THE ROSE AND THE THORN

Chapter 8

The weekend passed quicker than I wanted it to, and before I knew it I was getting ready for school again on Monday morning. It was only the second week of school and I was already dreading class, the only lesson I looked forward to was PDHPE with Miss Rose.

When I arrived at school on my skateboard I saw Miss Rose pulling up in her red sports car. She climbed out, looking sexier than ever, and grabbed a backpack and some folders from the back of the car.

"Hey, Miss!" I said as I skated over to her.

"Hello, India," she said, struggling to close the back of the car with her hands full.

I rolled over to where she stood and swiftly closed the boot of her car, giving her a smirk. I picked up my skateboard and tucked it under my arm.

"Need help?" I asked her, offering out my free arm to hold something for her.

"Thanks," she said, handing me a heavy folder full of worksheets.

We walked to the PDHPE classroom and I placed the folder on her desk.

"You'd think for a private school they'd be able to afford air con in every classroom," I commented, walking up to my usual spot and lying down on the desk underneath the air conditioner.

"Seems like I got lucky then," she laughed, walking over to join me under the cool air.

"In more ways than one?" I said.

"Why's that?" She asked me.

"Well, you've got air con, and you get to teach me!" I said, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

"I can name a few teachers that would disagree," she retorted, laughing at me.

"Mr Cleary and Mrs Rysteck don't count. Mr Cleary is an asshole who obviously hasn't been laid in years and Mrs Rysteck wants to exorcise the gay out of me every time she sees me," I explained, and she continued laughing.

The homeroom bell rang and I hopped off the desk, bending over (somewhat teasingly) to pick up my skateboard and backpack from the ground. When I turned around I could've sworn I saw Miss Rose staring, but she quickly met my gaze before I could be sure.

"See you in class, Miss Rose," I said, sauntering out of the classroom feeling very pleased with myself.

By the time fourth period had arrived, Aimee and I were both officially done with the day. I had been yelled at by Mr Cleary for my uniform again, and he told me that he was going to call my parents.

"Good luck with that," I had said, and he slammed his fist on his desk and stormed out of the classroom.

Aimee and I sat down in our seats in the PDHPE classroom and waited for Miss Rose to arrive. She walked in right on time as the bell rang, sending a small smile our way.

"Okay class, please get your textbooks and then to page forty three," she said.

For the entire lesson I continued to steal glances at Miss Rose. The first time I looked she had the back of her pen between her teeth, concentrating on reading something. The second time I looked she had her bottom lip between her teeth, trying to find a particular passage in the text book. The third time I looked she was checking her phone, her eyebrows furrowed and a frown on her face. The fourth time I looked she was looking at me.

I was tempted to look away and avoid her gaze but I willed myself to hold her stare. For about five seconds we looked directly at each other until another student across the room coughed. Her eyes quickly darted across the room, looking at the student before turning back to me. She looked almost worried, as if they had caught us staring at each other. I winked quickly before putting my head back down and continuing to do my work.

There was definitely a relationship of some kind forming between us, but I couldn't tell what it was. I didn't know if she was flirting or just being friendly, and I didn't know what she thought of me either. I don't know why I cared so much either, probably because she was something that I couldn't have. The forbidden fruit.

When the bell rang I grabbed my books and threw them messily into my backpack. I was about to head out to lunch when Mrs Rysteck stormed into the classroom, a scowl on her face.

"You!" she screamed, pointing her knobbly finger directly at me.

"What about me?" I asked.

Miss Rose and the remaining students in the classroom all stared incredulously as she screamed at me.

"I know it was you!" she continued to yell.

"I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about," I explained.

"You defiled my classroom!" she wailed.

"If you're talking about me and Jaide Lawlor, you need to move on. That happened two years ago," I rolled my eyes.

"No! I am not talking about that disgusting sin you committed on my desk. I'm talking about how you graffitied a giant picture of the male anatomy on my poster of Jesus!" she cried, and the class burst into laughter, including myself.

"Miss," I gasped for air, "as much as I would love to take credit for that, unfortunately that wasn't me."

"Don't lie to me!" she screeched, stepping closer to me. "I know it was you!"

"With all due respect Miss, why would I, of all people, draw a penis? Now, if it were a pair of tits then I'd understand why you'd be blaming me..." I said to her.

"You are living in sin Miss Thorn, you will burn in Hell for eternity! You and all the other homosexuals!" she cried.

"Oh no, spending eternity with every other homosexual? How will I ever go on?" I said sarcastically.

She stormed out of the room with her face as red as a tomato, slamming the door shut loudly behind her.

"Fuck, that was incredible!" Aimee laughed as we made our way to the door.

"Miss Thorn, can you stay back for a moment?" Miss Rose said from her desk.

Aimee raised her eyebrows at me before smirking and walking out the door to get lunch. I walked back to Miss Rose's desk.

"It wasn't you who did it...was it?" she asked me.

"No, I would definitely take credit if it was," I told her, and she shook her head with disapproval but laughed all the same.

"And what was this incident with you 'committing acts of sin' on Miss Rysteck's desk?" she chuckled.

"It was two years ago, she walked in on me and a senior hooking up on her desk. All clothes were still on though, don't worry!" I said with a smirk.

"You really have no shame, do you India?" she asked me.

"Nope. None at all. Guess I'll be seeing you in Hell, Miss Rose!" I said, winking at her once again before walking out of the classroom.