His Model Student: A Student-Teacher Romance

10. Nightclubbing

[RECAP: Mr Marek has been blowing hot and cold: trying to keep his distance from Sera, but also praising her artwork.]

"This was the worst decision ever."

Lois, a drink in her hand, was trying to get up a staircase against a never-ending flow of drunken people. Aether, the town's main nightclub, was nearly bursting at the seams. There was no air conditioning and it was a hot, sweaty crush of bodies. The problem was that they weren't really the kind of bodies that Sera or Lois were into. There didn't seem to be a hot guy in sight.

"I also feel like someone's grandmother," Sera said.

This was the problem with clubs that turned a blind eye to fake ID. Sera and Lois had been clubbing since they were fourteen. Now they were nearly legal drinking age, everyone else in the club was years younger. Mainly girls, since it was easier to fake being eighteen if you could slap on make up and high heels.

So now Sera and Lois felt among the oldest females there.

"It's like a youth club isn't it? Let's go somewhere else."

Getting out was easier said than done due to the crowds. Sera dreaded to think how they would evacuate the place if there was ever a fire. Aether was built in the hollowed out structure of what was once a large town house. There were several storeys with dance floors and bars connected by various staircases that wound around.

Plus a basement which was so hot and dark that Sera crunched and swallowed ice cubes whenever they danced there to try and cool down. The bartenders didn't charge for a glass of ice so it was cheaper than buying a drink.

"Where shall we go then?" Sera asked as they finally got outside and felt the chill night air bite their skin.

"I don't know, what's open late? It's nearly closing time for most places. The Retro is open until 1am, isn't it?" It was the other side of town but worth the walk if it was the only place open. It was also near Orlando's, so if they felt like it they could gatecrash Joel's night out.

Sera had never been sure about The Retro. As bars went it always seemed a little bit dark and a little bit cliquey. It was an odd mix of style and grunge, half bar, half club. The crowd there was also quite a bit older, they'd definitely be among the youngest people in the place if they managed to get in.

Which they did. It wasn't hard to get admitted being young, female and in a super short dress when the average bouncer was a straight male, more interested in getting hot females through the door and keeping out drunken, aggressive males. At this time of night people were starting to spill out of regular bars, many of them the worse for wear. The doormen had their work cut out.

Lois got them two gin and tonics because the drinks fluoresced in the black light downstairs, which always looked eye catching. There was a small dance floor but people tended to sway and jiggle a bit rather than actually dance. Nearly everyone was wearing black.

"Nearly all these people are just sad office workers by day, much as they may like to think they look like The Cure," Lois said after some woman gave her a nasty glare and muttered something that sounded like "tarts". Having come from a nightclub they were both wearing short, tight dresses and getting more male attention than women dressing down in jeans.

One group of men clearly weren't office workers though. When Sera and Lois got onto the dancefloor they were soon surrounded by half a dozen large guys who turned out be some visiting rugby team. This was more like it! Typical, of course, that they were only visitors and not full-time residents of the town.

If you liked big burly men you were spoilt for choice. Lois was soon hanging off the neck of one of them but Sera found herself holding back. Something just didn't click for her that night.

As her friend was quite happy on the dance floor Sera slipped to the bathroom. She was looking fine: her make up intact, her hair was okay. Through the narrow window in the bathroom she could see the moon above the buildings outside. A thin, bright silver crescent, only a couple of days past the new moon.

She shivered, without knowing why.

Then she stepped outside and her blood ran really cold.

There, just by the adjacent wall and glaring right at her, was Mr Marek.