When Summer Ends (48 page)

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, so I don’t think I’ll have time
to come to yours tonight. I have two of hers to do, and then I have my own
homework too.” I smiled at him apologetically.

He shook his head and grabbed all of the papers and books,
piling them up. “You’re coming to mine; I’m not letting her ruin anything for
us. I’ll help you do her work and yours, and then we might get time to hang out
and get a takeout or something.”

I looked at him gratefully. I couldn’t help the little
“Aww,” that escaped my lips.
That’s so adorable!

He rolled his eyes as if he knew what I was thinking and
grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. “Let’s go before your parents come
home,” he suggested.

I nodded and looked down at myself in my baggy sweatpants.
Wow,
I look a mess!
“I just need to change,” I said, heading over to my closet.

He laughed and pulled on my hand making me stop. “Don’t
change, I like the sweats,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at them as he looked
me over slowly.

I slapped his arm. “You’re such a weird boy, Will!” I
scolded playfully.

“Yeah, but you love me,” he countered, looking at me
confidently.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I do.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“Remind me again, why we’re getting her breakfast order?”
Will moaned as we pulled up outside Starbucks on the other side of town.

I sighed. “So you don’t lose your job, or worse. And so I
don’t get expelled,” I replied, rolling my eyes. We’d been through this and
through this. He wanted to speak to her and tell her to ‘shove it up her ass’,
those were his exact words. Apparently he would like to hear them again because
those were the words I said to Olly when we broke up.

Will was convinced that the Principal wouldn’t believe her
anyway. He suggested that we could say something like she was jealous of me and
just lashing out because I’d hooked up with a guy Erika wanted or something. In
the end we decided just to go with her plan for now, and hope that she got
bored after a couple of weeks. I wasn’t convinced she would, but I just didn’t
want to take the risk of the Principal believing her story.

I jumped out of his car and ran in to Starbucks, buying her
‘tall, half-skinny, half-one percent, split quad shot latte, with whip,’ and an
energy bar.

Once I had her complicated order, I sighed, and climbed back
into his car. Today was going a long day no doubt. She’d already text me her
breakfast order and told me to make sure I didn’t let it get cold. Then I was
supposed to meet her at her locker at exactly 8:40 to give her the assignments
that I did for her, and of course, the two hundred bucks that I had promised
her.
Stupid devil woman.

As we were driving down the road, my cell phone started to
ring. I pulled it out of my pocket and smiled, it was Sam. I smirked in Will’s
direction; he was still whining that I was seeing his brother instead of him
tonight.

“Hey, Sam,” I chirped, grinning as Will groaned.

“Hey, Foxy. Still up for tonight?”

“Yep. Are you gonna carry on with that story about when Will
was at school?” I joked, trying not to laugh as Will frowned in my direction.

Sam laughed. “Is he there with you right now?”

“Abso-freaking-lutely,” I confirmed, laughing quietly to
myself.

“Mention something about summer camp,” he suggested.

I smiled wickedly. “Summer camp? No, what did he do at
summer camp?” I asked, playing along.

Will gasped and reached out to grab my phone while shouting
at Sam, “Stop telling her stuff about me! I swear, Sam, you’re gonna get it
when I see you next!”

I laughed and held the phone away, pushing his hand away
from the phone. “Drive the car, Mr Morris!” I joked, smirking at him. I leant
away and started talking to Sam again. “Are you coming to get me from school?”

“Yeah, saves me waiting around. I thought we could go grab
some dinner then go bowling. You up for that?” he asked.

“Sure thing. Hey, you know, you could do me an awesome
favour while you’re at my school,” I said, shifting the devil woman’s drink in
my hands.

“What’s that, Foxy?”

“Seduce a student and make her fall in love with you so
she’ll leave me alone,” I stated, only half joking.

“Seduce a student? Done!” He laughed. I smiled and closed my
eyes, resting my head back on the chair as we neared the place where Will would
drop me off. I silently wished it would be that easy and that Sam could sort
this out for me, but nothing is ever that easy in life. Erika would be on my
back for the rest of the school year, and there was nothing I could do about
it. “Seriously though, is something wrong? Is someone picking on you or
something?” he asked, sounding concerned.

