Bending the Rules

By: BrendaBites

Christian stayed back a while after Ana left. He looked over her essay and began to smile to himself.

His smile had been cut short when the door opened.

"Elena?" he raised an eybrow, "What are you doing here?"

"Christian," she said with a cheerful smile. "I just saw Anastasia walking downstairs, and wondered if you were… talking to her."

"She came to drop off the work she missed," he lowered his eyes.

Elena didn't seem to believe him, "Yes, she did mention something like that. I figured you'd both have your stories ready."

"You talked to her?" Christian tightened his jaw. "I thought I told you to stay out of it."

Elena shrugged, "I only asked her if you told her yet."

Holding the bridge of his nose in exasperation, Christian sighed, "Why the hell would you do that? I told you, I'd handle it."

Elena gave a short laugh, "You should be thanking me for speeding things up a little."

Christian looked up at her and glared, "What did you tell her?"

Elena smiled widely, "Oh, Christian, don't give me that look. With what I told her, Anastasia will probably be back here tomorrow, throwing herself at you."

Christian doubted that would happen, no matter what it was that Elena said. "What did you tell her?"

Again, Elena only smiled, inspecting her nails. "Oh Christian, always so serious. Anyhow, I only came to share that little bit of information, care to walk me out?"

"I'm not leaving just yet," he answered, already his mood had been ruined. "Besides, don't you think Mr. Lincoln will be a bit suspicious about that."

Elena rolled her eyes, "Please, my oh so dear husband doesn't give a damn what I do. As long as his reputation isn't ruined, he can enjoy his little secretary, and I can do whatever I damn well like."

X x X

Anastasia had finished all her work already, and as she stared at herself in the mirror the next morning, she sighed.

What Mr. Greys date said couldn't have been true. Was she a teacher there too? Why would she even tell Ana something like that.

"I've never seen him take such interest in a student before." She had her lips turned up in a way that made Anastasias skin crawl. "He was speaking to me about you, in a way you hear teenagers talk about a crush they haven't admitted to themselves." Ana was about to say something then, but it was caught in her throat. She couldn't say anything, not to this woman who honestly scared her. "Has he asked you what he wants from you yet?" Ana had managed to croak out an answer then, the woman was standing way too close for her to think clearly. "The essay? I just turned it in.." Elena laughed then, "Oh, Anastasia, here I thought you were a bright girl. Christians been going on and on about it. But no, school work isn't what I meant. It's something more.. " another laugh, "Never mind, I see you wouldn't be interested anyways. Christian has a very particular taste, and though you called his attention, I doubt you'll be able to ... please him. He was right about one thing, you're a very attractive person. I don't think that'll be enough though."

Anastasia blinked in the mirror and shook her head, it would be best to stop thinking about that woman. She bend down to the running water in the sink and splashed cold water on her face. When she faced the mirror again, she couldn't help but think of Mr. Grey.

Did he really say those things to that woman, Elena?

If what she said was true, that meant... That meant, Mr. Grey thought she was pretty. Ana brought her palm up to her cheek and wondered what he could possibly see in her. Her blue eyes were the first thing she looked at, and although they were nice, they weren't much. She didn't have those long heavy eyelashes she'd seen girls around the school wear. Her skin wasn't exactly flawed, but it was awfully pale, especially against her dirt brown hair.

"Ana!" Ray called from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" she answered, breaking away from her thoughts to take a dry towel for her face.

"Didn't you want to leave early today?"

She had told him yesterday that she was going to talk to a teacher in the morning, but now she wasn't sure she wanted to go. She could always tell him she was running late. Ana didn't think she could face him after what Elena told her. She'd get too nervous.

After a hesitation, Ana answered with, "No, I changed my mind. It wasn't important anyways." She walked out of the bathroom and went to sit with Ray, who had already fixed breakfast.

"You sure?" Ray asked, taking a sip from his tea.

Ana sat beside him and took the tea he made her. "Positive," she nodded.

"Well okay," he said. "I hope you don't mind," he stood up and opened one of the drawers, "I know last time when your friend had your school work, a phone would have been helpful."

