How To Love You

Four

'Hey Rice!' An overly chirpy and exuberant voice pulled her out of her reverie as she looked up from her textbook. The book was open on the 31st page, one finger scanning the words as she read and tried to fit all the information into her brain. 'Yo, Rice?' He called again, seeing that she had pushed her face back into her book after knowing it was him.

'What do you want?' She asked, leaning on her elbow and turning away from him. 'Can't you go bother somebody else?'

'I would but...your my biology partner so...' he trailed off. The girl didn't say anything else so he slammed his book hard onto the table, eliciting a groan from the brunette as she made space for the boy.

Sean drummed his fingers on the table, whistling quietly before he peeped over her shoulder to have a look at what she was reading. 'Boring' he mumbled, his breath hot on her neck.

'What the fuck, Lew?! Get out of my bubble space!' She snapped, pushing him away with a face of disgust.

'Why should I? I don't have to listen to you' he mumbled, but moved away nonetheless. 

'You're so annoying' Kaycee remarked, shaking her head.

'Remember when I asked for your opinion about me? Yeah, me neither' he scoffed, crossing his arms on the desk before the clicking off his heels filled his ears, and an old lady walked into their classroom. Well, technically she wasn't old enough to be called old, but with the way she dressed it was an easy mistake. 

'Everybody quiet!' The teacher roared. 'Your professor is sick today, and I'll be subbing in for her. And I expect the utmost repast from you lot' she pushed her glasses to the ball of her nose, taking her time to glare and remember each face.

'Now, open your textbook to page 33. Who wants to read?' she ordered. 

Everybody either slided down on their seats, ducking and hiding their faces or avoided eye contact with great posture to seem confident when they weren't. 'Since, no one is volunteering themselves, I'll just pick them...' the old lady grumbled. She trailed her finger down the roll list before she spoke up again. 'Miss. Rice, can you start?'

Kaycee nodded her head meekly, forcing a smile on her lips. 'The cytoplasm is a thick solution that fills each cell and is enclosed by the cell membrane. It is mainly composed of water, salts, and proteins. In eukaryotic cells-' she read aloud, before a slam on the teachers table stopped her.

'You two sitting at the back!' She yelled. The girl and boy sitting at the boy both paled with fear, rising to stand up. 'How disrespectful to talk while somebody else is reading. Meet me after class...Miss. Rice, please continue'.

By now the students all had a fair idea to what kind of teacher she was. The proffesor had a hawkish air about her. Even her nose was curved and beaky. She had eyes of palest blue that fixed you in ice should you dare disagree or talk out of turn. She was willow-wand thin, so stick-like that it was hard to imagine her eating much at all, at least not without wiping her narrow lips after every bite. Her hair wasn't so much blonde as a washed out brown, like it just couldn't be bothered to be any colour at all. Like many women of her age she had it cut short to hide its lack of volume. 

 Every movement she made betrayed her internal frustrations that bounced inside her like sound in a deep cave. In the classroom she was a chained monster, bound by rules and statutes. A century ago she would have been brutal with the cane, Kaycee was sure.

Kaycee continued on reading, a hint of fear laced in her voice as she finshed the paragraph. The professor said a quick 'thank you' before speedily reading the next two pages. 'Now, I hope you all understood that' she started. 'I want everybody to complete the questions at the bottom of the page' she instructed.

'All of them?' One hand shot up, but the girl was speaking without permission.

'Obviously. You're not in high school, anymore' the teacher barked, shaking her head angrily. 'Finish them now or you'll have them for extra homework'.

The girl nodded her head. She was surely on the teachers bad-side. 'Thank you, miss' she croaked out.

The class got straight down to work, the only thing that was bake it be heard were the pens briskly writing in the paper and the occcasional page flicks. 'Rice? Rice?' She felt a poke on her arm, as she swatted his hand away.

'Rice? Kaycee Rice?!' He whispered.

'Shut up. You're going to get me in trouble' she snapped, gritting her teeth. Sean groaned quietly, re-reading his work as he had no clue what he was even supposed to be answering.

 'I don't know why I was even expecting you to help me out' he huffed.

And then. Silence. It pressed in on Sean as he doodled on the sides of his page. The silence stretched thinner and thinner-like a balloon blown big-until the temptation to rupture was too great to resist.

'The two of you in the back again!' The old lady bellowed. The balloon popped.

Sean had a momentary panic where he thought the professor was talking about him, but the professor had marched up and approached the two sitting at the far back. 

The students were all rudely eavesdropping on in the conversation between the teacher and the others two students. 'From all this talking, I assume you're done the work' the teacher asked bitterly.

'From all that complaining. I assume you're single' Sean mumbled quietly to himself. 

A soft giggle made him lift his head up as he looked at the brunette smiling brightly at him before one side of her lips dipped down into a frown. 

'You should smile more' Sean joked, raising a brow. 

Kaycee rolled her eyes. 'I do smile. Just not around you' she remarked. She could hear more unpleasant comments from the teacher before she stormed to the front door, the poor two students following limply behind her.

'I'll be back in twenty minutes. And I don't wanna hear a single person saying that this class was being too loud. Do you hear me?' She warned, raising a finger. The students all gulped and nodded.

'You laughed at my joke' Sean spoke up as soon as the teacher was out of earshot. Thank goodness, she didn't hear it. 

'I was laughing at you, Lew' Kaycee remarked. 'You and your ugly face is just hilarious'.

A chuckle fell from his lips. 'Don't lie. You were laughing at my joke, admit it'.

'In your dreams. Go get a life, Lew' 

Sean scoffed. 'I would make a joke about your life. But it looks like life already beat me to it'

'Rude' Kaycee grumbled under her breath. 

'Rude' he mimicked her, causing her to glare sharply at him.

'You have your entire fucking life to be a jerk. Why not take the day off today?' She retorted, her eyes squinted as she dared him to speak against her.

'Geez Louise, someone's riled up over a joke' he laughed, a cocky smile etched on his lips.

Her knuckles paled from clenching her fist too hard, and gritting her teeth for an effort to remain silent. Her face was red with suppressed rage, and when Sean sent her a cheeky smile she swung around and mentally snapped. 'I heard that there's a new app called 'sense of humour'. Download it, you fucking asshole' she cussed.

'Take your own advice' he swung his legs around his seat,  paying attention back to his textbook- oblivious to the brunette cursing profanities under her breath.

'A fucking idiot, he is'

AN|

Hey guys! How are y'all?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

QOTD: Name a quote you try to live by. When life puts you in tough situations. Don't say 'why me?', say 'try me'.

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