Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 13 : Little Mermaid

EMMaA’s POV : "Little Mermaid, Cinderella, or Princess Jasmine? Go ahead, pick one," Tiff brought over these costumes and laid them neatly on my bed.

The girls thought it'd be fun to dress up as sexy Disney princesses for this year’s Halloween homecoming dance was going as Elsa and Carrie as Belle.

Though it might sound tame, trust me, these weren't your average princess costumes.

"I don't know," I shrugged, much to Tiff’s dismay. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"I would go for Jasmine.That tube top and choker’'s gonna look great on you, Em," Carrie suggested.

"I mean I don’t know about going to the dance. Maybe I'm just not gonna go,"

I sighed and threw my body on the bed, right next to the costumes.

"What do you mean you're not gonna go? We were gonna be sexy princesses.And you even promised Ryan you'd go with him," Tiff reminded.

"As friends," I added quickly.

"Why don’t you wanna go to the dance, Em? What's eating you up?" Carrie asked, ever the caring friend she was.

"I'm not really in the mood to, you know, dance.I just wanna curl up in my bed and binge-watch something on Netflix," Carrie arf Tiff exchanged a worried look.

"Em, I know things have been hard for you, especially with Zach and everything—" Carrie started.

"But you can't let that son of a bitch ruin your junior year.Stop mauling over his stupid ass and come to the dance with us,"Tiff finished.

"It'll be fun.We'll all be there," Carrie said as she sat next to me and started caressing my hair.

"Okay, let's make a deal.We all go to the dance, but if you're not having fun, we'll all come back home with you and watch Netflix and order pizza,"Tiff made one hell of an argument.

My friends were so excited about this dance, I felt bad being the Debby downer in the group.So I took a deep breath and looked over the costumes once again.

"Fine,"I sighed finally,

"I'll take Little Mermaid,"

"Yes!"Carrie and Tiff cheered in unison.

The little mermaid costume was made up of this shell bikini looking thing and a high slit long green sequin skirt. I must admit, it was a sexy outfit and it highlighted all the right curves of my body.

The night of the dance finally came.

Tiff, Carrie, Mark, and I made our way into decked out the auditorium.

The disco ball was shimmering, music was in full swing, and people in all sorts of costumes were dancing, laughing, and having a ball.

"Hey, you made it," Ryan strode over to us as soon as he saw me.

He dressed up as Prince Eric because I told him I was Ariel.

"Hey," I greeted him back and he immediately leaned in for a kiss on the cheek.

My friends looked at each other awkwardly as I pulled away from him.

"Guys, let's get some drinks," Mark proposed and we all agreed.

As we made our way to the refreshment area, I noticed a tall, handsome dark haired guy standing in a suit.

He looked way too cool and proper to be a student.My heart ached as soon as I caught his eyes and he caught mine.Mr.Hayes could wear anything and still look like a million bucks.

Next to him was none other than Ms.Diaz.

She was wearing a red strapless dress, showcasing her gorgeous long legs that could go for miles.

She was whispering something to his ear, and she was giggling.

She was radiating happiness of joy.

The total opposite of what I was feeling right now.

This is exactly why I didn’t want to come in the first place.

I downed my drink and looked away quickly.

I wished I could tell my friends that I want to go home already, but that wouldn't be right.

They were enjoying themselves, I didn’t want to ruin their night.

So, I put on my best fake smile and joined them as they dance.

Dancing was fun for a while.

I let myself go with the music and all my anxiety seemed to have left me in peace.

I was just jumping about the dance floor with Tiff and Carrie, shaking my head to the sky without a care, when suddenly I felt a hand snaked around my hips.

I turned around and saw Ryan standing behind me.

I thought nothing of it at first since we were all just dancing.

So I let him stand right behind me.

But as time went on, I felt his body moving closer and closer unti! my back was pressed up against him.

His hands were gripping my sides tightly, somewhat forcing me to grind against him.

"Ryan, what are you doing?"

"What? We're just dancing," he replied casually, and I noticed his breath reeked of alcohol.

I didn't like this position he put me in.

Using all my strength, I broke away from his grip and turned my body around so I was facing him.

He didn’t seem bothered by it and continued dancing.

I didn’t want to make it weird, so I carried on dancing too.

But suddenly, Ryan grabbed my shoulders with both hands and pulled me towards him.

He leaned his head down and within seconds, his lips landed on mine.

He tried to kiss me, but I quickly shoved him away.

"Ryan!" I gaped at him.

"What?" asked shamelessly.

"Why did you do that for?"

"Oh, come on, Emma.We've done way more than just kissing—"

"I thought you understood when I said I just want to be friends,"

"Yeah, we can be friends,"he replied as he leaned his face down again, his hand reaching for my face, but I quickly swatted him away.

"You're unbelievable!" I gave him a little shove and turned to my heels.

"Oh, come on, Emma.Don't be like that!"

I heard him shout over the music, but I was already gone.

I headed over to the girls’ room, I thought it would be a safe place to hide.

Turns out, the girls’ room was packed.

Some sophomore girls sneaked alcohol into the party and now they're throwing up in the stalls.

