Bad Teacher (Temp Title)

21| Where We Met First

Casey

I watched as mom fussed around Charlie, checking his injury and bringing him snacks and extra pillows as he sat on the couch in the living room-and it was only 7.30am in the morning.

It had been a few days since the incident and we were supposed to leave for school in about ten minutes. Both of us were waiting for Ashton still finishing up, and my mother didn't waste a second in voicing her concern for the fact that he had to come to us and why Ashton hadn't picked him up. The more Charlie convinced my mother that most of his pain had dulled and that the doctor said he would be fine to return to school, the more my mother whined and complained until the barrel of Ashton's footsteps coming down the stairs could be heard.

"Seriously Mrs S. I'm good," Charlie urged and chuckled awkwardly as my mother mumbled to give her an extra few minutes and that she would pack the man his own for lunch today.

I couldn't contain my laughter as I watched his face. He looked like he wanted to run away. My mother slapped Ashton on the shoulders as she passed and left for the kitchen.

"Still getting the princess treatment I see. It's adorable. You're adorable C," Ashton teased with his backpack over his shoulder, brows wiggling.

"Shut the fuck up, Ash." Charlie growled lowly in warning, but my brother didn't drop the smirk from his face.

I was so glad that he had been smiling again.

Ashton was pissed as hell after the stabbing incident. During the game, Kayson had gotten hit and had hurt himself. It wasn't too serious but it would have been worse if Kayson hadn't seen the assault a second before it had happened and shifted his weight. Instead of landing on his leg, he had gotten hit in the ribs. His wind had been knocked out but ultimately, the man had been alright.

After the game, however, some of the guys on Ashton's team had overheard Vitoria players talking. Scolding a guy for not injuring Kayson's leg like they had planned. Obviously he had come back to tell my brother and all hell had broken loose.

Ashton had no plans on leaving this, I could tell by the secretive tension in those dark eyes. He was going to take revenge and enjoy every minute of it.

Charlie stood, and I caught his winch that he had successfully hid from my mother. It seemed he wasn't as alright as he had told her. I stood from my comfy spot on the bean bag and grabbed my backpack and my phone from the table against the wall in the living room. My mother yelled at us to wait and Ashton teased Charlie again, poking at him until he had to duck a flying fist for his best friend.

Once at the car, I moved to the back, but Charlie quickly corrected me, reminding me that nothing had changed. The kind man always let me sit in front, always. No matter who we were driving with, even himself, he always had me in passenger. I never asked and he never explained. Ashton didn't disagree. So that's how has been for the past few years.

The drive to school is always short-around five minutes.

Seeing the large open iron gates had my heart racing in my chest. It had everything to do with knowing that I was going to see him today. It made all of this too real. That there was no way we could avoid each other. Now that the elephant between us was present and overbearing, there was nowhere I could hide.

I had kissed my teacher.

It was hard to ignore the fluttering of butterflies and the way my skin tingled in memory at the taste of his lips , and the silky roughness of his beard that I knew I would love. I had felt flushed the entire weekend. Hot and needy. My mom had even commented on my red cheeks and had insisted on taking my temperature.