Worst Impressions

Chapter Sixteen

Wyatt was as persistent as a summer cold.

I'd taken to using the longer routes between classrooms to escape his conversation and cutting through lesser-used areas of lawn, risking tangled undergrowth and steep slopes just to avoid his gaze. I kept telling myself that he meant well and that he was just concerned about me as an older brother should be. If he was still so close to my mother, then it made sense that he'd feel protective of me. But it didn't stop me from feeling annoyed whenever I stumbled into his presence.

It was during one of my little tours of the school after classes had ended that I bumped into someone else.

Literally.

I'd picked up momentum on my way down one of the steep inclines outside of the Art wing and crashed straight into Gideon. We both ended up on the floor. Well, he was on his back, and I was on his chest. Had he not been practically a teacher, I may not have minded our position so much.

'I'm so sorry!' I exclaimed as I fell over again trying to get off him. I quickly set about picking up the papers I'd knocked out of his hands. 'It was an accident, I swear.'

'Well, what else could it have been?' he asked. His eyes met mine and his smile became far more sincere and gentle. 'Destiny, perhaps?'

'Or a hill.'

'Yes, or that.'

I forced the papers into his hands. Gideon tucked them under his arm before he helped me back to my feet. It was just as well I had the extra support because that debonair smile was making my knees weak.

Be still my beating heart.

'I'm Beth,' I said. 'Beth Bennett.'

'I remember you from our last Music class. You were very quiet, as I recall. Almost demure. I didn't think you were the type to go running cross-country during your free time.'

Demure?

Who used words like demure these days?

Only people in books and old movies used words like that. Still, with his smooth, eloquent voice, the word suited him rather well.

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. 'I was avoiding someone.'

'Wyatt?'

'How did you -'

'I saw him talking to you at lunch when we first arrived. He's a good guy, but he's a little - er -'

The eloquence had faltered. Wyatt had that effect on people.

'Misguided? Stupid? Annoying?' I offered. 'All of the above?'

'I was going to say pompous, but all of those fit as well. I won't tell him I saw you if you're worried. I would avoid him myself if I had that luxury.'

I laughed softly. I hadn't considered how annoying my stepbrother might be to the people forced to work with him. At least I could escape to a different class or hide in my dorm room. The teachers were stuck with him in the staff room whenever they were seeking a respite from their pupils.

'Are you a friend of his?' I asked.

'More a classmate than a friend. But his mother helped to recommend me to this place, so I shouldn't complain. He asked her to put in a good word. You're his sister, aren't you?'

I tilted my head. 'Sort of, I guess. My Mum was his stepmother for a while, but it was before I was born. We're not actually related. That doesn't seem to have sunk in, though.'

Gideon reached out and gently ruffled my hair. I blushed and tucked some of my loose strands behind my ear self-consciously. He either didn't notice how much he'd just made my stomach flip, or he had, and he was too nice to make fun of me for it.

'I'll do what I can to distract him if he gets hold of you. But I need something in return.'

'Like what?'

I didn't know why I was asking.

I'd have agreed to almost anything.

Gideon leaned in and whispered intimately against my ear, 'Don't be so shy in my classes.'

When people said in movies and books that someone had taken their breath away, I thought they were just being dramatic. But as I attempted to breathe in air with Gideon so close to my face, I realised exactly what they meant. My lungs were prickling. The tips of my fingers tingled. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

At least, not until I looked over Gideon's shoulder, and I saw Charlie and William watching us.