Chapter 4
A/N: First of all, sorry for the long wait. I had some problems. Second, there's no second. Just enjoy.
She was seated on her bed completely spaced out. Her roommates were chattering about something incoherent to her ears. It puzzled her to no end that Patrick hadn't taunted her for kissing him back and claimed she harboured hidden feelings for him. He hadn't voiced a single word of that night, so that she was starting to wonder if it had even occurred or if she had envisioned the entire thing. It was almost as if he was mature. Teresa shook her and cleared her thoughts. It was only then when she heard what Grace and Cindy's conversation was about, that her interest was spiked.
"Wayne asked me out," Grace stated shyly. She was seated cross-legged on the floor and Cindy was positioned on a chair opposite her.
Cindy practically squealed with excitement, "What did you say?"
"I said yes. You should have seen him. He looked like he was going to pass out. He's such a teddy-bear."
Teresa smiled, she really was happy for Grace. Wayne seemed really into her and he came off as a nice guy.
"What about you?" she turned the table, "you and Cho were so into each other you didn't seem to remember we were right behind you two."
Cindy managed an innocent facial expression before she faltered and exploded into a fit of laughter. "He's so amazing," she said, eying Teresa warily before continuing, "we really hit it off. It's kind of creepy how much we have in common. He's taking me out to a movie tomorrow night."
The grins seemed permanently fixed on their faces and Teresa found herself enjoying her friends' happiness. Friends. She never thought she would make any of those in College but lately she found that she'd taken a liking to her roommates and also most of Cho's.
"What about you, Teresa? What happened between you and Patrick?" Grace directed to her. She snapped back to reality at the sound of her name. She shifted uncomfortably on the edge of her bed.
"Nothing, nothing happened. I walked back and I guess he followed," she dismissed nervously.
Cindy smirked, "The guy is H-O-T. If I weren't so into Cho, I'd--"
"Cindy!" Grace whispered disbelievingly before glancing sheepishly at Teresa.
She merely shrugged, "He's okay, I guess," she murmured, "he's more annoying than anything though."
"He so has the hots for you!" exclaimed Cindy. Teresa could feel the heat rising to her pale cheeks, "He does not! He's just flirting like he does with every other girl."
"Whatever," she dismissed with a roll of her eyes, "something happened; not nothing. You can tell us, we won't tell. Promise."
Teresa rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Fine," she relented, "he kissed me, okay?"
Grace gasped excitedly and Cindy gave a victorious smile. "Well? What did you do? Please tell me you didn't run away."
"No. I kissed him back, then I ran."
Grace finally spoke up, "Why? Don't you like him-like him?"
She groaned, "No-- I don't know. Maybe. But it doesn't matter. He's just using me and I'm not ready for a relationship."
"Oh."
"Horrible previous relationship?" Cindy asked in no way pushy. They were all silent as Teresa formulated her reply. Should she be honest? She wasn't ashamed of her no-dating rule.
"No. I've never dated and I don't intend to start, at least not while I'm in school." Both were speechless. It was quite difficult to believe that a girl with her looks wouldn't entertain the idea of dating.
"Who wants pizza?" Teresa decided a change of topic was necessary and both girls seemed to agree.
"What's the deal with Tess?" Patrick asked Cho who was in the kitchenette area.
"What?" he responded distracted.
"Dude.." Wayne trailed off in a warning tone. Patrick smiled before repeating his question.
"Her name's Teresa. Do you have a death wish? Just leave it alone," Cho replied whilst waiting for his grilled cheese to finish.
He pointedly ignored him, "She got a boyfriend? Does she despise the opposite sex? She seems to always be serious."
"She doesn't have anything against the opposite sex, man, just you," Wayne said with his mouth half full.
"Why do you care? You into her or something?" Cho raised one of his eyebrow.
"Maybe."
Cho turned to him with a dead-panned expression. "Stay away from her Jane. I've known her since pre-school. If this is a game to you and if you hurt her, you'll regret it. I promise you." He must have been dead serious because he had never made use of Patrick's last name before.
His playfulness suddenly vanished and he looked Cho in the eye. "I'm not playing. I know you all think that I'm this playboy, but I'm not. I really do care about her. A lot."
Cho nodded, "Just so we're clear."
After the tension died down they were back to making fun of Wayne's nervousness around Grace.
