"Yo, Kell!" Taylor strutted into the dorm room and threw herself down on Kelly's bed, "When's Flash getting here?"
Kelly ignored Taylor and continued applying her lipstick, only turning around once she'd finished, "He's already here, Taylor. Has been for about half an hour."
Across the common room, Polly head shot up, over hearing what was being said, "Kelly, please tell me you didn't just say Flash was already here!"
Without waiting for Kelly's reply, Polly darted over to her laptop and began pulling up the school's cameras, furiously flicking between corridors.
"Polly, what's the matter?" Kelly frowned, it was rare that the geek got flustered over anything. "Polly, what's happened?"
After clicking away on her laptop for a few more minutes, Polly's eyes grew wide and she murmured, "Too late."
Annoyed with the lack of response that she was getting, Kelly spun the laptop round so that she could see the screen, only to groan when she saw the school's uptight English teach, Miss Dickinson, walk into the room where Flash was currently helping the twins with their vodka distillery.
"Oh no...."
Taylor who was peering over Kelly's shoulder at the screen let out a low whistle, "We're in so much trouble, she'll snitch on us for sure. This is just the excuses them coppers need."
"I'm really sorry Kelly!" exclaimed Polly, "I didn't realise that Flash was here already; I assumes you'd go down when he got here. I saw Miss walking around but I didn't think it was a problem!"
Kelly ran her tongue over her teeth, thinking hard, "Right, Taylor, come with me. We'll spin some sob story to Miss and convince her to let it drop; if that doesn't work we can always buy her off with the money left over from the heist."
"What if she won't take the money?" asked Taylor nervously.
Kelly shook her head, "Not a problem, we have dirt on all of the staff, if she won't take a bribe then we go for blackmail."
As they had been talking Kelly and Taylor had quickly taken off to the backrooms of the school; where Flash's main room was. They were almost there when Kelly's phone went off; Polly.
"Yeah?" she answered, wondering if Polly had picked something up on camera.
"Err, Kelly, good news"
Kelly frowned, if it was good then why did the geek sound so nervous?
"What is it?"
"Well, I don't think Miss Dickinson is going to turn us in."
"Are you sure? Why?" Kelly began walking again, heading towards the side door which she used when she needed to speak to Flash.
"Well.... You see..... It looks like Miss has taken a liking to Flash."
Kelly's jaw literally dropped, as did her phone. Not bothering to pick her mobile up she swiftly strode past and pushed open the door, her face cold and her voice clipped, "What's going on here then?"
Miss Dickinson jumped back in surprise but not before Kelly and Taylor had a chance to see what was going on. The normally aloof English teacher had backed Flash into his desk and had both hands placed on his chest as she leant towards him.
"Kelly!" exclaimed Flash, for a moment a look of relief seemed to spread across his face before he noticed Kelly's expression and froze.
Kelly ignored Flash, focusing the full force of her glare on the English teacher who visibly wilted beneath it, "I said, what's going on here then?"
"Hello Kelly," smiled Miss Dickinson with forced warmth, "I was just introducing myself to Harry here."
As she spoke he eyes wandered back over to Flash, a certain look creeping on to her face as she did so. Kelly frowned; she knew that look, that was the look which Flash gave her. And now Miss was giving it to Flash. Miss liked Flash? What the....?
"I believe introductions are generally a handshake," said Kelly coolly, glaring hard at her.
Miss Dickinson's face rearranged itself into a rather motherly, patronising expression, "Kelly when you're grown up there are things which you will be able to understand."
The look which passed over Kelly's features was cue enough for most of the girls who were present to scatter, Taylor caught hold of Kelly's arm, she didn't think she would have to physically restrain the Head Girl; that wasn't her style, but it was better to be safe than have a dead English teacher on your hands.
"Kelly, Polly says to remember, Miss D could still turn us in," Taylor whispered quickly, stifling a grin; she knew Kelly liked Flash really, and apparently all it took was someone else flirting with him to bring that out. They should have let the Posh Totties at him ages ago.
