Gasoline.

Chapter 5: A Trapped Flame

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Chapter5- A trapped flame

"Hey sleepy head."  He whispers and rubs my upper arm. I could get used to this...

"Hey."  I smile.

"You feeling a bit better now?"

"A little." I reply with a slight nod.

"That's good, but it's school now. You up for it?"

School...hey but that starts at...I look at his alarm clock and see that it's  6:50 am.

"Shit!" I say, pushing away from his arm and getting out of his bed. "When did your alarm go off?"

"About twenty minutes ago, but you were in a deep sleep, so I decided not to wake you." He shrugs.

"Thanks. Ugh how did we fall asleep for twelve hours?" I groan.

"No idea, but it was comfortable so I'm not amazed we didn't wake." He smiles at me, keeping eye contact. I feel my cheeks getting warm, oh no, I'm blushing. Ugh, feelings suck.

"Ha ha makes sense," I start walking backwards towards his door. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna get ready." I say, turning around and walking into the white door.

"Ow." I mumble when my bum hits the floor.

"You good?" I hear Mr Funny laugh from behind me.

"Perfectly fine."

With that, I walk, okay I run, out of the room.

***

"Hey Katie, how was your evening with Mr Sexy last night?"

"Shut up Kelsey, can you not assume that everybody is like you for one damn minute?"

"You wish you could be like me."

"A self-centered, spoilt, immature bitch?" I say with an eye roll. "Nah, I'll pass."

I walk away from my old best friend and make my way to Math. After last night, I feel a little more confident. I walk around with my head high and I'm ignoring any remarks from irrelevant people. Especially Kelsey.

"Hello Katherin, did you do the homework?" Mr Jackson asks. "Please tell me you did, everyone else keeps saying their dogs ate it..but it was set online."

"Hey some dogs have quite strong teeth."

Mr Jackson moves a little closer to me.

"Yeah I know, and some have quite good grips." He whispers in my ear and touches my forearm.

"Well my homework will be marked done on your computer, sir. Now if you don't mind I'm going to sit in my seat and do the work." I say with force and release myself from his grip. Not another creepy guy...

The lesson went quite well, but then it ended and he called me back for detention...to apparently go over my homework score.

***

He sits on the edge of his desk, facing me as I sit awkwardly in my desk, watching the last person leave. When they do, he gets up and locks the door behind them.

"Well, let's discuss the work shall we?" He says, coming to stand by my desk. He pulls a chair out for him to sit on and places his hand on my thigh. All my confidence disappears as the night from 3 years ago comes back into memory.

"I got a hundred percent, I don't understand what I could have done wrong." I say, not looking at him.

"Ah, but that's where you could have gone wrong. How do I not know you haven't cheated?" He implies, I can tell all he wants to do is keep me here long enough for him to do what he wants.

"Well I haven't. If you have any issues with that, then prove your accusation." I say, this time I look him directly in the eyes. I mean business, he's not pushing me around.

I get out of my seat, knocking the chair over in the process. I walk over to the door, unlock it and slam it behind me. About thirty seconds later, all of the adrenaline that had given me the confidence to walk out of the room and away from a potential threat, disappeared. I was left standing in the isolated hallway and all I could do is cry. The tears first started slowly making their way down my cheeks but as little as ten seconds later, they were running, sprinting in groups and pools of salty water. As they ran, so did I. Right out of the front, double doors of the school.

In that moment I knew, I was alone.

He could be following me and I'd be trapped again.

Tomorrow morning, I'd go to my headteacher and ask for a teacher change.

***