Chapter 29- Ella's POV

I walked down the stairs and sat down next to John on the step, not caring that I was blocking the way for people to pass. Not that there was anyone around, really. It was just John, sitting in the semi darkness. His green eyes looked into mine with curiosity registered in them.

"How did it go?" he asked. I didn't answer, and he continued. "You were up there for a while, so I'm guessing that he talked to you. I couldn't hear anything, though."

I shook my head and turned to him. "You didn't hear anything we said?"

John looked at me in surprise, as if he couldn't understand why I was asking him something he had already told me. But I had to make sure that no one had heard our argument. Or seen it.

I now realised how stupid I had been to kiss Edward at school, where there probably were cameras, and everyone could see. I'd been too desperate for him to forgive me that I'd just.. tried, in the most pathetic was possible, to lure him back to me.

"No, all I heard were muffled voices... you were whispering. Why?" John asked.

I shrugged. "I'm scared that someone heard us."

John grinned. "Why, scared that I did? What's wrong with that? It's not like I didn't know about you two."

"Of course you knew about us, you were the one to break us up, remember?" I shot him a glare and he looked away and mumbled a "sorry" to me. I sighed and continued. "There were students in his classroom, that's why."

"Right. Um, so, are you like gonna tell me what happened or not?" John chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He turned to look at me.

"Nothing much," I said, realising that John was anxious to see whether Edward and I had made up. I decided to tell him the truth, there was no point in hiding it. "We did talk, but he didn't really want to listen. He's so convinced about what he's seen that he's totally shutting me out." I'd decided against telling him I had kissed Edward, though. It was weird, not to mention embarrassing.

John sighed. "I'm sorry."

Silence filled the air around us. Neither of us said anything to each other, there really wasn't much to say anymore. I had tried to talk to Edward and failed, and John's attempts had failed too. There wasn't anything we could do anymore, except maybe hope that all of this would be forgotten soon.

Time trickled by slowly, until the bell rang at 12.30pm. John stood up and offered a hand to help me up. I reluctantly accepted it. "Lesson?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yep, English."

"Me too." He smiled. "Shame that I don't teach you."

I let go of his hand and looked away. "Maybe you not teaching me is for the best. I still have to see Edward during the lesson, and trust me, it's the worst thing in the world."

"Yeah, I understand. Are you okay for now?" John asked, looking genuinely concerned.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, I knew what was gonna happen. I couldn't expect him to forgive me just like that."

"I'll try talking to him myself later..." John took a step closer and put a strand of hair behind my ear. "Take care, okay?" He kissed my cheek and backed away swiftly, barely leaving me time to react.

When he moved out of the light he was blocking, I saw a figure at the end of the stairs. My head started spinning around as I tried to make out whom it was. A glance at John convinced me that he'd seen the figure too, he looked just as shocked as I did. I turned and started making my way up the stairs, where my English lesson was going to be. There I saw another figure, which I recognized this time. I'd know that perfect face anywhere.

As our eyes met, I understood that he had seen the small exchange between John and I. He looked away, his eyes full of sorrow, if not hatred, and ran his hand through his hair. I walked up the stairs and past him, not daring to say a word to him. I just felt so guilty, even though I hadn't done anything. Here I was, trying to convince him that I hadn't cheated on him, while a couple of minutes later he sees me with John again. Great.

As soon as I arrived in the classroom, my phone beeped. I quickly retrieved it from my bag, hoping that it was Edward, but was disappointed to see that it was from a private number. The message said, Aww, poor Edward. Did you see his face?

I put my phone away angrily. This was nowhere near over, even though Edward and I were not together anymore. Now this person was sending these messages to me, too.

Edward's POV

 I felt a breeze against my body, and realised that Ella had walked past me. Even though I had nothing to say to her, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, just because she had not stopped to talk to me. Great, I thought. Now she's causing me physical pain as well. If I could switch her out of my class, I would...

No, you wouldn't, a tiny voice in my head said.

