The paper was slapped down onto his desk before him. A small impatient hand jabbed at it for added emphasis. He looked up and saw Kate standing there with her arms crossed. She restlessly shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she looked at him pointedly. Angrily, she raised her expectant eyebrows at him, waiting for him to comment.
He tried not to smile, he had a feeling that she wasn't going to be too happy with her grade. "Yes?"
"You gave me a B+. I never get Bs. EVER."
Jack grinned, "Well, I guess I have the dubious distinction of giving you your first then." He could tell that she was doing her very best to keep her temper in check. Her anger bemused him. She looked so cute fired up.
"I don't understand why you gave me a B+." It sounded too much like a pouty whine and that bothered her.
"Because, Kate, that is the grade you deserved. If you're unhappy, you may want to re-consider your recent study habits. Perhaps you and Matt should do more reading and less horsing around in the lab. He happened to get a B+ too, by the way." Sarcasm filtered through his voice.
Confused, she answered, "Huh? Matt and I are just friends. And we don't 'horse' around. I only helped him with two lab experiments." Her body stiffened, taking on a defensive posture until she saw the small smirk play across his lips. Was he teasing her?
With an impish grin she told him, "Maybe the real reason we got B pluses is because our teacher didn't explain the subject matter properly." If he didn't know better, she sounded almost flirtatious. She was smiling now.
Jack nearly choked on the ludicrousness of her comment, "Ha. Are you actually trying to pin your disappointing grade on me? That's a new one." He leaned back into his seat and lifted his ankle so it was now comfortably resting on his knee. "Well, since you seem dissatisfied with my teaching skills, you should be relieved to know then that after this semester, I'll no longer be a teacher. I actually tendered my resignation this morning."
Kate's jaw dropped. "Why? You're a really good teacher. This is a huge loss … for the school, I mean."
"There are a multitude of reasons. I enjoy teaching, but I've decided to return to school and study medicine at UCLA." He then added playfully, "And, wait a second, didn't you just criticize my teaching skills?"
"Wow. Congratulations. That's amazing. This news must have made your dad real happy. He must be over the moon." A sense of pride overcame her at the thought of him going to med school and UCLA, no less.
"Yeah, my dad's happy, of course. But I had my own reasons for applying that had nothing to do with him." Jack grinned ruefully, "I think you've been spending a lot of time with the Shephards, you seem to know too much of the inner workings of my dad's mind. And, trust me, that's not a good thing." She bit back the smile that was trying to peek through.
He looked down at her lab quiz and fingered it. "Why don't you pull up a chair so we can walk through your answers?" As she went to find a seat, he looked over to the door to make sure it was wide open. They hunched close together and on several occasions their shoulders brushed against the other as he reviewed the quiz line-by-line. She was distracted by the physical proximity, there were a few instances she knew she wasn't paying attention. She would take furtive glances at his concentrated face as he explained why her answers were incorrect. Since the news of his breakup with Amy, her feelings had intensified exponentially. He actually seemed attainable to her now. Jack took his time explaining the concepts to her and, she hated to admit it, but he was right. She deserved the grade she received - barely. If anything, she was in between a B and B+, so he had actually been generous with her.
She regretted having to stand up to leave when he was finished. She had tried to prolong his review by asking questions, but she was all out of excuses at this point. She slowly gathered her books and thanked him for his time.
She was halfway out the door, "Kate?"
Her heart leapt, "Yes, Mr. Shephard?"
"Happy Birthday. A little premature, I know, since it's tomorrow. But I thought I'd tell you anyway since today is Friday."
"Thank you. Thank you for remembering." She said quietly before leaving.
If she only knew that he was secretly celebrating this day along with her. He's been looking forward to February 7th since reading her student file on the second day of school.
"Guys. Thanks for the nice dinner." Kate stroked the roundness of her belly which was full of food. She probably didn't need to eat the entire enchilada, but it tasted so good.
Shannon was behind the wheel with Kate sitting shotgun and Claire in the backseat. Music was playing in the background.
"Duh! You're EIGHTEEN! We had to celebrate." Shannon squealed. "So are you ready to PAR-TAY?" The girls giggled as they drove around until finding a parking spot on a suburban street close to the USC campus.
Shane's stepbrother, Boone was at the door of the frat house collecting money and stamping hands. "Hey Shan. Awesome that you came." He looked over her shoulder and recognized Claire, but not the brunette. "Who's your friend?" He nodded towards Kate.
"Oh, that's Kate, she's new. She moved from Washington. She's cool. Oh, and it's her birthday today!" Boone smiled and winked conspiratorially at Shannon, "So she's '21' today, huh?" He looked at two of the fraternity brothers that were at the door with him, "Don't charge them, they're with me." He stamped the tops of their hands, handed them some cups and motioned for them to enter.
