Tonight Is All We Have

3 - And so we meet again

I groan into my pillow as my alarm trills the next morning. My room is still dark, as the sun hasn't completely come out yet, and I snuggle deeper into my blanket, wanting nothing more than to turn around and give myself over to my dreams.

However, I force myself to wake up and drag myself to my en-suite bathroom, knowing that Mom would probably murder me alive if I missed a day of school.

I get dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a comfy blue hoodie, and tie up the lace of my blue Converse. I brush my hair, pulling it up into a messy topknot as I leave my room.

I hear voices as I'm halfway down the stairs, and I pause. The voices could belong to one of Mom's best friends, Carolyn and Candi, but it's a weekday and they don't crash over on weekdays.

It's just Mom and I now, after Dad died four years ago.

I walk to the kitchen, and as I pass the lounge I hear a voice which sounds eerily familiar. I pause, and Mom must hear my footsteps stop because she calls out, "Kaylie? Kaylie, honey, can you come here please?"

I walk into the lounge, and stop when I see who it is. Mom sits on the black leather couch, and opposite from her, sits none other than my Chemistry teacher, Mr Woods.

What on earth was Mr. Woods doing in my living room?

"Kaylie, your mom and I were just discussing your schoolwork," Mr Woods said. "And honey, we noticed you're a bit behind; you're not doing as good as you used to. What happened, Kaylie? Is there something you would like to tell me?" my mother said looking concerned.

Firstly, I wasn't born yesterday. I know that if Mr Woods wanted to discuss my schoolwork, or rather lack of it, he could've just called my Mom over the phone. There really was no need to pop in for a cup of tea. So what exactly was he doing sitting on my couch, in my house, drinking tea and discussing me?

I get the answer in a moment of humiliation as I realize that Mom must have fallen for him too.

My mom's always had these flings, about 6 in the past year. She used to think she found her "soul-mate" when she met each and every one of them.

Yep, you guessed it: None of them worked out.

But my teacher?

God, I can't believe even my mother can stoop so low.

"Look, Mom, I'm late for school; obviously you and Mr Woods need to talk. I'll go now." With that, I turn on my heel and storm out of the room.

Mom calls, "But Kaylie!-" again, she is cut off by my snarky "Later."

I don't know how I'm going to cope with this. She's really taken it too far this time. On top of that, I'm late for school, and I also have Math first period. I feel like pulling my hair out in frustration. I'll probably get another detention...Maybe it will be better than going home and seeing Mom and Mr Woods having another "cup of tea".

Sighing, I pull out my phone, plug my earphones in my ears, select a song by Gabriel Knight and push my phone back into my pocket. The usually busy road is almost empty, probably because I'm a little after twenty minutes late. The sky is grey and dull, typical Boulder weather, according to the weather channels.

Music has always been my go-to thing when I'm down. When I was younger, I used to pour my soul out on the keys of a piano, but due to reasons, I've taken to listening to music and it's helped a lot.

Its weird, actually, to find that while my life was chaotic and crazy, and I felt like nobody truly understood what I was going through-damn, am still going through-I stumbled upon this cute British singer on YouTube, whose music sounded so close to what I've been feeling. Gabriel Knight. The lyrics to his songs just made sense to me, you know? Like maybe there are other people going through what I am and maybe one day someone will actually come along who appreciates me for who I am rather than what they want from me. Someone who doesn't leave me right in my darkest hour of need, someone who doesn't leave me with no hand to hold for comfort when I need it.

I pull out my earphones as I near the entrance to school. I sigh as I realize that I've got Maths, and I haven't done my homework as well. Mr Hampton has a huge grudge on me, and on top of that, I suck at Maths.

I sigh again, and raise my hand to knock on the class door. When I walk in, Mr Hampton's face breaks out into a smirk.

"You're a little early for tomorrow, Ms Costello."

I roll my eyes and walk over to my seat, slumping down as Mr Hampton tells me to go to detention after school tomorrow. Kat sits a row in front of me, and she turns around, concern written over her features.

"Hey, what's up? You okay?"

"Yeah," I sigh, "It's complicated."

Kat nods her head in understanding, "It always is."

Mr Hampton turns back to the board and just as he begins writing an equation, someone knocks on the door. I swear I see his face turn purple as he growls in frustration.

However, when he pulls the door open with fiery ferocity, I'm the one who almost falls from my seat in shock. Because the person who stands outside the door is Hayden, the guy from the elevator.

The one who'd distracted me from my fear of heights. Of course, since I was so damn taken in by his cute accent and amazing hair and stunning bone structure, I'd forgotten to ask him what brings him here to Boulder.

But there he stands, a sleek guitar thrown over his shoulder, a smile playing on his lips as our eyes connect and my heart begins to beat faster. Kat is watching us with a sly, but confused, look on her face, while Carla Anderson furrows her brow at Hayden looking over at me, while still applying just about the whole tube of lipgloss to her lips.

Mr Hampton finally gets his face back to its usual color, calling Hayden into the class. Hayden steps in, running his fingers through his hair before sending a smirk my way when Mr Hampton tells him to find a seat, and the only available one is next to me.

I wince as Carla sends me a death glare. This isn't going to be very pretty.

As Hayden seats himself next to me, I mouth 'later' to Kat, who's sending me death glares as well. I haven't had the chance to tell either her or Kristi about the elevator drama and meeting Hayden, but they're sure as hell going to be grilling me about it later.

Hayden taps on my shoulder, and when I turn around, he sends a stunning smile my way. "Ah, Kaylie, right? And so we meet again."

His. British. Accent. I think I'm going to die.

._._.

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