I had just had an argument with Ella, during which I had had to act like a total jerk, as well as having to do my best not to give in to her. Even when she kissed me. No, I'd only kissed her back for a couple of seconds before pushing her away from me reluctantly. It took all of my strength to act like I didn't want her. But after what she did to me, it was what I needed to do. I couldn't be with a liar. I sighed and glanced down the stairs. John was still there, talking to someone.I had just witnessed him kissing Ella, just a few seconds ago. Mind you, it was just on her cheek, but I couldn't help but feel stung about it. Why was Ella telling me that I had gotten it all wrong, and then, a couple of minutes later- literally- I see her with him once again?

I sensed someone coming up the stairs and looked down to see who it was. Immediately I realised that John had left and that the person he had been talking to had been no one but Nathan.

Well, this was going to be interesting. I folded my arms and leaned against the white railing of the stairs, waiting for him. Nathan stopped in front of me.

"Did you see that?" he asked.

I shrugged. "See what?" I asked.

"Mr Abbott kissing Ella. Right here at school, man," Nathan replied, shaking his head, and looking furious. My heart sank. He had seen it too, then. And just had to remind me about it.

"Yeah, I saw. What are you panicking about, anyway? It's not like you didn't know about them already," I said, since Nathan had been the one to take their photo and blur Ella's face out. "You were the one who sent me the photo."

Nathan looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, yeah I was. But... I kind of thought that it would scare him away from her... not the other way round." He murmured the last part.

"So that's why you did it?" I asked.

Nathan looked up at me. "To scare him off? Yeah, that was part of it. But I also wanted to protect Ella, you know?"

I smirked. "By printing out a photo of her kissing a teacher?"

"I blurred her out! I wanted to scare her! And warn her that it's dangerous. Yet here they are today, at school, together." Nathan shrugged. "I'd have thought that you'd be angry at all of this.. for John, for Ella..."

I bit my lip, and even though I knew I was lying, I said, "I couldn't care less, actually."

Nathan's eyes went wide. "Seriously? I thought he was your friend! And I thought you liked her?"

I shook my head and turned towards my classroom. I had forgotten that he didn't know about Ella and I being together. He was clueless. Which was why he wasn't the one that was sending the photos.

As I presumed, Nathan followed me into the art room. "Since when?" he asked, totally ignoring the students in my classroom. "I can't believe this!"

"Gee, you're annoying," I muttered, because Nathan was acting like... well, a typical seventeen year old guy. I sat down at my desk and opened the drawer, searching for some kind of pill that could relieve my headache. I found some ibuprofen and swallowed it with water. All this time, Nathan watched me like some kind of fascinated toddler.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"Headache," I murmured. I was starting to realise that, strangely enough, Nathan wasn't being a jerk today. Very unusual of him. It was probably because he was worried about John and Ella. Ugh, whatever. At least he had shut up about them now.

Only I was wrong. Nathan leaned against the desk, look a look around the room, in which there still were a couple of students sketching, and said, "So, tell me, why the sudden lack of interest in John? And Ella?"

"You can be persistent when you want, can't you," I muttered.

 "You wouldn't want to know."

 I sighed dramatically. He knew I had a headache because he himself had asked me about it just twenty seconds before, yet he continued speaking and being sarcastic. Nope, it turns out that he was actually being a jerk. Like always. He was just being more subtle than usual about it. I picked up my bottle of water, opened it and took a sip, not replying to what he had said.

When Nathan saw that I wasn't going to answer, his eyes narrowed and he tapped on the desk impatiently. "I thought you were interested in Ella," he said, in a low voice, so that the other students would not be able to hear.

My heart sank,but I had to put on an act since he clearly had no idea about any of it. "Yeah, she's hot," I said, and immediately noticed Nathan's face scrunch up in disgust. He probably thought I was too old for her (I don't blame him, I probably was.) Therefore, my plan was working correctly. I continued, stretching my arms. "But you know how I am, Nate. I changed my mind about her, and she doesn't interest me much anymore. I don't like holding onto something for a long time."

