Chapter 20 Part B
"Can I kiss you?"
"Jake!" Peyton exclaimed, and pushed him slightly away so that he was sitting properly in his chair and not leaning over her.
Jake, however, was undeterred. "I want to kiss you," he whispered in her ear and pouted when she looked at him, knowing she couldn't resist.
"Other teachers are here!" she told him in a hushed voice, glancing around the faculty lounge, grateful that there was no one sitting at a table nearby. "I thought we agreed to keep this secret!"
"No one's looking," he whispered, now so close that she could feel his breath on the side of her neck.
The bell sounded to signal the end of lunch and most of the other teachers started to grudgingly assemble their things. Peyton noticed the spark in Jake's eye and remembered that neither of them had a lesson now. She looked away from him and down at the table, concentrating on the book in front of her. It didn't escape her that the main door kept opening and closing, and that all the feet were going out rather than coming in.
A few minutes later the door closed again, and the entire room was quiet. Peyton knew that everyone had left before Jake leaned close again, to tell her.
"That doesn't mean that we have to!" she protested, not really sure why, seeing as how she wanted to kiss him too. But they were in school! She didn't think she'd be able to tell students off for engaging in any activities on school grounds if she got carried away herself.
"But it does mean we can…" Jake reached out and captured her chin between his forefinger and thumb and turned her to look at him. Before she could tell him what she had just thought, he silenced her by placing his lips on hers. And she didn't dislike it enough to argue with that; far from it, actually.
Peyton sighed against his mouth, causing Jake to pull her closer; first by pulling her chair so it was right next to his, and then by wrapping his arms around her body so she was against his chest. Peyton responded by putting one of her hands in his hair and kissing him again. And again. And again.
She would have continued to do so if the door to the lounge had not opened.
"We were just –" Peyton began, not entirely sure how she was going to justify her actions, but she stopped and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was.
Haley grinned. "Sorry to interrupt your little love fest here; I just realized I forgot one of my books."
Jake smiled at her. "It's no problem."
"Believe me," Peyton added. "I'd rather you than anyone."
Haley picked up her book and looked back at them. "That's nice to know, but I'd really rather not walk in on you guys about to do it on a table in school in front of an old man again. Well, continue," she motioned for them to do so with her hand and then shut the door behind her.
"We weren't going to – what did she mean old man? Oh my God!" Peyton exclaimed as she saw that one teacher hadn't left; the ancient Mr. Hardman was sitting in his corner of the lounge, dozing silently with his head on the table.
"Sshh! You'll wake him!" Jake hushed her.
"Did you know he was here?" The look on his face told her all. "Jake Jagielski!" She hit his shoulder repeatedly, ignoring his cries of, "He's fast asleep and he couldn't see us! We were only kissing!" Peyton got up and walked around the round table so that she was opposite him, and sat down in that chair. "I'm going to sit here from now on." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
To her surprise, Jake just winked. "That's okay, honey. We can play footsie under the table," he said, reminding her of their first date, something she still hadn't lived down. "Just go easy on me if you're in heels again."
"Jake!"
Miss James wasn't there when Nathan, Lucas and Brooke arrived at their classroom after lunch. Nathan was the first to notice, but everyone, including the students who were already there, thought it interesting. Miss James was always on time, usually early, for a lesson, getting things ready while she waited for all the students to come in. Since most people knew about what had happened with Mr. Keller the three friends could hear lots of excited whispering going on about why she might be late. Brooke gave some of the more animated girls a dirty look as she moved to get a seat, but Nathan noted that not long ago she had been wondering whether Miss James had come to school.
Although they normally sat together, today there were places with two empty chairs together, but not three, so Nathan went to the back of the classroom and sat alone there. The two girls in front of him were relating the entire break-up to a girl sitting in front of them in avid detail.
"…and then she walked in on them in the bedroom!"
"No!"
"No, I heard she walked in on them having sex in the shower!"
"No, that's not what happened. It was definitely the bedroom," the first girl affirmed. "Katie told me so."
Nathan contained the urge to interrupt their gossip session by biting his tongue. He was saved from having to when Miss James flew into the classroom.
"Sorry about that. I just had to get a book for today's lesson from the faculty lounge. Well," she looked at them, "shall we get started?"
The gossip had stopped as she entered the classroom, but it was the fact that she appeared and acted just like she always did that prevented anyone from whispering behind her back. If it hadn't been for Theresa, no one would have been able to tell anything had happened at all.
All too soon for Nathan the lesson was over and everyone left, handing in their homework on their way out. She had discussed this topic with him the day she had set the homework so Nathan should have had an advantage, but he hadn't been paying enough attention to the discussion to get an A on his homework. Still, he had made sure to take some things down that day so the essay he handed in was a fairly decent one.
When he reached Haley he was the only person left in class. Lucas and Brooke were waiting outside for him, but Nathan quickly nodded to Lucas to tell him they could go. He'd just tell them later that she had wanted to talk about some of his work.
"Thank you," Haley said as she took the essay from him and placed it on top of the pile on her desk. She turned back around and noticed he hadn't moved. "Did you want to ask me something?"
Nathan nodded. "Yeah…Is your Mom okay now?"
Haley smiled brightly at him. She was still slightly embarrassed by that incident, and was trying to work out what it meant, but was touched that he was asking her about it. "Yes, she's fine, Nathan. She was discharged from hospital this weekend."
"That's good. And…are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Thank you so much for asking. I –"
A rapping at the door interrupted them. Both Haley and Nathan glanced in that direction and were surprised by the intruder.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Chris Keller asked his former girlfriend.
"Not now; I'm with a student," Haley pleaded, her face red from discomfiture.
"You can get back to the boy afterwards."
"Chris, I'll talk to you later."
"This will only take a minute. It's important."
"Actually," Nathan interrupted before Chris could go on any further, "this is really important and I don't have any free time after so Miss James promised she would help me with it now."
Chris glared at Nathan, but Nathan simply held his gaze and didn't stop glaring back until Chris roughly told Haley he'd see her in the faculty room and left.
Haley was too mortified to look Nathan in the face when she mumbled her apologies. "I am so sorry about that."
"It's no problem."
Haley forced herself to look up slightly at him. "Thank you for saying that."
"It's okay."
No, it wasn't okay! she wanted to shout. Chris had no right to do what he just did. And, when I told him to go away once he should have listened. Nathan shouldn't have had to get caught in the middle like that.
"I don't mind helping you," he told her.
"You shouldn't have had to," she said quietly.
Nathan shrugged. "It's really okay. It's not your fault that your ex-boyfriend's an asshole."
The corners of Haley's mouth began to tug upwards. "I don't think I'm supposed to condone swearing among students," she said finally.
He grinned at her. "Well, he's a jerk, then."
Haley sighed, but she met his gaze and smiled. "Thank you, Nathan. For everything."
"My pleasure."