chapter 26

Isaac POV:

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to pick you up yesterday. Coach sent an email saying you guys would be back latest 9AM, so I had arranged a nail appointment at 9:30 AM, just before my meeting at work, and just in time so that I could maybe stop at Starbucks and have a little catch up with my girlfriends-"

I stopped picking at the scrambled eggs on my plate and looked up at my mom's gushing face, "Please don't say girlfriends."

"And why not?"

"Because-" I got ready to explain, but realised I'd just be delaying the inevitable, so I shook my head, indicating for her to carry on.

After 2 minutes of her non stop talking about her meet up with her 'girlfriends', and her digressing from the subject of why she didn't pick me up yesterday, I stood up abruptly, swiping a protein bar into my pocket.

"Look at that." I glanced down at my non existent watch for a millisecond. "I'm late to school, I better go now." I quickly got up and speed walked to the door, not allowing any time for her to protest. "Love you, bye." I spoke as I shut the door, not waiting for her reply.

"Thank god." I breathed out.

My mum had mentioned something about my car going under repair, so I had to walk to school. Technically, I could've asked Gemma or Jax for a ride, but it was only a 15 minute walk so I decided against it.

Getting near to the entrance of school, I felt arms wrap around my waist, pulling me closer to them. I instantly knew who it was, grinning already, "Jax."

He unwrapped his arms from around me, allowing me to turn around to his beaming face. "I missed you man."

"So did I." I grinned back, walking with him into the dreaded hallways.

"You guys forget about me?" I heard Gemma's voice and turned around to see her with a small smile on her face. "I missed your grumpy face." She punched my arm playfully, but it felt like a hard punch to me.

"How was soccer then?" Gemma spoke as we got into the hallways, seeing freshman running back and forth, holding their books to their chests.

Thoughts of Zavier- specifically his lips- flooded into my mind, but I quickly pushed them out, internally cringing for thinking of him first.

"Good... yeah, good." I went for instead, leaning against a locker. "How was you guys' break?"

Jax's eyes twinkled as he looked at Gemma with a knowing grin, "Gemma met som-" His sentence was cut short as Gemma covered his mouth with her hand, making the rest of his words come out muffled. "Shut up Jax." She frowned, avoiding my eyes.

"What? You like someone else? Weren't you just eating Harrison's ass out like yesterday?"

"Okay first off, that is a gross metaphor you used, and second of all, we both mutually decided we're better off as friends. Plus, I think he likes someone else, he won't tell me, but it's obvious he does."

"Well who's the person you like?" Curiosity crept in, judged on the fact Gemma was seeming a bit embarrassed, playing with the ends of her hair.

"Uhh I... Oh look, there's Harry."

True to her word, Harrison was walking towards us, with Hattie by his side. Neither had seen us, as they looked to be in a heated discussion, with Hattie rolling her eyes at him then looking straight ahead to see us watching them. She nudged Harrison, nodding towards us, making Harrison also cease his talking as he glanced towards us. I noticed Hattie's focus shift slightly to the left of me, where Gemma was, as a hint of a grin appeared on her face.

I turned to look at Gemma to point that out, but her eyes were solely on Hattie, as she too smiled back.

"What was that?" I immediately fired at her. I had been gone for 1 week and suddenly Gemma had moved on from Harrison to his twin sister.

"What was what?" She finally ripped her eyes off of Hattie, looking at me with an annoyed stare.

"You and Hat-"

I never got to finish since Jax managed to interrupt me, "Look who just walked in."

Damn Gemma and her luck for perfectly timed interruptions.

I would confront her about it later, if I could remember, which I probably wouldn't, and I think even Gemma knew that as she seemed more relaxed.

Pulling my attention away from Gemma's love life, I turned to see Zavier and his 'squad' walking into the hallways like they were in some movie. All the freshmen who had been previously running, stopped, and parted to the sides like the red sea.

The worst thing wasn't that though.

The worst thing for me was that Zavier was holding Bella's hand as they walked, and they looked like a perfect, ideal couple.

