Hey guys! A big thank you to all of the new readers and followers for all of your support and comments! Hope you enjoy :)

The next week went by in a blur of homework, wine, and most of all; avoiding Mr McCoy.

I had his class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On both Monday and Wednesday, I arrived to class just before it started and left the second he dismissed us. So I would say my plan of avoiding him had been going pretty well. That didn't mean to say he was making it easy for me.

On Monday when I walked in, it was like he knew I would be the last one in and was standing at the door waiting for me. My heart lurched the moment I saw him. His eyes were tired and defeated. His hunched over body, straightened right up when I walked in. It took every bit of my strength to walk right past him and to my seat, never making eye contact the entire class.

Wednesday was supremely easier. He barely paid attention to me in class besides for calling my name for role. It seemed as though it finally got through to him that whatever connection we had, was diminished into nothingness at the Gala.

I should have been relieved when he didn't seem to notice me, and I was, don't get me wrong. Yet, there was the ever present feeling of disappointment at the finality of our little fling; if you could even call it that.

Today was Friday and I started it off with my usual run in the mornings then I hopped in the shower to get ready for Mr. McCoy's class. Throwing on a pair of white shorts and a light blue tank top, I put some light make up on and set off.

Traffic was absolutely absurd and I ended up parking in the school lot two minutes before class was supposed to start. Grabbing my bag, I bolted out of my car and sprinted to class. Before I could even make it in the building, I crashed into someone and fell straight to the ground on my ass.

"Aw, fuck," I groaned as my back made contact with the cement. I tried to open my eyes only to be welcomed by the blinding sunlight. I rolled over onto my stomach and supported myself with my hands. Looking up, I noticed the man I ran into just kept walking, not even bothering to help me pick up my stuff. He had got a baseball cap, pulled down just far enough on his face that I couldn't even see what student it may have been so I could have confronted them later.

"Dickhead," I muttered under my breath as I slowly started to pick up my things. Standing up, I cracked my back to try and help ease some of the tension from the fall. I bent over and grabbed my bag off of the ground. I then realized that I didn't hear anything around me.

Snapping up like lightening, I looked around to see that I was the only student left outside.

"Oh no, no, no!" I tried to embody as much of The Flash as I could and took off towards his class. The last thing I needed right now was a detention from him. I threw open the building doors when I reached them and bolted down the hallways. Almost there!

Flying around the corner, Mr. McCoy's classroom came into sight. I reached out and gripped the door handle of his classroom, throwing it open and practically collapsed into the classroom.

Hunched over, hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath, I knew that everyone's eyes were on me; including Mr. McCoy's. After a few seconds, I daringly looked up into his amused, deep blue eyes, awaiting his verdict.

"You're late."

My jaw dropped open. "You've got to be kidding me?" He shook his head, desperately trying to conceal his smirk.

"Afraid not, Ms. Merrick. See me after class."

Fuck.

I sighed dejectedly and sulked to my seat. Ben was trying his very best to stifle his laughter when I got there. Totally not in the mood, I gave him a swift punch to his arm and sat my sore ass down. My tailbone was already starting to bruise from the fall.

I completely zoned out during his lesson due to the impending talk after class that would no doubt result in a detention. A detention held by a man that I'd been successfully avoiding up until this moment. A man that could barely touch me and have me almost orgasm on the spot. A man who has a girlfriend that wanted to kill me. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of scraping chairs all around me. Alright, screw this, I'm leaving with everyone else!

I stood up and turned to Ben.

"Ben, I need you to cover me." His head reared back in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean help me get out of here without being seen!" His mouth formed an 'O' and an evil sort of glint formed in his eyes. He extended his hand out in front of him.

"Come with me if you want to live," he said in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.

I chuckled under my breath and slapped my hand in his. We maneuvered through the aisles and slid across the back of the side wall leading to the door. My back was up against the wall and Ben was directly in front of me, hiding me from view.

"Almost there, darlin'," Ben said quietly. My heart was beating frantically in my chest. If I got caught, I would be in even more trouble than I would have been if I had just stayed.

The door came into sight and I couldn't help my feet from jumping back and forth in anticipation. I was almost free!

"Ms. Merrick, where do you think you're going?"

Busted!

Before I even had time to react to Mr. McCoy, I felt myself being lifted up into the air and thrown over a shoulder.

