Chapter one – Alex's crush

I swear my heart stopped beating as I walked in to my eighth period English class and saw a beautiful brunette woman sitting behind the teacher's desk, frowning at the piece of paper in front of her.

I was five minutes early to class because I'd gone to the bathroom during seventh period Biology and not bothered to go back... The beautiful frowning woman was still unaware of my presence. Tugging at the plaid skirt that was bugging the life out of me, I cleared my throat to get her to realise that I was there.

The skirt, blazer and tie were beginning to seriously frustrate me after one day of wearing them, whichever idiot decided to enforce a school uniform rule for my last year of high school was so going on my naughty list.

The light haired woman looked up from the paper she was grading and smiled warmly at me, "Hello there, aren't you a little early? I wasn't expecting anyone for at least another five minutes." she asked me in an angelic voice. I finally managed to stabilise my breathing after I loosened the knot in my tie.

"S-sorry, Miss. I was let out of last lesson early, may I come in or should I wait outside?" I asked her politely, kicking myself internally for stuttering and being polite. Alex Russo is not polite or kind to teachers, get a grip.

"By all means of course, take first pick of the seats if you'd like." She replied with a welcoming smile. She was absolutely breath taking, her light brown eyes were the exact same shade as her hair and she had perfect teeth which came on show when she smiled. The top button of her red blouse was undone, revealing a slight amount of cleavage and the black skirt she was wearing rode up to her mid-thigh because she was sitting down.

She looked like she was in her early-to-mid-thirties, I noted to myself as I took my usual seat in the back left corner.

The back left corner was my seat, everyone knew that. I would walk in to a classroom and that seat would always be available to me because nobody dared to sit in my seat.

I looked over to the woman seated at the front of the classroom and noticed that she had a smirk on her face. "So you're Rebel Russo?" She asked me as the smirk turned into a small smile.

"How did you know that?" I asked her curiously. I'd never seen her before in my life and I was sure she'd never seen me either so I couldn't understand how she could possibly know my name.

"I've been warned about you," She began as she got up and walked to the board behind her, writing the date and her name on it for the class that would shortly be entering. Ms. Munroe. "I'm going to ask you straight up, are you going to cause a problem for me?" She asked me as she turned around and began to slowly walk toward my desk.

I smirked at her; probably getting a rebellious look in my eyes which I'd been previously told appeared every time I was formulating a plot. "Why on earth would you think I'd be a problem for you?" I asked her, feigning innocence, something I managed to master at the age of five.

"Drop the miss-goody-two-shoes act, Alex. I asked your other teachers after I was warned about you by your calculus teacher, you cause a problem in every class you have and today alone you've been sent to the Principal's office twice," She told me, matching my smirk. She finally reached my desk and leant on it, bending over slightly with her hands at shoulder width apart supporting her. "Now, I shall ask you again; are you going to cause me a problem?" She asked me in just above a whisper.

"Of course not, Ms. Munroe." I replied as if it was obvious. She stood up straight and tugged at her skirt slightly to bring it back down to its intended length; just above her knees.

"Good, because I wouldn't want to have to cause you a problem… Hand those out for me, would you?" She responded quickly, pointing toward the pile of new notebooks for the year. "Two per desk." She continued as she walked off. My jaw almost hit the floor; no teacher had ever asked me to hand anything out before, admittedly that was probably because they knew I'd say no. I decided I liked this teacher though and it couldn't possibly be that hard to behave during one lesson a day for the final year.

The warning bell rang and gradually people started to saunter in, throwing the occasional comment in about Ms. Munroe as she was new or me because no one had ever seen me handing out the books or just generally being well-behaved in a classroom, let alone helpful.

As the last kid came in through the door Ms. Munroe closed it then turned to the class with a welcoming, kind smile. "Good afternoon, guys. Now, I know you're probably all really tired from getting back into the routine of coming to school so you will be pleased to know that there isn't any proper classwork today. As I'm a new teacher here this year I would like to get to know you all a little better so when I point to you I want to know your name and three interesting, appropriate facts about you. Sound good enough?" She asked cheerfully to the class of sleep-deprived seniors. A few, including me, nodded whilst others kept their head on the desk, practically prying their eyes open. Of course, she pointed to me first. "Rebel Russo, I've spoken to you so why don't you start us off?" She asked me with a single perfectly-shaped eyebrow raised.

I swear she was testing me, seeing if I'd really stick to what I said and behave so now I had a very quick and serious decision to make; Do I stand up and do as she asked or do I turn it around and ask her three facts about herself, which I knew from experience teachers didn't take too kindly to being asked.

She held her gaze on me the whole time, waiting for my response. The first one.

