Chapter 21- Ella’s POV

I got home at around 4pm and put my bag on the floor, in the kitchen. I made myself a strawberry jam sandwich and ate it while still standing up. Like every day, there was no one at home… only me and my shadow. I stood there, thinking of the weird events that had happened over the course of a few days.

It was around 5pm before I finally made my way upstairs. Apparently time flies when you think about stuff that is messing up your life. Everything is messing up my life, that’s the problem. Edward is the only good thing that has happened to me in a long time, and there he goes and ruins it.

I will get him back, even if it means losing everything. Although I don’t have much to lose, to be honest.

I opened my wardrobe and peered inside. Hmm, what to wear? I needed to look like I didn't make much of an effort, because I didn't want to give Edward the wrong idea. I scanned the items in the wardrobe, focusing mostly on trousers. Jeans or leggings? Jeans it is. Dark blue, the most common colour. I picked a pretty light yellow shirt, which had lace on the sides, and matched a dark grey cardigan with it. And then blue sneakers, which matched perfectly. Then I made my way to the shower.

I finished getting ready at around 6.30pm. There were still thirty minutes to go, so I slumped down on he sofa and turned the tv on. The front door opened soon after, revealing my brother Malcolm. 

"Hello," he said, eyeing me briefly, His eyes stopped on my clothing. "Still haven't changed out of your school outfit?" he said as he closed the door.

I shook my head. "No, I'm going out."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow, stopping in front of me. "Really," he said, clearly not amused. "Where to?"

I shrugged. "Just meeting a friend." 

"Want me to drive you?" He sat down next to me. I stood up by instinct. 

"No, it's okay. It's not that far." 

"You sure?"

"Yep. I'll be leaving now." I picked up my bag from the sofa and started walking to the door. As soon as I put my hand on the lock, I heard my brother's voice. He was standing right behind me. His breath on my neck gave me shivers, and his words gave me the creeps. 

"If you're sneaking out to see that teacher of yours, I'll make sure he doesn't live to see another day." 

I put on a brave face and turned around to face him. He was actually threatening to hurt Edward. "Why would I sneak out to see a teacher when I already see too much of him at school? Whatever you're thinking is wrong. He's not interested in me and I am not interested in him." 

Hey, I'm starting to become such a liar. 

"You're not gonna fool me sis. I hope you're not going to see him tonight. I'm going to do all I can to make him stay away from you." Malcolm's eyes were cold and distant. A very uneasy feeling started settling on my stomach, but I tried to ease it away.

"I'm going to drive you to school every day, and pick you up whenever I can," my brother announced.

My mouth dropped open. "Seriously?"

He grinned. "Why, something wrong with that?"

"Apart from you treating me like a six year old, nothing," I muttered. I turned around once again and opened the front door. I stepped out without closing it behind me, and walked away hurriedly. 

My brother's voice boomed out in the quiet street. "Don't stay out too long!" I could hear the sarcasm and attempted humour in his voice. I had no idea why he was acting in this way. 

There and then I wondered if my brother was already threatening Edward... with notes.

I rang the doorbell to Edward's house at precisely 7pm. After some shuffling, the door opened, with Edward standing behind it, wearing a light blue shirt and plain blue jeans. His hair was uncombed, but it looked like he'd run his hands through it quite a few times, making it looked all messed up in a hot kind of way. He smiled down at me. 

"Hi, Ella," he said, stepping sideways so I could enter. I did and heard him close the door. I turned to him, and he motioned for me to walk through the corridor so that he would follow me. I smiled and walked on, stopping immediately when I felt a warm hand on my waist, which gave me tingles. I turned to look at Edward, who was already looking down at me.

"Careful, babe. I... uh, forgot to turn on the lights and I don't want you getting hurt." He mumbled the second sentence. I noticed that he had stuttered too, just after he had called me "babe". I guess he hadn't planned in it.

"It's okay," I muttered, noticing that he still had his hand on me.

"Are you okay? You haven't really said much."  Edward looked worried as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

"I've only just arrived," I said, plastering on a smile. The tingling on my waist stopped and was replaced by coldness as soon as he lifted his hand up. He nodded and walked to the other side of the room, where the light switches were. He flipped one of them on and light flooded the living room.

"Have you eaten?" he asked, walking over to me. Great, small talk again. What's it with him and that?

"I ate a sandwich earlier," I said, taking in details from his apartment. Everything was simple, but I liked it. Classic black sofa in front on a flat screen TV, with a tea table between them, and minimal furniture. The walls were decorated with paintings which I presumed were his.

