Illegal Innocence (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I sat in the plush, leather chair and placed my bare feet into the boiling, blue colored water, trying not to wince. Once I got used to it, it was kind of relaxing. I laid my head back on the chair, which was now vibrating and massaging my back, and turned my head to smile at Ashley. Chloe as on the other side of Ashley, looking like she was enjoying this almost as much as I was.

"Oh, how I love mani-pedi's," Ashley sighed happily. Chloe and I nodded in agreement. The woman at my feet began to file my toenails and massage my feet. I gripped the arm rests with my hands, digging my nails into the leather. I hated this part. I was extremely ticklish, especially on my feet, and it took all my strength not to kick the woman.

"Ashley, what color is your dress?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"It's a soft green color, with a gold waistband."

"I bet it looks great on you," Chloe commented. I nodded in agreement once more, then glanced at my toes. The woman finally stopped scrubbing my feet, and had moved onto shaping my nails. I sat there calmly and watched her. Chloe and Ashley got into a conversation about who they think would try and spike the punch, while I grabbed a magazine off of the table and read the cover.

'Teacher caught having sex with her student! Now faces ten years in prison! More details on page 89!'

I grimaced, throwing the magazine down onto the table again, then grabbed another one immediately. I couldn't even imagine if that had ever happened to Elliott. Then again, I didn't think I was ready for sex yet, either...

I shook my head, feeling my face grow unbearably hot. I knew I was blushing, and I tried to hide it. I couldn't think about that stuff... besides, I couldn't have sex until I was eighteen anyways... but that wasn't too far away, which scared me. So many thoughts streamed through my head- ones that I wanted to stop immediately.

"Do you want flowers?"

I shook my head, finally clearing the thoughts, and glanced down at the Asian woman. "Oh, sorry, what?"

"Flowers on your toes? Only two dollars more," she said, giving me a friendly smile.

"Sure," I replied, smiling back. She nodded once and got to work once more.

"Avery?"

I turned my head. "Yeah?"

"You okay? You're blushing an awful lot," Ashley said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Oh, I um, just saw someone really cute walk by outside," I said, letting out a silent sigh of relief that I came up with something so fast.

"Oh really?" Ashley said, perking up with interest.

"Yeah, but he's gone now. Besides, he looked too old."

"I like 'em older," she said, giving me a wink. My face grew warm with nervousness. Oh, if only she knew.

~

I stepped out of the car, almost stumbling on the high heels beneath me. Daniel steadied me as he got out of the front seat, leading me further out of the car.

"Whoa, you okay there, Winters?" he chuckled.

"High heels aren't my thing," I admitted.

"No, really?" he said sarcastically. I swatted his arm playfully and waited for Ashley and Chloe to get out of the car.

"Is everyone ready?" Daniel asked when Chloe shut the last open door to his truck.

"Ready!" we all said together.

We all walked into the school, anxious, hoping that we will have a good night. I, however, was nervous for another reason. I wondered what Elliott would say when he saw me in my dress. My hair was in soft, bouncy curls, and my makeup looked natural. I really hoped he thought I looked good.

We gave the two staff members at the table our tickets, and they waved us into the school's courtyard. Music was already playing on the balcony of the second floor, and about a hundred students were dancing with each other right below.

"Okay, well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm taking this beautiful woman to the dance floor," Daniel said, taking Chloe's hand. Chloe, surprised yet excited, laughed and followed Daniel to the crowd of dancing students. I looked at Ashley, who shrugged.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't know, where's Julie?" I asked.

"She should be here soon." Ashley looked behind her, then waved frantically a moment later. "Oh, hey guys!"

I looked behind her. "Huh?"

She turned back to me. "Do you mind if I went to say hi to them?" Ashley asked with a pleading look.

I smiled at her. "Of course not! Go ahead! I wanted to see if I could find someone as well," I told her.

"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. She gave me a hug and went to go join the other girls sitting at the picnic table. I turned away from them and walked along the sides of the courtyard, watching the other students dance.

"You look beautiful."

I jumped at the deep voice behind me and nearly fell from the high heels I was wearing. Elliott grabbed my waist and hoisted me upwards, and once I was steady, removed his hands from me.

"You okay?" he asked casually.

"You scared me, you jerk!"  I said, half-joking. I hit him on the chest playfully and stepped back, carefully to make it look like a casual teacher-student chat.

"Sorry," he laughed. "But you really do look beautiful."

I blushed. "Thanks." I wanted to pull him into my arms so badly, but I knew I couldn't. Memories of the news article flashed through my mind, and I immediately lost the urge.

"Where are your friends?" he asked, looking around.

"Chloe and Daniel are dancing, and Ashley went with her other friends. But I don't mind," I said.

"You should go dance," he suggested. He put his hand in his pocket and ran his other hand through his hair. I hadn't really paid attention to what he was wearing, but now that I saw it, even in the darkness, I found that it looked incredibly gorgeous on it. He was wearing black dress pants, a white button-up shirt, and a black, unbuttoned jacket over that.

"You look nice," I said, ignoring then statement about going to dance. "You look incredibly handsome."

He laughed softly. "You like when I dress up, do you?" he asked in a seductive voice.

I nodded, biting my bottom lip.

He leaned closer to me, lowering his voice, lips touching my ear. "In that case, meet me in the classroom at eleven sharp. I think we deserve a dance tonight, don't you?"

He pulled back, placed his hand on my head, rubbed my hair a little, then walked away, leaving me speechless, nervous, and excited all at the same time. Meeting him in the classroom? Alone? At night? To dance? I was suddenly nervous about considering to go. Of course I wanted to, but should I?

"Avery!" I turned at the sound of my name being called. "Come dance with us!" Chloe came up, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me to the dance floor, along with Ashley, Julie, and Daniel. A pop song came on, and I decided that I was going to have fun and forget about what Elliott had told me. I pushed my thoughts away and focused on dancing with my friends.

But I knew one thing that I had decided on. I was going to meet him in the classroom at eleven.