I Fell For You At The Cemetery

04.

04

"Man! You're gonna agree with me when you see her," Collin exclaimed that day at lunch. "She's hot. Well, not that much but dude, she's hot for a teacher!"

"No shit," said Derek, his blue eyes wide as he listened to Collin go on about the new English teacher. "I can't wait for class now."

Joey who was sitting from across the both of them rolled his eyes and looked away. They were sitting at their regular table in the cafeteria and if Collin talking non-stop about Sarah wasn't annoying enough then the fact that Chloe sitting next to him, with her arm constantly touching his only added to Joey's discomfort.

Chloe, however, was the only one beside him who seemed to be annoyed at Collin too. "Collin, just shut the fuck up!" She said as she watched him open his mouth to say something yet again and Joey was secretly thankful. "We don't give a shit about the new teacher, okay? It's not as if she's a model or anything."

Collin raised an eyebrow. "What's gotten your panties in a twist?"

Joey coughed, with a smirk on his face. "Periods."

Chloe turned to glare at him, her dark eyes flashing. "Shut up," she snapped, which only caused the three guys to snigger.

She groaned. "Ugh! I can't understand why we're talking about her in the first place. Honestly, she seems like such a slut."

Joey's laughter was cut short at her sentence and he frowned at Chloe. "That's a little harsh judgement, don't ya think?"

"No, I don't," she said to him. "She was clearly enjoying all the attention you stupid guys were giving her. If you ask me, the only reason she got this job is because she's a cougar and she can't wait to get laid."

Joey's jaw clenched at her words and both Collin and Derek's faces turned serious too but she didn't stop here.

"Maybe she even slept with Principal Haley in order to-"

"If you know what's good for you, you'd better shut up," Joey interrupted her, his green eyes glaring daggers at Chloe and she faced him.

"If I don't want to, there's nothing you can do to make me," she said, with her chin out.

Joey stood up abruptly and with a swift movement of his hand, he pushed his food tray away and sent it flying across the table. Collin and Derek ducked in order to avoid the tray that landed behind them on the ground with a clanking sound. They looked up at Joey with surprised expressions including Chloe.

Joey didn't say anything as he walked away from the table and out of the cafeteria, his expression twisted in anger. Chloe really had crossed the line back there.

----

"How was your day? You didn't break anything, right?" Chelsea asked Sarah that night after she came home from work and found Sarah watching television, with a cigarette in her mouth. "Like any...bones?"

Sarah glanced sideways at her. "Matter of fact, I did."

Chelsea opened her mouth and then closed it, before murmuring, "That's a joke, right?"

Sarah turned her head to look at her straight in the eyes. "I'm dead serious."

Chelsea regarded her for a moment and when she saw a spark of amusement in her friend's eyes, she waved a hand. "Yeah, right."

Sarah turned back to the screen, smiling. "Am I really that unreliable that you'd think I'd mess up my first day?"

Well, I was close to messing it up though, Sarah admitted to herself. If seeing Joey there hadn't been enough, the guy actually had the cheek to almost ruin it for her two times in a single day. If day one was complicated, she wondered how she would deal with him in the upcoming days.

She had made it quite clear that their relationship was no longer that of friends but rather strictly a teacher and a student one.

Chelsea said something about changing and she nodded, absentmindedly as she blew out a puff of smoke.

She stood up from the sofa. "I'm going out."

Chelsea poked her head out from her room. "Out? Out where?"

"Out there," Sarah replied curtly and closed the door before Chelsea could investigate her further. She took the cigarette out from her mouth and crushed it under her shoe. 

Once outside, she realized that she hadn't put on a jacket or any sort of a coat so only after a few steps, she started to shiver. Sarah thought about going back to get a jacket but then the thought of facing Chel's annoying questions made her shake her head and she continued forward, putting her arms around herself.

It wasn't snowing today but it was definitely cold as her teeth clattered repeatedly. She cursed herself for walking out like that without thinking.

She walked past a couple who held hands while blushing slightly and she looked at the ground. She kept her eyes down, trying her best to block out the world. She wanted nothing to do with it anymore. It all seemed pointless.

She bumped into someone in her haste and almost fell down, her black sneakers slipping on the cold ground and she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for it to happen. When she still remained on her feet, she opened her eyes to find a firm hand on her elbow that was holding her up. The hand belonged to Joey Harding.

Of course.

She straightened up and shook herself free of his hand, avoiding his eyes.

"You really need to watch where you're going."

"Uh huh," she replied quickly, as she started to walk past him but was stopped again when he spoke.

"Why aren't you wearing a coat?"

"Because I don't want to," she retorted, and then realized how childish that sounded. She took a few fast steps in order to get away from him when she felt him draping his leather jacket around her from behind. She turned, shaking her head. "Thanks but no thanks." And as she made a move to remove his jacket, he put his hands on it, keeping it in place.

"I insist," he said, nearly smiling.

"I insist too."

"C'mon! Just keep the damn jacket on," he said, rolling his eyes but didn't remove his hands from it.

"I don't want to," Sarah argued, though on the contrary she did feel a little warm inside it.

"Why not?"

"Because it smells," she lied.

He looked at her for a second. "Really?" And then, leaned towards her sniffing the part of his jacket that was right below Sarah's chin. She blushed involuntarily at the close distance between them and could almost smell the shampoo in his unruly, thick hair. Joey sniffed a little longer than was necessary before he pulled away slowly and looked at her with his dark green eyes.

"On the contrary, it smells quite good," he smirked and Sarah's face turned even more red.

"W-W-W..."

He cocked his head to the side, that smirk still present on his face and waited for her to continue her stuttering.

"I-I...thanks," she mumbled, before she turned and literally half-walked and half-ran all the way back to home. It was only thing she could think of and manage to choke out in that situation. Why had she been so flustered?

And as for Joey, he had a smile on his face for the remainder of the day.

Chapter 04 to be continued...