Love's Tangles: All You Need is Love (TEACHER / STUDENT - continuing as of 2017)

Back to Normal...Right?

[I am sooo sorry for being away for so long, it wasn't something planned. But I want to finish this story so hopefully this summer, I can do that!]

Ashlyn's POV

After the incident, I hadn't seen Mr.Hale a lot. Considering we left things on good terms, I was confused. Why was it that everytime I looked at him, he'd look away? Other times he pretended he was busy with something else. I had to lie and say I needed help with school work in order to talk with him. Maybe I was being pushy.

"Why do you want to talk with him all the time? Just leave him be," my mind urged me to forget about Jared's weird behavior. 

Sometimes I would slip and find myself calling him Jared. No one but Kyle paid any attention to it, and if anything, Kyle seemed distant too. What was going on here, I thought everything was perfectly fine...apparently not. 

I sat in history class, my eyes fixated on the clock. Brushing strands of hair away from my eyes, my blank stare moved to  Jared momentarily, and then back to the clock. During my time at the hopital, he would visit me everyday; after school of course. Otherwise he'd have to face the wrath of our school principal...who now that I think about it, really seems to resemble Jared. Must be that playful-evilness of theirs. Whatever it was, it didn't make it onto my list of top priorities.

"Wait, why would talking to him be a top priority?" I spoke aloud, unaware of my surroundings.

Alexandra, who apparently had been talking to me, shut her mouth, tilting her head to one side to indicate she was just as confused as I was, although not for the same reason.

"What?", I asked, feeling defensive all of a sudden.

"Nothing...", she trailed off, narrowing her eyes. Uh oh. That meant she was really thinking. Have I ever mentioned that Alex can actually be pretty smart? The narrow-eyed gaze she was giving me seemed to go right through me.

"You're....you're on your period aren't you? You've been acting pretty weird lately." She huffed out in a whisper, and my entire being let go of the nervousness that had been building in suspense. In fact, I burst out laughing. Alex was smart at times, but this was definitely not her best moment. Maybe it was all the stress getting to me. I laughed even harder because I just hadn't done so in the past few days.

After I had been discharged from the hospital, my injuries healed rather quickly. It took a couple of weeks to get the cast off and as long as I didn't over exert myself, my waist didn't kill either.

"Ashlyn." A stern voice brought me back, and I looked up to see Jar...Mr.Hale looking down on me, and although his voice had a stern tone to it, he had an amused twinkle in those green eyes of his.

For some reason, I kept laughing. Pounding my hand onto the desk, my left hand moved to support my stomach, which ached. "I...can't....I'm sorry..." Finally, I cooled down, the laughter dying down with the rebirth of my sanity.

"Ehem..." I cleared my throat, avoiding looking into Mr.Hale's eyes. "Stay." His voice surprised me, and I choked back a reply, inaudible to the students surrounding the two of us. "Huh?" What do I mean 'huh'? So much for elegance...

"Stay after school. I don't see what's so funny." He stated simply. I saw a brief grin on his face but it vanished before I had to chance to ask him to wipe it off his smug face.

"Fine..." I sighed. But I knew something that he didn't know. Or maybe he did know and chose to ignore it. Either way, a part of me was happy to know that he was okay. We were alright. What is 'we' anyways? I didn't understand. "He's a friend Ash, that's why you're being weird. It's strange to be friends with teachers." I convinced myself, nodding my head slightly as if to agree.

The bell drowned out the rest of the classroom whispers and everyone began to pack up. Kyle walked over to me, a casual grin on his face, but it still bothered me--something was off about him. "Hey." I chirped, returning his smile with the slight nod of my head.

"Hey. You're busy after school with him huh?." He asked, eyeing Mr.Hale out of the corner of his eyes. "I was just going to ask if we could hang, y'know, after detention and all. I feel like we have some things to catch up on. Your sisters will be home too right? Maybe we can all go to the park." His puppy eyes lit up, as if he were picturing it on the spot. 

I nodded my head quite readily. I felt the need to be around Kyle a lot lately, maybe it was because I just wouldn't feel secure otherwise. Kyle was my shelter. Perhaps I never conveyed it to him through enough actions because as he had said, we needed to catch up. Between a couple, I never though there would have to be any 'catching up' but we were different in that sense. Or rather, I was the different one.

AFTER SCHOOL

I hastily shoved my books into my locker, huffing at the thought of Mr.Hale. How dare he give me a detention!? Well yeah, he had the right to 'dare' so but still...Despite what others may have though, I saw the smirk on that jerk's face. But somehow, I felt relieved. He wasn't angry with me or anything like that. And if he were, I would'nt have understood why. 

Alex made her way towards me and I flashed her a sorry look. Despite Alex's 'ways' she was still my best friend. And lately, I hadn't made much of an effort to be with any of my friends, including her. "I'll hang out with you later tonight, maybe you can come over with Kyle." I said just as Alex opened her mouth. She stopped and smiled back at me, understandingly. 

"Don't worry, take your time." She winked at me. My jaw dropped.

"Alex!" I shouted after her as she hurried away giggling. A quiet sigh escaped my lips and I shook my head with a small smile on my face.

I began to walk towards Mr.Hale's classroom, feeling nervous all of a sudden. I couldn't understand what this feeling was. "Why on earth would I be nervous just for detention with a teacher" I wondered aloud, glad no one was around to hear it as I took a cautious glance around. "Not just any teacher. A HOT teacher." My eyes widened. "No way, you did not just think that."

"Think what?" A voice spoke up and I jumped slightly. 

"N-nothing." I stammered, looking up at Mr.Hale who had that amused look in his eyes. Just how much had he heard. The hot part? Wait those words were not me. Psh. I hadn't even noticed I was standing outside his doorway.

"Really...?" He trailed off and then shrugged. I felt relief escaping my body as I exhaled. I was unaware of the fact that I was holding my breath.

 "After you, Miss Carol."

I took an apprehensive step into the classroom, looking back as he closed the door behind him after he walked in as well.

At that time, I sort of wished I hadn't entered that classroom. Because maybe if I had just skipped detention, I wouldn't be feeling this way anymore.