Nathan glared at me. "Oh I know you alright. I think what you meant to say was, I always want what's not mine," he said, clearly referring to his mum. That's how Nathan was, always saying something that would ultimately be referring to Lauren... his mum. But I guess I deserved it. Thank goodness Ella had never found out about it in the short period of time that we were together. She'd have been the one breaking up with me and not vice versa.

"Sometimes, yeah," I said to Nathan, grinning like an idiot.

"Trying to piss me off, aren't you?" he asked. I shrugged, and he continued. "Mum's seeing someone now."

I didn't want to show him that I cared, but why was he telling me this? I answered, "Really? That's good for her."

"He's forty."

I eyed Nathan suspiciously. "I see." I knew where he was going to go with this.

"But it's okay because she's thirty-nine herself. So forty's cool. Unlike you. I mean, you were twenty-seven when you started dating her..." He trailed off and looked at me.

I nodded. "So I was." I didn't want to look angry in front of him, but I was deep inside. Why was he bringing this up now? Of course I knew how old I was when we were together.

"And your dad? How is he?" I asked.

Nathan shrugged. "Same. I haven't seen him in a while, though. Last time he spoke to me, he asked me when the Parents' Day would be, because he wants to be here. To talk to you, of course."

I gulped. More problems for me, yay. Nathan's father had been enraged when everything had happened, even if their marriage had been practically over. "Nice. I'm, uh, honestly looking forward." This time I wasn't able to hide the anxiety from my voice, and Nathan noticed this, and smirked.

"Mum asked me whether you're with someone," he said.

I chuckled. "Why would she want to know?"

"I dunno, maybe she was just thinking whether you had moved on."

Yep, I had. And had found love, too, but ended up heartbroken. Because I'm just so lucky.

"Well, are you?" Nathan asked.

Too many questions. I shook my head. "No. I'm not."

Nathan rasied an eyebrow. "What about that mathematics teacher you were with?"

Beth. Right. "Nope," I said.

"And Ella?"

This time I was forced to look up at him, to see what exactly he meant by asking that. But his face wasn't giving away any answers. It honestly looked like he was just making conversation. I shook my head for the second time. "What did you think I am, stupid?" I asked.

"Sometimes you are. So I thought that maybe you and her..."

"No. We didn't. She's underage. And she's my student." I had to lie, I just had to. I couldn't admit that Ella and I really had been in a relationship. Even though I'd been really happy with her, and wanted to forget why we had broken up.

"Okay, cool," Nathan answered.

"Why, thinking of going out with her yourself?" I found myself asking.

"Nope. Ever since I found out that she liked you, I don't want to go out with her. As if I'm gonna have anything to do with something that you were interested in," Nathan said maliciously.

"Suits me," I said. I closed my eyes, still feeling the headache. "Why are you here, exactly, Nathan?"

"I said I'm worried about Ella and your friend. That's all."

I shrugged, eyes still closed. "Leave them be, John's not stupid," I lied. I felt Nathan moving next to me, and shuffling things on the table. Whilst wondering what he was looking for, I didn't feel like opening my eyes. That is, until Nathan dropped something on the table, and gave me the fright of my life.

My eyes flew open. "What the hell?" I yelled. I looked around to see what he had dropped on the table.

It was a small tin box, which Nathan had opened. Inside it were photos.

Shit, shit, I thought, seeing Nathan pick them up. I reached for them, but he yanked them away. "What the hell are these?" he asked with wide eyes.

In his hand he was holding the photos and messages that Malcolm had forgotten in my classroom, which I'd later hidden in the box. The tin box which Nathan had decided to open.

Nathan's gaze flickered towards me as he showed me one of the photos, giving me a questioning look. In his left hand he was holding the photo of Ella and I kissing, which Malcolm had received.

"What did you say about you and Ella, again?" Nathan asked.

I sighed. Time to explain.

Hello guys, I'm updating again :) I hope this part is good. If you think so, please vote and comment, I really appreciate it :) take care xxx