Caught in the Middle~A Student-Teacher Relationship

Chapter 8: Fuzzy Comforts

I am so sorry that I took this long to update this! I completely shut myself off during my senior year! I will be regular now! Keep reading! Thanks a lot for the love, support and the votes and comments! :)

Chapter 8:

Ella’s mind was full of Brian. Somewhere, she couldn’t care less how the double detention would turn out. She made her way to the front bench next to a window and sat down, her hand cupping her chin. She sighed and slowly looked at Gin. He was standing next to the little square window looking out-of-breath. Today, she had made sure to bag Abby’s textbook before entering Gin’s classroom. 

She haughtily opened her textbook and casually began to brush the few grains of sand left from her bunk with Brian, her eyes reading each line carefully. From the corner of her eyes she caught Gin looking like he was about to burst. His copper hair had been tousled so extensively that he had begun to look like the old, nerdy Gin Emhart. 

Suddenly, Gin receded to the table in the front of his class, mutely correcting what looked like a bunch of test papers. He had suddenly calmed down. Ella was puzzled but let it go. She took out her notebook and pencil and began to revise formulas and conversions. 

Gin was seething with rage but was determined to not it show. He had seen the flustered triumph on his little brother’s face, he had heard the “Hats-off, dude!” that Brian had gotten from the other students as they’d left and, he knew that it was best, for his brother’s happiness, if he would just let Ella go.

He took a deep, deep breath and relaxed his mind. He forced himself to be happy for his brother and decided that he would stop messing around with his girlfriend. He was angry, he had heard Brian remark how right Ella had been. What could that mean? Had Ella bad-mouthed Gin? He was even more angry because Ella was acting like a lose cannon. She was the one who had lead him on, letting him break through her defenses so easily. At the back of his head, he decided that she wasn’t worth it. He would let this sink. He would stop playing with her only because now his brother was involved and he wouldn’t let him get hurt because of him. 

He remembered the last three years of his boarding school wondering why his brother had ceased to visit. Partly or for most of the part, he knew it had been his fault. He was always getting in his brother’s way, snitching on the little fellow, not allowing himself to be anything but a protective big brother. But this time it would be different. He was ashamed that he had actually come here to fool around with Ella the Ice Queen instead of being closer to his brother who always had had eyes only for his big brother. 

“Ms. Chase?” Gin asked, his voice emotionless. 

“Yes, Mr. Emhart?” Ella replied, for once actually engrossed in her work.

“What are doing there?” Gin replied and walked up to her bench. 

Ella scooted over, without realizing what she was doing but Gin refrained from sitting on her bench. He walked back to his table and dragged the chair over to Ella’s bench. Ella grew red in the face, realizing what she had accidentally done. She shifted back to her position and gently tucked her brown hair behind her ears. 

Ella was determined to be more careful around Gin and not allow him to make any more advances. She was pretty sure what she had with Brian was real and not a fling. She had to stop noticing the sexy things about Gin or allowing him to touch her. He was Brian brother for heaven’s sake! She blushed further more, recalling what she’d done with Brian half an hour ago. 

Gin refused to wonder about what Ella was thinking of and tried his best to focus and correct the notebook which she had handed him. Somewhere, he felt a pang of deep sadness but he refused to acknowledge it. He pulled his chair away from Ella’s bench and tried to swallow the sudden constricting thickness in his throat.