Chapter Nineteen
"I need advice," Hannah declared as soon as I'd opened the door to let her into my house. "Help me."
I chuckled. From the small quirk in her lips I knew it was nothing too serious, but my interest had been piqued. "We're watching in my room since my mum's in," I ignored her request for a moment. "Meg's already here. I hope you brought your nomination for DVD because I really don't want to watch Bridesmaids again."
Hannah groaned. "Why does she bring that to every single movie night?"
I smirked. "Ask her. I'm convinced it's just the only DVD she owns."
In my bedroom, Meg had made herself comfortable on my double bed, stealing all the pillows and the covers. I fixed her with a flat look. "Move."
"But I'm so comfy," she whined childishly. "You guys can just sit on the floor.” The fact I had a double bed in a tiny room meant there was barely enough space for me to walk, never mind sit for the whole of a movie.
Hannah and I shared a look before diving onto the bed and grabbing pillows and settling in either side of her. Now squashed between us, Meg grimaced. "And you're not even going to let me watch Bridesmaids.”
"Hannah is in need of advice," I explained to a now disgruntled Meg.
"Ooo, is it something interesting?" She questioned eagerly. "There's not been enough juicy gossip recently."
Hannah bit her lip before blurting, "I kissed the Scottish guy."
Meg and I shared a surprised look. "You're still with Mike though, right?"
She groaned. "That's the problem."
Meg smirked. "Well was the kiss good? How did it happen?"
"It was amazing," Hannah gushed. "He came round to my house because we're doing a group project together in physics and we were just talking and stuff, having a laugh, it was all normal. Then he just kind of blurted that he liked me and I was shocked, I mean, I didn't think he'd thought about me like that, it was so cute how embarrassed he looked."
"Boooring," Meg drawled. "Get to the hot details."
Hannah grinned. "Well then we kissed. And of course we were on the bed where we'd be revising and we may have done a bit more than just kissing, but no sex. And yes, it was very hot," she teased, beaming.
"So what about Mike?" I was forced to put a slight downer on the whole situation. "Does this guy know you have a boyfriend?"
"His name's Ewan by the way," Hannah informed us. "And no, he doesn't. I'm going to break up with Mike, though." Her tone was resolute, but Hannah had never been decisive. "It's just not working and I know it was awful to cheat, I'm going to feel so guilty when I see him, but it's the right thing to break up."
I couldn't really argue with her, especially after what Ollie and I had done, even if that wasn't really my fault. They weren't together anymore, anyway. I tried desperately not to show how much that made me cheer mentally. I was in far too deep with Ollie.
"Now Meg's got someone you need to get back out there, Maddie," Hannah teased. "You can have Mike if you want."
I snorted. "You've not done a very good job of selling him so far," I joked back, hoping that I'd skilfully dodged the main point of her statement effectively.
"But seriously Maddie, all you talked about last year was Connor. Haven't you got someone new?" Hannah inquired, beginning to flick through my small collection of films. I was momentarily horrified. Surely I hadn't been as bad as Meg and I always joked about Hannah being. I dreaded to think what my company had been like.
"Not really," I lied, ignoring Meg's annoyingly smug look. "Besides, after I slept with Connor it kind of made it harder to get over him." The fact it had actually had the opposite effect was kind of worrying.
"I suppose.”
"She's too busy crushing on her English teacher." Meg couldn't help but chime in, not even attempting to hide her shit-eating grin. She just loved to make me miserable.
"He is fairly dreamy," Hannah sighed, thankfully not even reading any more into it. "It's really making me wish I'd taken English."
I chuckled. "It wouldn't be worth it because of how frustrated you'd get at not having a 'right answer'."
Hannah scowled. "Yeah, I still have no idea how you can enjoy maths and English."
"Agreed," Meg coincided. "Now, let's get on with picking a DVD that isn't going to be Bridesmaids, despite what an epically awesome and uplifting film it is."
“Horror!” I called immediately. “It’s the only genre.”
Two groans sounded from either sound of me. “Why are you so sadistic?” Meg complained. “I just want something nice and cheerful. Can we at least compromise on something a little bit funny?”
“Scary Movie 3?” I asked hopefully. That was a favourite.
“Okay,” Hannah conceded. “I actually quite like that one.”
“I’m going to see if there’s popcorn,” I announced, clambering from under the covers and knowing that my spot wasn’t still going to be there when I got back.
“You invited us over for movie night and you don’t even know if there’s popcorn?” Meg cried in outrage. “What are you?”
I cackled and headed downstairs. I was fairly sure we had popcorn. At least I hoped we did, otherwise I’d be just as irritated as Meg.
My mum was making a cup of tea in the kitchen when I went to sift through the cupboards. “It feels like ages since I’ve seen Meg and Hannah. They seem just as lively as ever.”
I flushed slightly. “You can come and tell us off if we’re disturbing you.”
She smiled. “No, it’s fine. It’s nice to see you all so happy, so I don’t mind.”
