My New Obsession [BxB]

Chapter Five- Drowning Lessons

 I got home from Jake’s well into the afternoon of the next day. My mother greeted me at the door and waved Jake off in his car without even questioning his ability to drive. She shut the door and pulled me into a hug, then stepped back and cupped my face in her hands. Her smile was deliriously happy. She picked up my bag and sorted it out for the clothes wash and then made us both a cup of tea.

 “Jesus mum, you don’t have to make it quite so clear to me that my Deputy Head is so good in bed.” I said, rolling my eyes.

 “James!” she gasped, blushing, but the happiness didn’t leave her eyes. “It wasn’t like that. We had a really lovely time, that’s all. We had dinner in a Spanish restaurant, then we went for a little walk, and-”

 “Okay, mother, seriously. Spare me the details.” I said. She didn’t seem to mind though, she just zoned back into romance mode.

 I mean, come on. Even if I was truly bisexual, I’d rather date Miley Cyrus if it saved me from dating someone like Mr Hughes. Smarmy git. I mean, it wasn’t as if he was good looking. He wasn’t bad looking, but not good looking.

 The rest of the evening passed uneventfully and yet I wanted something, anything, good or bad to happen just to drag out the weekend just that little bit more. Monday mornings are the worst thing ever; back to school or work, back to getting up early even though all you want is those few extra minutes in bed…

 So when Monday morning dawned and I didn’t get up before mum, she came into my room with a cup of tea. She sharply pulled the curtains apart, bathing my room with sunlight. I groaned and slumped further down under my duvet- but she simply threw a piece of ice under the covers with me before exiting the room. I shrieked as it touched my skin and threw the covers off me, jumping out of bed and nearly falling over. Once my heart had stopped pounding, I drank my tea and had a shower. Mum always said that having a shower would wake me up, but if I’m perfectly honest the heat of the water just makes me want to go back to sleep. It’s the coolness of the air once you’re out of the shower that wakes me up. And then I’m not happy. Because I’m cold.

 I got dressed in a Foo Fighters t-shirt, red skinny jeans- just to mix things up a little- and my usual black Converses. I had packed my bag the night before and was at a loss as to how I could waste time before leaving for school. Mum, however, had other ideas, shooing me out of the house as soon as I was done. I knew why she wanted me to be early; she didn’t want a late mark on her son’s register, not a glitch wonderful Mr Hughes might see. Just to annoy her, even though she wouldn’t know, I dawdled down the street, making my legs refuse to walk in a straight line. I got many funny looks from commuters and one woman even muttered something about ‘teenage drinking these days…’.

 Despite my best efforts to drag out the journey, I was still at school with twenty minutes to spare. I decided I would go and sort out my art folder as part of my coursework was due that day. I technically didn’t have proper art lessons; the school had said I could take A-Level art as well as my other subjects if I was taught during lunch or after school. The art block was completely empty- or so I thought until I entered my art room. The actual art room was empty but when I walked in I could hear the quiet crash of cymbals and distorted music through headphones. I poked my head round the corner to the Art Annex- a small room set aside for A-Level students to come and do artwork in their free time.

 George was sitting at his desk in the corner of the Annex. His desk was neat and tidy but piled high with papers and as he hunched over it I could hear the faint scratches of a pencil on paper. I crept up behind him and pulled out his headphones, causing him to jump violently though, luckily, his artwork was unharmed.

 “Jesus Christ, James- are you trying to kill me?” he snapped, clutching a hand to his heart dramatically.

 “Nah- not until you’re rich and famous and we’re married.” I replied with a grin, kissing his cheek. I looked at the piece of paper he was working on. “Bloody hell, Gee, that’s amazing!”