"Abort mission! Abort, abort!" Ben yelled and ran out of the room with me flung over his shoulder, laughing hysterically. I propped my hands up on Ben's back to see a very disgruntled Mr. McCoy. I waved at him playfully as Ben brought me around the corner and out of sight.

After were safely out of the building Ben put me down in the parking lot.

"That was perfect! You're most definitely in line for the next James Bond." I joked with him.

He exhaled dramatically and brought his arm up and kissed his bicep. "It's all thanks to these guns right here. These puppies can get you out of any mess." I shoved him slightly and he tumbled backwards a little.

"Sure, guns of steel right there," I said with a smirk.

We said our goodbye and headed off to our cars. When I reached my car, I popped my door open and flung my bag inside, heading in after it. Just as I started my car up, I noticed something. I slowly got out of my car and walked to the side of it. Underneath my windshield whipper was a piece of paper. Hesitantly, I opened it, hoping it wasn't some ticket or anything like that.

It wasn't.

At evenings stroke,

At mornings dawn,

Your beauty radiates

As a new born fawn.

At summers end,

And winters call,

Your beauty shines

Brightest of all.

At thunders grasp,

And snowy skies,

Your beauty shall last forever

Until the sweetest of goodbyes.

What the hell is this? I looked all around me for someone to be watching and jump out to tell me it was all a joke. There was no one around. I read it over and over again until the words were burned into my mind. Who would write this? And to me of all people? Who- wait a minute. This poem is all about beauty and nature. Who do I know that has a soft spot for all of nature's beauties and has said on occasion that he finds me somewhat attractive?

Mr. McCoy.

Did he write this for me? And if so, should I be flattered by it or upset since he's still trying things with me while he's got Silvia?

You know what? I don't have the time or energy for this right now. I had to go home and pack for the trip to my parents this weekend.

I folded the note up and slipped it safely into my purse, forgetting about its mysteries for now.

At home, I just started packing up everything I'd need for the weekend when I heard my email go off. Walking over, I plopped down on my bed and opened my email. I felt my stomach drop into my butt when I saw who it was from. My shaky fingers reluctantly moved over my phones key board and opened the email.

Ms. Merrick,

I do believe that it's against school policy to run out on a professor when they've requested to see you after class. What would have only been a warning has now been upped to two detentions for you. Also, I'll find some way to reprimand Mr. Grant for his helpings in your disobedience. How about a weekend detention? Tomorrow and Sunday. Does that work for you?

Sincerely,

Mr. McCoy.

What!? Two detentions! I don't think so, buddy!

Mr. McCoy,

NO, two detentions is completely unfair! Also tomorrow and Sunday I'll be out of town for a family dinner, so that doesn't work for me either. And as for Ben, he was just helping out a friend. Please don't punish him for my asking him for help. He was just being a good friend, so whatever punishment you planned on giving him, give to me instead.

Sincerely,

Give me a break, please.

I hit the send button and anxiously awaited his response. There was no way I'd be able to survive two detentions with him. Moments later my phone vibrated in my hand.

Ms. Merrick,

Two detentions is more than fair for basically skipping out on another punishment. But since you've insisted on taking Ben's punishment, how about we make a deal?

Sincerely,

We'll see about that.

Oh, God. Another deal? My palms began to sweat and my stomach started to churn. I didn't like where this was going at all as I opened up my email and began to write.

Mr. McCoy,

I thought you were done making deals with me? Something about them always ending poorly. You have spiked my curiosity though. What are the terms?

Sincerely,

Please be gentle.

My phone slipped from my hands and fell on the bed. Not able to contain my nervousness, I got up off the bed and began to pace. I decided that continuing my original task of packing would greatly ease my mind. Yet, just a few minutes later, I had all of the clothes I needed for the weekend packed and he still hadn't responded.

Did I say something wrong? Is the deal so detailed that it takes this long to write? So many thoughts pile drove rough my mind as to why he hadn't responded yet. Okay, I needed to do something, anything to calm myself.

Wine!

Wine had always been there for me in the past.

I practically skipped to the kitchen and poured myself a tall glass of Merlot. I took a few relaxing sips and could already feel my shoulders start to relax. With my new found calmness, I worked my way back to my bedroom. My feet halted in the doorway to my room. My eyes scanned my bed to find my phone, blinking, alerting me to a new message. Taking a relaxing breath, I strolled over to my bed and grabbed my phone.

