Reining Her In (Student/Teacher Romance)

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"What was that about?" Ruby asked when I returned to where she was waiting by the water fountain. Barney had disappeared.

"I just wanted to thank him for not throwing me under the bus, since I was kind of rude to him last night."

Ruby was sceptical. "Right. It was all to do with his not snitching you and nothing to do with the fact he's hot as fuck."

My cheeks tinged pink. "I mean, the fact he's attractive might have encouraged me, but I did mean it when I thanked him."

"You're going to be sorely disappointed." Ruby rolled her eyes. The tightness in her frame was still there, but it had loosened. My plan was a good one, and we both knew it.

"I'm not expecting anything, I just like being around new people. It's ages since I've seen a new face around here, and this one just happens to be one I could stare at for hours on end."

"Disappointed," Ruby repeated, a gleam in her eye.

I rolled my own eyes. "Do you even know what dorm Dana is in?" We bunked with at least three other people, depending on how lucky or unlucky we'd been.

"Sure. She's in with Jo." I didn't know who Jo was, but I let Ruby lead the way. Dana was in the year below me, too, so I probably didn't know any of the people she roomed with.

We paused outside a door a few corridors down from my own, and Ruby shifted her weight. "What do I say to her?"

"Just tell her the truth. It's not like she'd put a nasty caption with the video or anything, she just uploaded a bunch of stuff from the night. She probably hadn't even re-watched it. Just ask her to take it down, and if she doesn't, I'll find something to threaten her with. Easy peasy."

Ruby let out a nervous laugh, and steeled her nerves. Knocking on the door, it was Dana who actually answered, which was a bonus. She gave us a small smile. She was definitely still suffering from either a hangover or a comedown. "Hey, what's up?"

"Can we just speak to you for a moment, please?" Ruby peered around Dana to see if there was anyone else in the room whilst she spoke.

"Er, sure." She stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. "What's up?" She repeated.

"It's about that video you posted of me from last night." She was skirting around the issue. "I was wondering if you could take it down."

Dana's face was blank for a moment, before she clicked. "The one where you're making out with someone? Yeah, I vaguely remember it. Sorry, I didn't realise it would be an issue."

"My parents are very conservative. I was just a bit worried it would get back to them, that's all. I'd appreciate it if you could take it down."

"Of course." She pulled the phone out of her pocket, and checked, then deleted it in front of us. "No worries. It's gone. Sorry, I just mass-uploaded. I don't know why I even videoed it in the first place."

"Everything gets videoed at a party, it's no big deal." Ruby's shoulders had sagged now the video was officially deleted. "Thanks again. I'll see you around."

Dana pocketed her phone once more. "See you later."

When she'd shut the door, Ruby released a sigh. "Thank God for that. I think I've been bordering on cramp for the past few hours just from being so tense. If I wasn't so hungover I'd be wishing for some kind of champagne in celebration that the crisis has been averted."

"Yeah, the thought of doing anything other than lying in bed sounds pretty horrific right now." I'd wanted to sleep all day, but messing up my sleeping pattern wasn't a good idea, so I'd forced myself into the stables to tend to Nessie. Now it was nearly nine o'clock. That was probably passable for sleeping. Curfew for the sixth formers would be in place in half an hour, anyway. "So I'm going to go and do just that."

"Don't blame you. I'm going to do the same. We've got assembly tomorrow so we have to be up like half an hour earlier anyway."

We both groaned. Weekly assembly. I'd been hoping to get rid of that when I turned sixteen, but turns out we were lumbered with it all the way through school. "Yeah, I'm definitely going to bed," I said.

Ruby lingered for a moment. "Thanks for coming with me, and for being rational. It helped a lot."

I beamed at her, despite the tiredness really taking over at the talk about bed. "Any time."