The music was loud as they walked through the door, the girls needed to shout in order to be heard. Almost immediately, they were stopped by a student who was in the process of removing the plastic seal around the mouth of a big jug of rum. He poured it into Claire's and Shannon's cups, but Kate covered the rim with her hand and gestured a 'no'.
They continued through the house and into the backyard. Boys and girls were crowded around a keg on the pavement. Shrieks and loud laughs erupted around them. They went back inside and could hear the sound of 'quarters', as some guys gathered around a table in a circle playing the drinking game. They were whooping it up loud and could actually be heard over the giant speakers blaring music. Shannon cut through the keg line with Kate in tow.
"Move over for the birthday girl!" Shannon sang. Promptly, Kate's red cup was filled to the brim. She took a sip and wiped the foam from her upper lip. She was not a particular fan of the taste of beer, but she didn't dislike it either. She was usually able to slowly finish a couple of bottles on the few occasions she had experimented with alcohol.
Four to five birthday beers later, Kate needed to sit down. She fell onto the middle of the sofa which she now shared with some snoring chubby guy who had one leg slung over the arm on the opposite side. Shannon had gone upstairs and passed out in Boone's bed.
Kate felt dizzy, very dizzy. She blearily saw Claire nearby chatting with someone. She wanted to curl herself up into a little ball and go to sleep in her bed. She may even have dozed off until she was jolted awake by some guy that flopped himself next to her. She rolled her head in his direction and could barely make out the blurry greek letters on his baseball cap. "So I hear it's your birthday." He gave her a dirty grin.
It was around 1:30 am when Jack got the panicked phone call from Claire. He listened to her sloppy incoherent speech before pushing himself up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.
"What's the address? I'll be there soon. And stick together."
Jack walked into the foyer of the fraternity house while the party was dying down. Boone spotted him immediately. "Holy crap! It's Mr. Shephard." Boone yelled to one of his brothers, "Dude, that guy was my fucking high school science teacher." "Yo, Mr. Shephard!"
Jack waved back and tipped his head at Boone as he proceeded to look for the girls. Jack never had an issue with the kid. Boone was good natured enough, if not a little dim.
Right away, he saw Claire at the corner of the living room. He walked up to her, anger seeping through his skin. He looked at the boy next to her and gritted, "Get outta here." Sensing the unbridled fury emanating from him, the boy scurried away. "Claire. What the fuck is going on? And where the hell is Kate?" Claire pointed to the direction of the sofa. Jack followed the direction of her finger and frowned. He pulled up a chair and sat her firmly in it. "You are not to move. Got it?"
He then marched over to the sofa and took in the scene. Kate's head was lolled awkwardly to the side. The boy next to her had one hand around her shoulder, keeping her body up against his and then brought the other hand up and slipped it under her long curly hair.
"Come on 'birthday girl', let's go upstairs and celebrate. You sure are beautiful, must be my lucky night." He shook her head, trying to rile her from her drunken unconsciousness before going in for a kiss.
"Get off of her," Jack warned as he towered above the pair on the sofa.
"What the fuck's your problem, man? Mind your own business." He then turned his attention back to Kate.
Jack yanked the boy to his feet. "That girl, that high school girl passed out on the sofa, is my business. Do you really want to make this your problem?" Jack stood nearly a head taller than the auburn haired college kid. His fists clenched at his sides, ready to punch the smug little asshole. A few fraternity brothers jumped into the skirmish, but Boone came running to break it up.
Boone shouted, "It's cool. I know this guy. He's gonna leave now." He looked questioningly at a very angry Jack. Claire came to Jack's side as he bent over trying to get Kate to respond to him. "Kate. Kate are you okay?" Kate rolled her head and opened her unfocused eyes, "Jaaaaack? What are you doing here?" Her words were slurred and awkward sounding.
"Can you stand?" He lifted her from under the armpits and when he had Kate on her feet, she nearly collapsed like a deck of cards.
"Okay, so that answers my question." He mumbled under his breath. He then scooped her into his arms and carried her across his front.
"Sorry about that Mr. Shephard."
Jack looked at Boone and asked him, "Where's Shannon? Do I need to take your sister home too?"
"No, she's okay. She's sleeping in my bed upstairs, I'll bring her home in the morning."
Jack gently placed Kate in the backseat of the car and strapped the seatbelt around her. Claire dawdled at the outside of the passenger side, nervously chewing on her index finger. Jack shot her a cold glare, "Is there something you're waiting for? Get in the car."
