Falling From Grace: Student-Teacher Forbidden Romance

Chapter 66

[RECAP: Suki continues to blackmail Leonie, and Father Gabriel continues to grit his teeth, knowing that he wants to be with Leonie...]

Leonie found it no easier than Gabriel to be apart from him. When he had made love to her it had awoken her in a way she couldn't switch off.

She had always figured it was pretty easy to control her libido. But she found herself wanting him so much that she could barely concentrate in class. She couldn't stop thinking about how his lips felt on hers, or the scent of his body as he arched over her and filled her.

Sharing a dorm with three other people didn't help either. Leonie had such erotic dreams about him that she was fearful she must be moaning or talking in her sleep. It would be super embarrassing if she woke up the others.

She was heading back with Figgy from the library one day, having just completed another double assignment due to Suki's blackmail, when a girl came up to them, out of breath. "There's a phone call for you in Mother Benedict's office," she told Figgy.

Figgy was anxious. "I hope it's nothing serious."

"I'm sure it won't be," Leonie said. "I can walk there with you and wait outside if you like."

Figgy thanked her, and the two of them hurried to the headmistress's study. Leonie sat on the wooden bench outside, crossing her fingers that nothing was wrong with Figgy's family. It was unusual to get a call from your parents during term time, and it often meant something awful like a grandmother dying.

But Figgy emerged looking puzzled. "It's my mother. She actually wants to speak to you."

Now Leonie was the confused one. She went to pick up the phone. Mother Benedict had a small antechamber by her office, and retired here to give privacy to anyone using the phone. There were two other phones the students could use to phone home, but these made outgoing calls only.

"Hello?" Leonie said, picking up the receiver.

"Leonie, dear, it's Figgy's mother. I'm sorry if I've called an awkward time, but the film people are trying to get in touch with you. I wasn't sure if I should give them the school number, so I've taken down their details for you."

Leonie felt her heart beat faster. Grabbing a pen and a scrap of paper from Mother Benedict's desk, she carefully wrote the number down. Would they ring with bad news? Was it just to let her down gently?

She wasn't sure if it was appropriate to use Mother Benedict's phone to call them, and she was too nervous to do so straight away. So she thanked Figgy's mother and went back outside.

Figgy was burning with curiosity. "What did she want? She didn't tell me."

"It's Jack Edwards' company. I'm supposed to call them."

Figgy gasped. "You must have got the part! Oh my goodness, this is so exciting."

Leonie was also feeling a surge of excitement but wasn't going to get her hopes up. It could just be a rejection. Particularly as there was a kind of family connection, perhaps they felt they needed to do her the courtesy of letting her know by phone.

"When should I call them, do you think?" she asked Figgy.

"Now, of course!" Figgy practically dragged her to the communal phones and got her to dial the number. Leonie's palms were actually damp and her head buzzing as she waited for someone to answer.

"Radiant Productions, how may I help?"

"My name is Leonie Wilson. I was given a message to call Pauline Bishop."

"I can put you through now."

More ringing tones, this time internal. Another woman answered. "Hello?"

"It's Leonie Wilson."

"Ah, Leonie, thank you for calling us back. I'm sorry we haven't been in touch again sooner, there were some issues here and then of course Christmas. Anyway I wanted to give you the shooting dates and confirm everything. Or would it be best to do that through your agent?"

"My agent?" Leonie felt faint. "Do you mean that you want me for the role?"

Pauline sounded surprised. "Yes, of course. Hasn't someone already contacted you?"

"No, I hadn't heard anything." Leonie's head was spinning. It felt like she was in a dream.

"Oh for goodness sake. I am sorry, it's usually chaos here but not quite that disorganised. Yes, I believe they were very impressed by your screen test. Now, what's the name of your agent? Or the agency you're with?"

Leonie wasn't sure what to say for a few moments. "I don't actually have one."

"A manager, or anyone?" Pauline again sounded surprised.

"No. I haven't acted professionally before."

"You'll probably want to get one. You'll need someone to check over the contract for you. I'll have a word with Jack and we'll see what we can sort out. Now, just to give you some of the details..."

Pauline started listing various dates and locations, while Leonie struggled to take it all in. She had spent so long preparing for disappointment as the days and weeks went past that she almost feared it was some huge joke. She even felt an odd numbness.

Next to her, Figgy had practically been jumping up and down with excitement. "So you did get it? I knew you would. Oh, how exciting, you're going to be a film star!"

"I think that's a long way off," Leonie said. "But yes, they want me."

Suddenly all the excitement and adrenalin burst through. The two of them started freaking out, jumping and hugging in the corridor. Leonie was saying "Oh my God! Oh my God!" a thousand times over like a madwoman and Figgy was repeating "I just can't believe it! I absolutely just can't believe it!"

Eventually they managed to calm down enough to walk back to the dorm. As they climbed the stairs, reality started to sink in just a little. "It all kicks off toward the end of February," Leonie said. "That's still in term time. They'll never let me take that much time off. What am I going to do?"

Figgy had no answers. "You can work something out. Maybe you could commute back to London on weekends. There was a girl here who was a brilliant ballerina, and she did that for special lessons. She went to the Royal School of Ballet after leaving St Winifred's."

"But most of the shooting is overseas. It would never work, even Mother Benedict agreed. Even if I could fly back," Leonie said.

"We'll talk it over. There must be a solution, you can't miss out on an opportunity like this. You simply can't."

Leonie thought of Gabriel. He was the one person whose advice she wanted on this. How could she arrange to see him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yay!!!!!!

But what if Mother Benedict says no?