They went together.

Pushing the personalities out of the way, their appearances were aesthetically pleasing, and the whispers around me emphasised that.

"They're so perfect. Oh my god. I wish Zavier would look at me the way he looks at her." I heard a short brunette whisper excruciating loudly like damn, if you're going to whisper, do it quietly.

"I don't even know if I want to be Bella, or be with her." Her blonde friend squealed, before they went into a classroom.

Her personality's gross, I wanted to shout, but they wouldn't care. All they cared about were looks.

Maybe that's why Zavier and I would never work.

Wait.

Fuck.

I know I did not think that.

"You okay?"

I jumped a bit at Harrison's voice, not expecting him to be right next to me. "Yes. Perfect." I forced a smile, pulling my books out of my locker.

"What have you got first?" He carried on, opening my locker wider so his face wasn't obstructed by it.

"Fucking English and it's shit. None of you guys are even in my class."

"Isn't Zavier in that class?"

"Don't remind me please. And so is Bella." I groaned, wishing I could slam my head against the cold lockers, get a concussion, then miss school for like a week.

Thinking about that more, maybe English would be better than being in a hospital.

"I'm gonna get to English before I get a detention from Mrs Turner but I'll see you later." I slammed my locker shut, and made my way to the doomed English classroom.

Rounding the corner, I felt a shoulder bump into mine, causing my books to drop on the ground. I heard a chuckle and whizzed around to see Zavier standing proudly, one hand in his pocket, but no Bella by his side.

Thank God.

I took in his appearance better, with him being closer, and noticed his messy hair, probably from Bella, making me frown. I however noticed the hoodie he was wearing, the one I had accidentally worn yesterday, triggering me to the embarrassing memory of me blushing.

I snapped back into reality, realising Zavier was waving his hand in front of my face. "Liking what you see?"

"Shut up." I mumbled, picking my books off of the ground. "You're back to your asshole self." I added, standing back up.

"And you're still as moody."

I didn't bother replying, instead just carried on walking, but he stayed right by my side, bumping into me a few times deliberately, resulting in me bumping into the lockers.

"Why didn't you walk with Bella?" I finally spoke, purposefully wording it in a way to avoid him bringing up any jealousy.

"Why should I?" He matched my question with another- slightly frustrating- question, but better than a snarky insult.

"Aren't you two together again?"

"Nah."

I expected more, but he ended it there, and didn't say another word.

Guess he was just doing another fuck and go with her.

Eventually, we got to English, but Mrs Turner wasn't there which was very, very, very unusual for someone like her.

Rumours straight away encircled the room, some sounding absurdly false, while some sounding more reasonable.

I sat in my usual seat, far away from the PDA Zavier and Bella were putting on display, and silently waited for Mrs Turner, or more likely, a substitute teacher to arrive.

5 minutes later, a lady that looked no older than 25 walked in with a bag in her hands, and walked straight to the front of the teacher's desk. She wore a white blouse with the top button undone, and some fitting black pants. Her blonde hair was tied up in a neat bun, shown when she turned her head to the side.

It took about 20 seconds for people to notice she had come in, but when they did, wolf whistles were immediately heard, followed by the classroom erupting into laughter.

The short brunette I had seen before sat in front of me, and once again, her whispering was barely whispering, allowing me to hear what she was saying.

"No way is she our sub, she looks like a slut. Look at the way she's eyeing everybody."

Of course a fan of Zavier's would be a slut shamer.

"It's better than Mrs Turner." A different friend of hers replied.

"Quiet please." She finally spoke, her voice smooth, but nobody listened, barely sparing her a glance. "I said quiet please." She tried again, her voice more urgent, but she was still ignored, only a few glances in her direction, before going back to their conversations.

I simply watched the encounter, waiting for her to snap. I could see the way she was gripping the sides of the table.

"QUIET NOW!" All heads turned towards her as I watched people's reactions, amused by the shock evident on their face.

Called it.

"Thank you. I'm Miss Page, and I am your substitute teacher for Mrs Turner, as many of you may have guessed, for what I believe will be a couple of days but I can't confirm when Mrs Turner will be back."