"I'm Rebel Russo, apparently. I play the drums… I have two brothers; one's an arsehole but its okay because he's fucked off to college and the other is just plain retarded but I do love that one… I work for my family but when I say work I really mean get paid for sitting around on my ass all day and occasionally asking a customer what he or she wants." I announced, causing everyone to giggle whenever I would swear as if we were eleven year olds.

Looking up at Ms. Munroe I saw only disappointment and anger etched in to her features. "Outside. Now." She told me quietly. I took in the look of disappointment on her face and my heart sank in my chest. Why had I done that? I knew cursing wasn't appreciated in schools but I honestly thought she seemed cool enough to get along with it. Obviously I'd offended her by swearing.

I grabbed my bag from the unoccupied seat next to me which I was using as a footrest and stormed out of the classroom, feeling everyone's eyes following me every step of the way until I slammed the door behind me. I did have a reputation to uphold, after all.

I decided to take a seat on the steps outside of the classroom, trying to think of the best way to grovel for Ms. Munroe's forgiveness throughout the whole ten minutes that I was out there. Watching through the window I saw her gradually approaching the door and as she got close enough I heard her angelic voice. "Okay guys, I'm going to speak to Rebel Russo, I'll be back in five so chat amongst yourselves for a while if you'd like. No phones though, please." I heard her announce through the door, although it was muffled I could just about work out what she was saying.

"What the heck was that?" She asked me, clearly frustrated as she blew her bangs away from her eyes only for them to fall straight back there after. I tried to open my mouth to explain but it felt like it was glued shut, I felt a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me want to throw up. I felt so guilty. Maybe this was what feeling ashamed felt like. "Do you know what? Forget it. I believed you when you said that you would behave, I trusted you and you threw it back in my face. How dare you swear in my class? Little things I can deal with but the F bomb? That's just pure disrespect!" She told me as she looked down at me from her standing position in front of me.

"I…" I started but my words got caught in my throat. I didn't realise how much I'd actually upset her, I'd abused her trust. "That was me behaving… I didn't think you'd have a problem with me saying fu… the F word." I told her honestly as I looked up at her with what I hoped were apologetic eyes. "I'm so sorry, I'm beyond ashamed that you're so disappointed in me. If I'd have known it would be a problem I would never have said it." I finished off quietly. Her facial expression softened slightly but not completely as she eyed me suspiciously and sat down on the step next to me.

"Alex, honey, I want you to do well in my class. I've seen your grades from last year and I know you can do it, you get C minuses without actually doing the work all year, imagine what you could do if you actually behaved. Right now I like you, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and believe you when you say you didn't realise you were making a mistake but next time I won't. Now, I want you to promise me that this won't happen again, that you'll stick by my rules and we will forget this whole thing ever happened." She explained as she stuck her hand out for me to shake it. Instead, I linked my pinkie with hers and shook them gently.

"I promise. Thank you, Ms. Munroe." I whispered gratefully, letting go of her ridiculously soft finger. She smiled at me and ruffled my hair gently. "Okay, you did not just do that." I joked with her threateningly as she got up then offered her hand to pull me up, giggling quietly about my reaction. "Ms. Munroe?" I called sheepishly to her before she opened the classroom door to let us back in.

Her palm rested against the handle of the door as she turned around to face me with her eyebrows raised expectantly. "Rebel Russo?" She asked when I didn't say anything.

"Is there any chance you could go over your rules with me at some point so I don't fu-mess up again?" I questioned, quickly changing my word choice before I had chance to completely 'drop the F bomb.'

Ms. Munroe grinned at me proudly; she obviously thought she was really making a difference. Honestly, she really was. Of course she was only making a difference in her own class and the reasoning behind that was purely because she was actually inarguably hotter than hell, nonetheless she was making some sort of a difference. "I would be glad to, Rebel Russo. When are you free?" She asked me kindly as she slowly pulled the handle down to open the door. Before she opened it I shrugged to let her know I was pretty much free whenever. "How about after school today?" She asked quietly so the rest of the class wouldn't hear after she began to push the door open, she so knew that I had a rep to uphold. I nodded silently then walked in behind her, closing the door behind me. "Now, where were we? Oh yeah, how about you?" Ms. Munroe announced to the rest of the class.

The final twenty minutes of the lesson flew by and the warning bell dismissed us to go to tuition. I hated my form tutor. He was a science teacher and he was literally so far up his own arse he could see out of his throat. Every day without fail he'd make some snide comment at me that I would respond to with an even funnier, more obvious one. He never learnt that he wouldn't beat me in an insult battle.

After pointing out to him that his shirt made his skin look green then proceeding to ask which planet he was from and telling him he had no soul we were finally released from the first day back at school.