"..He looked like he was about to drop down," Cho related his story of the night Wayne asked Grace out. Patrick laughed and Wayne blushed bright red.
"At least I got the girl," he directed to Patrick who smirked in return.
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The next day was going great, or so Teresa thought since she had managed to make in time today, that was until she discovered her first subject was Pastoral Care. She'd always hated PC since high school and it seemed College wasn't much different. To her, it was just a failed attempt for student-teacher bondage. Her class consisted of Grace, Cho, Patrick, a Chinese twin named Sue and Yin, a buffed guy with flame red, spiked hair named John, the popular clique: Cassie, who seemed to be the leader, Trixie, a girl with short, cropped, raven hair and a Canadian girl, Pamela. Pamela was more kind and quiet. She didn't look like she belonged between them, but one could never tell. The others were normal kids and in total her class came up to twenty-two.
Everyone was seated, either chatting away or just relaxing, waiting for the entrance of the teacher. Patrick was leaning back in his chair talking to some girl. Not that she cared who he was talking to. The guy in front of her, was it John?, turned around to face her with a sweet smile. She gasped, he was beautiful. His intense gray eyes bore into her green ones, and she felt like she should divert her eyes.
"Hi," he said, "I'm John." He held his hand out to her and she took it.
"Teresa," she swallowed.
He grinned, "This really is a waste of time, isn't it?" She nodded and returned his smile.
From her peripheral vision she saw Patrick turn around and stiffen. The sudden lost of his smirk made her smile inwardly. Her smile faded when she saw the nervous look on John's face.
"What's wrong?"
He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "Don't look now, but the guy behind you looks like he can kill." She smiled apologetically and turned to face Patrick. She felt guilty for a moment, he looked as if he'd been slapped, but they weren't dating. And wasn't he just flirting with what's-her-name?
"Patrick," she said. Breaking him out of his glare, he smiled charmingly at her. She smiled back and cursed the butterflies in her stomach.
"Patrick," she started again, "this is John." She watched as they reciprocated hand shakes and nods. Teresa sighed before turning back to face John. He had a questioning expression on his features. "Friend," she elaborated, "well sort of."
He raised an eyebrow, "Sort of? As in maybe more than, or less?"
"Less, definitely less." He smiled and she gave him a smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. She wasn't interested in dating John, well she thought she wasn't but flirting never hurt.
Just then a man she presumed was their class teacher, entered and all were quiet.
"Good morning class," he said in a cheery voice. He was tall and thin, about mid twenties with messy bed hair. He was blond and had gray eyes, and introduced himself as Professor Michael Carter, after which he individually requested the names of each student.
"Okay then," he started after the introductions had been made, "I was told to inform you of the Annual Farewell Ceremony we will be hosting for the grads in two weeks. You are required to be there, unless you can come up with a valid excuse. Now don't go throwing yourself in front of traffic just yet. That won't work, believe me, I tried," he whispered. "I don't even know why they call it a ceremony, it's more like a dance."
"So can we have like dates?" asked Trixie. He nodded.
"And what about the dress code?" added Cassie.
He smiled, "Anything, as long as it counts as clothing. And please, no cross-dressers this year. If you aren't aware of your gender, I'm sure the school nurse can help you out there." They laughed and he smiled. "Okay, we'll that's it for today. It was very nice to meet you and I shall be seeing you again soon." With that, he did a curtsey and vanished out of the room.
Teresa looked over to Grace who whispered "shopping" to her excitedly. She smiled warmly but inwardly groaned. She held strong abhorrence for dances. She hadn't been to one since kindergarten and had avoided them ever since. Especially Prom. She sucked at dances, she thought herself clumsy and would trip when she really tried not to. It was almost as if her feet despised her.
As the bell rang, she grabbed her books and rushed out the door, but not before catching sight of a smiling John waving politely at her and a blond glaring down his neck. Great, she thought with a roll of her eyes before pushing the door open.
A/N: I'm just like that. Whenever I try not to embarrass myself, it's then that I stumbled or fall. Once I got into a bus but my shoe remained out. The bus conductor had to stop the vehicle, walk back and get it for me.
I also know that these few chapters are really Jisbon centered. If you think so too, let me know. But don't worry, we'll have Cho's date with Cindy and then Wayne's with Grace; not at the same time, of course. I'm not forgetting about those two. And who else loves Professor Carter? Review if you'd like. I'd like you to like to. Xxx Cordy.