Jack had a death grip on the steering wheel as he drove silently. Even in her haze, Claire noticed that the veins in his forearms were bulging and looked like they were about to pop, she was frightened. She had never witnessed Jack so angry.
Tentatively, she stammered, "Jack -" Her voice set him off because now he began to yell like she never heard him before, "What the FUCK were you thinking Claire?! Seriously. Because I need to know."
"I'm sorry." She whimpered.
"Do you have any fucking idea how irresponsible this was? Do you realize what a dangerous situation Kate was in- how dangerous it was for both of you? If I showed up ten minutes later, this evening could have ended very badly."
"Stooooop it, Jack! You're making me feel bad." Claire wailed pitifully, as she covered her palms over her ears to block out his words.
"Good. I want you to feel bad." He growled. He quickly looked over his shoulder to check on Kate.
"What was she drinking?"
"Beer."
"Any hard liquor?"
"I don't think so. She didn't want the rum."
"Did you girls take anything else. Be honest with me. Because it could be very dangerous if you mixed alcohol with pills or something." Claire shook her head adamantly, "No. Not that I'm aware of."
Tears were streaming down her face. More calmly, Jack told her, "Claire, obviously Kate is responsible for her own actions. But I can't shake the feeling that you and Shannon masterminded the plan to go and get drunk at a college party. I have the impression that Kate isn't as experienced at partying like you two are. This was so stupid, Claire." He shook his head in regret and disappointment at her.
Jack put the car blinker on as he prepared to get off at the exit to his dad's house. Then Claire screamed, "No!" Jack jumped in his seat, "What the hell was that for?" Claire grabbed for his phone and furiously typed in it. Jack looked at her through the corner of his eye, "What are you doing with my phone?"
"I'm calling dad. I'm telling him that I'm with you."
"No, you're not. I'm taking you home."
"You can't! Do you know what kind of trouble we'll be in? You have to take us to your apartment. Pleeeeeeeease. Kate's dad thinks we are sleeping at Shannon's." Jack didn't know what to do, he certainly didn't want to see Kate get into serious trouble with her father. And he really wasn't up for explaining her condition to Mr. Austen at 2:30 in the morning. Against his better judgment, he reluctantly agreed to take them to his place.
Thankfully, they didn't run into any of Jack's neighbors as they rode the elevator from the garage to the 23rd floor. He didn't want to deal with any of the curious looks that he would have gotten being seen carrying an unconscious girl this late at night.
"Claire, can you grab the keys from my pocket?"
She drunkenly fumbled around the inside of his leather jacket before finding them. With Kate in his arms, Claire let them in.
"You can sleep in my bed, I'll put Kate in the spare bedroom and I'll take the couch. Your pajamas are folded in the guest closet." Kate lifted her head from Jack's shoulder and slurred. "Where am I? Oh, hi Jack," she drawled almost incoherently.
He layed her on the bed and pulled the lamp switch on the nightstand. He carefully removed her shoes and tugged down her shirt that had rolled up a little exposing her stomach. He sat on the edge of the mattress to look at her. He closed his eyes and took a moment to be grateful that nothing happened to her tonight. The thought of that guy taking advantage of her in this condition incensed him. She started to stir from her drunken stupor and then propped herself up.
"It's okay Kate, just lay down and go to sleep." He gently pressed her shoulders down, but was stopped by her lips pressing on his. It was a sloppy, open-mouth kiss that tasted of alcohol. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he let her lips linger longer than he should have. Gently, he pried away her hands that were clasped behind his neck. He slowly pulled away from her kiss.
"Kate, wait…"
"You hate me. You think I'm ugly!" She slurred.
He rubbed his thumb against her cheek and huffed a tiny laugh at her absurd comment, "No. No, I think you're beautiful Kate. Don't ever think that."
In a pitiable attempt at seduction, she affected a husky voice, "So what's the problem? Come on. Let's do it. Right now. It's okay. I'm eighteen remember?" As if demanding he perform on the spot, she slapped her hand a few times on the mattress. He felt the front of his pants tighten and he inched away from her. He stared at her in astonishment.
She looked at him hazily one more time before collapsing onto the pillow and passing out - again. He stood up and went to the utility closet. He placed the bucket at the side of the bed as a precautionary measure. He sat down next to her and adjusted her so that she was now safely sleeping on her stomach. He brushed the errant curl behind her ear. This subtle gesture must have stirred her because she murmured, "I love you." He smiled. Instead of going to the living room, he stretched out in the chair at the far corner of the room and watched her sleeping form. He wondered how much, if anything, Kate would remember and what it all really meant. But he hoped that she meant every word she said.