Chapter 4- Ella’s POV

I took a step back, now feeling really uneasy. "I- um, why would you do that?" I asked, stuttering. Mr James lurched forward once again, and I automatically moved back, bumping into the classroom door as I did so. I took a deep breath.

He stepped forward once again, and was now standing really close to me. "There's no one else in here, is there?" he asked. He sure knew how to look scary. I didn't say anything, but I managed to shake my head. His eyes locked on mine, looking intense, and he bit his lip. "Good," he said. I swear, he looked just like a mass murderer would.

I gulped for the second time, knowing that I was trapped and that I couldn't run away. There was almost no light, and apart from Mr James's dark figure, there were only shadows. "I, uh, have to go," I said, trying to make my way out of there. He stopped me by putting his hand on my left shoulder. Maybe Nathan's right, I thought. This guy really is something.

"Where are you going?"

"I have a lesson."

"You don't have a lesson, I heard you saying that it's a free lesson." He smirked.

"Well uh, it was the wrong door-" Before I could finish, I felt Mr James place his other hand on my right shoulder so that he was almost holding me. I stopped talking.

"Lessons don't start until 8am, it's only 7.45," he said. He put both hands down and stepped back. "Ella, why don't you want to talk to me?" he asked. I saw a gleam in his eyes.

I shook my head. "I didn't say that. It's just, you're kind of scaring me," I said. Okay, so maybe it was my plan to get close to this guy, but not like this. I was expecting him to rape me or kill me or whatever right there.

Mr James chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look scary." His jaw relaxed, but then he looked troubled once again. "I don't know why you hang out with Nathan. I saw the way he was twisting your arm."

I heaved a sigh of relief. Oh, so he just wants to talk. About Nathan. Worry washed through me once again. "I know, I saw you looking," I admitted.

"I'm worried about you, Ella. Nathan is not a nice person, and I'm sure you've noticed that by now. I mean," he said taking a deep breath, "he even bullies me. You saw that twice, you were there." He paused. "I don't want him to hurt anyone else."

I looked up at him. "Why don't you go to the principal, then?" I asked.

"He's vindictive, I don't want to risk anything."

"So you're just gonna let him control your life." I said this in the form of a statement, not a question. I knew this was true. He was trying to control my life as well.

"Yeah I.." Mr James looked down. "I'll think about something," he said. He glanced at me. "Are you okay? You looked really worried in the hall."

"Yeah I'm okay, thanks," I said, still thinking about what would happen if Nathan got suspended from school or something like that. I pushed the thought away, realizing that no matter what happened to him, Nate would still get back at me for not doing what he told me to. So this is it, I thought. I still need to flirt with this guy.

"You don't really look okay," Mr James said.

I smiled faintly. "But I am."

"If you need anything, you know I'm here for you, right? Even though I'm your new teacher and it may seem weird for you."

I nodded. "Thanks, sir."

He smiled back at me. “There’s nothing to thank me for. It’s my duty to help, really. And you seem like a nice person, so it’s even more of a pleasure for me to help.” He looked down once again, and then back up. “I have to go now, I have to prepare for my lesson. What are you going to do?”

I sighed. “I’ll try to avoid Nathan in the next three lessons.”

His eyes lit up and he looked amused. “Three?” he asked. “Why?”

“I have the first lesson and then the next two lessons are free on Thursdays. As you can see, my teacher for the first lesson is not here.” 

“Why don’t you go home, then?”

“Nope, it’s not worth it. I go by bus,” I explained.

Mr James chuckled. “Okay. Homework?”

I shook my head. “It’s the second day of school. I didn’t get any homework yet.”

He grinned. “Damn, I should have given you homework then. How stupid of me.”

I smiled, noticing that he had said “damn”, a word which teachers usually avoid using in front of students. But he, of course, was different than any other teacher. And I liked that about him. I stuck my tongue out at him. “Too late,” I said.

He laughed. “I’ll fix that during tomorrow’s lesson.” He straightened, and then seemed to think of something. “Hey, do you want to come in for the lesson I have now? I don’t mind, and you could do whatever you want. Nathan’s not gonna look for you in there,” he said, and seemed to look at me in a weird way… like maybe hopefully? I have no idea, but I liked his suggestion. This meant that I’d spend more time with the guy, and that was what I needed for him to fall for me. He seemed to be quite nice to me so far… or maybe he’s just a flirt.

“Sure,” I said with a smile. His eyes widened.

“Second day of school and you’re already coming in for an extra lesson? You surely must love art a lot,” he said, looking towards me as we started walking through the hall together. There was more light now, and I could see his face clearly. He was smiling.