I chewed on my lip and then proceeded to tell Sam the whole
story about how Erika saw us kissing, and how she was now blackmailing me. The
whole time I was speaking he remained silent; I noticed Will’s hands were
gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. He really hated
playing along with her, but I just couldn’t take the risk of someone believing
her if she said anything about it.

When I was done, Sam blew out a big breath. “Wow, that sucks
for you two. I guess you’ll just have to see how it plays out today. I’ll have
a think and see if there’s anything I can do to help, all right? Maybe you
could break into her house, steal her diary, and find some dirt to blackmail
her with?” he suggested.

I laughed. “You sound like Amy; she wanted to ransom her
cat.”

“Does she have a cat? I’m up for a little catnapping. We
could dress it in a load of stupid outfits and take pictures and threaten to
post them all over town if she doesn’t leave you alone.” He chuckled darkly,
probably already planning on surfing the net to see if he could find cat dress
up outfits.

I rolled my eyes at his lameness and noticed that we’d
stopped in the parking lot of the store as usual. I frowned. “I gotta go, Sam.
See you after school.” We said our goodbyes and I pushed my phone back into my
pocket. I turned to look at Will; he was scowling out of the windshield. “So,
I’ll see you in class then I guess,” I muttered, not really wanting to get out
of the car.

He sighed and slipped his arm around my shoulder, his other
hand stroking the side of my face. “If she takes this too far and you get
pissed off, then we just tell her shove it, right?” he said, looking at me
sternly.

I nodded. “Up her ass, I remember,” I joked, making him
laugh. He pressed his lips to mine softly. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed
the closeness of him, the feel if his lips against mine, the way my stomach
fluttered. Kissing Will was out of this world and I wasn’t sure I would ever
get used to the intimacy of a single peck on the lips.

He pulled away after a few seconds and put his forehead to
mine. “I love you. Just remember that. No matter what happens, I love you. If
this gets to the point where we need to do something drastic then I’ll quit my
job,” he said, stroking my face lightly with his thumb.

I scoffed at that suggestion. That was something else we
talked about last night, we had been through a number of different scenarios,
none of which I particularly liked. The one that was the fall back plan that
would happen as a last resort - Will would get another job at another school. I
didn’t want that to happen though, he was lucky to get his position at our
school because of his age. The Principal must have been desperate for a teacher
to have employed a graduate with no experience. I had no doubt in my mind that
he would find it hard to find another teaching job anywhere near where we
lived.

I pulled back and grabbed the handle, juggling everything in
my hands as I swung my bag onto my back preparing for the short walk to school.
“Chloe,” Will called just as I was about to step out of the car. I turned back
to look at him. He was holding out a stack of money to me. I sighed and closed
my hand over it, smiling at him gratefully because he had insisted on paying
her off.

“Thanks. I’ll pay you back,” I promised.

He shook his head and pressed his lips to mine again,
kissing me softly before speaking against my lips, “No, you won’t.”

I smiled weakly and closed my eyes, just wishing that things
could be easier and that falling in love wouldn’t be so wrong. Why did
everything have to be so difficult? When a person fell in love, it was supposed
to be all smiles, flirting and giggling, not sneaking around and stealing
little moments in a disused parking lot. I would give anything to just walk
down the street and hold his hand, to take him home and introduce him to my
parents as my boyfriend.

“Will?” I traced my nose up the side of his as he played
with my hair.

“Mmm?” he mumbled, his lips vibrating against mine where
they were still so teasingly close.

“After the meal with your parents on Saturday, do you think
I could come and stay at yours?” I asked. His hand tightened in my hair, so I
quickly continued, “Not to do anything. I just want to wake up with you holding
me, nothing more. Please? I really need that, please?” I begged. My voice was
barely above a whisper.

He sighed, his warm breath blowing across my face, making my
mouth water and my skin break out in goosebumps. “I really need that too,” he
admitted, kissing me softly again.

