When Summer Ends (69 page)

He nodded, seeming oblivious to my internal freak out that I
was starting to have. “Yeah, I’ve been a little busy lately with interviews and
things like that. But I was offered this really good opportunity that I just
couldn’t turn down,” he continued.

“Oh,” I mumbled again, not really able to form any coherent
thoughts other than the fact that Will was leaving me. It was over.

He cocked his head to the side, looking at me expectantly.
“Not going to ask me where I’m moving to?”

Can I speak? If I open my mouth will I just start
screaming? Will any words actually come out if I try to form a sentence?
My
mouth was so dry I could barely even swallow. I licked my lips. “Where?” I
whispered, fighting the sadness that was trying to consume me. This started off
one of the happiest days of my life, and it was going to end one of the worst.

A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “There you go,
doubting my love for you again,” he whispered, kissing me softly. I didn’t know
how to respond.
Of course I’m doubting your love for me, stupid! I gave up
my dream school to stay here with you and you’re just up and leaving me here?
How freaking selfish is that?  

“Will… just-” I didn’t know what I wanted to say. Part of me
wanted to cry, part of me wanted to shout at him, part of me wanted to hold him
tight and never let him go.

“The job is in New York,” he said, pulling back and looking
at me waiting for my reaction.

New York? He’s moving to New York?
“Is that some kind
of sick joke?” I asked, shaking my head, just not understanding this boy’s
humour.
He knew that I wanted to go there, yet he let me turn down my
college place, but now he’s moving there anyway? What the hell is up with that?
I jumped to my feet, looking at him angrily.

He laughed and gripped my hand, pulling me down to the bench
again. “Yeah, I’m moving to New York. I have a great job lined up there, it’s
pretty close to your dream school actually,” he commented, looking at me
happily.

I pushed him away from me angrily. “What the hell? I turned
down my place there! Why would you do this? Will, for goodness sake, this is
just-” I groaned in frustration and shook my head at him.

He grinned. “You didn’t turn down your place there actually.
You accepted it. Well, that’s not strictly true, Amy accepted it, pretending to
be you,” he said, shrugging.

What the?
“She did what?” I mumbled, suddenly getting
even more confused as to where this conversation was going.

He sighed happily. “Stop being angry with me, I can see
you’re angry by your expression. This is a good thing, I promise.” He took my
hand and turned in his seat so he was full on facing me. “Before you spoke to
Amy and told her that you were staying here and not going to New York, I spoke
to her. I told her that you were going to tell her that,” he explained. “For
the last couple of months I’ve been scrambling trying to find a new job close
to your school that you wanted. It’s been hard because I’m young and not a lot
of schools want to take a chance on a guy that has only one year of teaching
experience. But I found one eventually. I just got offered the place last week.
It’s only a half an hour drive from your dream school,” he explained.

Holy crud, I did not see any of this coming! Is he being
serious?
“So, you have a job in New York, and Amy accepted my place at
college when I thought that I’d turned it down?” I asked, needing conformation.

He nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty easy, she confirmed over the
internet using your laptop, and I kind of intercepted your place rejection
letter that you mailed,” he agreed, grinning sheepishly.

I closed my eyes, still unsure what to think about any of
this. “You would move to New York with me?” I whispered.

He laughed. “I’d move to Antarctica with you, Cutie.”

“We’re going to New York?” I gasped, the reality of it
suddenly washing over me.

He nodded. A smile stretched across his face. “Yep. Me, you,
and Amy.”

How the hell did I get this guy? I seriously don’t
deserve him at all. He’s willing to leave his family, and move half way across
the country, just for me?
“Will, what the hell? Seriously?” I cried,
jumping off of the bench and covering my mouth as I started laughing.

He nodded, stretching his arms out across the back of the
bench, looking the epitome of ease as he smiled up at me. “Seriously,” he
confirmed, shrugging casually as if this was no big deal.

I squealed and jumped on his lap, making him grunt before he
laughed too. “Oh my God, thank you. Thank you! You’re just… I don’t the words
to describe you. You’re just perfect,” I gushed, looking at him in awe.