Flash suddenly seemed to snap out of whatever stupor had been hold him in place and signalled to the two remaining first year, Tara and Tanya, to distract their teacher whilst he spoke to Kelly, after all, no one could resist their cute-factor.
"Kelly," mumbled Flash, placing a hand on the wall behind her and leaning down so that he could talk to her without being over-heard, "She walked in while the girls were pouring shots, there was no way to hide what was going on. I thought she was going to rat us in for sure but then she went all weird."
Kelly rolled her eyes, Miss had certain been acting 'weirdly', did Flash really not see that she was flirting with him; she had been all over him!
Kelly glared across at the teacher once again, noticing that the lady was giving her and Flash a very strange look, a slow smirk spread across her face as she realised that the teacher was jealous of the intimate position in which Flash and Kelly now stood. Kelly leaning against the wall with Flash standing over her, head's close together as they spoke.
She could stop the nosy teacher right there and then, all she had to was stretch up that tiny bit higher and kiss Flash on the cheek. That's all it would take to put the woman in her place and Kelly itched to do so, however she also knew that if then Miss would defiantly turn them in. They couldn't afford to lose the Trinski, it was the biggest and most constant source of income they had. So Kelly did what she hated doing, she swallowed her pride and put the school first.
"Fla.... Harry, Miss Fritton would like to see you in her office now," Kelly spoke loudly enough for Miss Dickinson to hear them.
"Miss Fritton, is there a staff meeting?" she asked, eyeing Flash, clearly hoping that he was soon to be joining the staff.
"No," replied Kelly sharply, unable to keep the edge off of her voice, "Just Harry. Goodnight Miss, if you don't mind, I need to lock up before I leave."
Miss Dickinson smiled at Kelly, "Of course Dear. It was a pleasure to meet you Harry." She finished with a smile aimed at Flash before she left.
Kelly fumed silently for a few moments as they watched her go.
"Come on!" grumbled Kelly, catching hold of Flash's sleeve and tugging him bodily out of the room.
*
"It was disgusting!" declared Kelly, angrily throwing her arms into the air, "There were first years present and she was all over him!"
Camilla paused, looking surprised, "Harry is this true?"
Flash looked momentarily panicked, "Well it weren't my fault, she just walked in then started acting really weirdly, she kept telling me to call her Millie, apparently it's short for Mildred."
"See! Tell her that inter staff relations are frowned upon, tell her he's taken, I don't care what you tell her but make her back off!" Kelly fumed.
Camilla smiled gently at her Head girl, "Kelly dear, don't you think that you might be over reacting just the tiniest bit? It was only a bit of flirting."
Kelly glared stubbornly at Miss Fritton, "It was irresponsible, and there were first years present."
"I dare say they've seen worse."
Flash had to agree with that but Kelly's glare stopped him from admitting to that. "That isn't the point."
"So what is the point, Kelly dear," sighed Camilla, "I'm afraid I've rather missed it."
Kelly said nothing, there was a faint red on her cheeks but that might have only been blusher as she glared stubbornly, unwilling to back down. Finally Miss Fritton broke the silence, "Harry, why don't you go and finish up downstairs. However it's late so I don't want to hear of you driving home until the morning, you can stay in your usual rooms."
Flash nodded, "Alright Milla, night Kelly."
Flash nodded to them both before quickly leaving; it had been a weird evening.
Once the door had shut behind Harry, Camilla turned to Kelly with a knowing expression on her face, "Kelly dear, Flash would never choose Miss Dickinson over you."
"She was all over him Miss," Kelly mumbled, not meeting her Headmistress' eyes.
"OK Kelly," Said Camilla, patting Kelly's hand, "I'll have a word."
*
Gossip travelled fast at St. Trinian's, among the staff as well as students. Flash was one of the favourite topics in the staff room so Miss Fritton didn't think it would be very hard to steer the convocation in the direction she wanted it.