My expression faltered slightly as I considered whether I wanted to risk ruining her seemingly good mood. It was important to know. “Have you spoken to Nick since Tuesday?” I asked reluctantly.
Her face changed quizzical. “Actually, he had a sudden change of heart,” She confessed. “I meant to tell you, but I just think it’s a bit too good to be true.”
It certainly sounded like it. But maybe my dad had been more threatening than I’d been anticipating. More likely was that he’d either had a weapon that had been scary, or his friends had made up for the fear-factor he was lacking. Either way, I was more than happy that he’d apparently come through on his promise.
“He probably realised that raising a daughter wasn’t actually on his list of priorities.” I tried to ignore the stab of guilt. I didn’t like lying to my mother. I could accept that it was for the greater good when it came to going out and doing drugs, because it would save her worrying unnecessarily. This was something important, though. She was involved in this. And it was more that I felt like I should tell her I knew the truth about my dad.
My mother chuckled. “Don’t hold your breath, but I’m oddly optimistic.”
I beamed, despite her warning. I knew more about the situation than her, so I could be more than hopeful that he’d been properly scared away from her. “Me too,” I agreed, retrieving a two bags of toffee popcorn. “Anyway, I’m going to watch this film, I’ll try to keep them a little bit quiet.”
“Have fun sweetie,” my mother laughed in response, her head disappearing into the fridge to retrieve the milk as I exited the room.
“You got an e-mail,” Meg traded the popcorn for my phone as I shoved my way back into the bed, feeling like I was precariously close to falling off if anyone made any sudden movements.
I allowed Hannah to start the DVD playing whilst I checked my phone. I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t some boring spam like I’d been expecting. I bit my lip and grinned. “I got an interview at Newcastle!” I exclaimed to my friends.
“That’s great,” they chimed together, their timing nowhere near as good as in the movies. “When is it?” Hannah inquired.
“Two weeks,” I read from the e-mail. "15th November. Wow, have we really been at school two months already?"
Meg chuckled. "Yeah, it's gone surprisingly fast, but at least we have next week off for half term. Party all day and all night."
; I groaned and made myself playfully acknowledge that my body probably couldn't take that. Internally, I worried whether this meant Meg's 'staying away from it for a while' had only really meant this weekend.
"Seriously though, Rob invited me to this party on the Wednesday where I'm not going to know anyone and he said I could bring friends so it wouldn't be awkward. Are you guys interested?" She gave us big sad eyes and I rolled mine.
"I'm always interested in a big party, Meg," I teased in reply, hiding my apprehension well.
"I will if I'm not doing anything else," Hannah assured Meg. "You know what my parents are like in the holidays."
"How are you going to get there?" We didn't mind talking over the film. We'd seen it so many times that it was easy to pick up from wherever we started watching again from.
I shrugged, Ollie's offer immediately popping into my head. "I'll probably get the train, if my mum can't take me."
“Just a shame a certain attractive teacher couldn’t just take you again,” Hannah chuckled. “You never told me much about that by the way. Did nothing interesting happen at all?”
I refused to meet Meg’s eyes and share the knowing look she wanted to give me. “Not really,” I dismissed. “I met his sister, but that was about it. She was nice. She’s doing journalism, so that was pretty interesting.” I should tell Hannah, really, but the thought of having to go through the pain of explaining everything was a bit too much to handle right now.
Hannah pulled a face. “Boring,” She dismissed. “I was hoping he’d tell you some juicy details about his life.”
As if by magic, my phone buzzed and I subtly hid it beside my leg as I saw Ollie’s name flash across the screen. I smirked as I read it.
I refuse to give you full marks on this essay. Did you copy this off the internet or something?
I’m just that good. I quickly replied, being able to picture perfectly the way he’d roll his eyes at my response. I suppose it had turned out that us having each other’s numbers wasn’t necessarily a good thing. This was all going to come to some kind of messy end soon, I was sure. It was just the way something illegal always ended. Ollie and I wouldn’t ever work. But for now, I was surprisingly happy to play along with this happy supposed friendship we had going on. I was going to make the most of it before he decided he didn’t want me risking his career. I definitely wasn’t worth it.
Chapter Twenty
Now that it had come around, I was actually looking forward to this party far more than I'd thought I would. Having spent the first half of my holidays struggling through coursework and working as many extra shifts as I could get my hands on, this was a welcome break.
Hannah, Meg and I stood awkwardly outside the door, debating whether we should knock or not. We'd decided to come a bit later since we didn't know anyone, but that had caused this problem. "I know, I'll call Rob and get him to come and let us in."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," She dismissed. "We're just going in. If this party's as wild as you've made out no one will notice anyway.
I opened my mouth to argue that they might, but Hannah had already opened the door and so we followed reluctantly. It would be fine when I was out of it, but at the beginning of parties I always had a bit of anxiety. Especially when I didn't know anyone.
