A bright pink envelope suddenly appeared in my vision, blocking out the lab I was working on. Confused, I looked up to see Lexi beaming at me. She pushed the envelope closer to my face. Afraid of having my eye cut open, I snatched it from her hands.

            “What’s this?” I asked, staring at my name drawn in curly letters. “An invitation?”

            She nodded her head. “Yeah! Aaron and I are throwing a party this weekend. Kind of like… A welcome party! You should come! I’m inviting Lance and Casey too.”

            Lance’s head snapped up from beside me. “Really?”

            “Of course! It’s not like I’m not going to invite someone as handsome as you,” she responded brightly. “I really want you to come.”

            He grinned goofily. “I’ll be there.”

            “Awesome! All the information you’ll need is in the envelope, so you’re all set!” Lexi told us, handing Lance a blue envelope. “Now where’s Mr. Heywood…”

            “You’re inviting him?” I asked in surprise.

            She gave me a sly smile. “I can try, can’t I?”

            Lance muttered something I didn’t catch under his breath. I turned to give him an annoyed look. He didn’t have to worry about Chris hitting on Lexi.

            “There he is! Mr. Heywood, over here!”

            My eyes snapped to the supply room door where Chris was emerging from, a plastic container of chicken salad in his hand. Suppressing a smile, I turned away from him. I’d woken up early in order to make him the salad. He’d been complaining how awful the school lunch had been lately, so I took matters into my own hands.

            “Do you need something Alexis?” he asked, coming over to us and stopping right in front of my desk.

            Lexi grinned at him. “Yep. How’s your salad?”

            He gave her a confused look. “Good… The chicken is dry though,” he added, the corner’s of his lips turning up into a smirk.

            I flushed, biting my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything.

            “You’re not a really good cook I take it?”

            He chuckled. “I guess I’m not all I say I am.”

            “Well, not all of us are can cook at a professional level and be cocky about it,” I commented casually, sending him a quick smile.

            “If they were cocky, it’s justified.”

            I gave him a flat look. He smiled before returning his attention back to Lexi. She simpered at him, holding an envelope behind her back.

            “What are you up to this weekend?” she asked in a curious voice.

            His smile dropped the tiniest bit. “Grading papers probably.”

            “That’s not exciting at all!”

            “That’s what it’s like being a teacher.”

            “You should come to my party,” she suggested, now bringing out the envelope. “I’m planning on inviting Mr. Ross too.”

            Chris stared at the envelope for a minute, his face blank. Lance snorted from beside me and I jammed my elbow into his side. Part of me wondered if this was Chris’s first time being invited to a party… Maybe he was a loser in high school. A grin spread across my face. I’d definitely have to ask him about that.

            “I don’t think it’d be a good idea if I went,” he finally responded, pushing the envelope back to her.

            She pouted at him. “Holly’s going!”

            Chris’s gaze met mine for a second and we exchanged a brief surprised look. Lexi stared at him, waiting for a response. He finally looked away from me, rearranging his expression into a nonchalant one.

            “It doesn’t matter if Ms. Evers is going,” he told her. “She’s a student, so it’s okay. I’m a teacher and I don’t think the staff would appreciate me going to a student’s party.”

            “Yeah,” Lance piped up. “They might think he’s getting along to well with us. Who knows? Maybe even falling in love with one of us.”

            Chris sent him a warning look. “Sorry, Lance, I’m not interested in guys.”

            Lexi giggled, slapping Chris gently on the shoulder. “I’m sure no one would say anything.”

            He shook his head. “I have a lot of papers to grade anyway. I’m sure you’ll have fun without me.”

            “No I won’t.”

            I smiled dryly. She really didn’t give up, did she? Chris looked like he was losing his patience. Our gazes met again and he sent me an apologetic look. I adverted my gaze immediately, biting my cheek to keep from smiling. He was upset because she kept hitting on him?

            “We’ll if you ever change your mind, feel free to show up!” Lexi chirped, stuffing the envelope into his chest. “I’m going to go work on my lab now.”

            He took the envelope off his chest, holding it tightly in his hand. “Alright.”

            Lexi smiled at him again before bounding off to the back of the classroom where she was working with James again. Chris sighed, shaking his head. Lance snickered from beside me.

