A whisper in the wind

“Don’t do anything stupid” the principal whispered, not even pausing in her stride as she walked past you and down the stairs to wherever she deemed important, leaving you staring back at her as she went.

The vague warning didn’t really mean anything specific to you but if she was warning you against betraying her, that had been your intention from the start.

It did mean however that you didn’t have to worry about receiving a lecture and you could happily make the last few steps towards Rebecca's office without being angry at her mother.

You knocked on the door and poked your head round the frame to see a smile from Rebecca greeting you.

"Come in!" she announced, happy to see a friendly face.

You did as you asked and shut the door behind you, not locking it as you had made your promise to Emma and Sarah.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rebecca suddenly asked with a smirk, leaving a confused look on your face as you took your seat.

She glanced at the door to hint that you hadn't locked it and you had to smile at yourself that you had become that predictable.

“I wanted to help with the grading that I keep avoiding and if I lock it I know I’m gonna get distracted. You do know how hard it is to stay in a room with you right? I’d tie you up and keep you in my locker just for myself if I could” you stated, turning the topic back around to her and watching as she poorly tried to recover.

“Ah, well… I…” she started to reply before giving up, straightening some papers on her desk and then moving to grab some from a different pile.

“You can start on these ones then…” she added, holding out the tests for you to help.

You reached out to take the and wrapped your hands around her own, keeping her in place.

“Thank you” you replied, letting her go when you felt like the moment was ready to end.

“...I thought you said you didn’t want to get distracted” Rebecca mumbled, trying to get back to being professional.

“I didn’t say anything about ‘you’ being distracted” you teased, enjoying all the little reactions you were getting out of her so far.

You did however stay true to your word and started to go through the stack of papers, treating them as another revision exercise even though you had made sure Biology was one of your highest marked subjects.

Getting anything less than your other classmates had the potential to cause issues further down the line if Rebecca ever thought your relationship was affecting your grades and you wanted to make sure that never occurred. The half scattered pile of tests that Rebecca had given you in a rush didn’t seem as organised as previously, seeing a few names from your classmates which you still went through before finding your own test among the pile.

“I think you might have given me the wrong pile” you said after completing the last test before your own.

“It’s your fault for distracting me then isn’t it?” Rebecca questioned back, knowing you didn’t have a comeback to that.

Surprisingly she started marking your own test right away, making you more nervous than you would have expected. Rebecca must have noticed you were paying attention to her when you stopped working on any more tests, looking up to see you staring straight at her.

“I can do this later if it bothers you?” she asked, stopping her pen and moving to grab another.

“No no it’s fine, just taking a little break” you replied, trying to play off your nervousness.

She didn’t quite seem to buy it but she continued nonetheless, forcing you to work on your own pile once again so that you didn’t start staring again. A few minutes passed and she passed your test to her completed pile and moved on to the next one, trying your hardest not to lose focus but failing as your eyes drift to the paper with your name on it.

“This does bother you!” Rebecca said in surprise, catching you looking as she had been keeping her eye on you.

“Alright fine, I’m curious about what I got and I know I can wait until next week but, I mean it’s right there just ready for me to take” you reply, making an exaggerated attempt to grab the paper, slow enough for her to easily move it out of your reach if she wanted.

“You can look” she says with a pause, “...but that does mean that you will be spending all your time with me next week going through every single test and double checking the marks to make sure they are all correct” she finishes, stopping you in your tracks.

As much as you wanted to know the results, it didn’t mean that much to you in comparison to a week of no-contact with your teacher.

“Fine fine, you win. But I do think we should do something fun later. Emma wanted to come visit this time and last time you weren’t exactly on even terms” you conceded, giving up the test in favour of winning something later.

Rebecca looked conflicted at the mention of someone joining the alone time the two of you shared but given that the two had interacted before she didn’t seem as put off by the idea.

“Well, she can come with you after school but don’t expect anything crazy to happen. I know you probably want me to meet everyone you are with but Emma seemed like a nice enough girl to get to know first. After that…” Rebecca answered.

Her response about meeting your other subjects suddenly brought you back to Wednesday night at family dinner, you and Sarah trying your best to persuade Mom about inviting Rebecca over for dinner, something you had glossed over when Mom had put you in charge of punishments following Lucy’s outburst.

“About that actually… your name has been mentioned at home and you do have an invitation to join us for dinner one night. They are aware of who you are to me so it won’t be a secret you have to somehow hide but it does mean there might be some questions asked. None which you can’t fire right back either as everyone there would be involved with me” you explained, adding the comment at the end when you realised you hadn’t made that convincing of an argument.

Rebecca took longer to consider that invitation than the one for just meeting Emma alone, giving you time to remember some of the details from that night.

You remember Sarah trying to confirm a date with Mom to get something pinned down and Tuesday was what Mom answered in return, waiting for Rebecca to reply before you told her more details.