Knowing the day was almost over got me through English class. Well, that and Aspen wasn't lying when she'd mentioned the English teacher was a complete cutie. His name was Mr. Tucker— or as we were told to call him, Kyle. With his gorgeous locks of semi-curly golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes, it was hard to find him unattractive. The way he dressed himself was also impressive. Light washed jeans, a white v-neck sweater. He looked like an angel. And what girl didn't like a guy with great taste? Especially one whose body was fit enough to make it work? Which is why it wasn't surprising that half the girls (if not all) were head-over-heels for him.

"Watch, watch. He's going to say 'you know' right now," Aspen whispered in my ear excitedly. "He says it like, every other sentence."

"And I don't want this class to be boring, you know," Mr. Tucker said, earning a giggle from Aspen. The blonde raised an eyebrow at her. "Something funny, Miss DeVous?"

She immediately dropped her gaze. "Nope."

Now I grinned and he turned his attention to me. A twinkle appeared in his eyes. "Would you care to explain, Miss..." He paused, his lips curving down. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name."

"Allie," I told him.

"Allie what?"

"Heywood."

"Well, Miss Heywood, what's so funny?"

I shrugged. "Oh, you know..."

This sent Aspen into a new fit of giggles. Mr. Tucker smiled at me. "No, actually, I don't know."

"Well, you know... It's just, you know. Whatever."

"Stop it!" Aspen cried in a harsh whisper. "Oh my god, my stomach hurts!"

Grinning like a maniac, it took all I had to hold in my laughter. Mr. Tucker stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes shining with curiosity before he returned his attention to the rest of class. "I'll never understand high school girls."

"Weren't you in high school like, four years ago?" Jake called from behind me.

"I was, but I was just an immature boy then. Now I'm all grown up and a manly man."

The class erupted into laughter and I half-smiled. Those who used the phrase "manly man" were not manly men. "That's cheesy," I whispered to Aspen.

"Doesn't matter. He's hot."

Once again Mr. Tucker caught my eye and smiled at me. I awkwardly smiled back and then quickly adverted my gaze. Aspen caught the little exchange and smirked at me. "And he's got the hots for you."

I almost snorted. "Where did you get that idea from?"

"The look in his eye."

"Spare me. I'm not interested in anyone that much older than me."

She shrugged. "He's only twenty-two. And besides, if your parents have enough money here, you can get away with dating him. It's technically not against school rules, especially seeing as how they are willing to make money in any way possible. Last year he dated a student for about four months before they broke up. I think her parents gave the school a quarter of a million."

"That's just... wrong."

"Wrong until you fall for him, Allie."

I rolled my eyes. "I won't."

"Just wait," she whispered as Mr. Tucker glanced over at us again. "You won't be able to control your emotions."

For the rest of class, I managed to change the topic from my apparently non-existent emotions to Aspen's family life. Like me, she didn't live with her parents. Instead, she lived with her twenty-four year old brother and sixteen year old sister. Her parents lived in New York, her dad a chef at a famous Italian restaurant, and her mom the manager of the same place. Multiple times she'd mentioned she was happy with the way things were— it gave her an excuse to go to New York nearly every weekend.

The piercing bell rang and I slowly stood up, waiting for Aspen to gather up her bag so we could exit together. "Do you want me to show you to the piano hallway?" she asked me. "Violin is only a building away."

"That'd be great," I told her, smiling gratefully. "Hopefully tomorrow I'll remember where all my classes are."

"See you tomorrow, guys," Jake said as he passed us. His hand brushed over my head and he gave me a warm grin. "And good luck in piano, Allie."

I smoothed my hair down and waved him away. "Yeah, yeah. See ya."

"Ready?" Aspen questioned, taking a step toward the door.

"Yeah—"

"Miss Heywood, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Pausing, Aspen and I both turned in Mr. Tucker's direction. He smiled handsomely at us and Aspen roughly shoved me toward him. "I'll meet you in the hallway," she told me, barely holding back her excitement.

