Chapter 3- Mr James's POV

When I got back home later in the day, I still couldn't take her image off my mind. And it wasn't right, it really wasn't. I knew the rules of teaching, and they included that you keep a distance from your students. And that's what I needed to do.

Remembering that Beth was coming over for dinner later, I took a quick shower, and started cooking. I was quite a good cook, and in a few minutes I came up with the idea of creating a chicken caesar salad, which I knew Beth loved. It was my way of apologizing to her for being so mean in the morning.

Beth was really a nice person, and I admit that I really did like her when I asked her out for the first time right before we finished school. But the problem was, she got a bit too clingy after that, and I felt that I didn't have the time for the kind of relationship she wanted. I avoided meeting her as much as I possibly could, and sometimes, I'd go days without talking to her, and ignoring her messages, but since she works with me, I can't really avoid her face anymore now. Teachers start work before students, and that was when we met again, after having drifted apart for around a month. And now, we have a date tonight.

I finished cooking and sat down on the sofa to watch some tv, and glanced at the clock. It was five to six o'clock, so she should be arriving soon, since we always meet at six. Time passed by though, and by 6.30pm, she still hadn't arrived. I shook my head and got up from the sofa, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, and I started sketching. Looks like Beth's still angry at me... maybe she won't be coming after all, I thought. A few more minutes passed and I continued drawing whatever came to my mind.

At 6.45pm, the doorbell rang. I sighed and stood up, leaving the pen and paper on the sofa. I opened the door to find Beth, wearing a short black dress and looking a bit red in the face. "Hey," I murmured, leaning against the door frame. "I thought you weren't coming."

"I was thinking about it," she said, coming in through the door. I stood straight and closed the door behind her.

"But you're here," I said, wrapping my arms around her waist. I looked at her eyes. "Listen... I didn't mean to be rude earlier... you know how I am on the first day of..."

She interrupted me. "You treat me like shit," she said. "And yet here I am, always putting up with it." I opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted me once again. "Forget it," she said. "Just don't do it again, especially in front of that annoying friend of yours."

I chuckled. "John? He's harmless."

"He's annoying."

I removed my hands from around her waist and started walking to the kitchen. My apartment was small, but I had everything I needed in there, since I lived on my own. I even had my own studio.

"Let's eat," I said.

We sat down and ate dinner together in silence After dinner, I washed the plates, while Beth helped. I leaned against the counter when the job was done, looking at her. "How was your first day of lessons?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Fine, except that my boyfriend refused to even kiss me during break time, and then he sent me away from his class," she said.

I laughed. "Your boyfriend sounds like a jerk," I said, pulling her to me. I kissed her lightly, and smiled down at her. "Better now?"

She smiled back. "Yeah." She kissed me back, and we sat down on the sofa to watch a movie together. After a few seconds I felt her shift next to me. I turned to look at her. She was holding up my sketchbook in her hand, which was open on the page I had been doodling on earlier. "What's this?" she said.

I glanced at the open pad, which has the drawing of a girl on it. Not just any girl. Ella. My heart sped up at the realization that Beth was asking me about it. I had stupidly drawn Ella and left the book open on it, thinking no one would see it.

"It's something new I'm working in," I lied. "I should be trying out different models. The girl is no match to you, though," I continued, dismissing it. Liar. Idiot. Beth just smiled, saying nothing. I took the sketchbook from her hands and leaned over to kiss her. Maybe she'd forget about it. Our lips connected softly and I forced a smile.

I knew I was being a lot nicer than I usually was, aside from being a liar, and I knew I was doing it to get my mind off Ella. Better to be in a relationship with someone you don't like that much, rather than do something stupid like falling for a student, I thought.

And Beth was nice. She was pretty, and smart, and seemed to really like me. The problem was that I'd happily hand her over to John any day, knowing that he'd treat her way better than I ever would.

Ella's POV

The day went by pretty fast after that art lesson. I couldn't believe that Nathan, the first person I had befriended at school, turned out to be a first class jerk, starting from the moment when her threatened me, to the moment where he offended the teacher.

I didn't see him again on that day, thankfully. It would have been awkward, and he would surely have asked what I thought of Mr James, and I wouldn't really know what to say. I didn't think much of him actually, except for the fact that he looked exceptional, and seemed to be quite nice, actually.

I caught the bus, feeling thankful that, at least, my college wasn't like other colleges were, where students would have a dorm room and live at school. I got to go home every day and get rid of Nathan. Boy, I really did need to do something about it. Nathan was practically forcing me to do something really immoral...

