"I still can't believe you got lost at the beach," Lance said, cracking up yet again. "I mean, how can you get lost at a beach?"

"You just can," I snapped, stabbing my fork into my mashed potatoes.

"I don't think she minded," Casey added, a small smirk on her face. "After all, Mr. Heywood was sent out to find her, and he was gone for awhile."

I kept my mouth shut, trying not to be angry with them. They didn't know what had actually happened, nor did I plan on telling them, so it wasn't their fault. But their comments were getting irritating.

"So, what, are you and Heywood dating now?" Lance asked, frowning. "If I ever see you two snogging I swear I'll be sick."

"We aren't together," I snapped, flushing. "And here we call that making out, not snogging."

"Oh, come on, Holly," Casey started with a smirk. "You guys were gone a really long time."

"Drop it," I snapped, growing more and more aggravated.

Casey opened her mouth to continue to tease me, but the lunch bell cut her off. A smug smirk slipped onto my face as I stood up, grabbing my bottle of water, and mixed myself in among the gaggle of students leaving the cafeteria. I heard Casey call after me, but I ignored her, hurrying out.

I nearly ran all the way to biology, stopping by my locker to quickly grab my backpack. Before entering, I took a few deep breaths to regain my breath. What would Mr. Heywood say if I was first to class instead of last or close to last for once? A smirk appeared on my face and I entered the room.

To my pleasure the room was empty except for Mr. Heywood who sat at his desk, looking at a piece of paper. When he heard me, he looked up. Shock flitted across his face before a smirk slowly appeared.

"Well, Ms. Evers, congratulations on being first for once."

"Shocking, isn't it?" I asked, a smile on my face now.

Mr. Heywood chuckled, before suddenly turning serious. "How are you feeling?" "Um, fine," I responded, frowning at his sudden change of tone. "How's the cut on your arm?"

"Don't worry about it," he said, shaking his head. "How's your ankle?"

I clenched my fist lightly, glowering at Mr. Heywood. "My ankle's fine, it was only a little twist. And don't say 'don't worry about it' because obviously I'm going to worry if you're hurt too! Especially since it's my fault, Mr. Heywood!"

He looked surprised. "But, Holly, I'm fine-"

"That doesn't matter!" I argued. "I worry for you just as much as you worry for me."

"Who said I worried for you?"

I stared at him, my face going blank. He wasn't worried? Embarrassment washed over me and I felt my face grow hot. Why should he be worried, right? It was only my foolishness that let me to believe that-

Mr. Heywood's laughter interrupted my thoughts and I glared at him. He continued laughing for a few minutes, shaking his head. I tried to keep my mouth shut and wait for him to be done, but I lost my patience.

"What?" I snapped.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, clearing his throat. "I was kidding. I do worry about you."

I felt relief wash through me, and then embarrassment again. If he worried about me then...

"You're reactions are just too cute."

I blushed again and scowled at him. I was about to retort, when a different thought popped into my head. A frown spread across my face as I debated on how to ask the question that I wanted to. Mr. Heywood now was frowning at my expression.

"I didn't mean to offend you," he started, raising an eyebrow. "I was just-"

"What did you mean by 'again'?"

Mr. Heywood looked at me in confusion. "What?"

"Yesterday," I told him, now chewing on my bottom lip. "Um, after you... you know, took care of those guys, your expression changed and you said something along the lines of 'happen again'."

Mr. Heywood's face darkened and he narrowed his eyes. "I didn't say anything like that."

I looked at him in shock. Why was he denying it? I had heard him say it clearly! And I couldn't forget the face he made... just thinking of it made my heart beast faster. There was no way he could deny what had happened.

"I heard you!" I accused, taking a step closer to his desk. "You said it right after-"

"Holly," Mr. Heywood snapped in a quiet voice, then looked behind me.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, but glanced over my shoulder to see Lance and another student entering the classroom. Lance must have noticed something weird about my expression because his brow wrinkled in concern.

"I'm not letting this drop," I said quietly, giving Mr. Heywood a meaningful look before walking over to Lance.

"What's up?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"Nothing," I responded moodily, slumping onto my seat, and hanging my arms over the desk. "Just the usual with Mr. Heywood."

Lance looked at me alarmed, bringing his head closer to mine. "Holly, did something happen with the gang? Are you hurt? Do I need to go beat up Heywood?"

