Bound to You

Chapter 10: Shakespeare

Friday

Torres High School

Ileana joked as she closed her locker, "I think our maths teacher is going to be in a bad mood today."

Charlotte and Nelly shared a puzzled look and then Nelly said, "I think she's awesome. She explains well, correct the work...she makes jokes from time to time. I mean what more could we ask? She's by far better than that witch Driscoll."

Ileana inquired, "Driscoll?"

"Oh, the teacher Ms Danvers is replacing. That woman was a pain to deal with. She gave tons of homework, liked to report us to the principal. God, we could not even speak a word in her class. Ugh, she's strict and insulted us as a wicked hobby. We just couldn't stand her. I hope she never comes back to the school." Ileana thought that this was impossible as Sierra's contract was only for a few weeks.

Charlotte shivered, "Forget about that witch, Nel. You won't believe me. I caught Mr Stone, our literature teacher drooling at Ms Danvers the other day. It's so cute actually. He kind of looks nervous whenever he talks to her." They laughed, imagining that scene again.

Nelly excitedly exclaimed, "They make quite the pair, right!"

Ileana grimaced as her friends talked about this. Fancy pairing teachers. She agreed though, "Yeah, they do look good together." They walked to their class and Charlotte continued, "He's fun, handsome, smart and she's just beautiful. I ship them!" Ileana thought about this. Maybe she should tell Sierra to give that teacher a try?

They entered the class and a while later, Sierra walked in, greeting the students as always. She didn't lose time and introduced the next topic. She frowned towards Jace's empty seat and told herself that it was good he wasn't here. There she went. Red marker. Blue marker. Black marker. Creativity, Torres wrote. And she said, that he could go to hell. And what else did he say. Yes, more interaction.

She turned around, smiled kindly, "I'll take a quick round in two minutes to see if you completed your homework."

As she turned her back, back to the whiteboard, she could hear the clear rustle as if a wave of panic took on them. Haha and hah. She had to prepare her famous red pen, it seemed. She melodiously added, "And those who didn't will stay after class to complete it."

The class captain coughed, "Um ma'am excuse me. Can I go to the bathroom?"

Sierra paused, "Of course, you can, Steve. But you may not."

He cringed at the teacher's sarcasm while the class giggled at the classic teacher joke, "Um, please, may I go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, you may. But show me your work first. There's no escaping today."

He swallowed hard, "Er, as a matter of second thought, let it be. Thank you." He quickly whispered as he turned behind, "Hey Sam, did you do the work?"

"Dude, what the hell? Of course, I didn't."

"Ask the girls."

"Wait." Ileana leaned over her desk to whisper the final answers to both Nelly and Charlotte who were sweating as they copied fast and she heard someone calling her. She turned to Sam who pressed his hands together to plea and he made a photo gesture with his hand. She slowly took out her phone, sneakily snapped a picture of her homework and whispered, "w******p!" And while she did so, Sierra turned at that moment, tapping her foot impatiently as she crossed her arms, "Now, what's going on there? Ileana and Sam?"

Ileana bit her lips, her face reddening. Shoot. "Hand over your phones. Confiscated till the end of the class. And additional work for you two."

"What? Whyyy?" Ileana exclaimed and Sierra gave her a warning with a frown. She approached their desks, collected the phones which were reluctantly handed and she placed them on the table, beside her file. Ileana pouted. How could she? She could hear Sam cursing.

The door opened and Jace greeted, "Hi, dearest teacher."

Sierra asked, ignoring his exaggerated endearment, "Why are you late?"

"Oh, you know, last night I went on a date and ate sss...spicy seafood. Real spicy. So spicy that I started feeling too hot and things got steamy in the car." The class laughed in confusion though they didn't understand why he said so.

Sierra was irritated and even more when he gave her that silly smile. Ileana chuckled as she shared a meaningful look with Jace who winked at her.

"You owe me an assignment." He removed it from his backpack and said, "A promise is a promise."

