Chapter Five: Game On

I was surprised to discover who part of my surveillance team was, when Chief Swan was waiting to speak to me on Monday morning. We borrowed Bill's office for a few minutes.

"Anything that happens here in Forks, you tell me and only me. Don't leave a message at the station, call this number." He handed me a card with his cell phone number on. "I want to reassure you that this matter is in hand and it has my personal attention." He was reassuring, the calm at the centre of a storm. Knowing that the Police were involved meant that I wasn't imagining things. But on the other hand it made it worse. Daniel's job must be very sensitive, if a couple of notes and a bugged computer resulted in Police protection.

I couldn't help but glance up and down the street as I walked to my car, expecting to see the tell-tale signs of people watching my apartment building. But, as Daniel had said, there were no blacked-out vehicles on the street and whoever these people were, they were discreet. They were also good at their job, because it all went quiet, very quiet. There were no further notes.

Life returned to normal and even Lyra calmed down. Thursday came along and I went to the session with my head held high, resolute that I wasn't going to let anyone stop me from doing something I enjoyed. Daniel was already there when I arrived and as I pulled to a stop, he opened my car door, anxious to find out how the week had gone.

"There's been nothing." I smiled. "Whoever you have looking after me, it's working."

His eyes still looked guarded. "I'm glad."

"How's your week been?" I asked, wanting to keep the conversation going. We walked over to the trunk of his car.

"Busy."

"You work nights a lot?" We started to pull out the telescopes.

"Yeah, I don't do too many day shifts."

"Did you find out if any of the others are getting notes?"

"They're not."

I wasn't fearful of him now, the weekend incident seemed to have allowed my mind to choose a side and it had chosen liking him. Well, that was the official version. I may be coming across all matter-of-fact, but I adored him. The job was not to let him see that and to keep it light and friendly. Anthony pulled up in his Dad's Volvo again, closely followed by Will and Jane. Will was driving an amazing car that I didn't recognise. I wasn't that interested in cars, but Anthony seemed to be and went over to it. Marie seemed as similarly disinterested as me and came over to help carry the telescopes over to the view point.

"So, you and the Biology teacher, huh?" Will said later, as he worked at his telescope next to me. He couldn't' have picked worse timing, as Daniel was right there overseeing what I was doing.

"There is no me and the Biology teacher." I said. "He just invited me to go see the band."

"Jess thinks you've got a thing for him."

"Well she's wrong, he's just a friend."

"Jess tends to be right about most things."

"No she isn't, she just bludgeons people around the head until they see it from her point of view."

Will doubled up in laughter. "I'll tell her you said that."

I smiled. "It's meant nicely. She's a force to be reckoned with. I don't know anybody who gets out alive from a verbal spat with her."

"That's true; I've yet to win a point."

"And yet her brother's so different." Jane appeared next to Will. "He's so laid back." I continued.

"I don't know him that well."

"I haven't figured him out yet. Jess is very much 'what you see is what you get'. She says exactly what she thinks. Dan is the Mariana Trench compared to her. There's a lot going on in him that never sees the light of day."

"Perceptive." Will said.

"I'm a teacher; I'm paid to know stuff about kids' heads."

"And I'm paid to teach you astronomy," interjected Daniel. "So look down there." He grinned at me and pointed at the eyepiece. I willingly obeyed.

I thought his enthusiasm to speak to me at the start of the session might carry over to the end, but he just packed the stuff away and drove off. His eagerness to speak to me earlier was simply to establish that I was alright, nothing more. I'm sure he didn't spend his days lying awake totally infatuated with me, as I was with him. I was making a big assumption that he was single. He'd mentioned an ex-wife, but not a current wife or girlfriend. Night or day, this impossibly beautiful man was always on my mind. By Friday morning I was back to willing the week to pass on fast forward, or something to happen to give me an excuse to call him.

Things may have gone quiet on the subject of Daniel, but work was keeping me busy. It was making me stressed too, seeing as once they'd found their feet, one or two of the Quileute kids were starting to kick off. The Reservation school had closed last summer because of low numbers. Most had transferred to Forks High, apart from the few whose parents had chosen to home school.

