A Proscriptive Relationship (29 page)

Mr. Heywood pressed the switchblade against Eric’s throat. I gasped, staring with wide-eyes.

“
What are you . . .?” I trailed off, unsure what he was planning.

“
I think you should have a reminder of what you did tonight,” Mr. Heywood said in a dangerously low voice.

He dragged the blade up Eric’s neck slowly—the same way Eric had done to me earlier—and rested it just below his jaw. With one quick slice, blood appeared and I gasped, covering my mouth. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it still surprised me.

Mr. Heywood sent a fist into Eric’s face, and he fell to the ground. Then he turned around, looking pleased with himself, but when his eyes landed on mine, his face dropped. I stared back at Mr. Heywood, caught between awe and horror.

He turned and looked at the three boys now unconscious on the ground.

“
Holly, are you okay?”

“
I’m fine,” I responded quickly. “Your arm—”

“
Don’t worry about it,” he said cutting me off. “Damn it.” He ran a hand down his face. “How could I almost let it happen again?”

Let what happen again? I opened my mouth to question him, but I realized now was definitely not the time to do so. Afraid the men might wake up again, I jogged up to him, grabbing his arm. Immediately he ripped it out of my grasp. Slightly hurt, I looked at him with wide eyes. He glared at me for a split second before softening his gaze.

“
Sorry, Holly,” he murmured, his hair falling in his face, covering his eyes.

My heart was beating once more, but not because I was afraid. And it wasn’t because I was happy. It was the sight of Mr. Heywood’s expression. It was one full of grief and regret.

LESSON TWENTY

“
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 a while.”

I kept my mouth shut, trying not to be angry with them. They didn’t know what had actually happened, and I didn’t 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 dating,” I snapped, flushing. “And here we call that making out, not
snogging
.”

“
Oh, come on, Holly,” Casey stated with a smirk. “You guys were gone a really long time.”

“
Drop it,” I said, growing more and more aggravated.

She opened her mouth to continue to tease me, but the lunch bell cut her off. 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 ran nearly all the way to biology, stopping by my locker to quickly grab my backpack. Before entering, I took a few deep breaths. What would Mr. Heywood say if for once I was first to class instead of last or close to last? Trying not to grin, I entered the classroom.

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 his trademark smirk slowly appeared. “Well, Ms. Evers, congratulations on being first for once.”

“
Shocking, isn’t it?” I asked, now grinning.

He chuckled, before suddenly turning serious. “How are you feeling?”  

“
Um, fine,” I responded, thrown by his sudden change of tone. “How’s the cut on your arm?”

“
Don’t worry about it,” he said dismissively.

I clenched my fist lightly, glowering at him. “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—
 

His laughter interrupted my thoughts and I stared at him. He continued laughing for a few minutes, trying to smother it with his arm. 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. “Really, I was kidding. I do worry about you.”

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

“
Your reactions are just too cute.”

I was about to retort when a different thought popped into my head. A frown spread across my face as I debated how I should ask the question that I wanted to ask. He mistook my response and offered me an apologetic smile.

“
I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said. “I was just—”

“
What did you mean by ‘again’?”

He 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 ‘how could I almost let it happen again?’”

His face darkened and he narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t say anything like that.”

I stared at him, a little shocked. 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 beat 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 and 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 have a talk with Heywood?”

I smiled at his concern and shook my head. “Nothing like that, thank you for worrying though.”

“
You don’t need to thank me for worrying,” he pointed out. “It comes with the best friend package.”

I chuckled and he 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 do you have a beard?”

I pursed my lips. “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 said, his azure eyes piercing into my duller blue eyes. I fidgeted in my seat, uncomfortable under his gaze. He wasn’t going to make me crack. Lance’s eyes slightly narrowed and I mimicked the gesture. No, 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 smiled 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’d better,” he warned 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.

The class laughed. Mr. Heywood smiled. “Well, that aside, we’ll be starting a project that we will continue until Thanksgiving break starts. “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 onto his face.

Sure, smirk at her, but no, you can’t smirk at Holly, I thought, narrowing my eyes at him. Immediately I stopped. 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,” he explained.

“
Then what are we doing today?”

“
Today you’ll be coloring a skeleton of the rat on the lab and labeling the bones and muscles.”

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 already 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 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 his or her 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 even more.

“
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. Why was I so clumsy?

Without looking back I dragged myself to the supply room, my face hot. I entered and grabbed the lab papers. When I was about to leave the room, an idea hit me. 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.”

He looked over at me, this time visibly sigh. 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.