"Darren!" Sam exclaimed, hugging me tight around my waist. "I heard that you got an absent note. Lucky. . . We have to put up with Mr Blane's crankiness at sport yesterday. What's wrong with him anyway? So unusual." He mumbled, releasing his grip from me. "Can you imagine that he actually forced me to do fifty push-ups?"

I laughed when I saw his devastated expression. "What did you do this time, Sam?"

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, right," Evra and I added, starting to eat our breakfast. It was when Mr Crepsley opened the door to the dining hall, my eyes walked over to him. Evra and Sam stole a glance and I bet they saw him throwing a (rather sexy) smile at me. Shyly, I returned his smile. They both then stared at me in horror, as if I'm a living mummy.

"Just how in the world. . ."

"He's nice!" I cut them off sharply. "He is nothing like you describe him," I crossed my arms, sticking my tongue out. This kind of attention actually kind of makes me flattered. It was as if I'm the only person that is able to get on the good side of Mr Crepsley.

But then, I noticed that both of my friends were not listening to me. Instead, they were staring at their foods intensely that they might drill a hole through the table. Their faces were slightly red and I swore I heard both of them saying, "His smile. . . so tempting. . ."

Unconsciously, I frowned and got annoyed straightaway. That smile is mine! I thought. But then I gave myself a mental slap. Before I can do anymore, a pair of hands was placed on my shoulder and Evra and Sam were staring at whomever those belongs to.

"You left your book in my office yesterday, Master Shan," He whispered softly, just enough to give my bones a good tingle. I turned my back to face Mr Crepsley and acquire my book and thank him. He smiled very thinly before he walked off. I looked at two of my friends, staring at his back, lovestruck. In an instant, I used both of my arms to put them in a headlock.

"Too bad folks," I grinned, slightly disturbed by their expression. "That smile is mine." Evra and Sam stared at me in disbelief and that's how I realised how kinky that statement sounds.

"Darren, you love him, don't you?" Evra gasped. "You love him! Can you believe how kinky you soummph!" He was exclaiming, loud enough that people were looking at us. I put both of my hands to cover his big mouth with a red face. And I'm sure that Mr Crepsley can hear that too as he has an incredible hearing. Time to get a bucket of shame and put it on to cover your face, Darren.

"Stop saying things that are not true, dammit!" I screamed, remembering that gay love is natural in that all-boy dormitory. "I'll get you later," I blushed furiously, banging both of my hands on the table and ran away from the dining hall without even wanting to look at Mr Crepsley.

I strolled lazily on the corridor and stopped to check the NTV. Math quiz is today and I'm not sure whether I could concentrate or not. Ah jeez, how troublesome.

Like it or not, I sat down for the quiz on third period, body tensed, can't even hold my pen properly. I glanced at Steve and he wasn't even paying attention at what's happening. He didn't bother to pick his pen up. Instead, he was resting his chin on his palm, looking out of the window until a piece of paper landed in front of him, his face turned white. He looked at me, confused. I curled my lips and forced a smile, as answering, 'yes, it's a quiz'.

During the test, I noticed that Mr Crepsley didn't even put a glance at me. He was sitting on the desk in front of the room, watching the students doing the quiz. However, our eyes didn't meet. Not even once. I tried my best to focus on answering all questions. Most of them are straightforward, just similar to the practice questions that he usually gave me during the tutoring.

Suddenly, I remember the statement that he once made, "From now on, you will be paying attention in my class or this tutoring will go on forever."

I noticed the implication of "If you get a good score in your test, you will be freed from this tutoring". The strange thing is that, instead of being happy, I was kind of depressed. So that means no more going into his office? No more chat, no more spiders?

I dropped my pen and my hands glided down to my jeans and clutched it tight. I bit the insides of my cheek due to the confusion I received. In the end, before I even realise it, the time was up and we had to hand our quiz paper in. Heh. . . I only did a quarter of it.

Mr Crepsley took my quiz paper, stared at it and then he stared at me with a pair of cold eyes. It was as if I'm seeing the old Mr Crepsley. I broke our eye contacts and I looked down on the floor. I'm done for!

He went past me without making any comment, proceeding to collect everyone's paper. There were only ten minutes to the bell and he gave us some homework to do during the night. I looked at him hesitantly, watching him marking the paper. Then, the bell rang, everyone stood up and Mr Crepsley said,

"Darren Shan, please stay behind."


I was sitting extremely still when the class was emptied. Sweat began trickling down my forehead and I continually clutched my jeans fabric, biting my lips. He's gonna skin me alive, I thought. Before I can realise it, I can hear the chair beside me being shifted and Mr Crepsley sat on it. Softly, he placed my test paper in front of me and he rested his head on his left hand. He was waiting for me to say something.

"Sorry," I croaked.

"Your answers are correct," He stated, pointing at my paper with his long finger. "Why do you not continue answering? I am sure you can get a hundred percent if you attempt at doing the other questions."

"It's not that I can't do it. . ." The chair shook slightly as a result of me fidgeting. "It's a personal reason."

"Personal reason? What kind of reason it is that stop you from excellence?" He asked, still with his usual deep voice. However, I can hear slight anger from his tone. "Answer me truthfully, Darren."