"Uh, sure," I responded, shooting her a pointed look before moving closer to the English teacher's desk. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. You're the only new face in my classes this year," he notified me, leaning back in his seat and putting his hands behind his head. "I only teach seniors, so I knew right away you were new. "

"Yep, I'm new. And I'm doing good, thanks."

He nodded. "That's good to hear. So, you're in the piano section?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, shifting my weight from foot-to-foot.

"How long have you been playing?"

I stole a surreptitious glance at the clock. How long was passing time? Five minutes? Would it be rude of me to excuse myself? "For a few years. But, um, Aspen's going to show me the way to the piano room and I don't want to be late," I hinted.

"Oops, right. Don't want that on your first day. I won't keep you then..." He paused, as if deliberating something for a second. "If you ever need help with anything, or someone to talk to, I'm, you know, here."

I smiled as he dropped his gaze in embarrassment. Handsome, friendly, and cute. A deadly combination. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

His bright eyes returned to mine and he smiled widely. "Okay, see you tomorrow then, Allie."

"See ya." I gave him a quick wave before exiting the room. Spotting Aspen leaning against the opposite wall, I hurried over to her, trying to keep my face expressionless. "Okay, let's go."

She cocked an eyebrow. "So?"

"So what?"

"Did he ask you out or something?"

My mouth dropped open in surprise. "What? No!"

Laughing, she gestured for me to follow her down the hall. "I'm kidding, Allie. Relax."

"Funny," I muttered.

"What did he want?"

"Just to make sure I was doing okay. Like all the teacher's have been."

A dreamy expression came over her face and she placed a hand over her heart. "He's so nice."

"Like all the other teachers..."

"You'll grow to love him. He's a sweetheart."

Grinning, I lightly shoved her. "What? With all these rich girls around? Yeah, right. Even if he can get away with dating a student, why would he date a poor girl?"

"You're not rich?" she asked, her eyes with shock.

"Uh, no. My dad's a teacher at a public school and my mom is a nurse. I'm here on scholarship, remember?"

She blinked a few times. "Yeah, but I just thought you were rich and smart... I'm sorry."

I smiled wryly. "Don't apologize. I like being middle class."

"Sorry, sorry!" she apologized again quickly. "That's not what I meant. I just meant..."

"It's okay, I get it," I interjected with a laugh. "I'm not offended. The only difference between me and you is the fact I probably know how to manage my money a little better."

A smile spread across her face. "That's probably true. Come on, the piano rooms are on the second floor."

We scurried up the stairs and to the end of the hallway, where it split into a Y-shape. "I think I've got it from here," I said, pointing at the sign that had an arrow indicating the right hallway led to the piano section.

"The classroom is always the flat number," she informed me. "So for you, it'd be 2000. The other rooms are the personal practice rooms."

I nodded. "Okay, got it."

"I have work after school today, so I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks for today, Aspen. You helped me out a lot."

She waved me off. "It's my job, remember?"

I grinned. "Alright. Bye."

"Bye!"

Taking a deep breath, I headed for room 2000. My nerves started creeping up on me, but I forced them back, reminding myself Elliot was in the piano section. Even if all the other students were mean, there was always him. He acted like a jerk, but I figured I could befriend him sooner or later. And one friend was better than no friends.

As soon as my hand landed on the handle to the classroom, the bell rang. Surprised, I pushed it open, slipping in and expecting the teacher's disapproving frown. Instead, my gaze met nothing. There was no teacher standing in the front of the class. I relaxed a little, turning to face the rest of the room. Six pairs of eyes stared back at me. "Uh, hello," I said awkwardly.

No one responded.

My eyes locked onto Elliot and he gave me a warning look. Smirking, I sauntered over to the free desk next to him. "Hey, Eli."

"Don't call me that," he snapped.