Ms. Merrick,

You know what they say; Curiosity killed the cat. And you have proven to be a very curious kitty. The deal is simply this:

I take your detention down to one. I know, I'm very kind; you don't have to thank me. In return, you have to give me your phone number and answer when I call. Tonight.

Deal?

Sincerely,

I promise I'll make it worth your while.

Holy fuck! My throat chocked on the wine that I was in the middle of swallowing when I read his last little part. How in the world would he make it worth my while by me calling him? I sure as hell hoped he didn't think that if I give him my number that anything even remotely related to phone sex would be happening. I couldn't think of anything else he could mean by 'make it worth my while'. Suddenly, my phone vibrated. It was another email from him.

Ms. Merrick,

Get your mind out of the gutter. I know you well enough by now to know that you took that in a completely different way than it was meant entirely. Now, calm yourself down and respond accordingly.

Sincerely,

Eagerly awaiting your response.

Oh. My anger dissipated almost instantly and a small smile tugged on my lips. How he knew I would react like that was beyond me, but something about the fact that he did made my stomach flip in elation. I settled back against my headboard and took a sip of wine, trying to think of how to respond.

Should I give him my number? I mean, it would just be for this deal, right? What would he even want to talk about? All of these questions flooded my mind like an army of ants invading a partially eaten Twinkie.

Okay, I needed some answers.

Mr. McCoy,

First off, I did NOT take your comment in a dirty way. And even if I had, I have a hard time believing you didn't intend it that way in the first place.

Second, why do you want my phone number? Why can't we just email like we are now? This is much simpler and I propose we stick to this.

Sincerely,

Not a pervert.

I took another sip from my wine glass and realized that I had almost finished the entire thing. Whoops! If I was going to continue emailing him, I needed to have all of my wits about me. I gulped down the last bit of my wine and set the glass down far enough away from me to diminish any further temptation. Then my phone buzzed.

Ms. Merrick,

You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be. The deal is that I call you and take away all of the punishment for your friend Ben and one of your detentions. Failure to complete your side of the bargain will result in Ben receiving more than just a slap on the wrist and we will make it three detentions for you. It's your choice. All I need is to propose my own idea to you about this weekend. Now, this will be the last email I send before the deal is off the table. Think about it.

Sincerely,

Choose wisely.

Oh shit, he's not kidding around anymore. Okay, okay, I can do this. It's for Ben after all. For Ben! I opened up my email and began to type.

Mr. McCoy,

Fine. I do have some terms of my own though, so listen up.

1) This will be the only time you call me.

2) We will not talk for over 10 minutes. I need to get my beauty sleep.

3) There really isn't a three but list always look better with three items rather than two. Deal with it.

I really hope I don't regret this.

407-0987-7384

Sincerely,

This better be good.

I hit send and my heart instantly started to pound. My professor was about to call me. What in the world we would talk about, I hadn't a clue, but it was about to happen.

Oh, God, I'm so much more nervous for this than I should be. I mean, He's my teacher! I have no reason to be nervous. We've talked on several occasions. The fact that most of those conversations have ended poorly doesn't really matter, right? Yeah. Sure. I can do this! I can-

My phone came to life and started playing one of my favorite songs by Ed Sheeran. It was an unknown number. Without thinking, I threw my phone across the bed to the other side.

"I can't do this! I can't do this!" I panicked and started pacing around the room, the ringing phone taunting me in the background. I slapped my hands over my face and grabbed it in my hands to hold it still.

"Get it together!" Oh, God, okay. Oh crap!

The song for my ringer was almost over. I jumped across my room and landed belly first on the bed, slapping my hand over my phone in the process. Turning it over and without thinking, I clicked accept.

"Hello?" My voice came out extremely breathy and somewhat shaky.

Seconds passed with nothing but silence. Was I too late? Is this even him?

"Took you long enough."

Heyoo!! So what'd ya think?? Did you like their email conversation? I've got a big question for all of you lovely people who follow and read this story. Should I do a POV from Mr McCoy yet? Or hold off? I've been going back and forth about it for a while now and would love to know what you guys think! Thank you all!! Much love and so many thanks for reading! Until next time! ;)