Chapter 3
"Mate, what the fuck is wrong with you ? You just let Tilly walk out on you without doing a bloody thing" Bovver joined his friend who was standing at the bar.
Pete shrugged "She wanted me to come to 'er place, but I'm not in the mood" he answered, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. Truth was that he only had eyes for one girl at the moment, one that wasn't going to surrender to him just like that, but he was willing to work for it. Faye had made a lasting impression on him in the last two days that she had been at the school. He didn't want to believe it himself, but she was his next goal, and other girls that wanted to be by his side for a night just had to wait until he'd accomplished his goal and was ready to move on.
"Not in the mood? Fuck off, you're havin' a bubble! You coulda passed 'er on mate, no need to be so bloody selfish" Bovver turned around and ordered two pints, he handed one to Pete and then went back to the table where the rest of the boys were sitting.
It was wednesday evening and West-Ham had to play against Tottenham in an hour and a half. After the match the boys had set up a meeting with theYids, they had to prove themselves and build up the firms rep. In order to get wired enough they loaded themselves with beer.
That same night Faye was in her appartment in Notting Hill. She was on the phone with Graham, her best friend since high school. She used to date him for a couple of weeks, until he realised that he liked boys better than her. Luckily for him she forgave him in a jiff and they'd become the best of mates eversince.
"Tell me all about it, how are the kids ? Are they driving you nuts yet? Oh and what about your colleagues? Any good-looking teacher who wants to teach me something?" Graham laughed, quite amused by himself.
"If your taste has gone down to middle aged bold guys then.. yes" Faye chuckled "Oh.. there is one guy that's worth a look at. His name is Pete Dunham. He teaches history and P.E and... wooh you should see him, I swear he'll even make your knees go weak."
"What? What does he look like, age, girlfriend or not ? Cause honestly, hon, it's about time either one of us gets a new boyfriend, our conversations become worse by the day. Yesterday I wanted to tell you about this squirl that I'd seen in my garden, and then I thought to myself you're a gorgeous fucking 24 year old guy, you should tell more exciting stories than spotting a squirl"
"Yes, well, maybe you should stop calling me on a daily basis then, there's just nothing left to tell" she teased him. "Anyway, he's 24 years old, has got blonde hair and the blue-est eyes I've ever seen. You should see his smile, and the look in his eyes.. there's just something about him yknow, he's got this daring look in his eyes every time he looks at me" she sighed deeply "basically he's just handsome and wrong for me cause I heard he was quite the womanizer"
"So?" Graham asked, clearly not getting her point "You've dated men like that before, what is stopping you this time?" he pointed out the wrong boyfriend-choices of his friend.
"I've learned from my mistakes..I think" she answered with a smirk "No more bad boys for me"
The next day Faye's workday started at ten o'clock. She walked into room four and stood across from Pete. "Oh, hi. I think they have English next?" she asked,just to be sure.
"Indeed they do, just wanted to make sure you'd get here, besides, who knows what could happen if you leave these monkeys alone for a while"
The fifteen boys all laughed as Pete called them monkeys.
Faye dropped her books on the desk and looked at Pete, now spotting the blue/purple-ish area near his eye "Oh my god, what happened to you?" She looked closer, concern in her eyes.
"Ah that ?" Pete shrugged, it had happened before and he always used the same excuse. "My eight year old nephew likes to wrestle, he gets really competative"
A frown crossed Faye's face "You got beaten up by an eight year old?" She said raising her eyebrow, a smile playing at her lips.
"There she goes again, making a laughing stock out of me" He winked at her "You still owe me for the other day"
"You remember?"
"I always remember promises made by pretty ladies" He grinned cheekily and turned to look at the class as they all made an oeh-noise that kids usually make when they see two people in love, or what looks like love to them.
Faye blushed a little and chuckled "Right, if you get out of my classroom right now and stop saying things like that I'll let you buy me coffee during the lunch hour"
"Deal, now boys..don't be to hard on her, remember she's new and she deserves a fair chance" He winked at Faye and then left the classroom.
Two hours later Faye found herself across from Pete at one of the tables in a small diner-like thingummy across the school-property. "So, Pete Dunham..do you spend much time with your little nephew then?" Faye wondered, still amazed by the bruise in his face.
"Nah, not enough" he lied easily "I guess he's takin' it out on me whenever he can" he winked at her and took a sip from his coffee "Ah, much better than that canteensh!t" he concluded.
"Indeed" Faye agreed with a small smile.
"So whats got you to come to this fine little boysschool than, I mean.. fuck me, I bet with your rep. You coulda taught at university or something" He grinned, that same look of adoration and teasingness in his eyes.
