Breaking the Rules [Student/Teacher Romance]

Chapter 5

  "You're banging the teacher?" Her hand muffles her words, I wince,
  "Han" I groan, dragging her name out,
  "Mia!"  her face showed excitement,  "That's so unfair" she leans back in to her seat
  "honestly, I wish he wasn't my teacher" I nibble on my thumbnail,
  "But why?" she asks, surprised,
   "did you not hear any of what I just said?" I laughed nervously, "he's  broken it all off! We can't see each other anymore" my voice cracks, "everything we went through this summer, all the dates we went on, the sex...I-I was really falling for him Han"
   "Oh please, Mia.  If he got as worked up as you said then he obviously  cares about you. He didn't spend almost his entire summer with you for nothing. He'll realise that. Think of how shocked you were seeing him, he felt that too. He didn't expect to see you sat in his class. He will get over it Mia, maybe not over it but he'll figure out that he doesn't want to loose you.  I bet by the end of the week he'll be taking you on  his desk" she winks,
  "Hannah" I laugh, "You can't tell anyone about  this...it's serious! He could lose his job, I could be kicked out of  school and he could go to jail"  I panic,
  "don't worry, it's safe between the three of us" Hannah gives me a reassuring smile,
  "Three of us?" I ask quietly with a frown,
   "Mindy" she whispers.  I burst out laughing and rest my head back against  the seat.  I was dreading the day Mindy had to be taken to the  scrapyard, she's Hannah's baby,  "we won't breathe a word of it.  But M,  don't beat yourself up about it, like I said, it's a shock yeah, but he likes you, I  wouldn't be surprised if he loves you, it'll work out" she gave me a  friendly smile and I nodded slowly. Hopefully.

*****

  "I have a new plan"  I whisper, turning to Hannah in calculus, "I'm going to ignore him and do how he says" I nod,
  "Sooo...what? You're just going to give up?" she frowns,
  "Not give up.  But I can play hard to get" I whisper,
  "I wondered why you were wearing a skirt today" she winks down at my legs.  I blush and tug my skirt down to cover myself,
  "whatever" I mumble,
   "Ladies, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Our calculus teacher,  Mrs. Roberts looks down at us over her glasses.  We both shake our heads  fast, Hannah opened her mouth but the bell rang.  Saved by the bell. "You may leave" she announced to the class.  The sound of chairs scraping back against the floor filled the room,
   "I'll meet you later" Hannah winks as we go our separate ways.  I  climb the stairs to the top of the design block and walk down to Will's  class.  I hold my head high and shoulders back, be confident.  I walked past his desk and heard him clear his throat.
  "wow Mia, you look really pretty today" Jasmine smiled, "not that you don't normally! Just-"
  "Thank you, Jaz" I smiled.  She was so cute.  My  eyes flickered to Will who was watching me, his eyes hard.  I looked  away, I couldn't be normal just yet.  It was too fresh. 
  "Okay" he  breathed, "So today I'd like  to get to know your art.  On the desk or on the easel, whichever you  find comfiest.  Paint, charcoal, pastels, whatever.  This is your piece.   I want it to be finished within the hour so that I can see what you're  like under pressure.  This won't go towards your final grade" He smiles  out at the class and smirks, "Get to work then" before sitting in his  chair and dragging a stack of books in front of him.  It must just be  marking for the lower grades. I sit and watch what everyone else is  doing, most people reach for their pencils or the acrylic paint.  I go  for watercolour.  I roughly sketch out my drawing in pencil before going straight in with the watercolour.  Once  the watercolour starts to dry I go in with black pen, adding in the  lines and details. On some areas where the paint is still wet the black ink feathers out and mixes with the paint.  I don't notice I'm frowning until I feel my eye  start to twitch. "5 minutes" he announces.  I nibble on my thumbnail, adding more detail here and there.
   "Wow Mia!" Jasmine whispers over my shoulder, making me jump.  I stand  back and look at it, I feel my smile spread across my face.  It's me  and Will.  The first time we met.  We're both at an angle walking over  the sand, I'm lifting my dress slightly to see where I'm walking, he's  watching me.  We're both barefoot, laughing, but you can't see any real details on our faces to show who we are. The background is rough and looks unfinished, but after studying it, I like it.
  "Times up" he calls,  "can you all stand with  your pieces?  Turn it round as I get to you"  He nods at the first  person who turns around their painting of a vase of lilies.  I nibble my  lip, was this too far?  It was the first thing I thought of.  I  watch everyone show their pieces, they're all amazing.  he got to  Jasmine, hers was very dark, not like her at all.  She used palette  knives, so the paint was raised and thick in some places.  Her painting  was a tree.  I could see in his eyes he was dreading seeing mine, I  suppose because it meant having to speak to me.  "Miss Nichols?"  I bite  my lip and turn my painting round.  He takes a deep breath in, raising  his eyebrows. "That's nice" he nods, giving me a brief smile, "Okay so  please just leave your work at your table so I can have a proper look"  he glances at me, "well done guys" he smiles at the class, "they're all  really good.  I have quite a talented bunch this year" he winks.  My heart flutters, I'll never see him wink at me like that again, "if  all your things are tidy you can leave early" he sits back down to mark  his books.  I notice everyone else had tidied before showing the class  their work, they all hurry out the class,
  "see you Mia!  Bye Mr  Anderson" Jasmine walks out of the class,  Will smiles at her and goes  back to his books.  I clear up my things and leave my painting on my  desk, I head straight towards the door when Will clears his throat,
  "Mia" his voice sounds professional,
  "Yes?" I ask, turning round to face him,
  "I didn't know you could paint like that?" he nodded to my painting, I shrugged,
  "I think we've discovered there was a lot you didn't know about me, Mr Anderson" I mumble.  I notice his body stiffen,
   "Likewise" he nods once, "but please be careful.  It won't take much  for people to see who's in the painting" his voice quiet.  I feel my  heart crack just a little bit more, I nibble gently on my bottom lip,
   "Don't worry.  No one will ever know you existed in my life before  now" I reply bluntly, "can I go?" he watches me for an extra second  longer and then nods,
   "see you tomorrow" he looks back down at the  books he's marking.  Without saying another word I walk out the class.   As soon as I'm outside the door I lean against the wall and let out a  deep breath I didn't know I'd been holding in.

*****

  "well?"  Hannah grins as I slide in to her car,
  "well nothing,  it's over.  There's no point even thinking about it any more, he  doesn't want me"  I look up at the ceiling of the car to stop myself  from crying,  "I just need to move on.  Can't be hard...right?" from the  corner of my eye I see Hannah's head tilt to the side,
  "maybe he'll wait for you.  So when you finish school you can be together?" he voice soft and sad,
  "Maybe" I mumble, I won't hold my breath.

*****