Edward spoke up. "Great, but you have to eat now, because I cooked for you."

My head shot up. "What?" I asked.

He smiled at me sheepishly. "Yeah... I feel bad about what happened, so I thought I should make it up to you in some way. And... I thought we should have a nice dinner together... cause you know it's a one in a million chance."

I felt like screaming,"Only because you say so!" into his face, but I didn't. Instead I settled down for the nice feeling that was empowering me: he had actually bothered to cook for me. I smiled at him as he grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen.

A delicious smell wafted out as soon as he lifted the lid of the cooking pan. He asked me to sit down, so I did, and a few minutes later we were eating pasta with chicken, sitting opposite each other. It was amazing.

After dinner, he led me to the living room again, and we sat down on the couch. I looked up into his dreamy eyes and said, "Thank you, that really was lovely."

Edward smiled at me. "Anything for you," he muttered. He let in a sharp breath and turned to face me.

"So," he said. "Talking it out."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. We met each other's eyes, and he moved forward, towards me, his hands resting on his legs. He spoke up.

"Does my age bother you?" he asked.

I gulped. Twenty-eight, soon to be twenty-nine. I'd been trying to forget about that. "Um," I said.

"Because if you are bothered by it, then why are you angry at me for the way I acted out? After all, you were the one who walked out of the class yesterday morning." His tone was calm, and he looked like he was prepared well to talk. It was like it had been bugging his mind for a long time.

"Your age bothered me because I didn't know how old you were. But after thinking about it, I guess it doesn't as much," I mumbled out the last part. I hadn't really thought about it, but how much I liked him mattered more to me than how old he was, that I was sure of.

"And you're eighteen in a couple of weeks, you said?" Edward asked.

"The week after next," I said.

"Mm." The lines on his forehead creased and I wondered what was going on in his mind.

"Why did you act out on me during the lesson today? Why are you angry at me?"

His questions stung. I took a deep breath. "You kissed me and then said we can't be together. That's something only a jerk would do."

Edward shook his head. "We can't be together," he said.

Great, say that again so it hurts more. "Why?" I asked.

He ran his hands through his hair. "I'm your teacher... and I'm old compared to you..."

"Stop saying that! You're not old!"

"Face it, compared to you I am. Ten or eleven years, that's crazy!"

"It's not that much when you think about it," I muttered.

"Really? That's not what you were thinking yesterday morning when you ran out of the classroom! And let's not get started about the fact that I'm your teacher!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's illegal!"

"So? No one has to know about us! We could keep it a secret!" I exclaimed.

Edward looked me in the eye. "Really? Is that what you want? A secret relationship?"

"Of course not! But it's better being together in secret than not being with you at all!"

Edward shook his head. "No... I don't know. There's still too much about me that you don't know."

"I'm pretty sure you can tell me about what I don't know," I said.

He chuckled, but I could see that it was dripping with sarcasm. "You'd never look at me in the same way if you found out," he said.

Curiosity got to me then. "Do you trust me?" I asked.

"Of course I do. But I've had a rough life, I've been careless and I've done so many wrong things that..." He stopped and shook his head. "You really don't want to know."

I shifted closer to him. "If you want me to know you then you have to start telling me more about yourself."  I waited for a reply but did not get one from him. He just shrugged.

"You don't want me to know, do you?" I asked.

He sat up straight and met my eyes. "I'm just scared that you'll get up and walk away if I do tell you."

His words scared me a little bit and I wondered what  we was talking about exactly. "Um, you know I won't. It's all in the past, isn't it?" I said.

Edward forced a smile. "It is... but you'll still be shocked." 

I sighed and stood up. "Are you going to tell me or not?" I asked. If he was going to keep repeating the same things all over, I had no reason to be with him there. It was just a polite way of telling me that he didn't trust me. 

Edward stood up as well and moved towards me, putting a hand on my arm. He took a deep breath. "I'm going to tell you something about my past... but I want you to promise not to tell anyone... okay?" 

I nodded curiously and motioned for him to go on. He looked directly at me as he spoke. 

"At your age, I shoplifted."

Oh. This wasn't what I expected at all. Then again, I didn't know what to expect. 

"I was never caught. I shoplifted because... I wanted to buy drugs... because I was a drug addict. Before I became a dealer." He stopped, looking out for my reaction, but I was rendered speechless and unable to move.

He'd been right about saying he'd had a rough life... but I didn't know it was this bad. I just stood there, gaping at him.

He let go of my arm and stepped back, noticing my nervousness. "Just to clarify things, justice was served," he said. "I was caught and sent to prison for a while."