"So, Mildred," Camilla addressed the English teacher, "I heard you met Flash Harry last night."
The effect was instant and Miss Dickinson didn't have a chance to reply before Matron and Miss Maupassant joined in.
"Oh you met Flash?"
"Isn't he gorgeous?" The ladies questioned her, causing her to blush.
"Yes he is rather," she admitted, then as casually as she could, "Have you ever dated him?"
Matron laughed heartily while Miss Maupassant looked puzzled, "Why ever would you think that?"
"Well," she replied slowly, "He is terribly good looking, and I understand he's been working with the school for some time."
"But darling, we value our lives!" exclaimed Matron bluntly, her drink spilling slightly, "You weren't interested were you?"
Miss Dickinson looked confused, "Well why shouldn't I be? He seems perfectly lovely."
"Kelly Jones," stated Matron, incredulously.
Still completely baffled, "The Head girl? What about her?"
Matron and Miss Maupassant exchanged glances before the drunken woman handed her glass to Miss Dickinson, "Here, you may need this....."
*
"Kelly, Kelly! A word please dear," Miss Dickinson spoke in what she clearly felt was an authoritative tone and beckoned the girl over.Rolling her eyes and smirking at the girls; causing them to giggle loudly at the idea that the stuffy teacher could ever tell her what to do, Kelly sauntered over, pausing a few times on the way to exchange comments with the girls.
"When your quite ready Kelly," huffed Miss, clearly annoyed at the lack of respect but managing to keep her cool.
"What can I do for you Miss?" asked Kelly, watching the already flustered teacher become even more confused.
"No, no dear, you misunderstand me entirely, it is I who am here to help you," Miss Dickinson explained, although she looked very confused herself.
Kelly smirked, "That's very kind of you Miss, if I find myself in need of your assistance, I shall let you know."
"No!" she cried, looking very frustrated that she had lost her grip on the conversation, "Kelly, I need to talk to you about Harry."
A sudden stillness came upon the room as girls who had been pretending not to listen turned to openly gawk at the clearly mad teacher. Kelly did not allow her smirk to falter, if anything it grew wider as she replied, "Miss if you want to ask him out, you're going to have to do that yourself; I'm certainly not going to do that for you."
And with that Kelly turned and strode away, girls scattering before her, but as she reached the door she called out, not bothering to turn around, "He's coming in tonight, I shall be there to enjoy the show. Girls, we'll need popcorn."
*
"Run that by me one more time," Flash looked at Kelly as though she'd gone completely mad.
Kelly sighed, in truth she wasn't quite sure what she was talking about either, all she knew was that it was very important that Flash knew that Miss Dickinson would be asking him out today and even more important that she knew he's be saying no. "Miss Dickinson, the teacher that was trying to chat you up, is probably going to ask you out."
Flash frowned, "Ok, that's nice."
Nice? What did he mean 'nice?
"You're going to say yes then?" Kelly asked her voice very sharp all of a sudden.
Flash stopped what he was doing, and turned to face Kelly, a peculiar expression on his face, "Kell, what do you think?"
Kelly nodded once before spinning on her heel and striding out of the room, leaving a very puzzled Flash who, after watching her leave shook his head and turned back to the bottles of Trinski which he was pouring down the drain before the twins could try to sell this particular batch to anyone.
*
Kelly burst into the dorm room, keeping composed long enough to send the girls running before she let the tears escape; she was so stupid! All those times she'd turned Flash down and now it looked like she'd missed her chance, and to that vile stuck up woman as well! She was all wrong for Flash; so why couldn't he see that?
A knock on the door brought Kelly to her senses and she quickly wiped the tears away before Polly carefully entered. Much to Kelly's relief, Polly ignored the obvious tear tracks on Kelly's face and handed Kelly the laptop she was carrying, "I thought you might want to see this," she muttered with a soft smile.
Looking at the screen Kelly saw that the camera link from Flash's workshop was open on the screen and that Miss Dickinson had just arrived.
