A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter One

"So you're finally free?"

            Looking up, my gaze landed on a mop of messy, dirty blonde hair. My best and British friend, Lance, took a seat at the table across from me setting down his lunch tray. He cocked his head to the side, waiting for my response.

"Guess so," I finally responded, giving him a quick smile before returning my attention to my lunch. Bagel.

            "About time," he responded with a relieved look. "I thought you were going to be grounded forever."

            I grimaced at him. "I did too. It was pretty unfair of my mom to ground me after the wedding."

            "Well, can you blame her?" my other best friend, Casey, pitched in, frowning. "She found out that you were involved with a gang by you being stabbed and ending up in the hospital. If I was your mom, you'd be grounded for way longer."

            I scratched the back of my head, grinning sheepishly at my friends. "She was pretty upset about that... Still is."

            Lance leaned across the lunch table towards me, lowering his voice. "And yet she wasn't upset when she found out you were dating a teacher."

            I sent him a warning look. "Shh! And no, she doesn't care. Apparently my dad was also a teacher. Didn't I tell you that?"

            "No," Lance and Casey responded simultaneously.

            "Well now you know."

            Casey grinned. "So it runs in the family, huh?"

            Before I could answer, there was a tap on my shoulder. Casey's eyes snapped behind me as I turned, frowning slightly. A younger, female student I didn't recognize was standing behind me, holding out a small piece of paper. Wordlessly, I took it from her, recognizing the well-formed penmanship immediately.

            "Another lunch meeting?" Casey inquired, leaning to the left so she could see it. "This is like, the tenth time this month."

            Flushing, I quickly crumpled up Chris's note, crushing it into a little ball. Casey smirked as I stuffed it into my pocket, pushing myself up from the table. "Lance, will you bring up my trash?"

            He gave me a wry smile. "Of course, Holly."

            "Have fun," Casey chirped, winking at me.

            After shooting Casey an exasperated look, I headed out of the cafeteria. The halls were completely empty and I hastened through them, eager to get to Chris's room. He was smart to send a different student to get me every time he wanted to talk to me so no one would get suspicious. I entered the science wing, looking around for any rogue students before slipping into the biology classroom.

            "Mr. Heywood?"

            "Do we have to go through the rubber band process again?" a voice demanded from behind me, making my heart leap into my throat.

            I twirled around, coming face-to-face with my biology teacher. He raised an eyebrow, his beautiful grey eyes piercing into mine. The rubber band process... I winced, remembering the painful time. Well, it wasn't painful for me, but I figured it was for him. Every time I called him "Mr. Heywood" instead of "Chris" outside of school, he'd snapped a rubber band on his wrist. At first I was amused by it, and called him Mr. Heywood on purpose, but then I started to feel guilty, and I finally gave up. Somehow I had gotten out of my habit of calling him Mr. Heywood.