Bending the Rules

By: BrendaBites

"It doesn't matter anyways. It's not like I believed any of it," Ana said a bit too fast. Looking up at Mr. Grey now, made her wish it was true.

He stared at her, making her over think what Elena had told her all over again. What if there was truth in what she was told? What if, for some crazy reason, Mr. Grey did see her as something more than a student-

"I-" Mr. Grey began and then shook his head.

Ana waited for him to finish, but instead his eyes focused more on her. They were pinned to her eyes, but for a second, she thought she saw them trail down to her lips, before shooting back up to her eyes.

The look in his eyes, was like nothing she'd ever had. Sure, guys didn't exactly ignore her, but they never had a look that really made her feel special, or pretty even.

Ana looked away, not being able to face him for long. The teacher who was too strict and serious was gone now, and in his place was a handsome man who had something glinting in his eyes.

"Right," Mr. Grey finally said, though his voice didn't sound as smooth and controlled as it always did. "Elena .. Elena can be a handful at times. Don't mind her."

Ana forced a smile, "Like I said, I didn't actually believe any of it.."

"Not a word of it?" Mr. Grey asked.

Forcing a small laugh, Ana answered, "Of course not.. That would have been stupid."

God, she was so stupid. Why did she ever even consider that was partially true. He was a teacher, and not just any teacher. One girls swooned over.

"Well," Mr. Grey hesitated. "I wouldn't say everything was a complete lie."

Ana felt her heart stop. What?

"What?" Ana forced herself to say, though it was so quiet, she doubted he could hear.

"I mean," Mr. Grey quickly looked away from her, shifting his attention to papers on his desk. He suddenly looked very busy with the papers as he muttered, "You know," he waved it off as if it were nothing, "The part about you being attractive."

Was she hearing correctly? He was speaking just as low as she had, maybe she was hearing stuff as well as imagining them.

Ana racked her brain for something to say back. Thank you? That made her acknowledge the fact that he had complimented her, and what if it really wasn't that? Saying, 'what' again would make her sound like an idiot. 'I think you're really attractive too' made her sound like a dork crushing on her teacher.

But if neither of those three things were true, she didn't know what was. Because to be honest, she was starting to feel a lot like those girls in class who stared at Mr. Grey all day and sighed in awe. And since she was admitting truths to herself, she'd admit that when he wasn't looking, she stole quick glances at him. When he was in front of the entire class, teaching a new lesson, she wondered how someone so young was able to be so intelligent and controlled.

Mr. Grey pulled out a paper and handed it to her, "I finished editing your essay," he said, breaking her away from her thoughts and putting an end to their conversation about Elena. "I have to say, it was impressive. You must have had a great teacher last year-"

Realization washed over his eyes and he stopped his sentence.

Ana had guessed that he knew about her missing school last year, especially since he knew her age too. She smiled at him, assuring him that she didn't care that he knew. "Not really. I read as much as I could back with my mom."

Mr. Grey tilted his head and smiled back. It was dazzling. "I figured that much. What kind of books do you enjoy reading?"

"I read any I could get my hands on really. They didn't like spending money on useless things, and I was hardly allowed to go out to the library-"

Mr. Grey frowned, "You couldn't go out to the library? That's- that's -" he bit his tongue and held back the words he wanted to use. "Odd."

Ana nodded with a short laugh, "They were really unreasonable at times, but yeah. I read a book my mom use to have. I think that's one of my favorites. It was called, Tess of the d'Urbervilles-"
Mr. Grey raised an eyebrow, "You've read Tess of the d'Urbervilles?"

"Yes, you've read it?"

Mr. Grey nodded with a wary smile, "You're full of surprises Anastasia."

Ana decided to take that as a good thing.

"I have a couple of books here," he said though he didn't sound too happy about it. "They're not much, mostly what the school lend me. Feel free to borrow any."

"Thanks," she smiled, looking back at the book shelf he pointed at. She hadn't noticed it before, but mostly because it was nearly hidden by a few cabinets. "Maybe when I have time to look them over."

"You have to leave soon?"

"Technically, I'm here for detention. So as soon as you say the word sir," she said, half teasing.

Mr. Grey's smile dropped the slightest bit, "Right. I have the rest of your things graded, I just have to enter them into the computer. You did a great job with everything. You can look over your essay, but that was the only grade I did enter."

Ana looked down at the paper, and grinned at the score at the top of the paper. One Hundred percent. She wondered if Ray would get as excited as he use to.

That's my girl, he use to say with pride,

"Other than that, I guess we're done here..." Mr Grey said softly.

"Does that mean detention's over?"

"Detention's over," he nodded.

"Okay then.. " Ana began to gather her stuff. "Um.. Maybe I can come over tomorrow morning? You know, to look at those books." When she stood up, her phone slipped out of her pocket. She didn't think much of it, but when she picked it up, Mr. Grey did not look happy.

"Anastasia," he said slowly, like a caress. His expression did not match his tone, and Ana wondered what he was going to say. "Did you lie to me?"

"Lie? When?"

"You said you didn't have a phone," he answered, looking at the phone in her hand.

"Ray got it for me," she smiled, "It was really nice of him actually. Look," she held up her phone and smiled even more.

Mr. Greys expression softened, "Oh.. well it's good to hear he's treating you good."

"He is. I'm really glad I moved back with him," she said putting the phone back in her pocket. She began to walk out to the door, and was about to say goodbye when Mr. Grey called her.

"Anastasia?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you moved with your father too," he said gently.

Ana felt the butterflies return, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Come early," he said. "I have a few books at home you might like. I'll bring those too."

Authors Note: (Yes another one, I'm sorry) I'll admit, I was getting stuck on this story again, and I had help from a couple of people. Book Work 1807 being one of them.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. It's really an honor when you guys take your time to do so, and I want to do something in return. Comment if you want me to read one of your stories, they don't have to be FSOG fanfictions, and I'll go check them out and drop reviews. Again, thank you all.