The Wrong Type of Love (Teacher/Student Relationship)

Chapter Thirteen

“Aremor, may I have a word?” My heart skipped a beat and my stomach was instantly filled with butterflies. I suddenly felt sicker than I had all day and had to resist the urge to heave. My head was spinning around making me feel like I was about to collapse. I had to rest my arm on the door frame so I didn’t. Sadly, I watched my friends disappear from view and desperately wanted to go with them but I couldn’t. Friends, we had agreed to be friends. We shook on it. So why was I feeling this way? It might have just been the fact that I was already feeling ill and then the shock of him asking for a word made it all worse. Maybe.

“Yes Sir?” It took all my courage to finally turn and look at him and our eyes instantly connected. They were greener than usual and held no emotion. I gulped, I really wanted to look away but deep down I knew I couldn’t. I could tell he was clenching his teeth by the way the corner of his jaw stuck out. He repeatedly tapped his fingers against the desk nervously; as soon as he saw me notice this he stopped and placed his hands in his lap. My heart was now racing and I could feel my hands shaking uncontrollably. Trying to stop them from shaking I clenched them but that made me look angry so, instead, I put them in my pockets and hoped he hadn’t seen them shaking.

“About yesterday I-” I held up my hand, stopping him from speaking. He sighed and looked down at the floor. I was not in the mood to talk about what had
happened, I just really wanted to forget it and act as if it had never happened.

“Is that the only reason you asked me to stay behind?” He sighed again and looked back up at me. I wanted to leave so badly, even if he said I wasn’t allowed to leave I still would. Getting shouted at would have been way better than having that conversation.

“No.” I sighed in relief. “Come over here, please.” he said whilst indicating for me to walk over to him. I did but slowly. Again my feet seemed to stick to the floor and it seemed like hours before I had even moved the slightest bit forward. When I finally got to him he started pointing at the screen of his computer, there was a list of names on one side and then grades on the other. I found my name easily and looked at what grades I was supposed to be getting. “Your target grade is a B but I don’t believe you’ll get that with the amount of time you’re spending on English at the moment. Do you do English at home?”

“No.”

“Okay, then you’ll defiantly need to spend extra time with it.” I kept nodding, not knowing what to say.

“Are you willing to come in twice a week after school for an hour?” No but I doubted I had a choice.

“Yes, if it means I get the grades.” And that was the truth. That was the only reason I wanted to spend more time in English, honest.

“Okay then. When would you like to start?”

“Today after school maybe?” It may have seemed soon, but it was best to get it out of the way so I didn’t have to spend the rest of the week worrying about it. I didn’t want another thing keeping me awake all night.

“Today it is, oh and don’t forget this.” He leant over and grabbed a sheet of paper with writing on it from the printer to his left. It must have been something to do with what everyone was doing in the lesson. I hadn’t been paying attention so I hadn’t heard anything he was saying which meant I didn’t have a clue what the lesson was all about.

As I placed my hand on the paper to take it from him his fingertips touched mine, I didn’t move away and neither did he. I knew why he hadn’t but why didn’t I? Suddenly he moved his hand so it was resting on top of mine. His hands were surprisingly soft and for some reason, warm. We both looked down at our hands at the same time. He seemed confused himself. My heart was racing ever faster than it had originally been; I found it increasingly harder to breathe. Our fingers intertwined, leaving the paper to float onto the floor.

 For some reason I moved closer to him, the scent of his aftershave filling my nose. It wasn’t an aftershave I recognised, I wasn’t even sure it was aftershave; it may have just been him. There is no way to describe how my emotions were when I realised that our faces were inches apart. The sound of the door opening forced me back into reality and we sprung apart as fast as we could. Turning around I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there was no one there and that it had, in fact, just been the wind.

I rubbed my hand over my face before turning back around to see he was now standing, but he was still close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. He began leaning forward but I had regained my senses and took several steps back.

“I just remembered, I’m going to see my friend perform in a play tonight so I won’t be able to come after school.” 'Thank you Annie' I thought. That was the only excuse I had and it was a good reason.

“Lunch?” His face showed no emotion and his jaw was once again clenched.

“Sorry, I can’t.” I grabbed my things from where they had fallen on the floor and practically ran out the door and down the corridor. I could hear him calling me but I ignored him and focused on one thing, I needed to get away from him before I did something I knew I’d regret.