I smiled at Lance's concern, and shook my head. "Nothing like that, thank you for worrying though."

"You don't need to thank me for worrying," Lance pointed out. "It comes with the best friend's package."

I chuckled and Lance grinned. He took a seat on the edge of my desk and looked down at me with a curious expression. Then his eyes narrowed slightly and my eyes met his.

"What?"

"This," he said, putting a finger to my jaw. "How did you get cut on your jaw?"

My eyes widened and I inhaled sharply, quickly putting my hand over the cut. Crap! I had forgotten about that! Lance's eyes narrowed even more.

"Did Mr. Heywood-"

"No!" I snapped, irritated he would even think that. "I cut myself shaving."

"Uh-huh. So tell me, Holly, since when did you have a beard?"

I pursed my lips, scowling at him. "You don't need to have a beard to shave. I did it as a precaution."

Lance gave me a sarcastic look. "Okay, but I'm sure you know after you shave it grows back darker."

"Well I'll just continue to shave from now on," I responded simply, shrugging my shoulders. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal. I can just do it while I'm shaving my-"

"Holly."

Lance's azure eyes pierced into my duller blue eyes and I fidgeted in my seat, uncomfortable under his gaze. He wasn't going to make me crack. I could go against his intense gaze. Lance's eyes slightly narrowed and I mimicked the gesture. He wasn't going to make me crack...

"I just got into a little trouble at the beach!" I blurted out. "Now stop looking at me like that!"

Lance smirked smugly for a moment before returning to a serious expression. "What happened?"

The bell went off, signaling the beginning of class. Lance frowned as I shooed him away with my hand.

"I'll tell you later."

"You better," Lance threatened before walking to his seat in the back of the class.

I sighed, turning in my seat to face the front of the classroom when Mr. Heywood called for attention. I kept my eyes on him as he went through the attendance list, looking up every now and then to make sure a student was here or not. For some reason, he skipped my name. I shrugged; he already knew I was here, so that was probably why.

"So, it's already November," he started after he finished the attendance list, "do you know what that means?"

"It's only been two months since school started and we still have eight months of hell to go through?" someone said from the back of the class.

I smirked as the class laughed. Mr. Heywood smiled at the person.

"High school isn't that bad."

"Yes it is," the same kid responded. I was tempted to turn around and see who it was, but I decided against it.

"We'll be starting a project that we will continue to do until Thanksgiving break starts," Mr. Heywood said, his eyes sweeping across the classroom. "Any guesses as to what it is?"

His gaze went past mine, but our eyes did not come in contact. I frowned, somewhat bemused. Where were the usual teasing smirks he sent me? Was he trying to ignore me?

"An essay?" Haley asked, her hand in the air.

Mr. Heywood shook his head. "No, we won't write any essays in here. Those are boring for you to write, and even more boring for me to read."

Some people laughed, but I kept a straight face. What if he was ignoring me? What did I do? Was he angry... or what? I began drumming my fingers on my desk subconsciously.

"Book report?" another girl guessed.

"Nope."

"An extremely long lab?" Lance guessed and I turned to grin at him. He caught my gaze and grinned back.

"No, but we'll be doing those in the future," Mr. Heywood responded, amusement in his voice. "It's something better."

The class stayed silent. I slowly raised my hand. As soon as it high enough to count as a hand raise, Mr. Heywood spoke.

"Rat dissection."

I scowled for a moment, dropping my arm as a few students groaned. He was definitely ignoring me. My stomach tightened uncomfortably, but not because we were going to be dissecting a rat.

"We're going to be dissecting them for three whole weeks?" a girl named Charlotte asked, her eyes wide. "Why so long?"

Mr. Heywood chuckled, a smirk slipping on his face.

Sure, smirk at her, but no, you can't smirk at Holly, I thought, narrowing my eyes at him. Immediately I stopped, lowering my eyes to my desk. What was wrong with me? I was getting jealous because he was smirking at someone? I groaned internally.

"It isn't a long time," Mr. Heywood said to her. "Three weeks is just barely enough time."

"I didn't bring any gloves," someone behind me pointed out.

"We'll only be dissecting on double lab days," Mr. Heywood explained, the smirk on his face now replaced with a smile.

"Then what are we doing today?" the same student asked.

"Today you'll be coloring a skeleton of the rat on the lab, and doing the same for the muscles, and labeling them."

