junior year

three

Sunday rolls around, and I'm grateful to spend a nice and relaxing day with Harry. I sit in my bedroom on a cushiony sofa on Harry's lap and he and I each read our own novel. We're in silence, aside from the occasional conversation, but it's a comfortable silence, and there was no place I'd rather be.

Mr. Kenton's words still haunted me, and I felt like my eyes were just skimming the pages of the book, not actually taking them in and interpreting them. So I set my book down.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

I smile at him and lightly play with his dark hair. "Do you ever misinterpret something the wrong way?"

He looks at me curiously. "What do you mean?"

I shift my position. "Like, say for example you give someone a gift. And they say 'thanks a lot'. Do you interpret that as she didn't like it, or she did?"

Harry furrows his eyebrows together, his lips parted in thought. "Hm. I guess you just have to read the person's facial expression. Or just ask them, for the matter. There's no use in wondering what someone thinks if you don't ask them. Where is all this coming from?"

"Oh, nowhere," I say. "Just a thought."

Harry grins. "I'm looking forward to seeing you in that dress tomorrow." his similar sounding words coming from Mr. Kenton would cause my skin to crawl, but coming from him, it made my heart warm up.

"I love you."

I bring my lips to his, and engulf myself in the sweet bliss of pure romance. In that moment, the only thing that matters is me and Harry.

...

Monday morning is the dreaded day. I spent a pretty big amount of money on the black dress, though I still had time to return it. I looked through my closet to find any dresses I could wear in place of it. I ruled out a blue sundress from two years ago, a floral dress that had a rip in the hem and a flowy dress I thought was fine until I realized my chest was way smaller back then.

I sighed and put on the dress, making sure to add a blazer on top of it. I got to school, spotting Harry in theater. He looked at me the way I saw guys look at girls in those romantic movies. Although, his look said he had very different intentions.

"Damn, I am the luckiest guy in the world." Harry said, looking me up and down.

I laughed and pulled him into a hug. As the bell rung, and we took our seats. The rest of the day was seemingly fun. The girls looked amazing, and we took a handful of photos. More than we really needed.

Today was a new day and I decided not to worry. Nothing had happened since the first day of school, and that compliment was just a compliment. For a first time, I actually didn't dread going into English that much.

"Oh shit, I'll be right back. Go on in without me."

Sydney raced to her locker to grab her textbook, leaving me to go to class by myself. I stepped inside, immediately going to my seat. By then, I'd taken off my jacket, leaving my upper body more exposed. Mr. Kenton walked into the classroom and came to a halt when he saw me. No one else was in the classroom and went I looked up at him, something changed in his eyes. It quickly went away though, as he sat down.

"Nice dress."

"Thanks." I said quietly, my hair falling in front of my face as I leaned in to write in my planner.

I don't know if I was imagining it or not, but I could swear throughout the whole class Mr. Kenton was staring at my chest, and I felt very uncomfortable the whole time. I wished I hadn't taken off the damn blazer.

In the middle of class, however, Sydney was called to the office. Her mom had come to pick her up since she'd had a doctor's appointment. She'd told me that before, but apparently I'd forgotten. Mr.Kenton went on, handing out papers and as he walked passed me, his arm brushed my shoulder. I moved it away, staring at the worksheet. God, I wanted this class to end.

It finally did, though I couldn't rush up since I had so many papers scattered everywhere. One by one, kids were leaving the classroom and just as I though I'd make it through the door, all my papers fell.

"Shit." I cursed, crouching down to pick them up.

"Close the door please, Kyle. Thanks." I heard Mr.Kenton call out.

Everything's fine, Luna. Like Harry said, don't misinterpret things. But I was so close, so close to the edge of reading this in a wrong kind of way.

Mr. Kenton picked a piece of paper off the ground as I stood up. He handed it to me, and I stuffed them as quickly as I could into my binder.

"Can I show you something? You can leave your binder on the desk." he told me.

"Mr. Kenton, I really have to―"

"This won't take long."

I surrendered my supplies and followed him to the bookcase in the corner of the room. I felt exposed in this dress, with nothing to cover me up. I felt like the material of the hem was moving up and that the neckline was coming down low.

"I thought you'd like this."

I look at him and see a CD in his hand. He gives it to me and I turn it around to see that it's an album―particularly Joshua Bell, one of the greatest violinists of all time .

My eyes widen. "How did you―he's like my idol."

"You wrote about it. Thought you'd like it. You're free to keep it. I've got more than enough books and albums here."

"Oh. Thanks. That's really―"

He cuts me off my pushing his lips against mine. I'm taken aback at the gesture as the book falls from my hand. It's not like anything I feel with Harry at all. In fact, it just feels disturbing and wrong. I try to break out of the kiss but he's now got my back to the book case. I'm struggling to break free and when I break the kiss, he holds my wrists up against the book case.

"You don't know," he starts kissing my neck, and now I'm completely uncomfortable and in fact frightened. "How long I've waited for this. Everyday to see you in this classroom, your beauty is exhilarating. And that dress."

"Get off me!" I yell, though it's muffled.

"Don't fight it, Luna. I know you want me."

"No I don't! You're insane!"

"Yes you―"

A knock causes him to stop and I take that as my chance to escape, racing out of the classroom. My eyes meet the janitor, a pair of earphones in his. "Your boyfriend's looking for you."

Harry.

I run outside to find Harry, leaning against the wall of the school building. His eyes widen, and I'm sure by now that I look like a mess.

"Luna, what happened?"

All I can do is run into his arms and hold him in an embrace.

"Harry." I sob.

"Shh," he coaxes. "It's okay. Everything will be okay."

But will it really be okay? And if I tell someone, then what will happen? Will he lie and say that I'm the one who pushed myself onto him? I thought this year would be a breeze, that finally, finally I'd have my shot at a perfect year. But now I'm dealing with something, someone I'll have to see every single day.

And I don't think I'll be okay.

this chapter was so hard to write omg

amara©