My heart was pounding so loudly and I had to fight back the urge to run away. I clenched my fist due to the pressure he's putting on me. Mr Crepsley noticed this and he put his right hand over mine. In an instant, I became less tensed and my hands began uncurling. "You're the problem, Mr Crepsley."

"Ah, I see," Without even needing me to explain everything, he seemed to understand. "Is it because if you get a good mark, you will not be able to come for tutoring anymore?" I said nothing but blush. "What if I hand her to you?" I frowned and looked at him in confusion. "If I give Madam Octa to you, will you attempt the quiz?"

"I don't. . ."

"You like coming into my office because of her, am I right?"

I stood up at once, making the chair I was sitting on fell. "No! I like coming there because of you!" Crap, I said it. I trembled, covering my mouth.

"Darren. . ." Mr Crepsley stared at me in disbelief. "Sorry," He patted my shoulder and blew something out of his mouth that made me drop unconscious.

Sorry?


The next thing that I apprehended was that I'm inside my room with an unusual taste lingering on my tongue. I breathe in, trying to figure out what taste it was and then the lamp on my side flickered on. It tastes like coffee!

But how did it get there? I curled my lips in uncertainty. But in the end, I sighed and jumped of my bed to see the clock. It was two o'clock and I'm totally late for lunch. I raced to the dining hall with a grumbling noise from inside my stomach, the monster that had been waiting for me to fetch it some food.

Midway, I stopped because I can hear soft whispering from Gannen's office. Unwittingly, I peered through the opening on the door and inside, I can see Steve and a certain counsellor. However, this time, they're not doing anything indecent. I can hear the silver-haired boy whispering something to Gannen and I couldn't really make sense of what it was. But if I take a guess, he was asking,

"Gannen, can I kiss you?" Steve tugged Gannen's white shirt gently and he smiled, both closing their eyes, leaning forward until their lips met. I gawked at the sight of those two kissing. Their kiss, which begins with a short peck, now advanced to a passionate, full-tongue one. Before I got caught like days ago, I sprint away, full speed ahead!

Once I arrived inside the dining hall, Evra and Sam weren't there any longer and I'm guessing they're done eating. I sat alone on the corner, quickly finishing my share that I obtained a few minutes ago from the stand. My eyes were quite busy, focusing at the sight of Mr Crepsley talking with all of the other teachers. Well, not really. He was quiet, even when Mr Purl smacked his back, he just groaned and looked away.

He was dozing off, I'm sure of it. He was looking away from all the other teachers, staring right into his cup of coffee.

Coffee! I suddenly gasped. I bit my thumb's nail, trying to observe the situation. I remember about me blacking out and nothing after that. What if he forced coffee down my throat? Well, that would be absurd and unreasonable. I do remember him drinking coffee during the class time. What if he kissed me?

But then, I decided that it's just plain imbecilic, to think like that. I mean, why would he do that? I continued watching him as he rose from his seat, excusing himself and walked off the dining hall without turning back.

"Hmmm. . . you've been staring at Mr Crepsley for a while now. . ." I jolted on my seat, shoulder rose due to the shock. The snake-boy that sneaked on me grinned, crossing his arms on the back of my chair and stuck his snake-y tongue out at me. "Is this the time for a confession?"

"Evra, don't surprise me like that! And confession my ass." I groaned, stuffing the last portion of pork meat into my mouth and chewed on it loudly.

"Manner, Darren, manner." He grinned, taking the hot chips on my table without permission. "What did he say to you in the math room?"

"Manner, Evra, manner," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Well, we talked about my math test. . ." Unable to say any more, I paused. "Yeah."

"You failed again, didn't you?" He rested his head on my shoulder, taking another chips from my table, dipping it into tomato sauce.

"I didn't fail," I snorted. "Just, I was dozing off and didn't manage to finish all the questions." Knowing that it's a crappy excuse, I tried pulling off from the subject. "Anyway."

"Hey, did you notice that Steve is acting weird today? He was so quiet when he had lunch with us and what's more? He didn't know there's math quiz today. He's not himself. . ."

I nodded, slapping Evra's stretched hand that was about to grab another chip. "Go away, this is my share." He just laughed and did nothing but stood properly behind me. I saw the teachers were gradually leaving, abandon the huge table that they were sitting on. Suddenly, I have this urge to go and check on Mr Crepsley's coffee, just to make sure it's the same taste. "Evra, I need to finish this chip, won't you go ahead and prepare for class? I'll catch up with you soon."

"Sure," He shrugged and soon, he left. I stuffed a handful of chips into my mouth, looking around, just in case someone's still there. When I thought that it's safe, I approached the teachers' table, lifting up Mr Crepsley's coffee. I took a deep breath, smelling the black liquid before I gulped down some of it without thinking twice.

It's the same taste that I had in my mouth back then. I put the cup down, observing it and my jaw just dropped. Holy shit! Don't tell me I drank from where he drank! Using my sleeves, I wiped my lips, a futile attempt on getting the indirect kiss off. I exhaled and looked around, once more before I set my feet out of the dining hall, running into my room to get books for the next class.


Next chapter will be a huge revelation from Mr Crepsley u.u

Please look forward to it :D~

Review makes me happy lol x3