Toe the Line

Chapter Eleven

"You're doing WHAT?" Amanda practically screams in my face.

"I'm going to his house to go over paper grading techniques." I answer with a smile. I waited to tell Amanda until today, because I didn't trust her not to make some lude comment in front of Mr. Ferrier about it.

"You lucky BITCH, why didn't he ask me?!"

I laugh and wiggle my eyebrows at her. "Um probably because I'm cuter than you. Oh, and the fact that beginner French classes don't write papers, duh."

"Fine, fine. But you better do some recon for us. Take videos of that place. I wanna see how my man lives."

"Oooooh who's your man now, Amanda?" Lilly said, walking into the room. I internally groan seeing her snotty face. Annie and Char follow behind her.

"Lucy, ya look good," Annie says. I never understood how such a sweetheart could be such good friends with Lilly.

"Thank you, Anns," I pull her down onto my lap.

"Yeah," Lilly says suspiciously, "What are you all dressed up for?" she says, eyeing me.

"Lucy got invited for an evening at Adrian's," Amanda says exaggeratedly.

"You're fucking kidding me," Char says. "Can you squeeze me in your purse, please?"

"Guess you didn't make the cut huh, Amanda?" Lilly jokes snidely.

"You bitch," Amanda says, throwing my furry pillow at Lilly's face. "Lucy just got to him first."

We all laugh as Lilly fires the pillow back, smacking Amanda in the back.

"It's just for French, guys, I swear," I reassure them, even though a part of me wishes it wasn't.

"French kissing?" Annie asks, earning laughs from all the girls.

"Fuck you guys," I say, laughing.

"Okay, well, we're taking your spacious prefect room while you're gone, sorry!" Amanda states.

"It's all yours," I respond with a wink, walking out the door.

"You better text us every half hour!!!" I hear her yell as the door slams.

I make my way across campus to faculty housing. D block, townhouse 55. I don't know why I feel nervous walking up to his house. Just grading papers. Teachers have students over for dinner all the time. This isn't even dinner, just papers. God, relax. Stop freaking out. Your friends don't know what they're talking about. I look down at my black jeans, Rag and Bone white t-shirt, and leather jacket hoping I'm not too casual. There isn't exactly a section in the school dress code for hanging out with a teacher. I knock on the door, and it opens to a smiling Mr. Ferrier, looking a little too good in a pair of khakis and a fitted blue, long-sleeve Henley.

"Come in!" he tells me, trying to balance the tea in his hand with the stack of papers he has in the other.

"I can get these," I say, grabbing the stack of papers from his arm and setting them on a little glass coffee table. I look up and around at his little home: beautifully decorated, art on the walls, spotlessly clean...are those vases antiques?

"Well well, Mr. Ferrier, I love your place. Very French," I say, taking it all in. Not a typical disgusting, messy male, check that box off the list.

"Thank you, but it's Adrian, you know that," he replies, laughing. "Thanks for coming over. With tests, I won't usually make you do this, but for writing assignments, I want to go over them together, just to be as fair as possible to the students."