"Oh dad, you don't-"

"I got you this," he beamed, holding out a phone. It wasn't over the top, it was simple and meant to do what a cellphone was for. Before she even took it, she could see a keyboard slide out from under it.

"You didn't have to," Ana said gently, but still excited. Her mom and her new husband wouldn't even concider buying her a phone, not if it didn't benefit them in any way. The only reason they got her a laptop, was because her husbands guilt had caught up to him. He had bought it in the first few months of their marriage, but still used it mostly for himself.

Ray handed it to her, "It'll make things easier. You can talk to your friends, and can call me if you plan on going out with friends."

Ana stood up from her seat and gave him a tight hug. "I'm so glad I moved."

"Me too Ana," he replied, patting her back. "Now, lets get to eating breakfast."

X x X

By the end of lunch, Christian had already shouted at most of his classes, graded a stack worth of messy papers, knocked his coffee over, and managed to get a huge headache.

She didn't show up in the morning, and didn't come at lunch to explain why either. He had been ready to praise her on her essay, but she never came.

"Damn it all," Christian growled, though his class was empty. He'd have her in his next class, and he'd ask her why she didn't bother coming. What did Elena tell her?

The bell warning everyone that lunch was over, couldn't have came any slower. As soon as it stopped, Christian jumped from his seat and went to open his classroom door. It took a while before the students began to flood into the halls, but he didn't see Ana yet.

His students greeted him as they went inside, and he hastily replied.

"Oh fuck," one of them whispered when they were inside. "Someone's in a bad mood." A couple of more students murmured in agreement, but Christian pretended not to notice.

He looked down the halls and finally saw Anastasia. She was walking with Rodriguez like usual, except he had both arms around her from behind, and a phone in his hands. He typed as he walked, and Ana was laughing and helping him walk straight.

Christian gave him a death stare, but that was about all he could do. Maybe they'd be late again, and he could use the excuse to send Jose to the office.

Before they reached the class, Ana stopped and turned to Jose, She said something to him and he laughed before nodding and giving her the phone.

She waved at him and he left. Once he was gone, she tucked the phone in her pocket and began walking to class again.

It took all of Christians will to keep him in his place. "Anastasia," he said, ready to have a conversation with her when she was close enough.

Ana looked up and murmured a, "Hello Mr. Grey," before rushing inside and to her seat by his desk. Jack walked in a while after.

Christian concidered going in then, demanding answers from Ana, but decided against it.

Once it was time for class to start, he walked inside and kids rushed back to their assigned seats. Jack was one of them. He had been standing by Ana, casually talking to her.

Christian sat at his desk grumbled, "Get started on your work."

His students did their usual routine, taking out paper and pencil for their warm up.

After a couple of minutes, he called out, "Anastasia, read your warm up."

Ana looked up, blinking and her pencil frozen over her paper, which only had a few lines filled.

"I- I haven't finished yet," she answered.

"I can share mines Sir," Jack said from the back of the room, like the last time he called on Ana.

"I didn't ask you Hyde. I asked Anastasia, but it seems she didn't bother doing that either."

Ana looked just as confused as the rest of the class. "The warm up takes more than just two minutes to write," she said, keeping her voice steady. "If you're having a bad day, sorry, but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on us."

Christian stared at her, his eyes hard and angry, though it wasn't because she just stood up for herself. If he wasn't already so angry at her for not showing up in the morning, he might have been proud. She was just stuttering a few seconds ago.

"And who says I am having a bad day? I expect certain things from my students, and doing their work on time is one of them. Being responsible, showing up for their committments-"

He was going to go on, but he saw the flash of understanding in Ana's eyes.

He shook his head to himself, "So go on, read your warm up."

"I haven't finished it," Ana repeated. There was irritation hidden under her tone, but Christian caught it, and he wasn't liking it.

"Fine. You can finish it after school."

Students exchanged glanced, but none of them said anything. "Everyone put your things away. Keep something to write with, we're taking a quiz."

He had the papers for the quiz somewhere in his desk, he just had to look for them. He hadn't planned on doing that yet, but he wasn't sure how much he could take if there wasn't peace and quiet for the rest of the class period.