"What happened to Mrs Turner? I heard she tried to have sex for the first time and broke her back." Chad called out, high fiving one of the guys next to him as a few giggles were heard.

"We all hear a lot of things, don't we now? I heard you're struggling in this class..." She glanced down at a piece of paper before looking back up. "Chad. And next time, raise your hand before speaking."

Chad wasn't struggling in this class, but I guess that was the point of her statement as Chad shut right up, not uttering a remark back like he normally would.

She seemed interesting.

She kept her stare on Chad for a second, then picked up the piece of paper I had noticed her look at before, and started to speak again, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Mrs Turner has made a seating plan, she mentioned it being long due so she gave it to me."

Everyone groaned at this; we all knew Mrs Turner had kept bringing up a seating plan, but we had all just assumed as long as nobody brought it up, it would be fine.

So much for that.

Everyone begrudgingly got up as we stood at the back of the room, waiting for our names to be called.

"...Candace...Tyler...Bella..."

Please not me. Please not me. Please no-

"... Isaac..."

Fuck. This class just couldn't get worse.

"...Zavier..."

Yes it could.

Yes it fucking could.

Turns out Candace was the slut shamer and Zavier's super fan, and she was right behind me. I could already hear her talking about Zavier, and either Zavier was deaf, or he was just blatantly ignoring her making me assume the latter since she was still quite loud.

"Have you seen the way she's been looking at you?"

"Huh?" I turned my head to face Zavier who was already looking at me.

"Maybe if you actually paid attention to this class-"

I had spaced out a few times, but I wasn't going to admit that to him.

"I do pay attention."

"No you don't." He snapped back just as quick.

"I do."

"Shut up Isaac." Bella somehow got herself involved in the conversation, conveniently picking at me, even though she knew I wasn't the one who started it.

"Bella, Isaac and Zavier. I hope you're talking about something to do with my lesson."

I opened my mouth to speak but Bella beat me to it, a sly grin on her face as she spoke, "We were trying to discuss the lesson, but Isaac kept humming and interrupting us, saying that anything was better than being here."

She looked at me with a distasteful look, but I quickly denied it, shaking my head, "I never said or did any of that. Zavier wa-"

"It's true." Zavier nodded, feigning a solemn look.

How many times was I going to be interrupted today? First period back, and I was already about to get into trouble.

"Stay after the lesson Isaac, I think we need a word."

Fuck.

I rested my forehead on my hand, not bothering to look at Zavier and Bella to see their smirking faces.

And that's how I stayed for the rest of the lesson: hearing complaints from Candace on her being too far from Zavier, and Bella and Zavier making kisses sounds to each other, Zavier intentionally pressing into me to lean over to Bella.

Before he left, Zavier's face came dangerously close to mine, as he placed his lips near my ear, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Good luck sweetheart." I didn't need to face him to know the conceited look on his face as he walked out the classroom, and it didn't help that his scent didn't leave with him.

"So, Isaac." I averted my eyes away from the retreating figure of Zavier to see Miss Page in front of me, taking me a bit by surprise by how quick she had moved.

Now closer to me, I assessed her more clearly; her eyelashes were dark and thick, they seemed natural, but who knew the power of makeup anymore? They complimented her unsettlingly deep, rich brown-mahogany eyes that penetrated deep into your soul every time she glanced at you.

"...Isaac, hello?" Her voice pulled me back to the present as I realised she had been calling my name multiple times.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I swear I'm usually more focused." I sat up, clearing my throat.

"Are you alright?" Her once serious face turned into one of concern now.

I shifted around, feeling a tad uncomfortable under her scrutinising stare. "W-what? I'm fine, like for real fine. I know people usually say that when they're not, but I'm actually good." I pulled my hands from my pocket and placed them on the desk, desperately wanting to leave.

"You know you can talk to me. I know I'm just a substitute teacher and I know how as a teenager, one of the main rules is to never tell a teacher your problems, but if you do need someone, someone that's not a close friend, I'm here."

