Scholarly Misbehavior

Thank you all so much for all the reviews I've been getting! That totally makes my day and makes me want to write more! ^_^ So…here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own jack…or jill for that matter. Anyway, I wish I owned Sailormoon…but I don't…and I'm not even worth suing since I'm as poor as a church mouse…I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while…

Chapter 6

Rei could only stare dumbly. Luck was definitely not on her side today. She had escaped to the mall to keep her mind off the infuriating man who was at the moment standing right in front of her. Not only that; she had intentionally told him off to shun his advances, and yet, here he was, as if nothing had happened at all. The man just couldn't take a hint.

"What's the matter, Ms. Lambert? You look like you've seen a UFO or something."

Jared murmured to her offhand as he surveyed the damage done to both cars. He scratched his neck in thought and then sighing, turned to Rei.

"Well, seeing that I had already passed you in the lane when you hit my rear bumper, I'd say you're in the wrong."

"Now just wait a minute, here! I was backing out of a parking space, and you just popped out of nowhere. How does that make it my fault?"

"Ms. Lambert, be reasonable. How can I just pop out nowhere and you just happen to hit my rear bumper of all places."

Rei had nothing to say. All the evidence was piled up against her, and she could only stand there silently fuming, wanting to stamp her foot and throw a temper tantrum. Instead, she raked one hand through her long ebony hair and stood there with her hand on one hip, glaring at Jared as if she would like nothing better at the moment than to pack him off on a one way trip to the outer edges of the galaxy.

Jared winced inwardly. This girl could turn anybody to stone with her eyes. Compared to him, she was more than a whole head shorter than he, yet he felt like a mere two-year old in stature.

Mina bit her bottom lip and looked around thoughtfully. Rei normally never let these type of guys get her so riled, so this was extremely uncharacteristic of her. Mr. Campton was just standing there looking back, throwing whatever attitude she gave him back in her face. Neither would back down, and Mina knew it was just a matter of time before World War III started between these two. She had to take initiative and pray she wouldn't lose a major limb in the process.

"Um…Mr. Campton, could you cut Rei some slack today? She's not feeling too well, and probably wasn't concentrating a lot."

Mina tried to ignore the frown that Rei shot in her direction. This was for the best, and besides, if they couldn't get out of this one, Rei's insurance would go up another shitload and then they could say goodbye to all future shopping extravaganzas.

"Somehow, your story is doubtful, Ms. Cambridge. Ms. Lambert seemed pretty adamant that she was the victim here."

"She's not in her right mind."

Mina was getting desperate. She didn't want to hear Rei's bitching about her insurance for the next half year.

"She appears to be clinically sane to me."

"Her grandfather just died."

Jared's eyebrows were raised in disbelieving question. Rei huffed out a pent-up breath at Mina's crazy antics. Mina always did have a flare for theatrics, but this was stretching it. Her grandfather had just called last night to remind her to wash her underwear at least once a week, not that she needed his advice.

"Look Mr. Campton, my grandfather is alive and well, and I'm not crazy, as Mina claims. So how do you want to deal with this accident?"

"Well, the damage to both our cars in fairly light, so I guess I'm not going to take it to the police or the insurance company…"

Rei and Mina both breathed out, relieved that the situation was resolved so easily. But then again, was it? Jared didn't stop there.

"But I would appreciate it if you would have dinner with me tonight."

Rei stared at him emptily. Was he crazy?! What if they were seen together? Neither of them would be able to live it down. Student-teacher relationships were supposed to be kept on a strictly professional level. Mina's jaw had dropped a long time ago and right now, she couldn't even sort out her own thoughts. Did her biology teacher just ask her best friend out to dinner? Unbelievable! Inconceivable! Impossible! Didn't Rei just tell her before that there was nothing going on between the two of them? Well, one thing was for certain: it sure didn't look like that now.

Jared waited for what seemed like forever. Any more time, and he would started pouring sweat all over his custom-made suit.

"Well, Ms. Lambert? Am I going to get an answer any time soon?"

Rei and Mina looked each other, fighting an internal war. Mina knew Rei would rather walk all over a bed of needles than spend one more minute than she had to with Mr. Campton, but this sacrifice was absolutely necessary on her part.

"Rei, please don't kill me for this." Mina silently prayed.

"Of course, she would love to. She doesn't have any other plans for tonight anyway." Mina had answered in Rei place. Jared looked to Rei for approval, and seeing no obvious rejection, nodded, his nerves returning to normal. He had never been this nervous before.

"Fine. I'll pick you up at seven then."

Jared began walking back towards his car. Then he paused and back around to face the still stunned Rei, who stood there rooted to her spot on the ground amidst a crowd of honking cars who wanted to get around her. It was as if she couldn't even see or hear them.

"By the way, Ms. Lambert, dress formally. I'll be in front of your dorm at seven."

With a casual wave, he made his way back to his car and then drove off with a screeching of tires.

Turning back to Rei, Mina snapped her fingers in front of her eyes, hoping to elicit some reaction from her friend. She stood there like a statue made of chiseled marble.

"Rei? Hello? Anybody in there?"

Rei finally shook her head and then immediately turned to glare at Mina. Mina cringed and knew what was coming.

"MINA!!! How could you do that?! You know how much I detest that man!"

"But Rei, think about how much money you saved. Besides, it's just dinner. How bad can it possibly be?"

"You don't even know. With that man, it won't just be dinner." Rei muttered all of this in an incomprehensible slur, but Mina caught it.

"What do you mean?"

"Look Mina, when I said that there was nothing going on between me and Mr. Campton, well, it wasn't the complete truth…"

"Aha! I knew it! So, was he any good?"

