“No problem,although I must say that that sofa is really uncomfortable. Maybe it's time I buy a new one,” he said jokingly.
I put the fork down and looked at him,
“I'm sorry,you should have left me there.”
I said, feeling guilty that he had to sleep uncomfortably because of me.
“What? Oh no. I would have never done that. So are you ready?” He asked.
“Yes,we can go,” I said as I rose up.
I looked at his apartment before I went out and wondered if I would ever return there. I felt sad at the thought that probably I wouldn't. I got in his car and after about half an hour we were in front of Lucy's house. I hadn't said a word during the drive and Tyler kept glancing at me without saying anything. When we arrived, he looked at me and caressed my face and then said.
“See you soon at school Casy.”
I smiled at him and then I opened the door and before I got out I turned around.
“Tyler or maybe better Mr Spencer, thanks for all you did for me this night,” I said.
“My pleasure,” he replied.
We looked at each other and then I got out. He waved at me and then left. I kept looking at his car until it disappeared. Just then I saw Lucy running towards me.
“Cas, I saw you from the window. Oh my God so you were really with him. I can't believe it but weren't you suppose to be with Julian? What happened and why are you are dressed like that?" She asked looking curiously at my clothes. "Are those Mr Spencer's clothes? She asked with amusement. I knew exactly what was going through her mind.
“Good morning to you as well,” I said laughing.
“Come on. I've been waiting all night. I couldn't even sleep. Let's go in, I want to know all the details.”She said grabbing my arm and dragging me inside. I took a seat in the kitchen while Lucy prepared two cups of tea. Then she sat down near me and I told her everything. Starting with what happened with Julian.
“What a bastard. Oh my God I can't believe that he left you there alone in the dark, you must have been terrified,” she said hugging me.“ I can't believe Mr Spencer was in the club and passed from there just in time to save you. It wasn't a coincidence, I'm sure,” she concluded.
“I know and I told him.”
"You did?” she asked surprised.
“Yes but he denied and when I insisted he just dropped the subject,” I said taking a sip of my tea.
“So he took you home with him?"
She asked looking at me smirking. “And what happened during the night?” She asked all excited.
"I'm still a virgin if it is that what you're asking,” I saw disappointment on her face. Knowing her probably she had already wrote a soap opera in her mind of all the things I did with him.“But-” I paused to take another sip of tea.
"Oh there's a but, come on continue.”She said with a grin on her face.
I smiled as I told her about me being femme fatale or at least trying to be,about my seduction tactics and all.
“Oh my God Cassy,you're mad,” she laughed. “But you have courage , I would have never done it for sure and with a teacher. So you kissed him?” She asked excited.
“Only briefly,” I replied.
“And now,what happens? I mean it is obvious that he wants you but is resisting because of his job and all.”
That was something I wanted to know as well. Now what was going to happen? How are we going to act after this night, will he continue to behave as if this night never happened?
“I don't know. I really want to be with him but I don't think he will ever risk it for me. Maybe I should stop here," I said sadly. Just the idea that I will never be with him killed me.
“What? No not now that you're so close.”
“Close to what Luc? He's playing with me, he considers me just a girl that falls for him every time she sees him. This gives him pleasure,he likes attention but that's all.”I said.
Lucy rose to her feet. “No you're wrong,if that was the case, why was he there yesterday? He knew you were going to be there because he heard you talking with Julian,” she said seriously.
“Oh I don't know. I don't want to think about it right now. It's nearly eight Luc,maybe it's better if I change quickly and we leave now so we can take it easy. I don't want to think anymore about Mr Spencer,” I said as I got up and grabbed the bag with clothes I had left at Lucy's house.
“Sorry to delude you but he will be in front of you within half an hour! Cas?”
“What?” I asked as I took out the clothes and walked towards the bathroom to get changed.
“Have you forgotten about the kiss he gave you during the ball?” She asked.
“What? You still think it's him,” I said as I entered the bathroom and began to get changed.
“Sure and you know that too. He loves you Cas,maybe you should just change tactic,” she suggested.
“What can I do more than I already did?”I asked her.
“Make him jealous,ignore him,make him want you,” she said. I looked at the mirror and then went out.
“I won't do anything, if he wants me he has to do something about it".