Her words were kind, yes, but I wasn't fixed on them, I was more concentrated on her hand on mine.

It was a simple gesture that if your 50 year old, bubbly drama teacher did, nothing would be thought of it, but the situation was different.

Context mattered.

This was a young woman, who looked just out of her teen years, with her hand on a teenager boy's hand.

In a classroom.

Alone.

I jolted out of my seat and grabbed my books shakily, "I'm fine." I repeated one last time before walking out, going straight to the boys toilets.

I was already late for History, going a bit later wouldn't change much.

***

"Have you seen that new sub teacher? She's fucking hot man. What's her name?" Jax grinned, rubbing his hands together.

"Miss Page." I muttered, not really excited to talk about her.

"Why do you sound so down? If I were you, I'd be trynna hit that." Jax made some grunting sounds, earning a glare from Gemma and a chuckle from Harrison.

"She's a teacher." Gemma reminded him rightfully.

"And I'm a student. It's the classic teacher student forbidden love."

Gemma shook her head at him, "You're crazy."

Gemma and Jax started to bicker whilst Harrison and I watched on in silence, until Harrison brought up the Spanish homework, reminding me of it as I couldn't remember if I had packed it or not.

"I'm going to go look for it." I got up and walked off, Jax and Gemma not stopping their debate on teachers being allowed to date their students and headed to my locker.

Footsteps came from behind me but I ignored them until I heard the person's voice.

"Isaac."

I slowly turned around to face Zavier, a frown on my face as I took in his frustrated expression. "What's crawled up your ass?" I snorted, but his face didn't change.

"I saw you." He whispered, so quietly that I wasn't sure if I heard him right.

"And I can see you too." I smirked, walking to my locker as he followed behind me.

"No, Isaac. I saw you with the English sub teacher."

I froze, but didn't turn to face him, instead delaying the inevitable. "Miss Page?"

"Whatever her name is. Are you that desperate?"

I tried to distract myself by pretending to search in my locker before speaking again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You rather I tell other people?"

I stopped, removing my hands from my locker, and turned to face him, shocked by what he was indicating. "Are you trying to blackmail me? Because nothing happened."

"It didn't look like it." He stepped closer.

"Just stop, you were the one who got me into trouble in the first place." I pulled my Spanish homework out of my locker, then shut it and faced him once again. "Don't talk to me again if you're just going to make up lies."

"It's not lies if I saw it. That's illegal Isaac, I would think somebody like you would know that. Just because you can't get girls your age, doesn't mean you go for college students." He started to lecture me, making me feel like I was a little kid getting scolded.

"I don't go for college students, and I can get girls my age. You lecturing me isn't changing anything because there is nothing to change. Whatever you saw isn't what you think it is. I left as soon as she...er- anyways, so I don't know why you're so concerned."

"I'm not." He retorted quickly.

I gave what I hoped appeared as a doubtful stare. "Then why'd you come tell me?"

His eyes went soft again as he spoke, "Because I-" But then he stopped, like he had been about to reveal a secret as his face hardened back up. "I don't know what you're doing Isaac, but whatever it is, it's not going to end well." He walked off, not even waiting for a reply.

"I'm not doing anything!" I shouted to his back, but it fell upon deaf ears as he headed back into the canteen. "Fuck." I kicked the locker, embarrassment starting to sweep in.

I let out a sigh, then walked back into the canteen, and sticking a smile on my face, I sat down with my group and joined in with the conversation again.

Ignoring the heated glare I felt on me from a different table in the canteen.

A/N: did anyone else have that fake rule that people would be like 'iF ThE teACHer doEsnT COme iN 10 miNUTes wE cAn lEave' lmao. Anyways enjoy reading 📖 01/11/20

this took a while to post but *unrelated* I started watching skins on Friday and I'm on season 3 but I miss the season 1&2 cast sm 😔 #maxxie I was also watching glee but I'm gonna finish skins first then rewatch/ watch glee. Nobody asked for this but enjoy. 9/11