Now that they were used to the place, a couple of them were proving to be a bit of a challenge to keep motivated and focussed. There were two in particular in twelfth grade, Korvin Silversmith and Jackson Green who were leaving me with a headache at the end of each class. It wasn't anything I couldn't cope with; it was just wearing. The Forks kids were, by and large, a compliant lot. They rarely gave any teacher cause for concern.

More unexpected was trying to keep the trio of Jess, Dan and Ness focussed, especially after Jess and Dan's eighteenth birthday. Dan in particular was one step away from me alerting Principal Greene and as November wore on, he gave me cause to worry that he could be doing drugs.

I caught him stumbling out of my storeroom one lunch break, smirking and massaging his mouth. He looked like he'd gotten dressed in a rush and his hair was all over the place.

"What're you doing in there?" I snapped, checking the room and straightening several piles of text books and other supplies.

"Nothing." He replied, still rubbing his mouth. I looked at him, he was either drunk or off his head on some other illegal substance. "Are you sober?"

He nodded and mumbled "Very" from behind his fingers.

"What's wrong with your mouth?"

"Um… Dentist, anaesthetic."

"That'll soon wear off."

He chuckled. "I don't want it too." And off he walked, staggering slightly. I remained unconvinced about his sobriety, especially if he was thinking novocaine was fun.

But other than my students giving me worries, nothing else did and a dull monotony returned. I started to live for those two hours in Daniel's company on Thursday nights. Then finally, the worst happened: It rained and he cancelled the session. I raged around the apartment like a caged animal because I'd been denied the two hours that I lived for. I couldn't settle to watch TV, to read or to even catch up with my friends on Facebook. I stared petulantly out at the rain streaming down the windows. But we'd been fortunate in having five consecutive dry Thursday nights. In this part of the world I should be thankful we'd had any.

The buzzer on the main door went. My brow furrowed, I rarely got visitors. "Hello?"

"Hi Stephanie, it's Daniel."

"Oh hi, come on up." I pressed the button to release the door and jumped around the room with glee. He was here! He was dropping by unannounced. Woohoo, go me! I flew about the place, straightening it up and then stopped by the mirror to check how I looked and went scarlet. I was already in my pyjamas! But the knock on my apartment door left me no time to change and I sheepishly opened the door in a fetching combination of maroon top (no bra!), checked pants and the fur-lined Navajo-inspired moccasin boots that I used for winter indoor footwear. He however looked like a slightly damp Greek god.

"Ah," he said, smiling. "I was going to invite you for coffee, but I see you're not dressed to go out."

"I could be, come in." As he passed me I got a hit of his cologne and rolled my eyes in ecstasy behind his back. It was like drinking aphrodisiac and right now I was very open to suggestion, even if that was walking down the street to get coffee in my pyjamas. "I'll go get dressed."

"Don't, we can do it another time. I was also calling to see if everything was OK. I wondered if you wanted me to check your computer, make sure that it's still clean?"

"Sure, go ahead." I indicated to my laptop. "I'll make some coffee."

"Just a small one thanks."

He settled down at my computer while in the kitchen I waited for the coffee to come through. He worked quickly and was soon satisfied that there was nothing there. "It's clean." He said.

"Great." I handed him the coffee. He could stop by anytime and do pointless things to my computer, I wouldn't mind. I went and sat on my usual spot on the sofa but didn't do my usual trick of curling my knees up, hoping that it might encourage him to sit next to me. He didn't, he chose to sit a frustratingly respectful distance away, in another chair.

"So, how's your week been?" He asked.

"OK." I replied, taking a small sip of coffee. "Slightly stressful, but nothing out of the ordinary. Yours?"

"Much the same."

"Are you working tonight?"

"Later yes. Thought I'd stop by, make sure you computer's fine and that you weren't being held captive by anyone." He smiled.

"No such excitement. It's the same old same old around here." I hooked one side of my hair behind my ear and twirled a strand of it between my fingers. It was never the same old same old now he was around. "Got any plans for the weekend?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Just work."

"Even at the weekends?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"I um… wondered if we might go get coffee. Seeing as I'm not dressed for it now."

"I'd like that." I was instantly ecstatic. "When were you thinking?"

"How about early Saturday? I have another appointment with the realtor, but I could meet you at say, seven thirty?"