            “I guess high school girls have a thing from you,” he commented.

            “They’ve been interested in me since day one,” Chris responded simply. “This one is no different.”

            Lance pursed his lips. “Except for the fact that she’s cuter than any other girl here.”

             I turned to Lance. “Hey!”

            “Sorry, Holly. It’s true.”

            “Lance!”

            Chris squatted, leaning towards me like he was looking at my paper. “Actually, you’re the cutest girl here.”

            I blushed, leaning back in my seat. “You’re biased.”

            He grinned. “Maybe. Come with me for a moment.”

            “Where to?” I asked curiously.

            “I have to pick up the new beakers in the office. I could use your arms.”

            Lance gave him a sour look. “She’s working on the lab with me.”

            “I’ve got you covered,” he responded simply. “Alexis? Could you come here for a moment?”

            Five seconds later Lexi was by his side, looking excited. I glanced at Lance, who looked just as excited as she did. They were both like exhilarated puppies. It was too bad while Lance was looking at Lexi; Lexi was looking at my boyfriend. I lowered my gaze, biting on my lip. Feeling bad for Lance was okay, but feeling bad for Lexi was just weird. She was trying to go after my boyfriend, but I felt bad that Chris didn’t show at least the tiniest bit of interest. Not that I wanted him to.

            “You need something, Chris?” she asked politely.

            “Ms. Evers and I have to go pick up some boxes from the office. Could you help Lance with a few problems on the worksheet? He’s confused.”

            She nodded her head. “No problem! What do you need help with Lance?”

            “Uh, uh, problem, uh… seven.”

            Chris gestured with his head for me to follow him and I quickly pushed myself up from my desk, allowing Lexi to sit down. She threw Chris a flirtatious smile as we exited the classroom. As soon as the door was shut he sighed, shaking his head.

            “Tough to resists her charm?” I joked.

            “Sorry, Holly,” he apologized seriously. “I wish I could tell her to stop but…”

            I shook my head. “Nope, I understand. You’ve got to be the kind, handsome teacher that everyone loves.”

            He frowned. “If she tries anything more I’d be happy to throw that away so she’ll stop hitting on my in front of you.”

            “Don’t do that,” I responded quickly, dropping my gaze in embarrassment. “I can handle it.”

            “Because you know I love you?”

            My head snapped up and I looked around wildly. “Mr. Heywood not so loud!”

            He chuckled, putting his hand on my head. “Don’t worry, Holly. I wouldn’t say anything if I knew someone could hear us. Mr. Kole’s class is in the computer lab this period.”

            “Oh,” I responded lamely feeling my face heat up. “Well you could warn me.”

            “But you’re reactions are cute.”

            I made a face at him. “You still say that?”

            “It’s true,” he insisted. “I still remember every face you made every time I said I was going on a date. You might not believe me, but keeping up that charade was a lot harder than I expected.”

            I smiled at the memory. “Why did you even say that in the first place?”

            “To see if you liked me or not,” he told me, smirking. “You got jealous, so I figured you liked me at least a tiny bit.”

            “What about when I went out with Jeremy?”

            He chuckled. “I won’t lie. At first I thought you actually did like him more than a friend. Then he told me what you guys did and it made me realize you liked me more than I thought. I didn’t realize Jeremy was your love doctor when it came to me.”

            I huffed at him. “Well maybe if you weren’t so secretive.”

            Chris smiled mischievously. “But my mystery makes me more attractive, doesn’t it?”

            “You’re attractive? That’s new.”

            “Haha,” he laughed mockingly, pushing open the door to the back stairwell. “We’re at my favorite stair case.”

            I gave him a wary look. “Chris… We’re in school.”

            “So?”

            “Don’t you think you’re being too lax?”

            “Nope,” he responded, grabbing my elbow, and pulling me to a stop. “No one ever uses this stairwell besides me and the few ecology kids, but they don’t come up until next period, so we’re alone.”

            I gave him an uncertain look. “But…”

            His bright look dampened a little and he let go of my arm. “If you don’t want to, we won’t—”

            Before he could finish I raised myself to my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t say that. I’d never not want to kiss you. Unless you like, threw up or something.”

