(DISPLAY COPY) I Miss Us

Chapter Three

Chapter 3: Niall Horan and Nathan Sykes

Ms. Kiefer or, as she urged everyone to call her by, Ma’am Jennifer, bid the class a “See you tomorrow,” as the second to the final bell rang. Now it would be everyone’s free period; an hour for everyone to either get some work done or goof around. There is the option of leaving school an hour earlier, but one had to have a gate pass.

Other than applying for one with the principal’s secretary at the principal’s office, I was making my way to meet up with Mrs. Palmer when Jennifer called out my name.

“Hmmm?” I hummed in reply.

“I just wanted to know how two hours with Jason is bearable,” she said. “I mean, don’t you know how irritating he can get sometimes?” She threw her hands in the air and pushed her glasses up to show her frustration. Even her messy bun showed her frustration toward him.

As much as she hated to admit it, and as much as it sounded too cheesy for her age, she knew she had feelings for Jason. To Jennifer, the endless teasing looked like a gesture from an older brother. I, however, think that Jason reciprocated those feelings.

I shrugged. “Eh, pretty good. And irritating?” I scrunched an eyebrow. “I don’t think he’s irritating,” I bluntly said.

Jennifer had a face on that said something like ‘are you kidding me?’ “Do you know how many times he’s poked my ribs today?”

I shook my head in all honesty. “Wait, you’re ticklish?” I wondered aloud.

She sighed. “Yes.”

A cheeky smile made my way up on my face. I swiftly moved my hand up near her ribs but stopped right before my fingers could graze her there. She flinched away very quickly as if I really did hit her over sensitive funny bones.

“The hell you did that for?” she asked irately as my body hunched over from the amount of laughter that flowed out from my mouth. There’s just something with me and ticklish people.

I sobered up slightly from my laughter as I answered, “I don’t know; just wanted to see if you really were ticklish. And, you’re very ticklish.”

Her face turned stern, and she straightened her back, making herself look taller than she looked. “Do you want detention, Mr. Hendrix?” she asked strictly.

The river of my chuckles abruptly ended when she said that. “You can’t send me to detention on the first day! And for tickling you even if I didn’t!”

Jennifer seemed to giggle at the panicked tone I was using. Shaking her head, she said, “Oh, John. I was just messing with ya.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “I could never punish Alden’s li’l bro.”

Some passersby could be getting the wrong message when they peered briefly into the room. I mean, why would a teacher, a ‘hot’ blonde with deep blue cat-eyes, have her hand on a student? Sure, they could be close, but that close in one day? Did they do it?

Jennifer was pretty much Jason in a female body. Students have flirted with her which earned all of them at least 6 hours of detention. It’s safe to say the detention card’s her favorite privilege as a teacher.

I chuckled lightly. “I’m glad to be his younger brother, then.” She let her hand slide down as I said, “If you excuse me, I have somewhere to go.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.” She turned to gather up her belongings.

I started towards Mrs. Palmer’s room, but I stopped when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.