We filtered our way through the rooms looking for Rob, but all of our eyes widened when we noticed a different familiar face. "Oh my God, it's Mr. Wright," Hannah acknowledged with shock.
"Oh my God, he has stubble," I breathed, completely enjoying the fact that he was even sexier than before.
Meg and Hannah both laughed at me and that was when he noticed, his face falling slightly as he moved away from the guy he was speaking to come and talk to us. "Erm, hey," he greeted awkwardly.
"Hi," Meg beamed at him. I became acutely aware of Hannah's presence, though. She had no idea about Ollie and I. "What are you doing here?"
"My friend was invited and I was dragged along," he explained, eyes sweeping my body subtly.
"Same," Hannah and I chorused.
I frowned and studied his face. "Have you done anything?" I asked him. This was supposedly a massive drugfest party and I knew Ollie wasn't opposed to it.
"I did some research chemical that Jake gave me," he explained. "It hasn't hit me yet though, I only got here about ten minutes ago."
I rolled my eyes. "It's a good job you're not a chemistry teacher." Research chemicals weren't exactly known for being the safest things. "And did Jake bring it, or is it just what the drug of the evening is?"
"Jake brought it." He explained, then frowned. "You want some?"
"Yeah," I allowed. I turned back to my friends. Hannah still looked completely gob smacked. If the fact we’d just had a civil conversation about drugs wasn’t suspicious enough, I wasn’t sure what it would take to give the game away. Meg just looked amused. "You guys want some?"
Hannah shook her head. "We're going camping tomorrow so I don't want to be really depressed. I'm just going to drink."
"Rob got me some E," Meg informed me.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go and get some of this stuff. Lead the way," I told Ollie, deciding it was best to get away from Hannah as quickly as possible.
"I'm pretty sure I should report you for this, or something," Ollie complained as we walked off. I wondered if he was secretly glad that I was here. His expression didn't give much away, though.
"I'm pretty sure I would be the one reporting you."
"Touché," Ollie murmured. "She has no idea, does she?"
"Nope," I popped the p. "And I don't want her to, so you're going to have to try and restrain yourself," I teased. "And you really must be desperate to go out if you've resorted to a teenager's house party."
Ollie laughed. "Actually, this is definitely an adult house party. I'm pretty sure you're the only teenagers here."
"Oh," I didn't even realise adults had house parties. "So what does this thing you're giving me do?"
He shrugged. "Jake says it's like a mix between Mandy and LSD."
"Sounds pretty fun," I agreed. "Sorry if being here has made this awkward."
"Actually, I'm kind of glad you are, since I don't know anyone apart from Jake and Harry. And we always have fun, too."
I beamed as I spotted Jake sat on the sofa with some girl. He raised an eyebrow when he recognised me. "Maddie," he greeted with a grin. "Nice to see you again."
I chuckled. He was loving this and Ollie's pleasant expression turned to a grimace. He was apparently the equivalent of a Meg. "You too," I replied, amused by Ollie's discomfort.
"She wants drugs," Ollie told him bluntly.
Jake smirked. "Don't worry, I didn't think I had a chance. Does this mean more of your students are here?"
"Only two. One of them knows what happened between Ollie and I and one doesn't. So please don't say anything stupid." I pleaded.
Jake had a wicked look on his face. "That means I can flirt with you all night and Ollie won't be able to say anything, right?"
I found myself sharing his grin. "I suppose it does."
Ollie groaned. "Really?"
"Here's the stuff," he passed me a small pill and then his beer to swig it down with. "It's on me. I got loads for free so I don't want any money."
"Oh cool, thanks."
Ollie and I left after that, since Jake was happy occupying himself with the girl's company for the time being. "I'm fairly sure we're not allowed to hang out without it looking weird until we're at least a little bit fucked." I teased as we meandered back down the stairs towards the kitchen.
"Yes, I know. I just gave you drugs, don’t you think that’s suspicious enough?" Ollie and I both knew Hannah had to be thinking there was something weird about that. "I'm going to find Harry anyway. He's bound to be around here somewhere."
We entered the living room together and I was surprised to see Harry on the sofa with Hannah, Meg and another guy I presumed to be Rob. Harry's eyes widened when he saw me. "Hi
, Maddie," he greeted in surprise. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. I bet Ollie wasn't either."
Both of our expressions warned him not to say anything more. "Oh, yeah, me neither. I came with Meg and Hannah."
"Right," he acknowledged, realisation setting in. "They seem cool, anyway."
I chuckled. He looked so tempted to say something incriminating. There was no room left on the couch so Ollie and I were forced to take the one on the other side of the room which was unoccupied.
***
“This is too weird.” Hannah had drank far too much by now, but apparently still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that Ollie was here. Because of that, it meant we hadn't really spoken much tonight, despite the glances we gave each other that I was sure hadn't been too subtle. “Maybe I'm actually kind of glad that he's not my teacher now I've seen him like this.”
Her Teacher's Temptation Page 15