He shook his head. “I’m not perfect, I’m a messy math nerd,”
he joked.

“Correction, you’re
my
messy math nerd,” I countered,
grinning at him.

He smirked at me and gripped his hand around the back of my
head, pulling my mouth closer to his. “And you’re my Lucky Charm eating,
Cutie,” he whispered, before pressing his lips to mine and kissing me tenderly.

I smiled against his lips, feeling so happy that I could
burst into song at any second. Then it hit me. I pulled back and winced. “I
told my parents I was staying here now. How am I going to them that I’m not?”

 He smiled. “I thought we could do that together.” He looked
a little nervous about it as he stroked my hair softly.

“You finally worked up the nerve to want to meet my dad?” I
teased, knowing he’d wanted to do it for months now, but we couldn’t until I’d
graduated.

He nodded. “Finally yeah,” he agreed, playing along. “Not
only am I meeting the guy, but I’m also about to tell him that I’m taking his
only daughter to live in sin, miles away from home. I can see this night ending
badly.”

I laughed and pressed my lips to his, kissing him fiercely.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get through it together,” I promised.

He nodded. “That’s why I’m not freaking out. Whatever
happens after this, I know it’ll be fine, because I’ll be with you.” He kissed
me again, ending the conversation.

I melted against him, my heart crashing in my chest as I
wondered just how it was that I got so freaking lucky. I now had my dream guy,
and we were moving together so that I could go to my dream school. Life
couldn’t get much better than this. No matter how my parents reacted, it wouldn’t
matter, Will and I would get through it, we’d get through anything. Together.

Epilogue

“I’m so nervous that I feel sick,” Will muttered, shaking his
head, gripping my hand tightly.

I smiled and tried to pretend that I was confident, that
this would all be fine, when in reality I knew it wouldn’t be. We were about to
tell my parents that he was my teacher, that we got together last summer, and that
we were moving to New York together. This was not going to end well at all.

“Would you rather me tell them on my own and then introduce
you tomorrow? Maybe that would be a better idea,” I suggested, wincing.
Maybe
they won’t go as crazy if it isn’t all thrown in their faces in one go.
I
knew my dad would be angry about it. He would be seriously annoyed that I’d
been keeping it secret; he would be even more annoyed that Will was older, but
he was going to be seething mad that he was my teacher.

Will shook his head and frowned. “I’m not letting you do
that on your own,” he protested. He nodded towards the door. “Come on, Cutie.
Let’s get this done.”

I took a deep breath and jammed my key in the lock, opening
the door, feeling my heart sink as I heard the click. The TV was on in the
lounge, my parents were laughing at some show they were watching. I tugged Will
into the house with me and closed the door quietly behind us. I smiled
tentatively at him before going up on tiptoes and pressing my lips to his,
kissing him softly.

“I love you. If they kick me out can I stay at yours?” I
whispered, looking at him hopefully.

He smiled. “Of course you can. It really is wrong for me to
hope that they do kick you out, isn’t it?” he countered, winking at me. I
giggled and slapped his chest with the back of my hand, nodding towards the
lounge. He smiled and kissed my forehead softly. “I love you too by the way.”

I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before
heading into the lounge, seeing my parents sitting there watching TV, cuddled
up on the sofa, sharing a bowl of popcorn. My mom noticed us first. She smiled
happily, but then her eyes took in Will who was standing slightly behind me,
still holding my hand in the death grip. Her smile turned into more of a
polite, bemused expression as she looked at him curiously, as if trying to work
out if she knew him or not.

“Er, hey guys,” I mumbled, noticing how my voice shook with
nerves as I spoke.

My dad looked up from the TV then and frowned, his
expression turning into the bad cop that happened whenever he met a guy I
brought home to meet them. “Hey, pumpkin,” he replied, his voice tight, his
eyes locked on Will.

I was sweating. I could feel it forming on my top lip where
I was so nervous. “Er, okay so I have someone I want you to meet,” I started,
unsure how I was going to kick off this conversation. “This is Will Morris.” I
tugged him forward a little, nodding in his direction. “Will, these are my
parents.”

