I don't own Night World.

Chapter 20

I get kind of worried the next day when Morgead still isn't in. It isn't the short, round-faced bald man with a wide smile this time, but a harsh-faced stern-looking man who doesn't smile once the entire lesson. "Do you know where Mr. Blackthorn is?" I ask the man.

He looks surprised that I talked to him (I mean, the insolence! Talking. To a teacher!) and replies primly that he doesn't. I pull a face behind his back.

"I thought you hated Mr. Blackthorn," Julia says to me curiously.

"He's better to look at than these guys," I mutter back.

"I'm with you on that."

"Stop talking, both of you!"

I must admit, I did yelp a bit at the suddenness of the comment. What? Harsh-faced stern-looking man who does not smile kinda freaks me out.

"Do you want a detention?"

Classic mark of a teacher, asking stupid questions. I spluttered with half-hysterical laughter (half-fuelled by fear at the fact that Morgead still wasn't here and I needed to tell him about San Francisco).

"Well apparently you do. Detention tonight. What's your name?"

"No! Not tonight," I say quickly. I was meant to go to Morgead's tonight! I couldn't exactly postpone what I needed to say to him, and I needed to find out what was going on with him.

"Your name."

I sigh and sink lower into my chair, shooting an annoyed look to Julia (she seems pretty amused. Bitch). "Jez," I mumble, crossing my arms. At least if I did everything online now, I wouldn't get any detentions. Although I was kind of looking forward to having another detention with Morgead...

"Do you think this is funny?" harsh-faced stern-looking man who is definitely not smiling hisses. I control my expression and look up at him innocently.

"Of course not, sir," I say meekly. He huffs and notes down my name.

"You just begged to be out of detention," Julia says, sounding like she's in a state of shock.

"It worked a couple of times with Blackthorn," I say back. "He knew I would just be in detention anyway the next week, so he would let me off sometimes. Like frequent flyer miles, really," I mused.

I spend most of the detention rubbing my forehead and hitting my head against the wall (if I were bald, there would be a very obvious bruise) and then sprint outside as soon as he says I can go.

And then pull up with a shocked gasp when I come upon Hugh and Claire against the school gates, making out rather heavily.

"Ahem," I say, raising an eyebrow.

They break apart, looking rather flustered. When I put my hands on my hips they step away from each other.

"It's not what it looks like," Claire says automatically.

"That would be odd," I say. "Are you two getting together?"

"I was just waiting for you and Hugh passed and we started talking and he told me–"

"Woah, slow down a bit."

"–that you got signed," she finishes. "Which is amazing!"

"Thanks," I say, throwing an accusatory glance towards Hugh. "Did he also tell you that we have to move to San Francisco?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Well, I just wanted to congratulate you. From mum, dad and Ricky too."

"And you waited?" I said with a smile.

She smiles back slightly. "Yeah... I remembered that Tuesday is your detention day."

I smirk at that and start walking away. "Well, I should probably get going. I have some things to do." I almost start sprinting again, shooting a glance back to see that they're going at it again. That makes me roll my eyes but smile happily. Everything is finally coming together...

...just as it's about to fall apart. I reach my bike at a run and literally take a flying leap at it (okay, not literally, but you know what I mean) and zoom out of the car park then turn left to go to Morgead's. I had to see him.

I get just a little bit frustrated when the stand thingy won't come down to hold the bike up, and I guess Morgead must have heard the conversation (argument) I was having with it. "Jez!" he says.

I finally get the damn thing to stand and turn to him. "Where the hell have you been?" I say (okay, shout. But I had just been shouting at the bike, and it just came out that way).

He shoots a nervous look down the street. "Come in," he says. He closes the door behind me, and with a suddenness that alarms me, grabs my arms and pulls me to him, holding me close. I bury my face into his neck comforting myself with his warmth, the feel of him next to me... tears well up in my eyes, but I fight them back.

"What happened?" I ask as he pulls away, brushes my cheek and leads me to the library.

"I was questioned a couple of days ago."

"What?"

"They think I'm shagging one of the students," he says harshly.

I'm in a slight state of shock (half because of the fact that he's been questioned, and half because he just said 'shagging'. What kind of teacher says 'shagging', for goodness' sake?)

"But... what? Why?"

He pauses. "I don't know. They don't have any proof, but they still wanted to keep me away for a bit. I should be back next week, though."

"But if they don't have any proof..."

"They had... an anonymous tip." he gives a short, humourless laugh and puts his face in his hands.

I lean my head against his shoulder. "But they have no real proof. It'll blow over. I promise."

"How can you be sure? This is my entire life, Jez."

"Did they mention anything about me?"

He meets my gaze for a moment, then drops his head again. "Yeah. They think it's you."

Maybe now is the right time to tell him. Then he'll know that it'll be safer. He won't need to worry about anyone finding out about us. "Well you don't need to worry about that. Listen; Chaos got signed."

He gives a purely happy smile, which I feel a bit left behind about (talk about quick change of emotion). "Really? That's amazing. I knew you could do it."

"The band has to move to San Francisco."

He gazes at me, seeming to not completely understand. "San Francisco?" he finally says uncertainly.

"It's an American label. And... we accepted. We're moving to San Francisco."

I see him stop breathing. "When?"

"1st February."

"Right."

"But this... is good." Tears spring up in my eyes. "We won't jeopardise each other's dreams. We'll be more focussed. This is the 21st Century; we can't give up on what we've worked for our entire lives just to be with each other..." I trail away, barely noticing the hot tears tracing down my face. We watch each other for a minute, before Morgead wipes the tears away with his thumb.

"You're right," he says softly. "You're completely right." He pulls me back, and I lock my arms tight around his neck. "I love you, Jez. I don't know what I did to be so lucky to be with you."

I can't resist at that point, and kiss him hard, pulling him closer and closer, learning the feel of his lips against mine, the silkiness of his hair against my hands. We stay like that a long time, the last time.

"I don't know whether I'm strong enough to deal without you," Morgead whispers to me afterwards.

"Well, if you're still interested in five years, come to San Francisco, okay?" I whisper back. He kisses me again gently.

"You'll always be the only one for me, Jez."

But that night, when I'm lying in bed, clutching a pillow and trying to ignore the tears streaming down my face, I know that it won't work out. He'll move on and forget me, maybe I'll move on, but I wouldn't forget him. But I don't have that distinction of being his first love, it would be easy for him.

What I'm sure about, though, is that I will never see him again.

Fin

Aha, well there you go. 8 days of writing and twenty weeks of updating (okay, twenty-one) and it's done. A couple of people have asked me about a sequel, and the answer is; I don't know. I've planned a short prequel (no more than 6 chapters) which I want to finish by the end of this half term (I hope. But I have half my exams in January, and I am completely failing Chemistry. Revision revision…).

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did :) Coz I loved writing it.