A young woman with platinum blonde hair on the other side of Elliot grimaced, shaking her head. She gestured to Elliot then wagged her finger at me, as if saying don't talk to him. I shrugged back at her before redirecting my attention to Elliot. "If you call me Alligator, I'll call you Eli."

"Just shut up."

"Where's the teacher?"

The young man sitting in front of me turned around in his seat, offering me a forced friendly smile that didn't reach his cool, green eyes. The word fake resounded in my head. "He's always late. And I mean always. He's so unreliable."

"It's okay, because he's cute," a redhead in front of Elliot's desk commented, a defensive look coming onto her face. "And you're just jealous you're not as cute as he is, Dean."

Dean snorted. "He's a brat."

"You're a jerk."

My heart skipped a beat. The redhead thought the teacher was cute? Could it be that my piano teacher was also my English teacher? I had mixed feelings about that. Sure, Mr. Tucker was cute, but I didn't want to face him twice a day. It was hard to control your feelings. "It's not Mr. Tucker, is it?"

Redhead shook her head. "No. But he's cute too."

"You think everyone is cute, Sophie."

"Like you don't, Olivia," Sophie shot back at the platinum blonde girl.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Hey, new girl."

"Don't call me that," I snapped before I could stop myself.

Dean narrowed his eyes at me. "I was just going to ask your name."

"Oh, sorry. It's Allie." I grinned sheepishly, mentally kicking myself. When was I going to learn to watch my mouth? These people seemed a lot more friendly than Jake and Oliver made them out to be. I didn't want to make enemies with them.

"Well, Allie, since you're new, your job is to wipe off all the keyboards after class every day."

"What?"

"It's always the new girl's job," Sophie explained.

"No it's not."

Everyone in the room turned toward Elliot, their eyes widening. It was as if they'd never heard him speak before. "What do you know, Elliot? You never stay long enough to do any jobs," a blonde guy two seats over responded.

Elliot remained silent, completely ignoring the blonde.

"Okay, don't respond. I guess you're too cool to bother responding to anyone, huh?"

"You're going to get punched, Joey," Sophie warned the blonde.

"Bring it."

I stared at Joey incredulously. Was he really going to make a big deal out of nothing? Maybe he was itching for a fight.

Before anyone else could speak, the classroom door opened. Immediately all attention was on it. "About time," Dean complained loudly.

"Sorry, sorry. The copier at the library was broken," a familiar voice explained in a sheepish manner.

My eyes shot to the person's face and I gasped.

It was Paul.

Paul.

My guardian Paul.

"You used that excuse last week," Sophie accused, but a smile was on her face.

Paul laughed. "I did, didn't I?" His gaze met mine and he smiled amiably. "Ah, well here's a new face. Who are you?"

Who am I? Why was he asking that? He knew who I was! Just as I was about to protest, I clamped my mouth shut again. Maybe there was a reason why he was pretending not to know me. "I... I'm Allie," I replied, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Mr. Russet, the piano teacher."

"Aren't you a little young?" I said bluntly. There was no way Paul was old enough to be a teacher. Absolutely no way. You had to go to school for at least four years. He said he only went for two.

He scratched the back of his head. "Well it's because I'm a pianist..."

Ah, that explained it. Because he was famous, he could skip all the work everyone else had to do. Well, no... He must've had to work his ass off to gain the popularity and skill he had. Being allowed to work here shouldn't have come as a huge surprise to me. "Are you famous or something?" I asked, pretending to be interested.

"Well I wouldn't say famous..."

"He's just being modest," Olivia told me, turning to face me. "You've never heard of him?"

"Nope," I lied, holding back a grin.

She frowned. "Weird."

"Well, Allie, have your classmates introduced themselves? We have a small class, so it'll be easy to remember their names." When no one spoke, Paul pressed his lips together. "Right, well, going from left to right. Dean, Elliot, Sophie, Olivia, Darren, Joey, and Nicole."

"Nice to meet you all," I said pleasantly, not really expecting a response.

