Honor Student

Chapter 3

Ryan: hey, got any plans tonight?

*my phone buzzed in first period*

Me: no...why?

Ryan: there's a party at Sofia's place tonight...thought it would be nice to get you out of the house for the first time in a while :/

Me: wth is that supposed to mean?!?

Ryan: idk...you've been distant lately and I'm worried there's something you're not telling me, soooo to take your mind off things I thought we could go out and party like we used to :)

Me: no

Ryan: *sigh* why notttt????

Me: I have tutoring after school and it's a freaking Thursday!! -_-

Ryan: just once??? pleaseeee if you don't come then I'll have to listen to Emily ramble on about her boyfriend and I might actually die

Me: fine. but just this onc-

"Miss. Winters." I looked up to see everyone's eyes on me and Mrs. Mills towering over me. "You know the cell phone policy, hand it over."

I gave her a defeated look and handed her my phone as I watched her walk it back to her desk and stick it in the drawer. Class went on as usual, but when I got up to leave Mrs. Mills stopped me. "I have to say, I expected better from you." She stared at me with those chocolate eyes and as soon as I saw the glint of disappointment in them, I burst into tears. What can I say...I couldn't help it, I have authority issues.

Her eyes widened with surprise at the fact that this had set me off and at first she just stood there awkwardly, then tried to comfort me. She pulled me into her embrace and never in my life had I felt so secure. I started to wipe my tears and said "I'm fine." She gave me an unsure look and said "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Oh...then you should go to that party" she said as my eyes widened with amazement.

"You read my messages?" I looked at her confused and a little upset that she'd been snooping.

"No, I read one of the messages that was in your notifications when I took your phone...you should go out and have a little fun, just stay out of trouble. Oh and I'll still see you after school right?" She almost sounded excited about our meeting.

"For sure" I said and made my way to my next period.

"Wait" Mrs. Mills said, "let me write you a pass." She went back to her desk and began writing a sticky note in elegant cursive. When she finished, she handed me the note and smiled warmly. My palms started sweating and my heart fluttered, I even surprised myself when I turned and gave her a huge hug before walking out.

The rest of the day passed on as usual, until the last bell rang. I made my way to her room, this time I found her focused on grading papers as she hunched over her computer with her glasses nearly falling off her nose. I laughed at the sight and she jumped, clearly unaware of my presence. "Ready to get started?" I asked, unsure of wether or not she was going to take this seriously.

"Yeah" she said, as she made her way over to a desk next to mine and turned to face me.

I took a deep breath and began the questionnaire, "So, first I'm going to need you to open up about your home life, what was it like?"

The first person she mentioned was her husband whose name was Alfredo, she talked about how they were happily married and how they had been together for nearly 12 years. Not gonna lie...all this talk about her husband made me hella jealous, so I changed the subject. "Right...and how old are you? Sorry I know it's not exactly the most polite question but my project requires me to know."

"41" she said without flinching.

Woah. She looked like she was maybe in her mid 30's but 41? Really?

"And...do you have any hobbies?"

She looked up at me and I could see the passion in her eyes when she talked about traveling. She spent nearly five minutes on the topic and I'm not gonna lie, I really enjoyed her telling me about all the places she'd visited. I would've allowed her to keep going but she cut herself off saying, "Oh my goodness, look at the time...you'd better get going."

"Wait" I said looking down at my sheet and seeing the one unmarked box, "I need to know your sexuality."

She looked up at me in complete shock and I felt the need to clarify by saying "It's for the questionnaire of course..." and something changed in her eyes as she took the paper and marked a box. It wasn't until I was walking out of the door that I read what box she'd marked:

"Straight"

My heart fell as I made my way back home, I'd nearly forgotten about the party until sundown when Ryan texted to tell me he would be here to get me in 5.