"Thanks Poll, but I really don't want to watch this," she murmured and began to push the laptop away but Polly stopped her.
"Just trust me on this one," the geek insisted, clicking the sound on and leaving the room.
Letting out a sigh Kelly returned her attention to the screen, prepared to watch her Flash be chatted up by another woman. Her Flash; not any more apparently.
"Hello Harry," began Miss Dickinson in a tone that Kelly supposed was supposed to sound low and seductive.
Kelly snorted and Flash barely managed to keep a straight face, "Do you need a cough sweet?" he asked, causing Miss Dickinson to blush.
"Oh no, no, I'm fine, although your concern is very sweet." She smiled at him, walking slightly closer.
Flash smiled tentatively at her before continuing with his task. "Kell told me you 'ad something to say to me."
"Oh she did, did she?" snapped Miss, her face flashing with annoyance briefly before she could cover it up, "Well that was sweet of her."
Flash made a noise that could have been an agreement but Kelly suspected it was to cover a snort of laughter, after all, 'sweet' wasn't usually an adjective used to describe her.
"Well I have to admit, she's behaving rather immaturely about the entire thing," Miss Dickinson placed a hand on Flash's chest and looked up at him through her eyelashes.
This is it, thought Kelly as she stared at the screen; this is the moment where Flash forgets all about me.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Asked Flash, his voice becoming slightly deeper, as he passed a hand through his hair.
Miss Dickinson giggled girlishly but Kelly didn't notice; the tone of Flash's voice, the hand in his hair, he only did that when he was upset or angry, could that mean....?
"Why yes," Miss Dickinson ploughed on, not noticing the warning signs which Kelly had spotted over the camera, "she seems to have a silly crush on you, which all the other members of staff have interpreted as the two of you being an item. Now suddenly she finds she can't have everything her own way and she's afraid of the competition, not that there is one really." She finished with a smug smile.
"Well," muttered Flash, taking the hand on his chest in his own...
The tears which had been lurking at the edges of Kelly's eyes began to fall again, why did Polly want her to watch this?
"You got one thing right; there really is no competition..."
She hated herself for suggesting the Miss asked Flash out, she's been stupid enough to think he's turn her down.
"I mean, you against Kelly...."
How could she have been so stupid as to fall for Flash?
Flash shot the camera, which he knew would be recording, his most heart stopping grin, "It's going to be Kelly every time."
Both Kelly and Miss Dickinson's jaws dropped, "Don't ever speak about her like that," he muttered to Miss Dickinson as he let her hand drop and backed away from her.
"What... What... Where are you going?" stuttered Miss Dickinson, refusing to believe what she'd just heard.
Flash paused briefly at the door, grinning to himself, "I need to talk to someone." And with that he ran from the room, leaving the English teacher behind him.
Up in the dorm Kelly sat, quite motionless on the bed, staring at the laptop; not quite daring to believe what she'd just seen. Flash had picked her. Flash had picked her.
For several moments this was the only thought which Kelly could manage until the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs made her realise that Flash was on his way.
Putting the laptop to the side she stood up shakily just as the door burst open and Flash strode in, "I just had a rather interesting conversation with your English teacher," he commented, seemingly completely at ease.
"I saw," was all the response Kelly could give, gesturing slightly at the laptop.
Flash grinned lazily at Kelly, "I thought you might have. You thought I was going to say yes, that's why you were upset earlier."
Kelly only nodded, unsure as to how steady her voice would be.
In two strides, Flash was standing directly in front of her, he wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close while his other went up to cup her cheek, wiping away the remaining tears with his thumb, "Your ridiculous," he muttered softly and then he was kissing her.
Kelly let out a small gasp of surprise, letting Flash deepen the kiss. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers into his hair; afraid that if she didn't hang on, her knees might give way.
If Kelly had stopped to think, she might have realised that she probably looked a mess; her eyes were red from crying and tear tracks stained her cheeks but with Flash's arms wrapped around her and him kissing her like that, she didn't really care. And nor did he.