Nicole gave me a quick smile, but that was all. The rest of the students just stared at me. I stared back. Paul awkwardly cleared his throat. "Well, since it's the first day, why don't you all go to your separate practice rooms and just practice scales? I'll check in on all of you periodically."

The sound of scraping chairs filled the room and I winced at the harsh noise. Everyone slowly filed out of the room and I lingered behind, waiting to speak to Paul alone. When the last straggler exited, I crossed my arms. "How come you pretended not to know me?"

"I can't exactly go around saying I live with my student, can I?"

"From what I heard, if you have enough money you can."

He laughed. "Well, you heard right. But could you imagine all the rumors that would go around? And I'm not ignorant, Allie Cat. These girls would probably be insanely jealous."

"You're right," I agreed easily. "Let's keep this a secret... I do have one question though?"

"What's that?"

Crossing my arms, I frowned at him. "You're not old enough to be a teacher here. You don't even have enough schooling."

Nodding, he tapped me on the forehead. "Nothing gets by you, huh?"

"Paul."

"That's Mr. Russet to you now," he corrected me with a smirk. "But anyway, you're right. No, I'm not old enough, nor do I have the schooling. I'm sure you've noticed this school doesn't exactly follow the norm, haven't you?"

I'd definitely noticed. "So?"

"So, while the real teacher is away, I'm here to play," he finished with a wink. "I'm qualified to be a teaching assistant. The state just doesn't know I'm the only piano teacher here. That's how I was here last year, too."

Rubbing my forehead, I sighed. "That's what I figured... You're famous, so you get advantages."

"Well when you put it that way..."

"Hey, I don't mind," I told him, putting my palms face up. "I was just curious. I'm actually glad you're here. A familiar face is really comforting."

He smiled warmly at me. "That's good. Want me to show you to your practice room?"

I gave him an impressed look. "I get my own practice room?"

"It's soundproof," he informed me. "Can't exactly have eight people playing the piano in the same room at the same time, can we?"

"Oh, God, no. That'd be awful."

"Exactly. At least there's a grand piano for everyone."

My eyes lit up. "Like, a full grand piano?"

"Yep."

"That's insane," I said in amazement. "Quick, lead me to my room."

Chuckling, he stepped outside the classroom. "Lucky you, you get the furthest one away from everyone else."

"How does that make me lucky?"

"You get windows in your room. So if it's a hot day, you can open them up. It's the only room with windows."

I batted my eyelashes at me. "Aw, did you do that just for me?"

Once again, I caught him off guard. He quickly looked away, stiffening up. "I-It was the only room left."

"Oh, I see," I responded, grinning at his reaction.

"How has your day been?"

"Good... The English teacher is really friendly."

Paul threw me a face over his shoulder. "You like him?"

"Sure," I responded with a shrug.

"I don't like him."

"Are you allowed to say that?"

"Nope."

I chuckled. "Why don't you like him? Are you jealous? Does he give you too much competition?"

"No, I just don't think he should abuse the authority of his position to lure innocent young girls into his clutches."

"Aha, so you are jealous. Don't tell me, one of his old girlfriends was a girl you had a crush on?"

Paul opened his mouth to protest, but it seemed his words died in his mouth. An embarrassed expression crossed his face. "No..."

"You are so bad at lying," I commented with a grin. "So what happened with this girl?"

"She graduated, moved to Italy," he muttered. "That was awhile ago."

"But I thought—"

"Kyle and I went to college together. He was the teaching assistant in my freshmen English class. By graduated, I meant the girl graduated college. She was obviously older than me, as is he... but whatever. It's in the past."

Pressing my lips together to keep from smiling, I nodded. "Ah, and yet the feeling of rivalry still lingers."

"Oh, shut up," Paul snapped, clearly embarrassed. "Here, this is your room." Pausing in front of the last door in the hallway, he twisted the metal handle, and pushed it open. "Go. Enjoy yourself."