I strolled over to Ms. Munroe's classroom which so happened to be on the other side of the school, hoping that she hadn't forgotten about me going to see her. As I opened the classroom door I found my new favourite teacher putting chairs on top of the desks to make it easier for the janitors, so considerate.

"Hey, Rebel Russo." She called from the other side of the classroom. This appeared to be her new nickname for me - other people had called me it before but not continuously like she was. I liked it.

Having a well-behaved streak for her and being the wonderful pupil I was, I began to put chairs on tables from the other side of the room, working toward the middle where we met. "Thank you." She mumbled to me as our eyes met for a brief second. I smiled politely and nodded my head silently before making my way to the front of the classroom and wiping the writing off the whiteboard for her. Again, she thanked me as she sat down at her desk and gestured for me to pull up a chair and sit next to her.

"Okay, Rebel Russo, first of all I wanted to thank you for actually coming to me and asking me about my rules rather than just assuming they are like all of the other teachers' rules, although they probably are," She began, lacing her fingers together and resting her hands on the desk, right next to mine. "My rules are pretty simple, I hate swearing. You swear and you're out, it is as simple as that. Mobile phones are a no go for me because it's simply annoying when you're trying to explain to your pupils what to do and they're constantly asking you to repeat yourself because they were busy texting. Basically, if I see it I'll take it unless you have a valid reason why I shouldn't. I try to make my lessons fun and interesting but I want my classes to appreciate that sometimes it's just impossible; I get it, English is boring to some people or certain aspects of it are. English is my passion and I love it but I do appreciate that not everyone feels the same way. If I spot bullying, talk of uhm… bedroom activities… any other things that would be considered inappropriate for a classroom I'll give out detentions." She explained quickly to me, so quick that I almost didn't manage to take it all in. Her rules were strict as hell but I didn't mind really, it might be nice to actually think that the rules apply to me for once.

"Anything else?" I asked her expectantly, checking the clock on the wall to ensure that I wasn't going to be late for work. I had half an hour to get home, change and get down to the sub shop.

"Not that I can think of right now, if you break any of the rules I haven't mentioned I'll pull you aside and let you know rather than punishing you the first time because I do realise that this is difficult for you. I took psychology in high school for three years so I know that your mind is used to going against the rules, I understand that adjusting to them will be a struggle," She continued kindly as she too looked up at the clock. "Oh gosh, we need to leave now because I have somewhere to be. We can continue this on the way to the parking lot if you'd like?" She offered as she got up and picked her bag up from by her feet. I mirrored her actions and slung my backpack over my back, hitting it against the bruise I got from skating a few days before and wincing in pain. "Are you okay?" She asked me concernedly as she put her hand softly on my exposed shoulder.

My skin burned and tingled at the contact, both at the same time. I nodded as I pressed lightly on my bruised back to ease the pain slightly then left the classroom in front of Ms. Munroe. "I'm fine, thanks. Just hit a bruise and it hurt like a bitch." I told her as I breathed heavily through the pain. She gave me a look that said 'you know you shouldn't have said that' and I sent an apologetic one back. "So if you know that this will be a struggle for me especially does this mean that you'll be more lenient on me?" I asked her as we walked through the hallway after she'd locked the classroom door and dropped the keys in her bag. She chuckled loudly before realising I was serious and recomposing herself.

"How about a time-out card?" Ms. Munroe suggested kindly. I pushed the door in front of us open and held it open for her. "Thanks." She mumbled as the warm Early-September air hit us.

"What's that?"

"I'll give you a card that you can use when you feel overwhelmed by the rules or like you need to break one of them. You'll be allowed to leave if you show it to me with no explanation then at some point I'll come and find you so we can talk through it. Sound good?" She offered, pressing a button on her car keys to make her car unlock and beep. I nodded and smiled at her politely.

"Thanks miss, have a nice evening." I told her automatically although I couldn't recall a single time in my life when I had told anyone to have a nice anything, especially not a teacher. She was beautiful though so I suppose it didn't really count.

"You too, honey. I'll see you tomorrow; we can talk some more then about your card. Sorry today was cut short, one day my daughter will learn that her car has automated locking and she won't lock herself out of it." Ms. Munroe mused with a small smile as she stepped in to her red Vauxhall. I chuckled with her before letting my mouth drop open.

"You have a daughter old enough to drive? Shi… Christ, I thought you were like, really young." I told her seriously after she had rolled the window down to continue speaking.

"I'm thirty nine this year; she's eighteen in a few months. Time flies. I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight." She replied quickly, starting the engine and driving off.

English this year would certainly be interesting.