Peer Pressure (9 page)

With his car juddering to a halt, he quickly jumped out. He was also running late, the post work events of the previous evening having an adverse effect on his alarm clock’s snooze button.

Jodie kept her distance, allowing him to make a run for it through the downpour and through the front doors of Brushwood. She then followed, picking up the pace and entering the doors into the main hall. She could see Mr. Peer shaking off the rain and heading down towards the elevator.

Jodie looked around her but there were no other students or teachers about, so as the elevator doors opened and Mr. Peer stepped in, she decided to make a break for it, a decision spurred on by the sound of the second bell going off. Now running as late as he was, and aware that she should have been at registration five minutes ago, she sprinted down the hallway and managed to slide into the elevator just as the doors closed again.

Rob, a little surprised by the speed with which Jodie had appeared out of nowhere, gave a small polite smile, as he pushed the button for the next floor. Jodie smiled back and gave a mock sigh, followed by,

“Phew! That was close.”

“Morning Jodie,” he replied.

“Hello, Mr. Peer.”

“Running late are we?”

“Yeah, I should be at registration right now.”

“Me too.”

There was a long, awkward silence. Neither said anything, but both were aware of one fact. The elevator was not moving. Rob looked to Jodie, and then he pressed the button again. The elevator made a creaking noise, before shuddering to life. Rob nodded to himself.

Jodie, meanwhile, had started to tidy herself up, shaking the rain off her skirt and tapping her feet against the elevator wall in an attempt to dry them out a little. Noticing this, Rob attempted a little small talk to break the silence.

“Cats and dogs out there.”

Jodie gave a little laugh, while inside she was thrilled that he had actually initiated conversation with her.

‘This make-up shit actually worked
,’ she thought.

“Totally,” she replied, although she instantly regretted her choice of words, worried that he would think she was a dumbbell.

The elevator made another loud groan. Rob looked at his watch, before turning his attention back to Jodie and asking, “Does it usually take this long?”

Then it happened. The elevator made a groaning noise before stopping abruptly, with a jolt that caused Jodie to stumble and fall towards Rob.

Instinctively, he grabbed hold of her and the two of them froze.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Jodie didn’t answer at first, too distracted by the feeling of Mr. Peer’s arms wrapped around her. She could feel his muscles, the strength with which he had grabbed her and the fact that this was the first moment of physical contact between them, combined with the smell of his aftershave, almost caused Jodie to forget where she was.

The elevator creaked a little and Jodie, aware that she hadn’t said anything yet, took a step back.

“I’m fine, thanks. Have we stopped?”

Rob pressed the button again.

“I think so.”

Jodie made a little tutting noise with her tongue, although secretly, she wasn’t particularly distressed at the idea of being trapped in such an enclosed space with Mr. Peer.

“It does this every now and again,” she said, “We’ll have to wait for the janitor.”

Rob thought for a moment, tried the button again and then went for the emergency box.

This proved pointless, as all he found in it was a broken alarm button and some hardened chewing gum.

“Brilliant,” he sighed. He closed the box and turned his attention to the elevator doors.

Jodie watched him as he attempted to peak through the gaps, trying to see into the hallway. She took this opportunity to tidy her hair and straighten herself up to look more attractive.

This was when she noticed that the downpour outside had made her blouse relatively see-through, exposing more than she would probably have cared for Mr. Peer to see, at least at this moment in time. She clutched at her blouse, trying to subtly zip up her jacket.

Rob stood back from the doors and then, out of nowhere, he jumped.

It caused the elevator to bounce for a few seconds before coming to a stop. Jodie frowned.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You have to jump up and down.”

Jodie was confused.

“You have to what?”

“Jump up and down, it makes it move.”

Rob jumped again. The elevator reacted accordingly, bobbing up and down like a broken yoyo. Jodie placed her hand against the side, keeping her balance. Rob gave another jump, causing more movement and a small mechanical groan.

Jodie couldn’t help herself and made the most of her predicament by watching Mr. Peer’s ass going up and down, smiling to herself.

