Part Ten: Chris

There was an odd atmosphere at breakfast. Cesca was abnormally quiet as she sat across from him, buttering toast and staring resolutely at her plate. Perhaps he'd embarrassed her more than he thought by walking in on her in her dressing gown.

'I'm sorry for barging in this morning.'

'Don't worry about it.' She sounded sincere enough, but still she hardly looked up.

'You seem...distracted.'

She did look up then and even offered him a fleeting and forced smile. 'I'm just not a morning person.'

Chris decided that it might be best to simply accept this explanation instead of pressing her further. They weren't particularly close and there was no reason why she should want to confide in him.

'I wonder where Jonah is?' He said in an attempt to change the subject.

He wasn't sure, but he almost thought he heard her gasp at the mention of Jonah's name. All she said was 'I'm sure he'll be down soon.'

As if on cue, Jonah chose that moment to walk into the dining room. At the sight of him, Cesca's head jerked upwards and then back down again just as quickly. This time, Chris was almost completely sure that he had heard her gasp. And she had the strangest expression on her face. It was somewhere between intense joy and intense fear. Jonah too didn't look as one would expect a nervous teenager to look on the morning of a university interview when he was forced to be having breakfast with two teachers. Instead, the smile which flicked across his face when he saw them, or more precisely, when he saw Cesca, was the kind of smile usually reserved for close friends, family members and...lovers.

Lovers. As soon as the thought had occurred to him, Chris went cold. Could they be lovers? Had Jonah not been in his room this morning because he'd spent the night with Cesca? They had been spending a lot of time together recently, but that was because she'd been giving him extra Spanish lessons, wasn't it? And they'd looked very comfortable with each other last night when he'd found them talking together on the bench. Surely, Cesca wouldn't be stupid enough to have a relationship with a pupil though. She must know that something like that could end her career.

Chris watched Cesca and Jonah carefully, looking for anything which would confirm his suspicions, hoping for anything which would deny them. What he actually saw puzzled him. Jonah and Cesca certainly weren't behaving like lovers. There was no inappropriate touching or secret smiles. In fact, they barely spoke to each other throughout the meal, seemed embarrassed to be around each other, but they weren't behaving like teacher and pupil either. There was no attempt at polite conversation between them. Jonah had an interview to study Cesca's subject at university in less than an hour, but she didn't try to offer him any words of advice, any hints at which kinds of questions might come up. It was almost as though they were too familiar with each other for those kinds of conversations. Chris tried to banish that thought as soon as it occurred. Of course they weren't familiar with each other. He was just being paranoid, seeing scandal where none existed.

After breakfast, Jonah disappeared off to his interview and Cesca retreated back into her room, claiming that she had a headache, leaving Chris to entertain himself for a while. He wandered around the town for a couple of hours, all the time, unable to shake the feeling that there was something strange going on between Cesca and Jonah.

On returning to the college, Chris paused for a second to admire the beauty of the place. It really was idyllic. The river flowed lazily through green lawns, dotted with flowers. On the water, punts were being inexpertly manoeuvred by groups of laughing students, a young couple caught in the first flush of love were seated on the grass with their backs to him.

As he watched, the girl leaned in closer to the boy, resting her head on his shoulder. The boy, encouraged, slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. Chris felt his lips curving into a smile, memories of his own student days fresh in his mind. The girl was whispering in the boy's ear now and, as she moved her head away, Chris caught a glimpse of her face. He started with surprise. It was Cesca.

Immediately, the scene before him took on a different meaning. He briefly entertained a forlorn hope that Cesca had unexpectedly encountered an old boyfriend in Oxford, but he knew even as he thought it, that this was ridiculous. Now that he looked closely, he recognized her companion. His suspicions were confirmed, when the boy turned towards Cesca and Chris saw his face. The two of them were sat very close now, their faces mere centimetres from each other. Suddenly Chris realized that he really didn't want to see what was going to happen next.

'Cesca!' he called 'Jonah! How was the interview?'

The couple on the grass sprang apart as if stung and turned to look at him, trying to hide the guilt written on their faces. Chris though breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he hadn't actually seen them doing anything wrong. They'd just been sat next to each other, talking. Already, he was trying to forget the image of Jonah sliding his hand around Cesca's waist, of her leaning in against him. Chris decided not to say anything to them just yet. Hopefully it was just an unwise crush on Jonah's part, hopefully Cesca would be sensible enough to put a stop to things now before they'd really started.