Chapter 6: So you locked me in a closet
The girls were walking down the corridors, discussing what to do today. Their classes had been canceled and replaced by the preparations for the ball.
"So what do we do for tonight?" Bloom curiously asked her friends.
"Easy Bloom, just prepare to have a ball!" Her blond friend said excitedly.
Musa ran to their side.
"I'll take care of the music, what's a party without dancing?" Enthusiasm was dripping from her voice. They all smiled at their pigtailed friend.
"How about I help with the decorations?" Flora suggested. And with a movement of her hand beautiful roses wrapped themselves around one of the fancy pillars standing in the hallway.
"That is lovely." Someone from behind them complimented her work. They all turned around and were surprised to see their history teacher walking towards them. He had the same type of outfit as yesterday. The only thing ruining his perfect teacher image was his messy hair and loose tie. He smiled at all of them.
"Good morning girls, I hope you are all ready for the ball tonight."
"Almost professor, we still need to go and help Bloom find a dress." Stella informed him. Thankfully the girls were clueless of their teacher's real thoughts. 'Do you really think I care about your shopping spree you stupid little girl!'
However, he chose to keep them buried away behind a mask of politeness and interest.
"Well I hope you enjoy your free day. But I need to borrow your friend Flora." He turned directly to the flower fairy. "If you are free, would you please walk with me?" All her friends turned to face her, curiosity and confusion written all over their faces. 'Oh no, he's probably going to do something to me to keep me silent! What should I do? Think Flora, think.'
"I'm sorry sir, but you see I promised Bloom that I would help her find her dress. Now come on girls we do not want to miss the bus!"
She grabbed Bloom's arm and Musa's hand and dragged them behind her. She forced herself not to look back; she really did not want to see his face. Yet she swore she could feel his glare on the back of her head. Hopefully he did not have any secret spell that made deadly lasers pop out of his eyes.
She let herself relax when they passed Alfea's gate. However, she did not have more than five seconds to breathe before being bombarded by the girls' questions.
"What did he want to talk to you about?"
"Have you met him before?"
"Do you know him outside of Alfea?"
"Are you secretly dating?"
"STELLA! Of course not! Student and teacher relationships are forbidden in Alfea!" She said to her over imaginative friend.
"What? It was worth asking! And you're right, it's impossible. You're too much of a goody two-shoes to date a professor." She declared in a disappointed tone. The others just rolled their eyes at their dramatic friend and climbed in the bus.
Dimitri was in front of his mirror, tying his black tie around his neck. In a few hours the ball would start off. He never liked this tradition, it was the only time where he had to share the spotlight with the other pretty boys of Red Fountain. And he really did not like losing to competition.
But unfortunately they had an advantage over him. They were datable. The girls would prefer going after guys that were available. He stayed untouchable. Not only was dating a student against the rules, but it also meant he had to care for someone and be loyal. That would just be a pain in the behind, a weakness that he did not need.
For tonight he chose to wear the usual but he added a fancy black coat with a pinned rose on it. He heard that ladies really liked flowers. When he was finally ready. He exited his quarters and headed to the great Hall.
In the middle of the corridor he stopped dead in his tracks. A few meters ahead of him walked the group of girls that battled the witches. And the one who had been annoyingly avoiding the past three days was trailing a few feet behind. Perfect.
'It was now or never'.
Flora was following her roommates to the Ball room. But her attention was not at all on their current conversation, which was about the cute boys of Red Fountain. No, she was thinking about poor Bloom who was probably going to miss a big part of the party.
Suddenly out of nowhere a hand grabbed her waist and before she could even say a word another hand was placed on her mouth, silencing her. Keeping her from crying for help. The person behind her wrapped an arm around her waist and started dragging her into an empty and dark closet locking them inside. During the few seconds of darkness, her imagination went wild.
Was it the ogre from last time or one of the witches? Here to take their revenge on the Winx club starting with her. She was scared, no, terrified by her situation. But when the lights were miraculously switched on. She concluded that not knowing the perpetrator was much better.
In front of her stood the one and only Professor Darkell but without his usual handsome smile on his lips. No, instead, she was met with cold eyes.
Why did he snatch her away from her friends? What was he going to do to her? Erase her memory? Get rid of her? For what? Having heard his real sentiments and opinions about fairies and his job. That was just a pathetic reason to die.
"You are probably wondering what you are doing here?" He asked her. Taking her silence as a yes he continued.
"Well you didn't exactly give me a choice. You avoiding me all the time forced me to take action."
"So you locked me in a closet..." Flora added a hint of terror and incredulity in her voice.
"You're right, when you think about it, it is quite unprofessional of me..." he said mostly to himself.
Flora interrupted his thoughts and asked one of the questions that had been bothering her for a while. "Professor, what did you need to tell me?"
The man came back to reality and his gaze landed back on her. And she couldn't avoid it because of the small space, leaving only a few centimeters between the both of them. He stayed silent, and that silence was little by little getting on her nerves.
Oh do not be mistaken, Flora is usually a very calm and patient fairy but she had her limits. Especially when she had accidentally seen the real face of her charming teacher and now because of that same teacher, she was trapped in a closet not knowing what would come next.
So she spoke up and made sure that the man in front of her knew exactly what she thought of the situation.
"Why... Why are you doing this? Are you scared...?"
"What?! No!" he vehemently denied.
"What I meant was... are you scared of me telling my friends. Well don't be, I won't tell. I promise." She said with a soft and timid voice. «It's not like I saw you kill someone, I just heard you speak your real opinions about your job and fairies."
"I don't trust people. Especially when the only thing I can rely on is an insignificant promise." He retorted, crossing his arms. Reducing even more the space between them.
"All that acting, lying, hiding does it not kill you inside? Keeping all your true feelings hidden, It must really tire you sometimes..."
"Stop speaking nonsense!" He interrupted her, his anger was starting to take over. Shocked by his reaction Flora fell silent. A few minutes passed in the quiet. The two just settled on staring at each other. One was trying to calm down and the other was regaining her courage. She took a big breath and took a step forward. Her body ended up lightly brushing against his, but she didn't care.
"I won't tell my friends that their handsome and charming teacher is just A BIG FAT LIAR." She noticed that he was not looking her way. He was avoiding her eyes by looking at his feet. She quickly rectified that. She placed a hand on his cheek to force him to look her in the eyes.
"You can trust me." The moment appeared to last hours instead of only seconds. He uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on her shoulders slightly leaning in to whisper his answer. They both did not care that their faces were just mere inches apart.
"You don't understand... I can't trust anyone..." However, he was not able to finish because of the sudden opening of the closet's door.
There stood Bloom frozen on the spot. Probably misunderstanding the scene in front of her. Her shocked expression made them suddenly realize their closeness. The realization made them take a step back from each other. Flora turned to Bloom and softly said:
"Bloom let me explain..." But her redhaired friend did not let her finish and before violently closing the door she blurted out an apology.
"Sorry don't mind me, I was just looking for scissors!"
They both stood frozen, their eyes glued to the door, not believing what had just happened. A few minutes passed before Flora finally spoke up first.
"We should join the others, and go to the ball. People will wonder where we are." She suggested still a little dazed by all the events.
"Yeah I don't want another person to barge in on us and spread unneeded rumors throughout the campus. You go first, I'll wait a few minutes before exiting."
"Okay" She got out of the cramped closet and while walking down the corridor she tried to think of an excuse for her friends to justify her absence.
