Breaking Walls (Lauren Cimorelli)

Chapter 14

Coley's POV

"Disgusting dyke," I heard from beside me as three boys walked by and knocked my books off of my desk in. I sighed in frustration as I gathered my books and other belongings off of the floor and put them into my backpack, rushing so I could see Lauren before my next class. As I was standing up, I heard my Spanish teacher.

"We could talk to her and see, I guess. It would help me out since I need to cut back on my tutoring hours, and maybe getting some help from a classmate might help improve your grade."

"Thank you, Mrs. Morrill. Can we ask her now?" I heard a familiar voice ask.

I didn't bother looking at who was talking as I grabbed my things and started to walk out of the classroom, but Mrs. Morrill stopped me.

"Coley, could you come here for a second?"

I turned around to face her, and sadly, I also saw the face of my ex-girlfriend. I internally groaned. "Yes, Mrs. Morrill?"

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but Amber's been struggling in this class lately, and she happened to mention that you've been able to help her before."

If by "help her" she means completely ignoring our homework and the upcoming tests we agreed to study for and making out instead, then sure, I've helped her.

"Yeah, I have."

"Great! Do you think you could maybe tutor her? I would, but I've had to cut back on my tutoring hours lately because of family issues, and-"

Amber cut her off. "I'm sure she'd be happy too, Mrs. Morrill. We've been close friends for a while now," She said, smirking.

Mrs. Morrill smiled at her and looked at me, expecting an answer. I sighed while putting on a fake smile. "Sure, I can do that."

"Great!" She smiled and looked at the two of us before walking out of the classroom.

"So, when are you available?" Amber asked, walking closer to me.

I stuck my hands in the pocket of my jeans and backed up. "Amber, you're great when it comes to Spanish. Better than me, even. Why do you need help?"

Her smile was replaced with a panicked expression, almost as if she was searching for an answer. "This last unit just really got me. It's harder than the other ones."

"You lied to her, didn't you?" I asked, shaking my head.

"Listen, I do need help with Spanish. Maybe not as much as I led her on to believe, but I do. And I needed to find a way for you to talk to me. You keep avoiding me and I just want to talk to you," She said.

"The last time we talked, all you did was practically insult Lauren. Give me one reason why I shouldn't just ignore you."

"Because this wasn't what I thought it was gonna be like when we broke up." Her voice cracked, and I immediately felt bad. I looked at the clock above her head and realized I only had a few minutes left to get to my next class, and other teenagers were already walking in the classroom I was still in.

"I'll text you later and let you know when I'm available, okay?" I asked, already walking towards the door.

I heard her shout, "Okay," as I ran out of the classroom and headed to my next class, which thankfully wasn't that far away. As I got closer, I saw Lauren standing outside of the room, and I smiled.

"Hey, what're you doing? You're gonna be late for class," I said, taking her hands in mine and being cautious of the time.

"I wanted to see you before class," She said, pecking my lips.