Hooked ~A Student/Teacher Love Story~

Chapter 9

Here's another!  Sorry this one's kind of short.  I didn't want to include it in the next chapter, so... enjoy!

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A few days after the shower incident, school started again.  Mr. Donnals and I still hadn’t completely gotten over the whole awkward making-out thing, but we were at a point where we could put on a happy face and fake it.  But we couldn’t look at each other.  Not at the same time.  Sure I could stare at him all I wanted in class, but the instant he met my eyes, it was over.  I physically could not do it.  Evan caught on after a while, and he confronted me in the last few minutes of class, when Gerard allowed us all some time to chat amongst ourselves or finish up extra work. 

“What’s up with you and Mr. Donnals?” he asked suspiciously.  My heart skipped a beat.  Oh God, did he know?  Had Evan figured out that we’d kissed? 

“Nothing,” I lied. “What are you talking about?”

“You get all flustered whenever he looks at you. Hey, Mr. Donnals!”

My English teacher looked up, and, involuntarily, I looked down.

“Never mind,” said Evan, and flashed me a victorious smirk.  “So? What’s up? Do you have a thing for him?”

“A… A thing?” I asked, tyring to sound as innocent as possible.

“Like a crush? You wouldn’t be the first. Come on, spill. You can tell me, Stell.”

No, I couldn’t.  If I told him about Gerard and I… things would get complicated.  Evan’s pretty good about keeping secrets, but I didn’t think he’d be able to contain this one. 

“Well, his house was damaged in the storm, so he kinda… moved in with me for a while. It’s just a little weird being his student after knowing what it’s like to live in the same house as him.”

Evan’s eyes widened.  “Seriously? What happened? Does he snore or something?”

I cracked a smile.  “Yeah. A lot.”

“Nice! Hey, did you understand number three on the worksheet?”  And so it ended.  Phew.  That had been close. 

Later that day, once school was over and I’d finished my homework, Gerard, my mother and I all ate dinner together.  It was sort of a celebratory thing since his house was fixed and good as new, so he was moving out that night.  We had order-in Chinese from this great little family-owned place in town, so the meal was fantastic and enjoyable… in more ways than one.

Allow me to explain.

Dinner had mostly ended.  Mom and Mr. Donnals were both done eating, and I had a few bites left to finish off.  Conversation was dwindling, and my mother kept desperately trying to spark it with some “fascinating” new subject.  But no matter what she said, it was over.  It had reached the point of no return.

Which is, conveniently, when my mother got a work call. 

“I have to take this; sorry,” she said, and hurried upstairs, still in her yoga clothes.  I rolled my eyes as she half-jogged up the steps, whispering frantically into the cell phone’s speaker.  I turned back around just in time to catch Mr. Donnals in the act of stealing a piece of my chicken.

“What the hell? Get your own General Tso’s,” I said, taking my bowl off the table and placing it safely in my lap.  Normally, I’m known to be a meek individual, but when it comes to my food, I get territorial.  Good old survival instincts, I suppose.

“You honestly think I can afford this on a teacher’s salary?” he asked through a mouthful of my chicken.

“You could afford your house,” I retorted.  The houses in my neighborhood weren’t mansions, but they were big and definitely nicer than some of the others in town.

“Actually, I talked my father into paying for it,” he said.  I blinked at him.

“You got your father to buy a house for you?”

“I promised him I’d never bother him again if he paid for all my expenses.”  Gerard swallowed and said, rather bitterly, “He did it in a heartbeat.”

Yikes, I thought, there’s some serious family issues.  But I didn’t say anything.  I knew how it felt to not want to talk about it.

“Anyway, now that your mother’s gone, we need to talk.”  Damn, he transitioned fast.  There had barely been a pause between that and his previous statement.  Talk about de-sensitizing.

“About what?” I asked, and felt incredibly stupid the moment the words left my mouth.  My lips tingled as the memory of our dirty little secret replayed in my head.  Of course we needed to talk about it.  But why did we have to do it now? 

He saw that it registered on my face, so he ignored my stupid question.  “What do you want to do about it? I’m willing to explore this…” My teacher stopped to think. “… this thing further if you are, but if you’d rather put this all behind you…”

“Whoa, hold up a minute,” I said, gaping at him.  Had he really just said that?  “Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” he replied without hesitation. 

“You’re willing to risk your career to…” I lowered my voice just in case. “… have a relationship with me?”

“If that’s what you want, yes.” 

I searched his face for some hint that this was all some big, practical joke and found nothing.  My God.  He wanted to be with me.  It was too hard to comprehend.

“I…”

… don’t know what to say, I thought.  I gulped, took a deep breath, and muttered, “I want to see where this goes.”

Mr. Donnals smiled.  “Your wish is my command. Let’s take it slow, and keep it to ourselves.”

“Obviously,” I snapped. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know you’re not,” Gerard said. “And I never said you were.”

“Whatever.”  I glanced anxiously up at the stairs, half hoping for Mom to return and end this awkwardness once and for all.  All I got was my teacher/boyfriend to say my name.

“Stella.”

I turned back to look at him, only to find him leaning across the table to kiss me.  Our lips met… and I was a goner.

He kissed softly, gently, and (surprisingly) innocently for a few moments.  I leaned into him to deepen it—

CRASH! 

We split apart like magnets of the same polar and ducked under the table.  My bowl of chicken and rice was splattered all over the floor.

“Aw, man,” I groaned. “I was looking forward to eating that.”

Mr. Donnals chuckled.  “You are the first girl I have ever seen who spilt something and wasn’t worried at all about the mess.”

“I’m different,” I said, shrugging.

“You certainly are,” he replied.

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Teehee.... They're so cute. <3

I know this scene is really cliche and short, but I like the end of it...  Please comment, and vote if you like it enough... Thanks! =3