".. honostly, now I know where the boys got their bad English grammar from" she chuckled and shook her head at his weird use of language. "If you must know, I'm here for research, to see how the English language is used at various schools in differents parts of London, and at the same time I'm teaching the best pupils ever. I mean, you probably know so yourself, kids are the best audience to teach. I adore them"
Pete had stared at her as she answered his question. He watched her every move, how her hand played with the coffeecup, how her head turned a little while she talked. She seemed confident about what she told him yet telling him something while he was silent and observing her seemed to make her feel less confident, the blush on her cheeks betrayed it.
"Yes, they are quite a hand full but I woudn't want to trade them for any other job"
Faye stirred on her chair a little and looked up at Pete. He seemed different from any other teacher she had ever known, and it wasn't just because he was a handsome teacher.
"How did you get that amazing car by the way?" he was curious to find out
"The Hummer? Oh, my parents gave it to me, for my birthday this year"
Pete whistled through his teeth "Woah"
"What?" she smirked, not understanding his reaction
"I'm guessing y'ra rich kid, ey?"
Faye rolled her eyes "Yah, I guess I am" she answered, ignoring the look on his face. She always knew her life was different from other kids when she was little, she could have whatever she wanted and she knew that was a privilige.
"Where do you live then?" he asked, guessing Notting Hill.
"Notting Hill"
Pete bursted out into laughing "Thought so"
"But, hey!" she protested "Don't laugh at me, it's not like my parents bought the appartment too, I bought it with my own earned money" She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms, looking unsatisfied with the way he now probably thought about her.
"Right, sure" he grinned "what issit your parents do then, that they buy you expensive cars for your birthday?"
"My mother is a human-rights lawyer, and my father owns two news papers, the Times and the Sun, the sun for fun he calls it" she smirked and saw Pete's expression turn darker "..I don't really like journo's" he muttered and looked away.
"Journo's?" she repeated him "What's wrong with them ? you better not insult my dad" she smirked
"..yer dad might be different" Though I doubt it "But all journo's are fucking muck rakers, they'll write anything to fill the papers, including lies and gossipcrap" He stated clearly.
"Well..yeah, most do, I guess. The Sun is like that, you never heard me say it was a good newspaper" she giggled, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. "So, How did you end up becoming a teacher?" She asked carefully "I mean.. no offence but you don't seem like the regular teacher to me"
A playful grin circled his lips now "I don't ? Should I take that as a compliment?" he smirked confidently "Nah, I had to do something when I was done with secondary school, being a diploma-less lazy ass wasn't an option and I've always been interested in history and sport so yeah, easy choice really"
"you wanted to be a lazy ass?" Faye frowned but she was still grinning slightly. He was something else.
"Well no, at first I wanted to be a football player, then a lazy ass when I wasn't good enough to be professional"
"Football?? Ieuw.." Faye's face cringed as she made the noise of disgust. "What ? Football is fucking Great! Hold your tongue when you're near me, I don't handle football criticism well" he smirked.
"Oh come on.. a bunch of guys kicking a ball around, receiving millions for it" She exclaimed with a laugh, not too serious with her criticism even though she really didn't like football.
"such a shame, I was starting to like you, despite your unfortunate background" Pete laughed, teasing her.
"Well than, I'm sorry you feel that way" Faye giggled and ran a hand through her hair "Honestlty, and I'm not even talking about that whole bullocks of football-hooligans, kicking each others asses for nothing" she shook her head "Sorry but I'm not one of those football girls"
Pete's smile had ran off his face when she mentioned Hooligans. "ah right.. those" he mumbled and looked down. For some reason he felt eery inside, as if she had judged him already, though she did not know he was part of a firm. She had judged him unintionally and it felt weird.
Come on mate, it's not like she needs to know everything about you in order to get into her pants. That's the only thing yer after, stick to the plan.. lie a little if you have to, he thought to himself.
Faye noticed that Pete looked more serious, but she thought nothing of it. They were colleagues and it wasn't her place to be 'proper pally' with him, so it was better if they didn't have so much fun. "we should head back, lunch hour is almost over" Faye broke the silence and stood up, grabbing her jacket and purse. She was about to lay some money on the table when Pete took her hand and gently pushed it back towards her "it's on me" he said. Faye smiled at him, her eyes lighting up, the confident cocky expression seemd to be back in Pete's eyes. "Why thank you, I'll keep in mind that I owe you" she winked, blushing slightly then buttoned up her jacket. When their hands had touched she could have sworn she felt some kind of vibe..
Pete followed Faye outside, taking a good look at her backside, All's fair in love and war, he figured. And this was leaning closely towards love.. or wanting to make love to her at least. He would not mention anything about the boys or the firm to her, why should he ? In a month or two he'd get rid of her again, like he had done with so many of his 'girlfriends'.
