Chapter 6- Ella’s POV

When I left the art room after the third lesson, I had a smile on my face. Mr James was actually fun to be with once you got to spend some time with.  Although he didn’t really say much after he knocked that acrylic box over him. Gosh, it was so funny! And I could tell that he was embarrassed afterwards. He barely opened his mouth to speak to me, and looked thoughtful as well. Typical behavior of his.

The day rushed by and during the break I avoided Nathan once again, but unfortunately, since he was in my art class, I had to see him during the sixth lesson. As I walked through the class room door, where we would be learning art history with Mr Jones, I saw that Nathan was sitting at the back and had saved a seat for me. I ignored him and sat at the front. A few seconds later, I felt someone sitting next to me, on the next desk, and when I looked up I realised that he had changed places and was now sitting right next to me. I rolled my eyes. He smirked.

“How’s it going, Ella?” he asked. I didn’t reply. He continued. “That jerk kicked me out of the lesson yesterday, and banned me from going tomorrow, so I won’t see you then.”

I flinched at hearing him call him jerk. I didn’t understand why he hated him so much. “I know, I was there, remember?” I said bitterly.

“Of course. He kept looking at you throughout the lesson. I think it’s gonna be successful,” he said with a grin, rubbing the back of both hands together. I shook my head and looked away, luckily just as Mr Jones walked through the door. Good, I thought. Nate won’t be saying anything without the teacher stopping him.

Mr Jones was a man in his fifties, he was smart and seemed nice enough, though he was more strict than Mr James. Although, of course, that wasn’t the only difference that there was from him. I sniggered in my head as I compared my two art teachers… they’re so different from each other. One is young, good looking, and heck, sexy, and this one is, well, old. Poor guy.

I left the class in a rush after that, so I could avoid Nathan. To my dismay, I had noticed that it had started raining, and whereas at the beginning of Mr Jones’s lesson there was only a light drizzle, when I exited it had turned into a huge storm, and was raining heavily. Great, I thought. Just on the day when I decide to wear a new dress and sandals. I took a deep breath before I got out of school, and started to run towards the nearest bus stop, which was, well, far away.

I heard Nathan calling my name from behind me, but that only made me run more. Of course I didn’t have an umbrella, so I figured I would soon get drenched. The rain was still falling down heavily as I rushed, until I couldn’t run anymore and I had to stop to rest. I failed to realise, though, that where I was going to rest was in the middle of the road, just outside of school grounds. All of a sudden, lights appeared and a car honked, stopping right in front of me. I turned in shock and noticed who was driving. Uh-oh. Beth, or whatever her name was, and she looked angry.

 I raced to the side to let her pass and continued walking in the rain, slowly this time, and staring at the ground, so I wouldn’t have black mascara marks running down my face because of the rain. It was a huge surprise when I bumped into someone, who clearly had been in my way and even though I had mumbled a sorry, still didn’t move. I also noticed that it seemed to have stopped raining. I looked up in confusion, and then realisation.

Oh, I thought. Riiiight. Guess who?

Mr James was standing a few centimetres away from me, looking at me with a smirk. He was conveniently holding an umbrella which was blocking the rain for me as well. “We meet again,” he said in a low voice, which I had to admit, was pretty hot, especially in the rain. “Can you watch where you’re going next time?” he continued, and I looked down and smiled, saying nothing. I was still surprised that I had bumped into him yet again.

When he saw that he wasn’t going to get an answer from me, Mr James looked away, although a second later I felt his gaze on me once again. “Look at you, you’re drenched. Don’t you have an umbrella or…” He glanced at my shoes. “Sensible shoes, like maybe wellingtons?” I could hear the humour in his voice.

I chuckled. “No. It’s obvious, isn’t it?” The rain was still pouring down, and I could feel some of it splashing my feet. I needed to get out of here, as soon as possible. Okay, no more small talk with the guy whom I have to make fall for me. “I have to go,” I said.

Mr James shook his head. “There’s no way that I’m going to let you go home without an umbrella, and by bus.” What, was he going to give me his umbrella? And what about him? Wait, how did he know I went home by bus? Oh of course, I told him this morning, but I didn’t really expect him to remember.

“Why?” I asked.

“I care about you.”

I blushed. “Umm, thanks. So, what do you plan on doing?”

“I’m driving you home. My car’s right around the corner.”

I didn’t say anything and walked with him to his black and quite elegant car. Since the umbrella wasn’t big, we had to walk quite close to each other, but of course I didn’t mind. He opened the door for me and closed it behind me, and then walked onto the driver’s side.

Shit, I thought. My good-looking teacher, whom I’m supposed to get close to because Nathan had dared me to, is going to drive me home because he cares about me. Wow. I observed him as he sat on the driver’s seat, closed the umbrella and dumped it on the backseat, and closed the car door behind him. He turned to look at me. Ugh... I was pretty sure I looked like a moose that had just run for the Olympics. My hair was all wet and all over the place, and my make up was all smudged. Not to mention my dress, which was now stuck to me, and my dripping sandals. Damn.

“What were you thinking?” Mr James said, inching closer to me. He, of course, looked flawless. I regarded him with interest. His black shirt was barely wet, and I couldn’t see his trousers very well. The only sign that he had been in the rain was his hair, since it was a bit messy. But I still liked it.

“I couldn’t do anything else, could I? I have to get home somehow,” I defended myself. “And you? Why were you out of school and walking towards school?” I smirked.

