04

"Back so soon?" Chelsea's eyebrow quirked up as Sarah shuffled in through the door and Sarah nodded, mumbling. "Um, yeah. Yeah."

She took a few quick steps towards her room but Chelsea's sharp blue eyes didn't miss a thing.

"Whose jacket are you wearing?"

"Shit," Sarah muttered under her breath and scolded herself mentally for not taking off the jacket and tucking it under her shirt or something to avoid Chel's confrontation. "Uh, no one's."

Chelsea frowned. "What?"

"I'm going to bed." Sarah dashed into her room and slammed the door shut just in time to stop Chel from entering it. She heard her groan from the other side as she banged the door.

"Sarah, you're hiding something!"

"I have work in the morning. Let me sleep."

"You can't keep it a secret forever!"

When Sarah heard Chel's retreating footsteps, she sighed and laid down on her bed. Her encounter with Joey kept replaying in her mind and she knew she should've handled the situation more maturely. Instead, she had blushed and stuttered like a freaking sixteen year old in front of her crush.

But Joey wasn't a crush.

Sarah knew that things would probably get out of hand if she didn't put a stop to it now. She shouldn't have accepted his jacket in the first place and more importantly, she shouldn't have been so flustered by him. She shouldn't have allowed him to...sniff her.

Just remembering it, made her cheeks warm up and she covered her face with her hands. No, no, no. She kept chanting in her head. She can't let herself act like this. She's the adult and she was going to start acting like one.

Immediately, she pushed herself up and off of the bed. She removed Joey's jacket and folded it neatly. She placed it on her table and ignored the slight shudder that went through her.

The next morning as Sarah was about to head out, she remembered Joey's jacket and went back to her room to retrieve it. Chelsea was still asleep and as Sarah passed by her closed door, she envied her friend for getting to sleep in. The perks of working for a magazine and having a friendly and easy-going boss.

It was cold when she stepped out and she hurried to hail a cab.

----

Sarah avoided meeting Joey's gaze for the entire English period and concentrated on the board instead. However, every time she spared herself a glance in his direction, his eyes were always on her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking because she didn't look at him for longer than a second.

As the period came to an end, Sarah watched from under her lashes as Joey started to pack his things while taking about something to Collin at the same time. It was just when they walked by her table that Sarah spoke up.

"Joey Harding, please stay back. I need to talk to you."

She busied herself with arranging some papers on her desk as she said that in a neutral voice. Joey stopped short and blinked at her for a couple of times, confused. Collin smiled and asked, "Did you want to talk to me too, Miss?"

She looked up, giving him a tight-lipped smile. This boy was really annoying. "Is your name Joey Harding?"

"No, uh-"

"Then, please go to your next class. I need to speak with Joey only."

Collin's shoulders slumped and he trudged out of the class, having the decency of shutting the door behind him and leaving them alone in the room. Joey who had recovered from his surprise, flashed a smile in Sarah's way.

"You know, you actually surprised me for a second there. I thought that-"

"I wanted to return your jacket," she cut him across as she opened one of the drawers in her desk and pulled it out, placing it on the table in front of her. She met his eyes with a serious expression on her face and his smile, as quickly as it had come, vanished as he registered her hostile tone.

He opened his mouth to say something, to ask her why she was acting this way but then he closed it. He knew why she was acting this way. She was his teacher now and whatever had happened before this revelation was irrelevant to all this. But when Joey thought about it, nothing had really happened between them.

All they had done was say hello and a few words and that was literally it. It only made sense why Sarah was acting this way towards him because they were still strangers, so why was he acting as if something had really happened between them?

Joey looked down at his jacket, absentmindedly and Sarah watched him quietly. She could tell there was a conflict underway inside of Joey. His green eyes kept flickering back and forth as he continued to think, to recall something in their first meeting that would justify his actions towards her. Something that would explain it all, his feelings towards her.

But then again, what exactly were his feelings towards her?

It was true, he did care about her. He didn't just lend her his warm jacket for nothing and almost caught a cold by walking back home. He liked to see her hide a smile whenever a student cracked a random joke and she was trying her best to be serious in her profession. He even liked the way she could be so easy going and funny sometimes and other times, she put up a strict no-nonsense barrier around her. True, he liked things about her but did he really like her like her?

He wasn't sure.

"Joey? You're going to be late for your next class."

Sarah's voice snapped him back into reality and he looked at her. Her brown eyes were looking up at him with a hint of concern in them but before he could be sure, he nodded quickly and grabbed his jacket from the table. If he wasn't sure of his own feelings, how could he guess what her feelings were?

Without a word, he walked out of the classroom and didn't bother closing the door behind him.

----

"Enjoying your second day so far?"

Sarah groaned and leaned back in her chair. "Mammy, can't you tell from my face?"

Principal Haley who was sitting at her desk in her office shook her head at Sarah before she resumed her typing again. She fixed her rectangular glasses on her thin nose carefully before her slender fingers moved across the keyboard at a fast rate. Sarah was seated in a leather chair from across her and she watched her type for a while before speaking.

"I didn't ask for this," she said, annoyance clear on her face.

"True," the old woman replied but didn't take her eyes off of the screen. "But the opportunity was too appealing to miss. I needed a new English teacher since Mrs Coles retired and you had just recently quit your job."

"You didn't even ask for my opinion on this," Sarah said, scowling as she sat up straighter in her chair. "You and Chel literally forced me to take it."

"And without our push, you would still be without a job now."

She rolled her eyes. "Like I give a fuck about that, Mammy."

The old woman's hands stopped typing and she focused her stern eyes on Sarah. "You are an independent young woman and you know very well what would have happened to you if you continued to remain jobless. Apart from financial reasons, you need something to keep you busy, because a free mind is a Devil's workshop." She paused and then added. "Especially, at this point in your life, when you are tempted to do things to rid yourself from-"

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her.

"-from depression," Haley completed.

They didn't look away from each other for a few seconds before Sarah hoisted herself up from her chair and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Haley asked her.

She didn't look back as she replied curtly, "To smoke."

She didn't call after her as Sarah slammed the door shut. Principal Haley never ever allowed her staff to smoke but she knew that for Sarah, she just had to make an exception and let her have her way sometimes. By doing so, she hoped that Sarah would prove herself to be mature enough to pull it together.

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Author's Note: Thank you all for reading. Please don't forget to drop in a vote if you're enjoying the story so far and want more. As always, comments are always appreciated!

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