Not just because Mr James is my teacher, and being in a relationship with him is illegal, but also because of my age, and his. I'm only 17, whilst he's around 23 or 24 years old, I would guess. He doesn't look any older. Still, 23 is too old, and it's even worse considering that I'm still underage. If the relationship goes out in public, like Nathan wants to happen, he'll be in so much trouble. And I will, too, because of being with a teacher. It's all so confusing.

But I can't say no to what Nathan wants. He threatened me, and I don't want him to find out my family's secret and spread it to the whole school. It's better doing what he wants than that.

So, as from tomorrow, I'm going to be the teacher's pet.

* * *

The next day I went to school, wearing a pretty pink dress and gladiator sandals. I thought I should look good if I wanted to impress Mr James. Well, I didn't have a lesson with him on Thursdays, but I hoped to see him in the canteen once again or something.

I walked to my locker, and to my annoyance, I found Nathan waiting for me there. I glared at him, and he just smirked. "Hey babe," he said, turning to fully face me. "I was waiting for you."

"Why?" I asked without looking at him. I didn't want to talk to this guy.

"We're friends, remember? And I want to ask what..." He stopped suddenly, and I was about to tell him that we weren't really friends, but he interrupted me immediately. "Here's your man passing by. Be sure to say hi to him," he said in a gruff voice.

"What are you, my dad?" I glared at him for the second time, but flinched when I mentioned dad. I'd promised myself not to mention him ever again. I took a deep breath and looked up, trying to forget about all of my thought and feelings. My eyes met with those of Mr James, who was just passing by at that moment. He smiled and stopped, eyeing Nathan briefly before turning his eyes to mine.

"Good morning... you're Ella, right?" he asked with a small smile forming on his lips.

Jackpot, I thought. Seems like my plan won't take long to work. Well, technically, it wasn't my plan. It's Nathan's.

I smiled back at him. "Good morning... yeah, that's me," I said.

Mr James smirked. He's so good looking. "I remembered well then," he replied, still holding on to that gorgeous smile of his. He suddenly seemed to realize something and looked down, biting his lip.

"Get a room," I heard Nathan say. I was still looking at Mr James, so I saw the way his head almost snapped off to look at Nathan when he heard him say that. His eyes narrowed and frowned.

"Nathan, if you don't shut the hell up with all your stupid comments I'll report you to the principal. This is no way to talk to a teacher, and I'm fed up with you."

Nathan laughed. "I never said anything that's not true, teach. You really are a flirt, and you really do think that you're a model when you're clearly not. And the other students agree with me, nobody likes you," he said.

Mr James scowled at him and bit his lip once again. "Don't come in for my lesson tomorrow," he said. "You will not be allowed in." He turned and started walking away without saying anything else or looking back at either of us. I followed him with my eyes and saw him stop next to a female teacher who seemed to be smiling at him. He hugged her, and to my surprise, I felt a funny sensation in my stomach, which people usually call jealousy. Oh no, I thought, looking away. I can't be jealous, I just couldn't be. I turned to Nathan, my face flushed.

"Are you always this arrogant?" I asked him.

"Pretty much, yeah," he grinned. "But I'm great when you get to know me. Just wait." I shook my head and walked away from him, but he caught up with me immediately, grabbing on to my arm roughly. I looked up at him, surprised that he was gripping me so hard. "Don't you forget what I told you yesterday," he said. "If you don't, I'll do what it takes to find out something in your life and spread it round the school, and make your life hell."

I tried to jerk my hand away from his grip, but he didn't let go. Feeling panicked, I looked around the hall, and I caught Mr James looking at me with a troubled face. I noticed that he was looking at the rough way that Nathan was gripping me. I looked away, embarrassed. "Let go of me," I said to Nathan.

"Only if you say that you're going to do what I tell you," he said with a flash in his eyes. His mean blue eyes. I nodded.

"Fine!" I yelled. I shook my arm and he let me go, partially pushing me away from him. I gave him an icy look and turned away from him. I started walking to the class where I had my first lesson, which was a classroom in the furthest and darkest part of the school, I soon found out. I immediately decided that I didn't like this place. When I arrived at closed door, I noticed that there was no one there, and that there was a note stuck. "Please note that Mrs Brimmer is not at school today," I read out loud. "Great, just great."

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned around instantly, and to my astonishment, I saw Mr James standing in front of me, blocking out most of the light. I shivered. "Hi, sir, what are you doing here?" I asked. There was no one else to be seen, and him standing there looked a bit strange to me. I found myself feeling scared of him.

He took a step forward. "I followed you here," he said. I gulped.

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Photo on the side is of  Beth (Meghan Ory) :)