It had been two weeks since Dom got back to school, and he was struggling to concentrate in English class. Watford was the worst place for gossip. Since he'd been back, he'd keenly felt the gaze of prying eyes on his back as he walked the corridors and the hush that descended a room as he entered. He knew that people were talking, speculating on whether he was the baby's father. He didn't care either way, he was over it already. He stared at his notebook, unable to start writing.

The purple jacarandas were out and had spread a soft mauve carpet over the courtyard outside the classroom. He lifted his eyes to the window, imagining the moment his hay fever would kick in. Just thinking about it made his eyes water.

Their teacher, Ms. Zeiman, had tasked them to summarize the scene in Merchant of Venice where Portia's suitors select from one of three caskets to win her hand in marriage. He knew his teacher's modus operandi; she'd soon pounce on one of them to read their work back to the class. It didn't matter. He couldn't concentrate anyway.

Briefly, he wondered if he might still be in shock. He still couldn't believe Pascal wasn't coming back. She'd asked him not to call her, but he wondered if he should. He missed her so much.

When he'd spoken to his mum that morning, she'd instructed him that under absolutely no circumstances was he to contact Pascal. She'd said that things were going to be hard enough for her as it was, without Dom's drama. Her exact words had been things were going to be hard enough 'for that girl', but Dom hadn't the energy to pull her up on it.

His mum was right about one thing, though. The situation was hopeless, and he didn't want to make anything more complex for his ex. If that was what she was? They hadn't even had the chance to break up properly. In any case, what was he going to do? Drop out of school and take care of someone else's baby?

Even if he wanted to—and he really didn't! Both of their parents wouldn't allow it.

It didn't mean he could switch off the way he felt about Pascal, though. School wasn't the same anymore without her beautiful smiling face. Everything seemed like such a grind.

Dom's thoughts drifted to the time they'd spent together. Cal used to visit him in between lessons. She was like that; she never cared for what the teachers thought about her. They'd steal kisses when no one was in the classroom. And it wasn't even just the physical stuff he missed. He recalled the way she twisted her hair between her fingers when she was thinking about what to say next. He'd loved just watching her. His memory was so vivid. If he recalled kissing her neck, it was as though he could taste her skin. Christ, life sucked! It had been a long time since he felt this badly about anything. It was all he could do to resist the temptation to get up and walk out of class. He'd have to find something to take his mind off of this twisting, gut wrenching pain.

Though deep in thought, Dom imagined he could feel eyes on him. Looking up, he saw the new girl in class looking at him again.

Emma – was that her name? He'd been introduced to her as 'Em'. Could it be Emily, though?

Immediately he noticed her, she dropped her eyes. He'd heard she had a thing for him, and though he didn't think much about her, they'd been flirting with each other a bit lately. It sort of worked to take Dom's mind off Pascal.

Em had just popped up out of nowhere and wasn't very subtle in her intentions toward him. Dom wondered why she had been transferred into his class; that didn't happen very often. She was kind of cute but also annoying. Such an attention seeker! It seemed like she never shut up. When Dom gazed back at her, she lifted her eyes again to meet his and blushed.

Yep! I could go there.

Ms. Zeiman looked up from her desk and shook her head.

'Eyes down, please, Mr. Hunter?'

Dom returned to his writing task; before long, all thoughts of Em flittered from his mind, and the words were flowing onto his page. He imagined himself as a suitor in The Merchant of Venice, trying to win Pascal's hand in marriage. He laughed bitterly to himself. She'd probably have dismissed him long back like the Neapolitan Prince, who did nothing but talk about his horse.

When class was over, Dom waited for everyone to file out. He'd had enough of feeling bad, so he caught Em by the hand, imploring her to hold back. She seemed surprised, her expression questioning.

'Okay,' he said simply.

'Okay, what?' she pulled her arm back by her side.

'Okay, you can be my next hook up,' Dom spoke with near ridiculous assurance.

'Ha! You're a bit forward, aren't you?' Em responded, blushing pink in her cheeks.

'Not as forward as you,' Dom said matter of fact, 'you've told everyone I know that you like me, so I'm saying—Okay. Yes!' Dom shrugged taking a small step closer. 'Lets' skip the uncomfortable flirting and go straight to doing what we both know we want to do.'

'I don't even know you...' Em said indignantly, stepping back. 'And maybe, just maybe, I like the flirting part.'

Dom felt his earlier dark mood rising again. 'Well, I think you've done enough 'batting your eyelashes' for the both of us,' he said. 'Lucky for me, you're not an heiress like Portia. I don't need your daddy's permission to open your box.'

Em gasped in horror.

'That's disgusting,' she said, slapping him on his arm.

Dom laughed. His mood lifting. 'No need to get your undies in a twist,' he said. 'I don't like being single. You look cute and available.'

'I am pretty cute, aren't I?' Em said, wrinkling her eyes in a smile.

'And available?' Dom prompted.

'Depends,' Em said, touching him lightly on the forearm, '...for what?'

Dom leaned in closer again and whispered what he had in mind in her ear.

'Don't be a dickhead!' she said, scrunching her face at him.

'I'm not!' Dom burst into laughter at her expression. 'You're hot!' he said simply. 'I'm hot for it; let's carpe diem!'

Dom thought he detected a look of fear sneak across Em's face, but it was gone in an instant. 'You have had sex before?' he asked.

'Yes, I've had sex before—you arrogant shit,' said Em.

Dom grinned at her. 'Let me guess,' he said lightly. 'Your next door neighbour? A round-faced, smiley boy...'

Em shook her head, laughing.

'You fell for his humour,' Dom teased. 'The sex wasn't pleasant. He fumbled about. It was over before you knew it. Thankfully.'

His teasing prompted a second slap on the arm from Em, but Dom could tell; his little anecdote had hit the right note.

To his surprise, Em said, 'Hypothetically, if you and I were to do it, like right now, where would we go?'

'Squash courts,' Dom shot back at her, 'there's a private room in the back. No one goes there. Hypothetically...'.

Em took a step closer and held his gaze. 'I'll meet you there after debating. One hour,' she said in an uneven tone. 'We'll see where we go from there.'

Dom couldn't believe the words were coming out of her mouth. He'd never met someone this straightforward.

'We're not still in the hypothetical, are we?'

Em smiled knowingly.

'Can I kiss you now?' Dom asked.

She laughed in his face. 'No. You can wait.'

Dom took a step back. 'Alright, I warn you, though. This better be legit. I like sex, and I like it a lot. Don't be coy with me. I'm not in the mood to play games.'

Em walked away from him. She threw a look over her shoulder as if to say, "don't push your luck," before she was gone.