“I love art, but I also happen to like you,” I said. Quite a clever statement in my opinion. I kept my gaze on him, and saw him blush as I said these words. I smiled to myself. He muttered a thanks and stayed silent for a while, looking forward thoughtfully as we kept on walking side by side. He suddenly turned to me.
“So you thought I was what, gonna murder you when I told you I had followed you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. I noticed that he had changed the subject. I grinned.

“Yeah, something like that,” I said. He stopped to look at me, making me stop as well. He seemed to realize what I thought he was going to do to me. Our eyes locked and his face reddened, and he seemed thoughtful once again. He broke our eye contact by looking away.

“Well, I wasn’t going to,” he said, defending himself. He continued walking, so I had no choice but to copy his actions, and I followed him. It took me a while to catch up with him. We turned around a corner, and started walking up the stairs together. When we arrived to the first floor and started passing by the classrooms, where there were students and some teachers waiting outside. All of a sudden, Mr James stopped. I stopped next to him.

He had started talking to a male teacher, who seemed to be young. I recognized him as being the one who was in the classroom with us yesterday. His eyes widened when he saw Mr James with me, and he seemed shocked. “I thought you said you were going to stay away,” he said.

Mr James chuckled. “I said that?” he asked.

The other teacher looked at him with wide eyes. “You said that this morning when we were talking. Don’t tell me you forgot already.” He looked at him pleadingly.

Mr James shrugged. “I’ll start from tomorrow.” I wondered what they were talking about. He suddenly turned to me. “I won’t be long,” he said. I smiled politely. He turned back to his friend. “Come with me for the lesson,” he told him.

“I can’t, I have six straight lessons today,” the other teacher told him with an annoyed look on his face.

“Seriously man? I thought you were gonna spend the second and third lesson with me, I have two free lessons!”

Just like me then, I thought.

“Can’t.” The other teacher grinned. “Ask Beth. She’ll be happy to.”

Mr James shook his head. “No way. I spent enough time with her yesterday. Even this morning, she was here. She hugged me in the hallway.”

“Lucky you.”

“Not really.” Mr James chuckled. “I’m gonna be late for my lesson, I should get going. See you later.” He grinned at him and turned to me. “Let’s go, Ella.”

I followed him and we started walking up the stairs to the second floor, where the art room was. I was still looking at him as we were walking, and he suddenly turned to look at me, and caught my eye. Heh, I thought. He was trying to sneak a glance at me and I caught him. “What?” he asked, his eyes lit.

I sniggered. “I saw you trying to sneak a glance at me,” I said truthfully. He seemed to blush a little once again, but then he smiled and shook his head, without stopping from walking.

“I was just looking at you,” he said shrugging.

I grinned. “So, who’s Beth?”

Mr James stopped in the middle of the corridor. “Nothing escapes your eyes and ears, eh?” he said, rolling his eyes at me.

I shook my head. “I heard you talking to that teacher just now, and I saw you hugging her earlier,” I said.

Mr James laughed and playfully hit my arm. “It’s none of your business,” he told me, but I could tell he was joking. “I’ll tell you later, let’s go to class, I’m already late,” he added. We continued walking in silence until we reached the art room.

When we got into the room, all of the students looked up, probably wondering what took the teacher so long to get to class. Their eyes shifted to me, making me feel really uncomfortable. I lowered my gaze and took a seat on one of the empty chairs. Mr James started the lesson, and I followed what he was saying, since he was talking about charcoal, and it was my favourite drawing medium. He did not refer to me at any point during the lesson, however at one point, I was looking at him as he was explaining, and he caught my eye and smirked at me. I found myself blushing, though I don’t know why. I held onto his gaze for a moment, but then looked away.

The lesson didn’t take long to finish, and the students filed out of the classroom, talking to one another. The classroom was empty in a few seconds, and the only people left were Mr James and I. He smirked at me from his desk. “Did you enjoy the lesson?” he asked me.

I shrugged. “Meh it was okay,” I said. He looked disappointed, and I started laughing. “I’m kidding,” I said. “I really liked it.”

He grinned. “You had me believing you for a moment. But of course, I should have remembered that I’m a great teacher,” he said pompously. I rolled my eyes, and he started laughing and walked over to me, stopping next to my desk. He looked down at me, since I was sitting down and he was much taller than me, and he smiled, a genuine smile. “There’s something different about you, Ella,” he said in a lower voice. “I really like it.”

I found myself blushing. “Thanks,” I replied, getting up from my seat so that I was now really close to him. Our eyes met, and we didn’t break contact. I tried not to even blink, but right at that moment, I saw his eyes looking away from mine and to the front, towards the door. His eyes widened. I turned to look at what he was staring at, and to utter shock, I saw that female teacher who had hugged him in the hallway this morning. She was in the entrance of the door, which had been left open, peering at us. Mr James managed a weak smile, slowly backing away from me. “Hey Beth…” he began.

“What the hell is going on here?” she screeched.

Great, just great.

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Photo on the side is Ella's.