beating against the palm of my hand, him staring in my eyes, and the taste of him left of my lips, make my knees weaken. I have to lean more on him to stabilize myself. The world is one big blur, everything is spinning, the deep hallways fade. I am walking over a big rainbow cloud.
"Jesus Kat, are you all right?" For the second time my eyes find his, I have to blink a couple of times to make sense of his face.
"You..." I start, but the words get trapped in the back of my mouth. "You have to stop torturing me like this."
With unnecessary force, I push him off me and run my way back to Liam. It doesn't take long for my eyes to meet his again. Luckily I swiped the tears away before I came back into the room.
A heavy breath leaves my mouth. "Liam..."
"You'll have to excuse me for a second Katie, I have to use the bathroom. Wait right here, I'll come back with some drinks."
All I do is slow nodding to let him know I understood him.
I run my finger over my lips, my lipstick is slightly smudged from the rough kiss. It was so wrong... But so right. I would kill to feel the moment over and over and over again. For a beat I close my eyes and imagine James in front of me again. Being angry at me, kissing me with a deep and dark passion.
My eyes fly open again and they look around, when they catch on my friends, all 3 sitting at one table, looking like they are having the night of their lives. Without me.
'See, they don't need you to be happy, that's what we've been telling you.'
'You are easily replaceable.'
'You are nothing special to them.'
It's been such a long time since I saw Hazel with such a smile on her face. She looks more than good with it. Her bare teeth are showing, and I can almost feel the happiness sparking off her. She almost seems happier when I am not there.
A sigh rolls off my chest, and I turn to look back at James, my current only source of happiness, now that Liam is at the bathroom.
James, nowhere to be found in this room of sweaty, dancing teenagers.
In panic I scan around the room, looking at every single face, hoping his is between it. He doesn't seem to be walking down the hallway either, James is long gone.
The panic fades into worry, worry that something happened to him, something that he might not be able to handle. But if he can't handle it, I can't either. Yet I can't stop myself from looking for him.