Will smiled and stepped forward with his hand out. Both my
parents stood up too, my mom’s eyes flicking to my dad worriedly. She obviously
knew what he was like too. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs Henderson. I’ve
heard a lot about you,” Will said confidently.

My dad raised one eyebrow as he took Will’s offered hand and
shook it. “Really? Well we’ve heard absolutely nothing about you,” he replied,
his voice harsh.

Oh God, please let the ground open up and swallow me!

Will laughed nervously. “Yeah I know. Sorry about that, that
was a small complication.” He shook my mom’s hand too; she was watching me
curiously, probably wondering why I was just standing there with my teeth
gritted and my hands in tight fists. “Chloe and I have a few things we need to
explain to you. I’m not quite sure how to say it really,” Will continued.

Jeez, is he oblivious to the death glare my father is
shooting him right now? Does he just not care that my dad looks like he wants
to rip his head off?

My dad’s hard stare turned on me. “Who is this then, Chloe?”
he asked. I flinched; I knew he was already mad because he hardly ever called
me Chloe, always pumpkin.

I cleared my throat. “This is my boyfriend,” I answered,
trying to sound confident.

My dad’s eyebrow rose even further. “Little old for you,
isn’t he?” he countered, his eyes not leaving mine.

“Not in my opinion, but I’m sure in yours he will be,” I
agreed, slipping my hand back into Will’s, squeezing gently. “We need to talk
about some stuff. I’m sure you’re not going to like it, but just hear us out.
Please?” I asked, looking at him pleadingly.

“Why don’t we all sit down?” my mom suggested cheerfully. I
smiled gratefully. She was obviously trying to help me out and keep my dad
calm.

I nodded and tugged Will over to the other sofa, sitting
down and pulling him down next to me, pressing into his side, wishing I could
hide behind him or something. My parents were both looking at me curiously so I
knew I needed to get the conversation going and explain.

I swallowed loudly. “Okay, so remember I told you that I was
dating a guy last summer but we broke up?” I inquired, wincing.

My dad nodded. “Yeah, some guy called,” his eyes flicked to
the love of my life, “Will,” he finished. Understanding crossed his features
before his eyes narrowed. “A year? Seriously, you’ve been dating for almost a
year and have only just brought him home?” he cried, shaking his head angrily.

“There were some other things, it was impossible,” I
countered.
This is not going well.

“What other things? You know I like to meet your boyfriends,
Chloe. Why are we only just meeting now?” Dad asked, glaring at Will again.

Will shifted on his seat, and I knew he was about to take
over this conversation. Hopefully my part was over now and I would just have to
add into the conversation a little here and there. Will would take care of
everything and make this all right, he always did.

“Mr Henderson, I met your daughter last summer and I didn’t
know how old she was. I thought she was older than she was. We started dating
and getting on great. But then at the end of the summer Chloe went back to
school and… well, we found out that Chloe was actually my,” he took a deep
breath before finishing his sentence, “student.”

A frown crossed my dad’s face as he took in what Will said.
“Your student? What does that mean? I don’t understand. Student in what?”

Will shifted on the sofa, his hand tightening on mine. “I
finished college and was offered a job at Chloe’s school. I’m her calculus
teacher. Well, I was, she’s obviously graduated now,” he explained.

My mom’s eyes widened, but my dad still looked confused. His
eyes flicked to me again. “What’s he talking about, Chloe?” he asked.

I winced and blew out the breath that I didn’t even realise
I was holding. “When I met Will last summer I didn’t tell him how old I was, and
he assumed I was older than seventeen. When I went back to school at the start
of senior year, Will was there too, but he was… my teacher,” I explained, just
repeating what Will had said. This time my dad understood though.

His face turned from confused to murderously angry as he
sprung out of his chair. His eyes were hard and accusing as they latched onto
Will. “Get your goddamn hands off of my daughter!” he shouted warningly.

Will nodded and let go of my hand immediately, holding up
his hands innocently. “Mr Henderson, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I love your
daughter very much, more than anything,” he said quickly, obviously trying to
calm my dad down.