A groan swept throughout the classroom. I nearly rolled my eyes. Coloring wasn't that bad. And the biology book had the skeletal and muscle structures alreadly labeled on a picture.

"Are we working by ourselves?"

Mr. Heywood shook his head. "There aren't enough rats, so you'll work in pairs of two."

Immediately everyone turned his or her head to their partner candidate. I looked over my shoulder to see Lance staring at me determinedly. He raised and eyebrow and I smiled and nodded. I didn't know why he was asking. We were always lab partners.

"Would anyone like to volunteer to pass out the labs?"

Before anyone else could begin to lift their arm in the air, mine was already there. Mr. Heywood's eyes finally met mine. Neither of us smiled. I swear I saw him sigh, which only made my stomach squirm into an even more uncomfortable position.

"Okay, Ms. Evers, why don't you go grab them out of the supply room?"

I stood up, keeping my eyes on his. He slowly started to frown, but didn't look it away. Something caught the edge of my foot and I stumbled forwards, slamming my hands down on the edge of my desk and my neighbor's desk. A few chuckles erupted from behind me, and I quickly pushed myself up, keeping my head down in embarrassment. Why was I so clumsy?

Without looking back I dragged myself to the supply room, my face hot. When I entered I went to the copy machine to grab the lab papers. When I was about to leave the room, an idea hit me. Smirking, I placed the piles of paper on the far corner of the counter where the sink was.

"Mr. Heywood?" I called, sticking my head out of the doorway. "The papers aren't in the copier."

Mr. Heywood looked over at me, a small sigh slipping from his lips. I narrowed my eyes at him, offended, as he made his way towards me. I moved out of the way so he could enter the room.

"Are you ignoring me?" I accused in a whisper as soon as he was out of sight from the class.

He shot me an amused look before opening the copier and looking in it. "I'm not ignoring you."

"Then why haven't you looked at me?"

A smirk was now playing across Mr. Heywood's features. I relaxed slightly from the sight of the familiar smile. A wry smile made its way onto my face. I was getting excited over a smirk. I must be going crazy.

"You've been watching me?"

"The whole time!" I told him, my lips pursed.

Mr. Heywood's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. I crossed my arms and looked at the ground.

"Was it because I mentioned that thing you said at the beach?"

"No."

Mr. Heywood's sudden cold tone made me look back up in shock. His eyes were glazed over as he stared at me. I returned his look, my eyes wide.

"It is because of it!"

"No, it's not," Mr. Heywood responded, his eyes scanning around the room. "Where'd you put the labs?"

"I'm not trying to make you angry, Mr. Heywood," I explained, biting my lip. "I just wanted to know-"

"Drop it, Holly," Mr. Heywood snapped at me, finally locating the pile of papers I moved. "This conversation is over."

"But Mr. Heywood-"

"Over," he repeated firmly.

"But I just..." I trailed off upon seeing Mr. Heywood's serious expression.

"This is none of your business," he said before brushing past me with the papers in hand.

I blinked, shocked and a little hurt by his words. Obviously it wasn't my business, but couldn't he tell I was just worried about him? He didn't have to be such a jerk about it! I scowled, clenching my fists as I trudged back out to the classroom. Mr. Heywood was now passing out the labs.

Lance caught my attention and he raised an eyebrow in amusement, mouthing something I didn't quite catch. Knowing it was probably something teasing, I just rolled my eyes at him before slumping back down into my desk.

If Mr. Heywood thought I was going to let this go that easily he was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The rest of the day passed by in a flash. When the final bell rang, I quickly left my seventh period class and hurried towards Mr. Heywood's classroom. The door was locked when I arrived. I knocked, frowning, and waited a moment. Still no one came to the door.

I sighed, turning around, crossing my arms, and leaning against it. If he wasn't going to come out right now, I would wait for him all night if I had to. I wanted to know. Even though it really wasn't my business. I was just being nosy... but the look on his face had even hurt me that night.

I glanced out the window in front of me and my eyes widened when I saw Mr. Heywood walking down the sidewalk towards the faculty parking lot. I shoved myself from the wall and made a break for the exit, hoping to cut him off. I slipped out the side door and literally ran into him.

He stabled me, looking down with an expression torn between amusement and chary. I stared up at him resolutely, my mouth in a straight line.

"I want to talk about it."

"I don't," Mr. Heywood said simply, a sigh escaping his lips. "Holly, move."