We walked to school and we arrived there just in time. As soon as I entered the door I saw Julian. I was going to walk back out. I didn't want to see him but he came near me and grabbed my wrist.
“Cas, please I need to talk to you,” he said. He was in a terrible state,his face looked tired. Probably he didn't sleep much.
“I don't want to talk to you, leave me alone,” I shouted as I tried to release my hand from his grip.
“You heard her, go away Jul. You're a bastard you know that.” Snapped Lucy as she came to my deference.
“Please Cas, just a minute OK. Then I promise I will let you go,” he pleaded.
I sighed.“Fine a minute no more,” I said while I walked towards the corner. Lucy waited for me near the door.
“So, I'm waiting,” I said nervously as we were alone.
“Forgive me, I was drunk. You know I wouldn't have done that to you if I was sober. I have always respected you.”He said.
I shot him an angry look. “What? Respected me? You knew I didn't want to have sex with you and you kept insisting?!” I retorted angrily.
“But I love you. I mean isn't it natural to want to be intimate with the person you love?” He asked sadly.
“Yeah, the problem is that I don't love you OK. And after all you did to me I don't want to see you again. Thank your lucky stars that I didn't report you to the police.”
He looked at me in terror, his face got pale. “Police? You.. you didn't?”
“No but just because nothing happened to me. My God you left me there alone.”I said harshly.
“I returned to pick you up but you were gone. How did you manage to come back?”He asked.
“It's none of your business. I was lucky,” I said as I was going to walk away from him. The bell was going to ring soon, and I didn't have anything else to say to him.
“Cas please don't leave me," he said as he grabbed my arm. " I really love you. I promise I won't force you to have sex with me unless you want it. Please this will never happen again,” he was crying now.
I was sorry for him but I couldn't stay with him. I was still angry at him and I knew I could never love him.
“I'm sorry,I can't stay with you. I don't love you,” I repeated steadily.
His face saddened.“You love someone else?” He asked weakly.
“No, but it's better this way OK?Jul don't try to contact me or anything,it's over.”
He looked at me, still holding my hand.
“Can I just hug you please?”He asked me.
“No.. I-.”
He ignored my reply and grabbed me in his arms and hugged me tight. For a minute I had felt the feelings of the day before,terror and disgust. I froze for a second as I relived the terrible scene and then I pushed him away from me with all my strength.
“Don't you ever come near me again.”I yelled.“For
get about me please.”
I walked hurriedly near Lucy and when I looked at her face I knew something had happened. She looked worried.
“What is it Lucy?” I asked anxious.
“He saw you,” she said quietly.
I felt my stomach twisting.“Who?”
“Mr Spencer, he saw you hugging Julian and seemed rather angry,” she told me.
Colour drained from my face, I hope he didn't jump to the wrong conclusion.
“What? But I didn't hug him. He did,we're finished. I left him Lucy for good.”
“Good,let's go we have English. Hope he's all right. You should have seen his face when he saw you with Julian. I thought he was going to come and punch him but he just walked away.”
“Well I'll explain everything during Art. Lucy maybe it's better if you go, I still have to get a book from my locker. Tell him I'll be a little late,” I said whilst I ran quickly to my locker.
I got to the classroom exactly 5 minutes late. I was trembling while I grabbed the door handle. I opened quietly and as soon as I met his gaze I knew something was wrong. He was angry.
“You're late!!” He snapped.
“I..I'm sorry but it's only 4 minutes,” I said.
"It's 5 minutes and I don't care. Next time I won't let you in!” He said angrily. “Now sit down so I can continue with the lesson.”
I went near Lucy and..
“I was right he saw you with Julian and he's jealous,” she whispered.
“I don't know Luc..I..”
He was in front of me.
"Will you shut up? If you don't want to do the lesson you shouldn't have bothered to come!” He shouted at me.
I blushed and said nothing. I felt awful. Why was he shouting at me? What was wrong with him? I couldn't believe this was the same man I was with a few hours earlier. It seemed he had a multiple personality disorder. He had been so gentle with me,he had prepared me breakfast, he had caressed my face and now he seemed another person. Was he really jealous? We continued the lesson and then he gave us some classwork to do. Then he called Grace, one of my class mates and
asked her to give us back the homework he had marked.
