A Tale Of Two Halves

Chapter 7

I spend the night dreaming about Hardin. His smile fills my dreams and his voice rings through my ears as I sleep. I wake up sad that it was pretend and that we hadn't spent the last 7 hours together as we had in my mind.

I glance at the clock on the wall and see that it's time to get up. The day's plan consists of an English lesson, a shift in the garden, whatever Jared's idiot friend Tom had planned for me, and finally my 'job' that Hardin booked me for. I find myself smiling at the fact he had booked me so we could walk home together. It was a very cute gesture, despite the fear I had felt when seeing his name on my booker yesterday. I find myself wishing the day away, counting down the hours until it was just me and Hardin together again.

Elsie's topic of today's walk to class is how annoyed she is that Jack had purposely turned the lights out when she had been in the shower last night. Honestly, those two fight like cat and dog but I can tell that deep down, Elsie cares for Jack. Just as I am about to chip in with a comment about how they are so obviously made for each other, I hear Hardin calling my name. We both spin around and see him striding towards us, a friendly smile plastered on his handsome face.
"Ermm, what the fuck Tessa? What haven't you told me?" she says, tugging at my arm like an excited child.
"Shh, nothing," I say, shaking myself free from her. "Chill out and I'll explain everything later."
"You'd better do, you little minx," she beams, giving my sides a quick tickle.
God, she loved gossip at the best of times, but now that it concerned her best friend and a Rich, I could just imagine her little body bubbling up with excitement.
"Hi Hardin!" she calls enthusiastically, waving at him. "Bye Hardin!" And with that, she turns, winks at me and hurries off ahead of us.

"Good morning," I say smiling as Hardin catches up to me.
"Hey," he replies, returning my smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean for Elsie to leave," he says, gesturing in the direction she had just galloped off in.
"Don't worry," I say, "This will just be another thing for her to question me about later." I roll my eyes.
"Talking about me huh? What kind of things will you tell her?" he says playfully as we continue the walk to school.
"Now that would be telling," I reply, tapping the side of my nose with a finger. What would I tell her? I'd never kept anything from Elsie before, and actually, my heart jumped around in my chest at the thought of telling her about Hardin.
"Mysterious," he laughs. "So, where should I pick you up later?"
"It'll be Tom's house. Do you know where he lives?"
Hardin shakes his head. "Never heard of the guy. I'm going to need you to be slightly more specific unless you want me to spend the whole night searching for you instead of walking you home."
"Ha ha," I mock. "It's number 14?"
"Better," Hardin nudges my side. "That's only a few houses away from me actually. What time do you think you'll be done?"
"Well, you booked me for 10, so I'll try my best to be done for then."
"It's a date," Hardin says, and then awkwardly laughs as he sees the expression on my face at the word 'date'. I have never been on a date before, and despite knowing that it was just a turn of phrase, my heart skips a beat at the thought of being on a date with Hardin.

"You should probably leave me now," I say as we approach the school. Even now, as we arrive at the bottom of the steps that lead up into the building, I can see Richs looking at us. Frowning. Nudging each other. Whispering. Pointing. A few look repulsed while others look pissed off. Shit, Tessa.
"Why? I didn't mean a date date. I just meant like-"
"No Hardin. I just meant before people see us together," I drop my eyes, hating that I feel like this. These past few days, since the day I had met Hardin, I had felt more and more like myself than I ever had. Like I could breathe. I can't believe (almost to the point of mentally kicking myself at how easily I'd abandoned the rules) that I felt so relaxed around him, and I force myself to face the reality of the situation. He's a Rich and I'm a Poor and that was that. Despite the kindness he has shown me, our roles were decided. And I need to remember that.

"I don't care who sees us, Tessa. They're the ones that are wrong, not us," he says. Despite my heart squeezing at his words, my head wins this one.
"Thank you for walking with me, sir," I say, defaulting back to my safe zone of following the rules and surviving because of it. "Please may I go to class?" I say, repeating the words I said to him the first time we met.
"Tessa - please don't do that. You don't have to do that," he says, reaching forwards to touch my arm.
"Please, sir," I say again.
He sighs, and I can see the hurt in his eyes. He seems to be fighting some kind of internal battle. Finally, he nods, and I turn and walk away with tears in my eyes.

I reach the classroom and slump down in my seat. Elsie's smile drops from her face as she takes me in. "Tess? Are you ok?"
I nod. "I'm fine, Elsie. Just a headache." She wouldn't understand if I explained what had happened, and there was no time to go over the entire situation right now. That, and I don't want to relive the last few days now that they're over.

I look up from my desk just as Hardin enters the room. His eyes find mine and I instantly feel bad when I see the sadness in them. 'This is right for the both of us,' I think to myself, although my heart aches as he gives me a small, sad smile and sits in his seat.
"Bloody hell Tessa, what did the boy do in the last 20 minutes? You beamed when you saw him earlier and now you look like you'd rather the ground eat you," Elsie questions.
Christ I love the girl but can she not see how much I need to not talk about this right now?

Before I can answer, the teacher begins and I throw myself in the lesson, trying to ignore the ache that has settled in my stomach.