A Tale Of Two Halves

Chapter 13

The alarm goes off far too soon and I groan. I make sure Hardin's T-shirt is safely hidden under my pillow and make my bed.
"Late night, Tessa?" I hear Elsie ask, and my heart drops at the thought of her knowing I snuck in earlier. I turn around to face her and she gestures towards my body. I look down and mentally kick myself. I am still wearing my clothes from the day before.
"Yeah, I was so tired when I got home from work I must have just collapsed straight into bed," I say, only slightly lying.

I change out of my old clothes and pull on a pair of blue jeans and a white and navy striped jumper. Elsie promises me she'll grab the homework that I'll miss by not being in class today and we go our separate ways at the bottom of the steps that lead to the school. I head to the science block, as my job this morning is cleaning the equipment used for experiments. I push open the door to my assigned classroom and see Jack gathering some test tubes and beakers. He glances over his shoulder and smiles.
"Hey partner. Wash or dry?" he asks as he takes the equipment over to the sink.
"Ermm dry," I reply, grabbing a towel from the cupboard.

"So, Elsie tells me you've been causing chaos amongst the Richs," Jack teases, flicking his fingers under the tap so water sprays at me.
"Well Elsie needs her mouth taping," I reply, smacking his arm with the towel.
"It's about time someone started mixing things up a bit. Show these Richs who really runs things around here," he says, full of sarcasm.
"Well that person is not me. I just want to put my head back in the sand where it's been for the past 11 years and be invisible." And it's true. I do wish I was invisible to the Richs. Well, all apart from one.
"You should never be invisible, Tessa. You're too good for invisible. We all are," he sighs.
He goes quiet, and I'm not sure what to say. I'm not used to Jack being serious and it scares me that the weight of our world might finally be affecting him. He frowns and seems to be lost in thought for the next few minutes.

"So, been spending time with Elsie have you?" I ask in an effort to bring him back from his thoughts. I nudge his arm with mine repetitively until he smiles.
"Alright Sherlock," he laughs.
"I'm glad. You both deserve to be happy," I say, and I mean it. If anyone deserves to find happiness in this mess it's Elsie and Jack.
"Thanks Tess. She might do my head in most of the time but she gets me, you know? I feel like I can talk to her and she doesn't judge. She just listens."
"I look forward to her telling me about it in great detail later," I say, over-enthusiastically rolling my eyes.
He blushes. I have never seen Jack blush before. This is big.
"Ermm, spill the rosey-cheeked beans right now," I say and his cheeks darken even further.
He sighs. "Fine. She'll only tell you about it anyway." He pauses for dramatic effect I'm sure. "We kissed."
I practically scream. "You didn't?! Oh my God how exciting! Tell me everything!" I buzz.
"Ohhhh no, Elsie can do the details. A gentlemen never tells," he smiles, tapping his nose.
"Wow, she must have done a number on you if one kiss has suddenly turned you into a gentleman," I laugh, nudging his arm again.
Elsie and Jack. "I bloody knew it," I say under my breath. I've told them both for years but they'd never hear it. I smugly puff my chest up and he laughs.
"Wow, Sherlock and Cupid in one day, what's happened to the regular annoying Tessa that I know?" We laugh together and then fall into a comfortable silence as we clean.

Around 10 minutes later and the washing up is done. We move onto wiping tables and mopping the floors. When we have finished, we move onto the next classroom and repeat the tasks again.

It's nearly 11am when I am pulling the door of the fourth classroom closed behind us. It's lesson changeover time and the hallways are bustling with activity. I spot Hardin standing against a locker, talking to another Rich. He looks so effortlessly handsome that my breath catches in my throat.

I wasn't even aware that he had seen me, but as we pass each other, he reaches his hand out to gently graze my own. His eyes never leave the Rich's that he's talking to, and the intimacy and secrecy of the gesture makes me gasp slightly. As I reach the door of the final classroom in the corridor, I glance back at him. He's looking right at me over his shoulder, and he smiles one of his light-up-the-room (and my heart) smiles and winks at me. I giggle embarrassingly like a school girl and duck inside the room, closing the door behind me. I lean against the door and see Jack leaning against a counter, amusement filling his features.

"You're making me talk about girls and kissing when you've got that going on?!" he laughs and I brush past him to the sink.
"I-" I start, but he cuts me off.
"I don't even want to know," he smirks. "Just be careful Tess. Rich's aren't ever going to see us for who we really are."
"I know what Richs are like Jack, but, he's different. I promise I know what I'm doing," I reply, and I honestly believe he is different. He's proven that to me ever since I first bumped into him nearly a week ago.
"Ok Tess. But if he hurts you, he'll have me to answer to," Jack says, flexing his bicep muscles, which are wildly scrawnier than Hardin's. We laugh and that's the end of the whole conversation.