She was pleasantly surprised he actually did it. "Well, thank you."

He said, "You're very much welcome. Do you like oysters by the way? My father got tons of em." He didn't fail to notice her cheeks turning red with embarrassment and she gritted, "Jace, go back to your seat."

He said in a sigh, "It's a pity he's unable to see how beautiful you look today."

She warned, "Jace..."

He chuckled with a smile, "A real fury, he told me last night."

She sighed heavily, wondering when he'd stop. He made his way to the back of the classroom, still making this amused face at her. Without bothering herself about him, she returned to the whiteboard, staring at the problem that needed to be solved. Every problem had a solution and in order to avoid James and that engagement thing, she needed to find a boyfriend. Yes, that's what she'd do...but boyfriends didn't fall from trees...

Her cell phone vibrated on the table and without touching it, she just looked at the message that popped up: Fancy some coffee later? You can't say no. You're more beautiful than the sun today. That...it could only be Henry Stone. He had been going around, asking every staff for her number in the morning and something told her it was probably Florence who betrayed her.

She sat at the desk, "I'm going to return your assignments. Solve these equations meanwhile." She called out the names, giving personal feedback and tips to each students and when she was done, she stood to take a look around, playing with her red pen as she walked between the rows. Now the real fun would begin.

"Sam, you're staying after class... So are you, Ileana. Additional work for you for using your phones behind my back. Steve and Mark, you stay as well. God, I wonder why I gave you homework if you were just going to do it at school itself..."

She walked by Charlotte's copybook to find almost illegible equations. She paused and Charlotte swallowed hard, praying to God that she wasn't going to see through it. Sierra chuckled as she pressed her finger on the copybook, "Well see here, this actually doesn't make any sense. I think you missed a few lines while copying, Charlotte. I must credit your speed though."

Charlotte blushed hard in embarrassment, "Er...I'll take that as a compliment, ma'am..."

Sierra sighed, "Nelly, Charlotte, Fiona...you girls stay too. And Jace, don't think I forgot you. You still owe me another set of problems."

The bell rang and she monitored the exit of the students, noticing that quite a number had to stay to complete the work. She gave back the phone she had taken much to Sam's relief, stretched herself, went to sit at her desk and replied Henry's text with: "Can't make it today. Have to stay in class with the G12 Alpha students."

She closed her eyes, rocking her chair to help her relax. Hmm, maybe she'd just let them stay ten minutes. She couldn't take away their whole break after all. She found it so comfortable that she could sleep right now. She just needed a blanket. Funny thing Jace wasn't doing anything to annoy her. She peeped only to see him, trying to sleep as well. Duh. Never expect anything from him.

The door knocked loudly and she almost tumbled off her chair as all the students' attention was diverted there. "Come in?"

She wasn't so sure if she should say this during break time. In response, there were now loud thumps against the door and she sighed as she stood and went to open only to be surprised to see Henry standing there with two coffee cups in his hands.

He said in embarrassment, "Sorry. I had to use my foot to knock." The students laughed at him and she tsked, realising why he was here, "Seriously...!"

She stepped aside to let him in and he placed the hot cups on the table and greeted the students, jokingly commenting on how bad it was not to complete their work. He then returned his attention to Sierra, "So forget the sun, forget the kids, we could as well have our coffee date in the classroom."

"Well, since you brought coffee, I think it's alright."

Ileana's attention was caught. Wait. Was he openly flirting with her in front of all of them?! Mr Stone seemed really interested in Sierra. She could see Charlotte and Nelly making high fives as if their dreams just became true.

Henry held her hand and said, quoting William Shakespeare's Hamlet, "Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar but never doubt thy love." While some of the boys whistled at this, the girls clapped.

Sierra shook his hand away, "You're ridiculous."

"Oh but my words are true!"

Steve shouted jokingly, "Hey Mr Stone, just kissher already!" Most of the students followed the lead, cheering madly, saying the wordrepeatedly, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"