Unfortunately, her lack of concentration came at a price as Rob, turning to speak, noticed what she was doing, causing Jodie to dart her eyes about the elevator, as if she had been looking for something she’d dropped, her dignity perhaps.

“Come on then,” he said trying to not embarrass her.

Jodie jumped. Nothing happened.

“Let’s do it together,” said Rob, which would have been an inappropriate choice of words if he had known what was going through Jodie’s mind at that moment.

However, he persisted, “Come on. After three. One...two...three!”

They both jumped and the elevator thudded to life, with enough force to knock Jodie back into Rob’s arms. She even gave a little shocked scream, something she would later agonize over, afraid that it had made her come across as immature.

The elevator doors opened and a voice floated in from the hallway.

“Oh, this looks familiar.”

Rob still had Jodie in his arms as they both looked up. Jodie recognized the face immediately.

Mark Credence, her one time cupboard non-conquest.

Rob let Jodie go.

“Right, both of you to class then,” he said and walked out of the elevator.

Jodie looked at Mark, angry that he had stolen this moment from her, and then she watched Mr. Peer walk off down the corridor. Mark cleared his throat.

“So...how’ve you been?” he asked, with a tone that suggested he was trying his luck with her. Jodie looked at him and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, go play with your iPod, you tosser.”

Then she walked off down the hallway towards her registration class. Mark shook his head and entered the elevator, saying, “Women” to himself.

As Jodie walked down the corridor she heard the elevator thud to a halt once again and she walked into class smiling to herself for a number of reasons.

Jodie found herself waiting outside Mr. Peer’s classroom at the end of the day. The hallways were quiet now, save for the faint, eerie echo of distant footsteps squeaking on the faded linoleum. The last bell had gone and within Brushwood Academy, only the faculty and janitors remained. Faculty and janitors and herself, of course.

‘
What am I doing here?’
She asked herself. ‘
Why didn’t I just walk home with Laura?’

And then, without answering, Jodie walked over to the classroom door and peeked through the small window.

The classroom looked strange without pupils, empty and dark, cold almost. All the chairs were in place, all the desks neatly arranged. The only movement in the room was coming from behind the desk at the front. Tapping away on a laptop computer, was Mr. Peer, quietly oblivious to the fact he was being watched. Jodie froze, afraid she would make some noise that would cause him to look up. Although, deep down inside, something made her wish he would look up, lock eyes with hers and maybe even smile that smile of his. Instead, he just continued to work, while Jodie happily stood and watched him, for what seemed like an eternity, taking in his face, the shape of his body where it sat, the way his hair draped over his forehead. His shirtsleeves rolled up, revealing his arms; the toned arms that had grabbed her so tightly that morning in the elevator.

Jodie sighed, closed her eyes and gently leaned her head against the glass. Then she turned away, her back against the wall beside the door. She hadn’t even noticed that she had been biting her bottom lip, not breaking the skin, but enough to make it turn dark red.

She took a few deep breaths and then quietly rummaged through her bag, finding a small vanity mirror and quickly checking her appearance.

She tussled her hair a little, to give it some body, and then snapped her mirror shut, thrusting it back into her bag, before turning back to watch him again only to be confronted by Mr. Peer standing in the doorway looking at her.

She froze, but the eye contact she had hoped for was immediate. There was silence for at least thirty seconds, before he leaned forward gently and said:

“What do you want, Miss McPhee?”

Jodie didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t even sure about the tone in his voice. Was he angry, serious, joking or worse, all of the above?

Instead of answering, she decided to take the coward’s way out and turned to walk away.

She could feel his eyes on her back as she began to walk away. Her mind was racing.

‘
Is he looking at my legs? My ass? Oh, screw it!’

She had only got a few feet up the hall, before turning back round to face him.

“I wanted to see you.”

It was all she could muster, but it was enough to make her feel good about herself. Mr.

Peer was still standing in the doorway and now he smiled at her.

“And?” he asked.

