| torn up

~ chapter 24 ☁️

I know exactly where I know her from from now, she's Piper's hot, Italian one night stand.

And according to what sounds to be the combined noise of choking/gasping from behind me, so does someone else.

I peer back, searching for the source of the noise along with everyone else. The whole class is silent for a second as all eyes settle on a red faced Asha who coughs once more to clear her throat before smiling nervously at the new found attention.

'Sorry about that, aha. Went down the wrong pipe if you know what I mean.' She abashedly says, trying to laugh it off and gesturing to the half empty water bottle in her left hand.

Someone lets out an awkward snigger at her explanation before soon people seem to lose interest, returning their gazes back towards the teachers. I remain staring at her for a few further moments though, both of us gawping in shock and shaking our heads in disbelief when our eyes meet. Our stunned gazes then fly over to Piper to gauge her reaction however the brown eyed girl is sitting with her head completely down. Her blond hair is falling in waves around her face, framing it in a way that means we can hardly even see it from our positions.

I desperately want her to lift her head so we can at least try and see what's going through her mind but she remains in that stance. And judging by how stiff her posture is, it's likely she's been like that for the last few minutes and intends to remain so until Miss Neroni leaves. After a few seconds, I give up and face back to the front when I realise she's obviously trying to hide.

While Mrs Kennedy is scolding a few students for wolf whistling at Miss Neroni during her greeting, I switch my attention to the other woman.

Judging from how laidback and relaxed she's seemed since the moment she walked in, I doubt she's recognised Piper yet-especially with the way Piper is purposefully trying to hide her face. Will she even recognise her though? Just because Piper recognises her doesn't mean she will too. But then again even if she was drunk out of her mind in the club, she still had to wake up the next day and leave Piper's house so I'm sure she definitely would have seen her face then.

Either way I'd bet money that she will be able to recognise Piper when  she eventually sees her, well I mean I would if I wasn't a broke teenager that is.

'Carry on, please Miss  Neroni.' Mrs Kennedy says, nodding encouragingly for her to continue when she finally gets everyone to be quiet.

'Hello, everyone. As you must be able to tell from my accent and name, I'm from Italy and this will be my first job teaching here. I'm looking forward to being your teacher while Mrs Kennedy is gone and I hope you'll all welcome me with open arms.' She beams confidently, ending with a bright smile that I'm sure is returned by the majority of us too.

'Don't worry, Miss Neroni. We'll definitely be sure to welcome you. In fact I'll give you a bit of advice now, make sure you hide your biscuits in the staff room because I've heard that apparently Mr Staxen is quite the greedy beggar.' Calls a girl's voice from the back of the classroom.

'Yes, that is very true, despite how passionately he might try to deny it- Wait. Wait a second, how do you know that, Molly?' Mrs Kennedy begins to relaxedly exclaim, nodding her head in agreement until she suddenly seems to snap out of it and realises who just said that.

'I have my ways.' Molly mysteriously brags back, shrugging and tapping her nose as if the way she got this information is some top secret.

Mrs Kennedy just rolls her eyes at the female student, seemingly fed up with our class already but I see the way her uneasy gaze lingers in her direction for a few seconds. It's like she's trying to figure out how exactly the younger girl knew about Mr Staxen's apparent reputation as resident biscuit stealer in the staff room.

'Well thanks, I guess I'll be making sure to hide my digestives when I start then. Any other inside tips I should know before I have to head back to my introduction tour?' Miss Neroni laughs, eyes searching the class in an amused fashion.

'I'd stay away from someone called Mr Fisher if I were you.' Jarvis's deep voice ominously pipes up.

I swear that boy cannot go a single class without having to make some cheeky remark that almost aways ends up riling someone up.

'Is that so? How come?' Miss Neroni asks cautiously in curiosity, looking a little worried as she looks over to Mrs Kennedy for more information.

Mrs Kennedy looks equally as confused however, head tiled towards Jarvis in seemingly vague interest. And I laugh inwardly when I see she seems to be torn as to whether or not to warn him already. She knows that Jarvis loves to play the class clown but also seems to want in on the juicy details of our school gossip.

'Go anywhere within 10 feet of him for any reason not related to teaching and the secretory will probably think you're trying to seduce him and so you'll most likely end up with a stiletto in your car wheel by the end of the day.' The younger boy calmly states as if he's telling his account of some b-list drama he watched on the telly last night.

'Right, I think now is the time to move on.' Mrs Kennedy smiles awkwardly, looking startled at his hypothesis and sending him a pointed look to stop.

'Oh, I see. Are- Are they a couple here?' Miss Neroni hushedly and hesitantly asks the pregnant woman, her quiet tone telling us she isn't sure whether she should be asking that question but still seeming interested in the answer regardless.

Mrs Kennedy who must be aware of the rumour considering her reaction and the fact everyone's been talking it recently, seems to anticipate Jarvis's response. I watch as she quickly opens her mouth to explain before the teenager can interject.

'I'll explain later.' She says under her breath to the Italian woman, giving her a look that screams 'it's complicated' before eventually turning her attention back to us.

'Okay, I don't think Miss Neroni needs to hear that kind-'

'Nah, she's just his side piece he's screwing on the low.' Jarvis suddenly loudly replies, sounding extremely proud of himself.

'Jarvis!' Mrs Kennedy yells in astonishment, red faced in anger at his words.

'What?'

'What have I told you about being respectful?' She screeches incredulously as if she can't quite believe he actually just said that.

'I was! I was trying to welcome her and help her to navigate her new workplace. How is that anything but not being respectful?' He sasses back, trying to be a smart arse.

And the worst thing is he doesn't even say it cockily like you'd expect, instead he says it determinedly like he genuinely believes in his argument.

'That's it. Out, now!' She bellows, gesturing wildly towards the door to get him to leave.

'But I didn't even do anything.' He tries to protest, scoffing in disbelief that he's being threatened to be kicked out the second time today- only this time it's not just a mere threat anymore.

'Out!'

Mrs Kennedy is adamant. And pausing to take a look at her now, I am starting to see just how  furious she really is. She stands with her jaw clenched in rage and her eyes uncharacteristically fierce, and she actually looks like she could just choke Jarvis any moment now. It's such a scarily different contrast to the friendly demeanour she usually wears. But of course, this doesn't seem to discourage Jarvis who doesn't look the least bit intimidated.

'I didn't even do anything, man.' He moodily retorts back, still rebelliously lounging in his seat and not making any signs of standing up to leave anytime soon.

We're all expecting to hear an equally as angry response back from Mrs Kennedy which is why everyone looks up in question to our biology teacher a second later when there's no reply back.

Mrs Kennedy is still in the same position as before but this time she's standing shakily and clutching onto the door as if she can't quite stand on her own. Her eyes are wide and mouth open with her previously red face seeming to have dramatically paled in a just a few seconds.

It's only when she looks up in urgency towards us, face full of fear and breathing heavily that I finally spot the small puddle of liquid around her feet.

'Oh, shit. I think my water's broken.'