He chuckled and ran his hands through his hair. “I went out to by something to eat, from outside of school. When I left, there were only a few light drops of rain falling, but then, whoosh.” He grinned.

“Okay,” I nodded, understanding. He smiled and kept on looking at me, not saying anything. I held onto his gaze for a while, until it started becoming uncomfortable, and I looked away, hiding my face behind my hands, realising that I must look horrendous right now.

“Why are you looking at me?” I asked him. “I look like a right mess today.”

He chuckled. “No you don’t, you look great.”

I peeped from behind my hands, satisfied that he was saying that. “Seriously? My make up’s a mess thanks to the rain, and I look like I had a fight with an elephant, and lost.”

He shook his head, still laughing, then grabbed hold of my wrists and put my hands down. His touch left a sting on my arm, something I’d never felt before. “You’re funny Ella,” he said, looking at me with a smile still on his lips. His gaze became more intense then as he still held on to my hand, and saw how surprised I looked. He dropped his hands and moved away slowly. Okay, awkward.

“I, er, think we should wait for the rain to calm down a little before I start driving,” he said after a moment of silence.

I nodded. “Sure. Thank you so much for doing this.”

He smiled at me. “You’re welcome. I couldn’t let you go home on your own, not in this weather.”

“Yeah, I appreciate that… but you’ve got to admit that it looks kinda weird, seeing a teacher in a car with a student,” I said.

He shook his head. “Nope. No one’s gonna care today, they probably won’t see us anyway because of the rain.”

Good point, I thought. I looked up at him, and noticed that he had been looking at me. He looked away. “Sorry for staring,” he mumbled.

I sniggered. “Why do you stare?” I asked.

He shrugged. “There’s nothing much to do right now, is there,” he said, more in the form of a statement than a question. He turned to fully face me. “Unless you have a better idea.” As soon as he said that, he seemed to regret it because he bit his lip. I’ve got to admit that I liked when he did that, and he actually seemed to do it quite a lot.

I smirked. “I’m sure we both have better ideas,” I said with a meaningful look.

He looked at me. “What?” he asked, though I’m sure he had understood. He chuckled once again. “Half the time I don’t know what you mean.”

“Either that, or you pretend not to know,” I said.

Mr James took a deep breath. “I’m your teacher therefore I have to keep my distance. It’s a weird relationship, the one a teacher has with his or her students.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

I didn’t say anything for a while, but then I decided to ask what had been triggering on my mind ever since I left the art room on that day. “Can I ask you something?” I said.

“Yep, go on.” He started the car slowly, seeing that the rain had decreased a little, and turned the heat on the air conditioner on.

“Are you married?”

The look that he gave me was of disbelief. “What?” he asked. Ugh, this guy asked a lot of questions.

“I asked if you’re married.”

“I know… I just didn’t know if-“ he paused and started driving away from the school slowly. “No, I’m not married.” I heaved a sigh of relief. His eyes turned to me. “Why?” he asked accusingly.

I snorted. “You’re asking me that?” I said.

He nodded in understanding. I guess he figured it out that I liked him, or at least, I was pretending to. I didn’t really like him, of course. “So you’re not married…” I said.

He shook his head. “Nope, never was.”

“And Beth’s your girlfriend?”

He chuckled for the millionth time. “You ask a lot of questions. Now, where do you live?”

I explained to him exactly the place where I live and he nodded, seeming to know, although for some reason he looked troubled. He continued driving in silence and I didn’t say anything else, figuring that I’d already said too much.

He broke the silence just when we entered into the street that I lived in, saying, “Yes, Beth’s my girlfriend.”

“Great,” I said.

He laughed. “Get over it, Ella.”

It was my turn to feel confused now. “Get over what?”

“Whatever crush you have on me, lose it now.”

Was he serious? I said indignantly, “I don’t have a crush on you! Who the hell do you think you are?”

He stopped the car in front of the block of apartments which I live in and looked at me. “I am your teacher, my dear, which is exactly why I’m saying this to you.”

What? Teacher? My dear? He’s one weird guy. I shook my head. “I never said anything to you. And if you feel like that, you shouldn’t have insisted on driving me home, I’m capable of getting the bus.” With those words, I started to open the door. I heard him sigh and felt him grip my arm.

“Ella, wait.”

I turned to look at him. He was looking at me intently, his beautiful blue eyes boring right into mine. He moved closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my skin, and smell his cologne. My stupid brain started wondering how on earth did he still smell so great after a long day at school.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have said that, I totally judged you.” He inched closer once again, so that now our lips were almost touching. This is it, I thought. It’s happening so soon. He was still looking at me, but his gaze was now lowered to my lips. I couldn’t breathe as I observed all of this. He closed his eyes, and suddenly moved away abruptly. He shook his head. “I’m so sorry,” he said. He let go of my arm, and sat up in his seat. “This is crazy. Um, so, here’s where you live, r-right?” he stuttered. I nodded, still unable to say anything.

I opened the car door and turned to mumble a “thanks”. He smiled at me, and I was about to leave when he called me once again. Urghh, what now?

“I think you’d like to know that I live just around the corner,” he said, looking at me diffidently.

WHAT? 

I hope you liked it :) I would really appreciate feedback from you so I'd know if I'm writing it in the right way. What do you like so far? Thank you for reading it, please vote and comment! 

 The photo on the side is of Mr James.