A good question and one that Jodie answered with a sudden burst of confidence that seemed to come out of nowhere. Indeed, it even seemed out of character to Jodie herself.

She said nothing, but she strode straight up to him, stopping inches from his face, far closer than the normal parameters of student/teacher etiquette. Mr. Peer didn’t flinch. He didn’t even move. Jodie motioned with her head, to the classroom behind his shoulder.

“Can we go in there?” she asked. He stared into her eyes for a few moments, before smiling again and stepping to one side, allowing Jodie to enter the room; her arm brushing against his stomach as she passed. He followed, closing the door as he went.

He leaned against the door, blocking the window with his back. Jodie slowly walked towards his desk, allowing him to watch her as she went, finding herself becoming excited by the attention.

She turned back to face Mr. Peer and sat herself up on his desk, crossing her legs as she went. Mr. Peer gave a small chuckle and shook his head.

“What is it?” she asked, giggling a little herself.

“This isn’t a good idea, Jodie. We could get into a lot of trouble.”

Jodie leaned forward a little and cocked an eyebrow at him.

“We?”

He rubbed his forehead.

“Okay,
‘I’
could get into a lot of trouble, how’s that?”

Jodie then slowly removed her jacket and let it drop to the floor.

“It might be worth it.” She undid one button at the top of her blouse and uncrossed her legs.

“Stop,” he said. Jodie froze, looking him deep in the eyes. He didn’t move at first, but slowly, his hand moved around to his back and Jodie heard the click of the door as he locked it. “Don’t move.”

He then turned and grabbed a poster from the wall, sticking it up to block the window on the door before turning back to face Jodie, who now felt like she was on fire, she knew that this was meant to happen.

Her head felt light and her legs started to shake. Mr. Peer walked over to her and placed his hands on her legs, slowly stroking her thighs, making little circles with his fingers.

Then he leant down to her face and kissed her.

Jodie hesitated for a second and then brought her hands up to his face and kissed him back, softly at first and then harder, with more intensity. Jodie broke off the kiss abruptly, teasingly, before grabbing his tie and pulling him back to her mouth. Their tongues began to touch, their breathing becoming heavy. His hands slowly moved up to cup her face as they kissed, before slowly moving down her back, to grab at her buttocks, pulling her up into his embrace. She wrapped her legs around his as he kissed her neck, while she began to moan softly. Jodie’s arms moved down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt as they went.

He then lifted her up, changing their position, with himself sitting on the desk and her on top of him. Jodie finished unbuttoning her blouse and pulled it down off her shoulders, dropping it next to her jacket.

Then Mr. Peer stopped, his eyes darting from side to side, in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He grabbed Jodie by the shoulders and pulled her near him. Then he whispered in her left ear.

“Breakfast.”

Jodie sat back, confused.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Jodie woke up with a jump to the sound of her mother calling up the stairs.

“Jodie! I’m not going to tell you again. Breakfast!”

Jodie sat up, hot and sweaty. She tried to compose herself, taking deep breaths, but it was no good. It had been one of those dreams that felt far too real, as if she had expected to wake up with Mr. Peer sleeping next to her.

It was somewhere between her breakfast and the cold shower she forced upon herself, that it finally clicked. After this morning, she decided that she would call him Mr. Peer no longer. From now on it would be Rob. It only seemed right. After all, if you couldn’t be on first name terms with your fantasy then who else? It was also after this morning that she came to a major conclusion. If she wasn’t in love before, she sure as hell was now.

Katy had been in the supermarket for more than an hour that day already, despite the fact that it was only meant to be a quick trip, she had found herself distracted by the latest issue of Cosmopolitan. That alone had eaten up a good half-hour. Then there was the center aisle. The ground zero of any good supermarket, it was endless lines of
‘two for
ones’
and
‘buy two get one frees.’
Katy was on her way to the alcohol aisle, planning on getting a couple of bottles of wine for she and Jodie to share that evening as it was Saturday and Jodie didn’t have school the next day, when she spotted the cans of beans (
two for one
) stacked at the end of one of the aisles, like an ancient pyramid.