Rolling ny eyes at my luck, I stepped out of the smelly bathroom and _ started walking aimlessly down the hallway.

I was away from all the bright lights, loud music, and bodies dancing and ! quite enjoyed the solitude.

I was walking without a direction, but somehow I ended up standing in front of the art studio.

I knew that Mr.Hayes was in the auditorium, so I decided to push the door open and hide inside.

The art room was dark, the only source of light was from the windows.

I didn’t mind the darkness, I thought it suited my current mood.

Making my way around the room, I stopped when I noticed something on Mr.Hayes’ desk.

It was a sketchbook with leather bound and an initial I.H.

lan Hayes? Curiosity got the best of me.

I knew I shouldn't be snooping around like this, but I couldn't help myself.

Standing right in front of the desk, I flipped the cover and the first few pages open, and I saw so many great sketches by the artist.

He sketched the park, he sketched buildings, he even sketched flowers.

But there were no sketches of faces or people in it.

Until finally, I got to the last page and I found the only sketch with a person's face on it.

It was a sketch of a girl and she looked very familiar.

Too familiar...

"Emma? What are you doing here?"

I heard a commanding voice and my eyes shot up instantly.

I gasped as I saw Mr.Hayes standing by the doorframe.

"You're not supposed to be here," he said again when I couldn't respond.

"What is this?" my voice cracked somehow.

I lifted the sketchbook up, showing him the sketch of the girl.

The sketch of me.

"Shit — you're not supposed to see that," for the first time in my life, I saw that he was nervous.

He closed the door behind him and walked a few steps closer to me.

"You drew this right?" I asked him even though we both knew yet to that.

"This is dated the day after we met at the bar,"

I pointed out the little date and signature at the bottom of the paper.

Mr.Hayes chose not to respond.

He was just looking at me, swallowing hard at my words.

"That night meant something to you too, didn’t it?"

I pressed forward.

Mr.Hayes just sighed and his hand went to rake his hair in frustration.

"Why didn’t you tell me?"I said again.

"Would it have mattered?"he replied finally.

His tone was laced in despondency.

"Of course it would,"I paused a second before saying, "I wouldn't have hated you,"

"Maybe I deserved it.Maybe it’s better off this way,"

My heard was breaking with every word he said.

But it wasn't breaking because of him, it was breaking for him.

He thought he was protecting me by making me hate him.

"I don’t want to hate you," I said finally.

"Me too," he sighed, pausing for a moment before continuing, "But you are still my student, Emma.You belong out there on that dance floor, kissing that stupid kid.Not here with me,"

He sounded angry and...jealous.

He must have seen me with Ryan.He probably didn’t like it very much either.I couldn't help the small smile that escaped my lips.

"My friends gave me three options for a costume, but do you know why I picked this stupid littke mermaid one?"

I asked rhetorically as he waited for me to continue.

"The true story of Little Mermaid goés like this...Little Mermaid was a girl that threw herself into the sea because the guy she liked didn't like her back.She died without ever getting a chance to profess her love,"

"Emma, what are you talking about?"

"I liked ybu, you know? I thought you didn’t like me back,"

"Emma..."

"You should have told me, instead of letting me think that you were some monster that didn’t care about me at all,"

With shaky legs, I took a step closer to him.

He didn't move an inch, so I kept on going until I was standing right in front of him.

"Emma, listen..."

"Tell me when to stop,"

I waited a few seconds to see if he was going to stop me, our eyes met and burned with desire.

He never said stop.

So I reached for his face and lunge my body towards him.

And to my absolute surprise, he_leaned his head down and received my kiss with both arms.

My arms were linked around his neck and his hands gripped my waist.

His lips were tangled with mine, and he kissed me with such heat and passion, my knees became jelly.

I inhaled his intoxicating scent and I was instantly brought back into that paradise again.

Butterflies ran wild inside mf stomach and I could only hold him tighter in response.

This time, I didn’t wait around and I let my tongue graze his lower lip, wanting to taste the inside of his mouth.

He teased me a little, refusing to part his mouth.

I replied with biting on his bottom lip, causing him to groan appreciatively.

Seconds later, our tongues were dancing in each other's mouths.

At one point they were inside my mouth, the next they were inside his.

It was a feeling so intimate, my stomach twisted into knots.

We were kissing for the longest time.

None of us wanted to let go of one another.

When we finally pulled away minutes later, it was because we were all out of breath.

Damn you, oxygen.

Why do I need you? I was smiling from ear to ear as I kept my gaze on him.

His eyes bored into mine deeply, and there was this gentleness and joy that [ hadn't seen in those eyes before.

He looked a little uncertain at first, but slowly, the straight line on his mouth formed up a small smile.

"We need to talk.But not here.Can we go somewhere?"he said ify.

"Where to?"

He took my face in his palm, and his fingers started drawing circles around my cheek.Then, and without warning, he gave me his trademark wild and sexy smirk.

"With you, anywhere,"

He was using the same line I used back at the bar.

My heart had melted into a puddle on the floor.

I blushed instantly and shoved my face into his chest.

His smirk will be the end of me, I swear.