"But, Mr. Heywood," I started, stepping in his way when he tried to move around me. "You can't deny what your expression told me. It was so... horrible. It hurt."

Mr. Heywood's eyes narrowed slightly. "Didn't I mention this was none of your business?"

"I know you did!" I responded, growing frustrated. "But if I haven't made it clear enough, I'm just worried about you!"

I blushed immediately, turning to look at the cement sidewalk. Why couldn't he see that? And if he couldn't see that I was worried about him, would he ever realize how I felt about him? I shook my head. That was a different matter entirely.

"Listen, Holly," Mr. Heywood started, his voice much softer. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but this is something I don't want to share."

"Why not?"

Mr. Heywood smiled wryly. "Because I don't want you to think bad of me."

"I couldn't!" I responded almost immediately. "Okay, maybe I can, but not bad enough to make me view you any differently."

Mr. Heywood shook his head. "No, Holly. Sorry."

"But-"

Mr. Heywood exhaled slowly, looking at the watch around his wrist. "I've got to go."

"Another date?" I asked dryly.

A small smirk appeared on Mr. Heywood's face. "You're getting smarter every day."

"Who are you dating?" I asked, trying to keep the frown from my face. "Is she your girlfriend?"

For a moment I thought I saw a flash of the expression on Mr. Heywood's face from the night before. It made my heart skip a beat, but before I could make sure, it was gone.

"Something like that," Mr. Heywood told me, gently pushing me out of the way. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Just then a familiar black car pulled up next to us, music blaring from the inside. The window rolled down and I stared down at the car in shock. Mr. Heywood even stopped to glower into it.

"What are you doing here, Jeremy?"

Jeremy smirked up at Mr. Heywood, then pointed at me with a slim finger. "I'm here to pick up Holly."

"You are?" I responded, my eyes widening. "Why?"

"We're going on another date today," he told me simply. "C'mon, get in."

"Jeremy," Mr. Heywood started, but I cut him off.

"Okay," I said, opening up the passenger door and sliding in. I closed it behind me, looking up at Mr. Heywood. "See you."

"Holly, wait," Mr. Heywood started, but Jeremy rolled up the window, making his words incoherent.

"That's mean," I told Jeremy, an amused smile coming onto my face.

"He's mean," Jeremy responded before switching gears and heading out of the parking lot. "Or at least I believe he was being mean from the expression on your face."

"What expression?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The expression of hurt and unrequited love."

I flushed, glaring at him. "There was no feeling of unrequited love."

Jeremy laughed. "You can't fool me. I'm the master of emotions."

"Seriously."

Jeremy tapped the steering wheel with one of his fingers. "But then again, it's not unrequited."

"Yes it is," I muttered, looking out the window.

Jeremy chuckled. "You're so pessimistic. If you knew Chris, you'd know he definitely cares more about you than other people."

"Probably because I'm caught up in his gang problem."

"You are really negative, you know that?"

"I can't help it," I told Jeremy, turning to look at him. "I hate to admit it, but I really don't know anything about Mr. Heywood other than what you told me. He never tells me anything about himself. The only reason I know he cares about me in the least bit is because he admitted he worries about me."

Jeremy sighed, glancing at me quickly. "Holly, you have to understand Chris's past is sort of difficult."

"I figured as much..."

"Then don't worry about him not telling you everything right now, okay? He will eventually, I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Jeremy responded, a smile on his face. "And if he doesn't, I can beat him up for you."

I chuckled, brushing a stray hair from my face. "Jeremy, you never cease to make me feel better. It's amazing."

"Well thank you," he responded, winking at me. "Someone has to help support you in your journey to capture Chris's heart. And also bring you back up when he brings you down unknowingly."

"I never said it was my goal to 'capture his heart'," I pointed out, but smiled nonetheless.

"Oh, but it is."

"So where are you taking me?" I asked, deciding for a topic change. "Home? To get ice cream?"

"Nope," Jeremy responded, popping his mouth on the P. "You know how I told you I have two little sisters?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, we are going to be babysitting them," Jeremy told me with a grin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

Well I hope you enjoyed this relaxed chapter. The next chapter will be rather enjoyable... until the end. And so you're not angry when that comes, it is indeed going to end in a cliff hanger >:D

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I uploaded a day earlier than I normally do. School starts tomorrow though soooo... we'll see how things go from now on.

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