"That sounds great. Don't take this the wrong way, this isn't me trying to get out of it, but I can't guarantee that I'll be there. It's the nature of things that sometimes I get detained into the day. I'll be there if I can. Could I have your cell phone number again and then I can call and let you know?"

"Sure!" I jumped up and wrote my number on a piece of paper. He folded it and slid it behind a credit card in his wallet.

"Thanks. Well, I'd better be going." We walked to the door and I reluctantly held it open for him. "Sleep well." He said in soft, rich tones that made me want to ditch my duvet and wrap myself up in him.

"You too." I said, momentarily clueless to where he was going.

He snickered. "No chance of that."

"Oh yeah, duh!" I marvelled at my own stupidity.

"Goodnight." He said, with a gaze that lingered just a fraction too long and had me believing that he felt the same way about me that I felt about him. I closed the door, leant back on it and punched the air. I dumped my 'no men' rule into the trash, this was game on!

Friday was, by some margin, the worst day I'd ever had in teaching. For some reason the place had turned into Delinquent High, as class after class were antsy, uncooperative and in the case of Korvin Silversmith, downright abusive. He spat at me. Not that I really cared right now, I was on cloud nine, with Daniel resplendent in a white loin-cloth, wings unfurled and plucking away on a harp. Silversmith was a troublesome fly. Still, Mr Greene could deal with him and I despatched the insolent kid off to Bill's office.

By rights, at end of the day I should've been on my knees, but I wasn't. The thought of spending Saturday morning with Daniel was the elixir of life. I methodically got on with my preparation for Monday and graded the last of the outstanding papers to make sure that I had an entirely clear weekend. Just in case… I smiled to myself. A knock on my door wiped the smile off it and I turned to see Mike Newton.

"Hi." He said. "How you doing?"

"OK. Tough day."

"You're telling me. Is there something in the water?" He exhaled loudly. "Did someone feed them all sugar for breakfast? I've never known a day like it."

"Me either. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go over to Seattle one weekend before Christmas? I need to do some gift-buying and wondered if you'd like to come too? There's an outdoor skating rink at one of the precincts, I thought that might be fun."

"Ice skating?" I laughed. "I haven't done that for years."

"You can skate?"

"Well, I don't know about skate, I can keep upright and move forward if that's what you mean?"

"I'm about the same." He laughed. "Would… that interest you?"

I thought about it. I should really keep my options open, I didn't know if this potential thing with Daniel would ever happen. But even so, Mike was a friend. "Yeah, it would. I haven't been to Seattle for a while; it would be good to go."

"Great. I was thinking around the tenth?"

"Let me check." I pulled out my day planner. It was free; it was always going to be free, I did nothing else but teach. "That's good for me."

"OK, I'll get ferry tickets. Do you want me to book some rooms in Bremerton for the night before?"

"Yeah, that'd be great; we can make an early start for the city then."

"OK, I'll get on it. You have a good weekend. Doing anything?"

"Meeting up with a friend. You?"

"Helping out at the store." Mike's parents ran the Sporting Goods store in town.

"Keeping your hand in?"

"Not really, staff shortages. Everyone's sick."

"Well don't bring it here." I laughed.

He left and I settled back into my work, my head dwelling on what I imagined tomorrow morning would bring, hanging out, even for an hour or so with Daniel. I wondered if I could persuade him to come look at houses with me? I smirked as my head instantly started pretending that we were Mr and Mrs Mitchell. "Oh Stephanie, you're a hopeless case." I said out loud to an empty room.

But shortly after seven the next morning, the call I did not want to get arrived.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to get away."

"I understand." I did, but I was gutted all the same.

"I'll call you later when I know how things stand. We'll fix up another time. I'm really sorry to have to do this to you, I really don't like letting people down."

"But duty calls."

"Yeah…"I heard his long sigh down the line. "Anyway, you have a good day."

That was going to be impossible, now that it stretched out in front of me like a yawning chasm of bleakness. Outside, the sun was peeking over the horizon on what looked like a beautifully clear winter's day. It may be sunny outside, but inside my heart there was a downpour. I fixed myself my own coffee and glared at Lyra, as if it was somehow her fault. Guess I'd be viewing those houses alone, then.