            He didn’t respond, pulling me closer to him again. Our lips met and I wrapped my arms around him, feeling a thrill from kissing in such a public place. Contrary to Chris’s thoughts, I liked the feeling of breaking the school rules. I was such a goody-goody when it came to class; it felt exciting to break at least one edict. When I tried to deepen our kiss, he pushed me back, shaking his head.

            “I was just planning a quick kiss,” he told me.

            I blushed, removing my arms from around him. “Oh…”

            “I’d let you, but we at least have to be a little bit careful,” he told me, grabbing my hand in his. “Holding hands is okay though.”

            I stared at him for a moment, a frown crossing my face. “Hey Chris?”

            “Yeah?”

            “We’re a weird couple, aren’t we?”

            He cocked an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

            “The fact that we have to hide in a stairwell to kiss.”

            “It comes with the troubles of us,” he responded, squeezing my hand. “When you decided to fall in love with your teacher, you brought a lot of problems upon yourself.”

            I pursed my lips at him. “Hey, you played a large part too!”

            He chuckled. “I probably played the biggest part… Since I’m so handsome.”

            “More like narcissistic.”

            “We may not be a perfect couple,” he started, ignoring my comment, “but I love you and that’s all that matters, right?”

            I lowered my gaze, biting my lip to keep from smiling. “Sometimes you say really cheesy things.”

            “I’m just trying to ease your worries.”

            “I’m not worried!” I responded quickly. “I was just thinking… You’re technically an adult. Don’t you want… Er, don’t you want to do adult stuff?”

            Chris blanked for a moment. “Holly, it’s against school rules for a teacher to have a physical relationship—”

            “That’s not what I meant!”

            He furrowed his eyebrows. “Then what?”

            “What if you wanted to go out drinking or something?”

            Realization crossed over his face and he chuckled. “I don’t need to go to a bar to go drinking. I can go somewhere where you’re allowed in too. But, I don’t really like to drink so you don’t need to worry about that.”

            “You don’t drink?”

            He shook his head. “I don’t like the taste.”

            It made sense. I’d never seen any kind of alcohol in his fridge. “What about—”

            “Holly, there’s no adult thing I want to do with you that we can’t,” he cut me off, shaking his head. “You’re over thinking things.”

            “But—”

            “No buts.”

            I squeezed his hand as tightly as I could. “Fine. We should probably go get those boxes… We’ve been idling here for awhile.”

            Chris made a face. “I don’t want to go back and teach.”

            “It’s your job!”

            “I’d rather spend my time with you.”

            My retorts fell short in my mouth. How could I scold him when he said that?

            The door to the stairwell suddenly opened and we quickly dropped our hands, taking a small step away from each other. My heart jumped into my throat as I turned around to see who’d come through the door. Someone I didn’t recognized sent Chris a polite greeting as he passed us, not sparing a second glance. My gaze met Chris’s, and he laughed quietly.

            “Let’s go get those boxes,” he said, gesturing for me to follow him with his head. “Then today after school you can help me unpack them.”

            “I’m going with Lance to—”

            “Or you get a zero on this lab.”

            I glared at the back of his head. “That’s not fair!”

            “You’re right,” he mused. “If I gave you a bad grade you’d probably fail my course… You need to start doing your homework.”

            “The only time I don’t do my homework is when I go to your house, and you never let me do it,” I snapped.

            He smiled innocently at me. “You could always do extra credit.”

            “Which would be…?”

            “Unpacking boxes.”

            I sighed. I could never win with him.

            “Which is a good thing.”

            I stared at him in surprise. “Can you read my mind?”

            He raised an eyebrow in amusement. “No… You said that out loud?”

            “Oh,” I responded, feeling embarrassed again.

            I really couldn’t win.

_____________________________________

My thoughts weren't processing together in this chapter. I was all over and everywhere xD sorry about that. I started this chapter yesterday than stopped... then started today in study hall... then stopped. And finished just now. Next chapter will be more put together, I promise lol.

Yeah... I meant to upload this yesterday, but Wattpad wouldn't work, so if you use Quizilla too, this is the same chapter I uploaded on Quizilla yesterday.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes x) FB in link!

Today's song is... Crucify Me by Bring Me the Horizon.... cause it's amazing.