Lesson by Her [Book 1]

Chapter 14

Almost a week had passed since Dusty had gone from being the girl in Valentine's car to the invisible woman. Tired of second- guessing her feelings about her and she was more tired of her own constant attraction towards Valentine . She was deluding herself to entertain any sort of fantasy involving her, yet she couldn't help it. Each time she caught Valentine scent or spotted her in the corridor, Dusty heart raced in a way that no one else had ever been able to make it do. The only way she could get through math class was to actually settle down and do some work, and as a result her grades began to improve.

"You got an A?" Cora gasped as they sat in their Friday morning class.

"Mmm." Dusty nodded.

"How did you manage that?" Cora asked, amazed by her tone at the achievement. Dusty wanted to answer that all she had done was pay attention and apply herself, but knew that wouldn't be in keeping with her head cheerleader status.

"I bought the answers off some guy yesterday," Dusty whispered.

"Ooh," Cora exhaled, nodding in approval.

"Why didn't you share?" She sounded hurt as she asked.

"I didn't want us both to get caught cheating." Dusty offered an impromptu explanation, which seemed to appease Cora.

"Hope you don't get caught," she whispered across to her friend.

"Me too." Dusty smiled at her. Valentine was winding down her class, having distributed test papers and solved all of the equations on the board. As usual her gaze had never once drifted to the back right of the classroom where Dusty sat. She felt Valentine eyes on her before she heard her speak, Dusty breath catching in her throat as Valentine did so.

"Miss Black, can I see you after class?" Her tone was abrupt. It was not a request but a command.

"Oh God, looks like she caught you cheating." Cora sent Dusty an apologetic glance before hurriedly packing away her stuff, not wanting to be painted with the same cheating brush.

Dusty watched Cora and the rest of her classmates scurry away, her heart already in overdrive, pounding within her chest, reverberating all the way to her eardrums, blocking out all external sound. What did Valentine want with her? She'd ignored her all week long; why speak to her now? Dusty nervously approached her desk.

Valentine went to speak but then spotted the open door, beyond which were students milling around in the corridor, unenthusiastically meandering towards their next class. She got up and walked to the door, swiftly closed it, and then headed back to her desk.

She sat on top of it, close to Dusty as she hovered nearby. She could smell her, and it was intoxicating. She struggled to keep her focus. "I owe you an apology," Valentine blurted out, her stern demeanor gone and the kind, open woman from the cinema standing in her place.

"Huh?" Dusty was caught off guard.

"I've been ignoring you all week. But you know that, right?" Valentine looked deep into her eyes, and embarrassed, Dusty looked away.

"I thought you were just being a tool," Dusty told her, forcing herself to wear her arrogant cheerleader armor. Valentine merely smiled fondly at her insult.

"You've every right to be mad. I just can't be seen to be too familiar with you in school. People will talk."

Dusty was silent, staring intently at her battered Converse sneakers; thankfully the distressed look was currently in style. "Dusty, I'd risk losing my job if anyone knew we were...friends." She struggled on the last word, and Dusty wondered why.

"What's wrong with being friends?" Dusty challenged.

"You know what," Valentine said, and she felt her heart skip a beat as she dared to believe that perhaps Valentine did actually see her as something more than just a friend. But if that was the word they needed to use to toe the delicate teacher-student line, then she was more than happy to do so.

"Are we still friends?" Dusty asked cautiously.

"Of course." Valentine smiled "In fact, that was why I asked you to wait after class." She glanced at the classroom door, beyond the speckled glass in the top half there was the unmistakable form of a waiting student. Her next class would soon commence.

"Do you like skating?" Valentine asked, aware that she was running out of time before the bell would toll once more. "Skating?" Dusty reiterated. She'd never been skating before. "Sure." She shrugged.

"You want to go? There's a rink in Charlottesville that's really great. I'll pick you up at seven?" The bell rang; it was time for the second class of the day to start. Valentine spoke with urgency, desperate to have an answer before the next wave of students flooded into the room.

"Sure." Dusty didn't know what else to say. "Great." Valentine beamed as a load of juniors came pouring through the door, and Dusty dashed off to her own next class.