“Yey!” I heard Lucy say. “Cas,I got a B,” she said happily.
I was still waiting for mine. Finally Grace came near me and she looked at me with an evil smile.
“What are you smiling at?” I asked her. I knew she never liked me,she always wanted to be the first of the class but I always managed to do better than her in the exams.
“You know Cas, looking with dreamy eyes at Mr Spencer isn't helping you much,” she said sarcastically. I gave her a hated look.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped.
She smiled again and then gave me back my essay. I grabbed it and looked at the mark,and my jaw dropped, I got a D. I couldn't believe it.
“Cas what's wrong?” Lucy asked me.
“He gave me a D,this is too much. I worked on this essay for hours and he gave me a D," I repeated astonished.
"What a bastard,he can't do this to me just because he's angry with me” I said angrily as I stood up.
“Cas where are you going?” She asked concerned.
“To confront him. I'm fed up, he can't punish me like this. The marks have nothing to do with what's going on.”
“Wait Cas,don't do it please.”Lucy pleaded trying to stop me but I ignored her, I was too angry. I went in front of him and I slammed down the the paper on his desk. He looked at me surprised initially but then the look in his eyes changed to anger.
“Is there a problem Cas?” He asked with a coolness I'm sure he didn't feel.
“You know there's a problem. Why the hell did you give me a D?” I yelled.
I didn't care that all my class mates were looking at us.
“I worked on it for hours. I did research and-”
“Miss Hastley are you saying that I don't know how to do my markings? Well probably you're right. For that rubbish an E was more appropriate!!”He retorted.
I saw Grace chuckling. I felt my face burning with rage. I looked at him straight in the eye.
“Rubbish?” I shouted.
"Cassy go and sit down and I pretend that you didn't come here and shouted at me,” he ordered.
“No this is not fair,you're angry with me so you gave me a bad mark,you're a jerk,” I shouted again. I saw anger flicker in his eyes. Everyone was looking at us trying to understand the significance of my words. He looked at me and then stood up,we were at eye level.
“Get out of my class!”He yelled.
“What?”
“You heard, out now!! And when you have calmed down tell me so I can explain why you got a D, OK?”
I was going to cry. He looked at me and for a moment his gaze softened. I went out without saying another word and sat down on the floor in the corridor. Why was he treating me like that?
After a while I heard the door opening and then close again,it was him.
“Get up and come back inside,” he said.
“No, you've been angry with me all morning and it's not because of that essay there's something else!” I cried.
“Cassy this is not the place and time to discuss certain things, get up and come inside. I don't want Mr Daniels to see you here.”
I got up and obeyed. I went near Lucy again.
“Are you OK Cas?”She whispered. “Yes,” I said quietly.
I wasn't,he was still looking at me but then he grabbed the book we were reading and began to discuss about the various themes.
“Cas?”
“What Luc,please let's talk about this later. He's already angry enough with me ,OK?” I asked
“Yes sorry.”
“Miss Hastley!” He said.
Oh my God not again please can't he just leave me alone today?
“Since you seem to have a lot to say can you come out here and give us a good explanation about the theme. I'll take your seat and for a few minutes you shall be the teacher,” he said sarcastically.
I looked at Lucy,she smiled weakly. I stood up and went near his desk while he sat down on my chair.
“So Miss Hastley,illuminate us. What do you think about betrayal?” He asked me.
“Betrayal?” I asked confused not knowing what he was talking about.
“Yes,in the story the main character Lorraine after she does all the she can to make Jason fall for her, after she tried to seduce him,to make him hers, she returns with her stupid fiance who treats her like a slut. Does that make her a traitor or a whore?” He asked looking at me straight in the eye.
“I... I...” for a moment I was stuck. Was he really talking about the story? Or in his words there was another significance, a hidden one which only I could understand?
“Sir,technically Justin wasn't her fiance. More sort of a boyfriend and I wouldn't call a kiss seducing.”Grace retorted.
“I didn't ask for your opinion Grace!” He snapped. “Come on Cassidy I'm still waiting,” he said.
“She didn't betray him,that's what he wants to think and he's stupid!” I saw rage in his face.
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