I felt my heart start to fly in my chest at the mere thought
of going to sleep with his arms wrapped around me. I could cope with the
non-sex stuff, but I just needed a little more intimacy, a little more private
time with him where we weren’t stressed and having heavy conversations about
hiding our relationship and what to do if things turned sour. I just needed one
night of just Will and Chloe, together, and alone.

“I’d better take this coffee to her before it gets cold,” I
said somewhat reluctantly.

“I’ll text you through the day.” He smiled sadly and pulled
back into his seat, watching as I climbed out of the car and waved weakly at
him.

I pulled my jacket tighter around me and hunched my
shoulders against the cold wind. A quick glance at my watch told me I had a
couple of minutes left before I had to meet her, but I headed straight to her
locker anyway, wanting to get this over and done with as quick as possible. She
was leaning against her locker, a guy leaning in, obviously flirting with her
as she laughed and slapped his shoulder, all the while shooting him a seductive
look.
Tramp!

I cleared my throat as I stopped by her side, not wanting
this to take a second longer than necessary. She looked at me, a distasteful
expression on her face before she rearranged it and smirked at me wickedly.
“Kevin, I just need a minute. I’ll see you in class, okay?” she said to him,
but her eyes not leaving me.

The guy frowned at me as he walked off, obviously a little
put out that she was sending him away. As soon as we were on our own I handed
her the coffee and energy bar. She frowned as she took it. “You got my order
right? If this is wrong then you’re skipping first period to get me another,”
she warned, eyeing me sceptically.

I frowned and bit back my angry retort. “Yes, it’s exactly
like you asked for,” I hissed, putting on a fake smile as someone walked past,
looking at us curiously.

“My work?” she prompted, snapping her fingers impatiently,
looking around as if bored or something. I sighed and handed her the printed
sheets that I’d managed to complete for her last night before Will and I had a
Chinese takeout. “If this is below a B, then it’s bye bye hottie teacher.” She
smirked at me as she scanned over it. I was secretly glad that I didn’t just go
with Will’s suggestion of adding a cuss word to every line because he didn’t
think she’d notice.

I grabbed the money from my back pocket and thrust it at
her, shoving it against her chest. “Just stay away from me from now on,” I
snapped, trying to make my voice sound stronger than I felt.

She smiled evilly at me. “Tomorrow, you come to mine just after
lunch; you can do my chores while my parents are out. You might want to wear
something old, I have a couple of horses that need mucking out,” she stated,
laughing to herself.

Horses, what on earth?
I felt my face flush with
anger, and my hands itch to punch her in her smug face. “You aren’t seriously
expecting me to shovel shi-” I stopped talking abruptly as Mrs Halston walked
past.
Wow, that was close, almost got myself a detention then I’m betting!

Erika laughed and tossed her platinum blonde hair over her
shoulder. “Definitely. Unless you’d rather just back out of this whole deal? If
you’re not going to keep up with your end, then I won’t have to keep up with
mine. I wonder if the Principal is free right now.” She looked up the hallway
towards his office with mock interest.

I couldn’t stop the angry growl that escaped my lips. “Fine!
You’ll need to give me your address or something,” I muttered, shaking my head
in disbelief.
What a little witch!

“Oh don’t worry, we’ll be speaking a lot over the course of
the day,” she mused. She waved her hand in a buzz off gesture. “Run along now,
little doggie. Just remember to come when you’re called.” She sneered at me one
last time before I turned on my heel and marched off to where I knew Amy would
be at this time of the morning.

The day passed unbelievably slowly. Erika was right, I
definitely saw her a lot over the course of the day. I had to buy her lunch,
lend her my gym kit, and get her books for her so that she could spend precious
extra minutes reapplying her already overdone make-up. I had to deliver
messages to her friends, and at one point I even had to pick a piece of gum
from the bottom of her shoe because she’d stepped in it. I thought I did quite
well by not flicking it into her hair as payback, though quite how I refrained
myself I had no idea. By the time calculus came, I was exhausted both
physically and mentally. All I wanted to do was curl into a ball on Will’s lap
and sleep.