"Mina! Funny you should ask. Lita asked me the exact same thing when I told her."

"Well, was he?"

"Geez! For the last time, I didn't sleep with him! He just hit on me. That's all."

"That's all? Sweetie, all that fighting is just foreplay. I knew there was something weird about you guys. Mr. Campton doesn't hit on just any student."

"But what am I going to do now? I don't even want to be in the same classroom as him, much less dinner. What a mess you got me into."

"Well, it'll pass. It's just one night. Besides, he probably won't even have a chance to make a pass at you. It's probably a dinner party or something."

"How do you know?"

"Well, he did say to dress formally. Personally, I don't know how many people wear evening gowns to a McDonalds date."

"Oh shit! I don't even have a dress!"

"Rei, that's what the mall is for. You can put that credit card of yours to good use."

"Mina, you never fail to amaze me."

"They don't call me Shopping Queen for nothing."

Rei and Mina headed back towards the mall, but Rei's mind was still uneasy. She didn't know how the night would turn out and that scared her. She was a person used to knowing exactly what would happen and this uncertainty was nothing new to her. However, she was determined: determined to not let Mr. Campton get to her. She was going to blow his mind that night, and remind him that she was a prize he just couldn't touch.

"So, how does it feel being a slut, Rei?" Mina suddenly burst out.

"What?"

"You know, your giving Mr. Campton yourself tonight in exchange for money….well, sort of anyway. Doesn't that make you a slut?"

"Mina dear, one of these days, you're going to die a most painful death. But until then, may I remind you that I am not a slut until I give Mr. Campton sexual favors, which by the way, won't be happening for another million years."

The two walked into the building laughing, their worries forgotten for the moment.

Two hours later at Jared's apartment…

"What? You're bringing her tonight?" Kyle stared incredulously at his younger stepbrother.

"Yeah. Picking her up at seven." Jared was standing in front of the mirror trying to fix the bow-tie to his tuxedo. The stupid thing was still askew after more than twenty minutes of profound effort.

"How did you manage to do that? I thought you said she hated you."

"It took a little incentive, but don't worry about that. I got her."

Kyle shook his head. Jared would never change his philandering ways. Ever since his mother had married Jared's father, the two had become inseparable. They trusted and confided in each other, which usually consisted of the newest list of conquests on both sides. Somehow, Jared always manage to beat out Kyle. Kyle said it was the strong cologne he wore that drove women away, but Jared would just scoff and claim that it was his own charisma that beat out Kyle.

"So who are you taking tonight?" Jared was still fiddling with the confounded accessory.

"Sharlene."

"Oh, her. She's ok I guess."

"You thought she was gorgeous the last time you saw her."

"That's what you think before you see Rei. Now this girl just fucking blows everyone else away. No competition there."

"She must be something then if even you're this wild about her. So I hear that Darien's bringing that model tonight."

"Randi? He just wants to show her off to those corporate dickheads that he works for. I wouldn't even be going tonight if dad hadn't made us."

"Same here. All those old people talk about is how many mistresses they've got and shit like that. It sucks to have a corporate head as a father."

"Hey, don't be dissing my dad now."

"He's my dad too, you know."

"Whatever. So I'm guessing that Nath is bringing that model friend of his tonight."

"Nope. He broke up with her yesterday."

"Oh, so she was another 'fuck and dump' case, huh? Well, what about Zyler?"

"Can't come. Something about a term paper due tomorrow."

"Sucks to still be in school. So glad I'm out of it."

"You're still in school, Jare."

"Yeah, but it's a lot better being on the other side of the desk."

"I guess you've got your pick of fresh girls, right?"

"Why else would I have become a biology teacher?"

The two brothers were constantly joking around like this, and the bond between them was unbreakable. They were not only brothers; they were also best friends. Kyle had a classy little penthouse across town, but still visited Jared's place as often as he slept in his own, and vice versa.

Jared looked at his watch and then cursed rapidly, checking his hair in the mirror one last time and leaving his bow-tie to its dangling fate. He jetted for the door and then shoved his feet into the polished black leather shoes that were waiting patiently there.

"Shit, it's already 6: 50. I gotta go pick Rei up."

"What's the rush? Women are always late."

Jared didn't hear that though; he was already out the door.

Rei stood expectantly in the front hall of Wychester, glancing into the sunset every once in a while. She was lucky that there was a major party in the main quad tonight, so the dorm was practically empty. Less people to witness her humiliation.

She quickly looked at the clock on the wall of the dorm. 7:05. He was late. Figured. Men always thought that women were never on time, but Rei could never stand the thought, being a punctual person herself. Then, sometimes, she would look at Serenity and then understand why men thought the way they did.

Rei sighed and patted her hair again, making sure everything was in place and that there wasn't a random piece of hair sticking up. She had to look smashing tonight. She would make sure that Jared got a surprise when she took off her coat. She wanted him to stare, to want. Then she would act. She would make sure he never bothered her ever again.

A moment later, she saw his navy blue Toyota Celica rounding the street corner at a breakneck pace, and secretly smiled to herself. Showtime.

~Well, there you go. There wasn't that much action in this chapter, but it is a setup for the next part, which should be interesting. The party is going to have a lot happening and is going to have an interesting result, so stay tuned. The next chapter should be coming out in a week or two.

By the way, I'm going to post character profiles for all 10 characters, just so you know who they are and what they do. It's also gonna kind of be like a preview for the other four fics that I'm planning to center around these 10 characters.

A little preview of "Gliding on Thin Ice" should also be out relatively soon…most likely on Monday evening, so look for that.

Don't forget to drop a review or comment! I love reading all of them!

Icedrop13