Prison? This is crazy.

"I know you probably hate me right now, but I told you I'm messed up. This is why I'm not good for you. I care about you too much to let you be with someone like... like me." Edward's eyes lowered to the ground. "I'm sorry, I really am. And there's more about me that you don't know, but I guess this is enough for one day."

"I don't hate you," I mumbled, referring to his earlier statement. I hated that he was being all honest here, while I was hiding stuff from him like what really happened to my father and going out with John. Edward may be messed up, but at least he's not a liar like I am.

"You have every right to, if you do. But you were right, and I was wrong," he said, looking at me sincerely. "I can't hide stuff like this from the girl I'm in love with." 

In love with? My head shot up in his direction and I took in his lovely blue eyes, which were regarding me with anticipation. He smiled when he saw my wide eyes. "I'm sorry, was that too early?"

"How about perfect timing," I said, closing in on the gap between us. He put his arms around me hesitantly.

"So my past and all that stuff doesn't bother you then?" he questioned hopefully.

Nope, not when you've just told me you're falling in love with me, I thought.

"No. It's all in the past, right? You've changed, I know you have."

He looked at me in relief, and then started lowering his face towards mine slowly, but he suddenly stopped mid way, leaving me waiting for the touch of his lips impatiently.

"Uh, Ella. It's not the only bad thing I've done in my life, you know."

"So? Everyone makes mistakes, we're all human after all. Even I do. I'm not perfect, no one is."

"You are, to me," he said softly, looking directly into my eyes. I couldn't hold it any longer, and just tip toed up, meeting my lips with his, and taking him totally by surprise. I felt him tense up, but he relaxed after a couple of seconds and returned the kiss. He pulled away a few seconds later, before the kiss could become passionate.

"You know," he whispered against my lips. "I could get used to this. Um... if my age and the fact that I'm your teacher... as well as that messed up stuff I mentioned doesn't bother you, then it shouldn't bother me. We could do this..." He gestured to my lips, "...more often."

I let out a giggle and his face softened as he looked at me. He cupped my face with his hands. "We could give it a chance... give us a chance. After all, what I want most in my life is to see you happy, and if this is it, then it's what I want. Do you want to be my girlfriend, Ella?"

Wow, this was all too easy suddenly.  I beamed up at him and nodded, unable to suppress the happiness I was feeling. The guy I was head over heels for had just asked me to be his girlfriend, after admitting that he was in love with me. What more could I ask for? Except that, you know, in typical situations, the guy is a student, not your teacher. But I couldn't be worried about that. I was happy.

Edward's face broke out into a huge smile when he saw me nodding. He leaned in and planted a kiss on my forehead before lowering his hands down to my thighs to lift me up. He wrapped my legs around his knees and stepped back, sitting on the sofa, so that I was now straddling him. He pecked my lips I kissed him back, but I propped my leg up so that I was now sitting on his lap. 

"Why the sudden change of thought?" I asked, referring to him asking me to be his girlfriend. 

"What?" he said with a chuckle. 

"About you and me."

He shook his head. "There was no change of mind, Being with you is what I've always wanted, but I couldn't because there was too much at stake. But screw that, I want to be with you." He kissed me again, this time with more urgency, tangling his hands in my hair. 

"Hey," he said breathlessly, in between kisses. "We could spend more time together, you and I. I'll drive you to school and back." 

Shit, my brother.

"Um, don't count on that," I said. "My brother doesn't trust me and thinks that I might be in a relationship with you, so he's decided to drive me to school every day and basically stalk my life." Gee, thanks Malcolm.

Edward's face fell. "But I thought you said-"

I interrupted him. "I lied so you wouldn't be worried over the weekend. It's not really okay. He got a note, too." 

"Ah, shit," Edward muttered. 

Please don't change your mind about us, please don't. Not when it's perfect.

"Damn," Edward cursed, gently touching my face with his thumb. "So they're onto us?"

"Yep." 

"Well I guess we have to be a bit more careful then," he said, smirking as his gaze met mine. I grinned at him, and he moved forward, meeting his lips with mine. I felt sparks shooting through me as the kiss deepened. 

This was perfect. 

Thank you for reading! Sorry for the late update, I had a short break from wattpad when I saw that my story wasn't getting many votes. But it seems to be better now, and I'm gonna continue writing this story as I had planned to :) 

Please comment and vote, it really means a lot to me when you do :) 

Photo on the side is Malcolm.

Dedicated to MissHush because she's nice :3 

Thank you!!! xx