Peeking in, a sense of awe washed over me. There, smack in the middle of a room, stood a beautiful grand piano. I managed to withhold my excitement for a whole three seconds until I dashed over to it, running my hand over the smooth wood of the cover. "This thing must be really expensive..."

"Well, it is not the most expensive, but it's up there," Paul responded, closing the door behind him as he entered the room. "It hasn't been used in awhile, so why don't you test it out, make sure it's tuned?"

I glanced at him, suddenly feeling nervous. "With you in the room?"

He smiled easily. "Yeah, I haven't heard you play... unless you count the times I tried to teach you when you were younger. It never really worked out well back then though. You were more interested in playing Row, Row, Row Your Boat over and over again rather than learning something new."

"Heh. I don't remember that."

"You don't remember much, do you?"

"Er, I guess not..."

Chuckling, he lifted the top of the piano and propped it up all the way. Next, he lifted the cover off they keys and stepped away, gesturing toward the bench. "Have a seat."

Chewing my bottom lip, I slowly slid onto the polished bench. How was I supposed to play in front of Paul? He was a prodigy! If I played in front of him, I'd look like a complete amateur. Shyly, I pressed on a A#. Paul stared down at me expectantly. Swallowing, I looked back up at him. "What should I, um, play?"

"Let's start with something simple. How about Turkish Rondo?"

"Mozart?"

"Yep."

My jaw nearly-dropped. That was easy to him? I mean, it wasn't the most difficult song, but still... "Okay, got it," I responded, running my hands over the smooth keys. "Um..."

With raised eyebrows, he crossed his arms, waiting for me to begin. "When you're ready."

Placing my hands on the piano, I started off the beginning of the song. Unfortunately for me, my hands were sweaty, and my fingers slipped. An embarrassed blush crossed my face. "Oops, sorry. Sweaty fingers."

Chuckling, he patted my shoulder. "It's hard to play in front of a God, huh?"

I gaped at him. "Holy shit. Could you get any more pompous?"

"Maybe. Can you play this song?"

"I'll play it," I said determinedly. "Just you watch..."

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, letting my muscle memory take over. The music now came easily, flowing out of my fingertips. Before I knew it, I was playing the last note. My heart was pounding in my chest as I turned my gaze to Paul, waiting his judgment.

"Well?" I asked nervously.

He stared at me, staying quiet. After a moment he cleared his throat. "Oh, um. You played that beautifully."

"Oh, thank God," I sighed, my shoulders sagging in relief.

"None of the other students in this class can play that song, Allie. You're the only one who has mastered it... by ear, nonetheless."

I blinked at him. "Wait, what?"

He grinned at me. "I didn't give you music sheets," he pointed out. "You played that by ear, which obviously means you learned it on your own, or, well with your piano teacher maybe."

"Well... I thought it'd be a fun song," I admitted. "And it's not really that hard, I think."

"You know what I think? I think I found the prodigy of this class."

"I thought you said that was an easy song!"

"For me. Not for your class. They're good, and would be able to do it, but you have to have nimble fingers to be that great."

"Do they have nimble fingers?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. But you have the nimblest."

"That's..." I wasn't sure what kind of expression to have on, or what kind of response to use. Was being complimented on my fingers a good thing? I supposed it was, but it still felt weird.

Chuckling, he patted my shoulder. "I must have rubbed some of my magic onto you. I'm curious to see where you can go now. Welcome to Chennault Academy, Allie Cat. Please enjoy your stay."

__________________________

And here we go! Chapter four! I hope you guys liked it :D

I've finally caught up with Supernatural... But i don't know. Now when I write, now that I'm writing again, I find it so boring. Last time this happened, my updates went from once every four days, until once a week. I'm a bit worried... hopefully I get my mojo back. I mean, I get to leave school at 1:20 every day now :D Yay for seventh period study halls! Whoop!

And don't forget to go vote for "A Surreptitious Relationship" in the Watty Awards! There's not much time left!