Chapter 8

Life was perfect. Thanksgiving break was right around the corner. We made it to the playoffs and for the first time the boys did too. I was a little angry about it but that just meant Niall was doing a good job with them. He really did love being their soccer coach. Louis and Liam finally backed off after I freaked out on them. I knew they wouldn’t stay away from me forever, but they’ve known me for a long time and they knew to let me cool off first. Things were going well with Niall. He’s been really sweet to me these past weeks. My only wish was that he wasn’t my teacher. You know how two people are just made for each other? That the world works in mysterious ways to bring people together. Well I believe Niall was made for me. No one made me feel like he did, as corny as that may sound.

Niall and I started texting each other a lot more. Most of the messages were flirty and sexual. I wanted to get him worked up during the school day. It was entertaining. But our relationship went past just sexual. We would talk about each other’s day, the good and the bad. He let me vent about petty problems like annoying tests and stupid girls. Some days after school I would go to his house and we would do homework together. Niall was still in graduate school and he a lot more course work to do than me. There were perks though to being involved with a teacher. He was smart, I knew that. I would rag on him for just being a gym teacher but he knew his stuff. I wasn’t doing well in some of my classes and my teachers were getting on my case. I didn’t care about school. I cared about soccer and my social life. My parents told me that I had to get my act together. If my grades didn’t go up they would pull me from the team. They wanted me to get into a decent college. I was being scouted from universities since my sophomore year and I didn’t think my grades were that bad. I got mostly C’s and that was enough for me. I just didn’t want to try. Nothing sparked my interest in class.

I was sitting in math when I was called down to the office. I never get called to the office. My mind was running all over the place. What if someone found out about the two of us? We were really cautious. We barely spoke at school and if we did it was only school related. What would I even say if they brought it up? My hands started to get clammy. My heart was beating out of my chest. I tried to stay calm. I didn’t want to look guilty.

“Have a seat Miss Chambers” the guidance counselor said. I took a deep breath and did as she asked. “Do you know why I called you down here?” I looked down at my fingers. My thumbs were circling each other. It was a nervous tick of mine. I shook my head no. “Kellie. You have a bright future ahead of you. Why do you want to throw it all away?”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Green I’m not following you.” I didn’t want to give myself up. I had no clue why I was sitting in this office to begin with. It was best to keep quiet.

“Your parents called. They are concerned. You’re quarterly report was not the best. Next week is parent-teacher conferences. I want to help you in any way I can. Let’s start with getting you a tutor.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Well too late. I already found one for you. I think the two of you will get along splendid. You’re excused from practice today to meet with her.”

“But Coach Martin won’t like that” I argued.

“I already spoke with her. She thinks it’s an excellent idea. After school, you’ll meet her in the library.” I sighed and nodded. “Thanks Kellie. You can get back to class now.”

I took my time walking back. A tutor? Really? When did I become the girl that needed a tutor? Apparently my parents were more serious than I thought. They never cared about my grades before. They barely cared about me half the time. This was going to be fun. When I got back to class my phone buzzed in bag. I was afraid to check it. Detention is the last thing I wanted to add to my problems. When the bell rang I took my phone out.

From Niall: What did you do now?

I rolled my eyes at his message. Of course he thinks I did something wrong. I wanted to mess with him for a little.

To Niall: She was asking me about you ;)

From Niall: Shit. Are you serious?

To Niall: Don’t worry. I told her you only fuck me on the weekends. Calm down. It was about my grades.

From Niall: That’s not funny. You’ll pay for that later.

To Niall: Good. I’m looking forward to it. I have a tutoring session later.

From Niall: Okay, call me after.

I walked to the library and found an open table. I was waiting for the dork to show up and teach me a thing or two about economics and Shakespeare. I was doodling in my notebook when a tall figured stood at the edge of the table. My eyes slowly lifted until I saw who was standing in front of me. No.

“What are you doing here?”

“Apparently I’m your new tutor.”

I grabbed my books and got up. “I’d rather fail.”

“Sit down Kellie” Nikki demanded. Well get along splendidly. Fuck that. “Let’s start with math.” I rolled my eyes and opened my textbook. The tutoring session didn’t go as bad as I thought. Nikki actually had a brain. Who knew? After we finished going through all the calculus material we called it a day. I learned a thing or two and I was kind of getting the hang of it.

“I’m sorry Kellie” Nikki said as we were leaving the library.

“For what?”

“Stealing your boyfriend. I know we hate each other but you’re not as bad as I thought.”

“Thanks” I said questioningly. “You’re not terrible either.” I felt the need to compliment her. Don’t get me wrong I still hate her guts but I didn’t want to rip her head off in this moment.

“I would have died if I found out he kissed someone when we were together.” I looked at her confused. Louis broke up with me before they got together, right? “We first hooked up at Liam’s party. It was fourth of July” she stared off into spaced and sighed happily. I cleared my throat and tried to control my anger. I don’t know if she was telling me this to get to me or she didn’t know. Louis and I broke up in the middle of July, right after our anniversary. Our anniversary being July 4th.

I was trying to make my breathing as quiet and as even as possible. “I have to go.” I rushed to my car, slamming the door shut. I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I shouldn’t be upset over this. I was over Louis. 100% over him. It just hurts to know the he ditched our anniversary plans to hang out with that whore. I remember that night like yesterday. I was going through old pictures of us from our first 4th of July together. The picture was from the July 4th right before our freshman year. It was the first night we kissed. It was romantic. We were sitting on a blanket on the beach and the fireworks were exploding around us. I couldn’t take my eyes off the beautiful colors lighting up the sky and Louis couldn’t take his eyes off of me. During the finale he pulled me onto his lap and cupped my face. He looked into my eyes and my heart skipped a beat. He pressed his lips to mine and the rest of the world disappeared. We started officially dating sometime freshman year but that night held such importance to me.

The night Nikki referred to, Louis called me and told me couldn’t make it to dinner because Liam needed him. Liam and I weren’t talking at the moment so I just spent the night with Tori, imposing on her and Zayn. Tori didn’t care though. She knew I was upset and like a good friend she was there for me. Two weeks later Louis ended things with me, breaking my heart into a million pieces. In August he went public with Nikki. He promised he didn’t do anything with her until he ended things with me. He said he would never do that to me. That I meant to much to him to betray me like that. I don’t know why I believed him. I always trusted him.

I shouldn’t even be mad about it. That was in the past. Instead of going home or calling Niall I decided to go for a run. I changed into my practice clothes and started running around the track. After that didn’t release my anger, I went to the weight room. There was punching bag with my name on it. It was empty so I wrapped up my hands. I started punching and kicking the bag as hard as I could. Each punch I imagined Louis’ face. Every kick it was hers. I started getting careless with my punches. I went to punch the bag as it was swinging back towards me and the pain shot up my arm. “Shit!” I cried. I unwrapped my hand and my wrist already swelling.

I called Niall and he asked me to come over. I drove there as fast as I could. He gave me a bear hug when I walked through the door. “You okay?” he asked when he saw my face. My cheeks were flushed. I was mentally and physically exhausted. He grabbed my hand and winced. “What did you do?” he asked when he saw my swollen wrist.

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

“You weren’t even at practice. How did this happen?” I just shrugged. “Tell me the truth Kellie” he said in teacher voice.

“Fine. You know how I told you that I have a tutor now?” He nodded his head yes. “Well it’s Nikki.”

“Jesus Kellie. What does her face look like?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “It was a punching bag. I was nice to Nikki.”

“Why were you hitting a punching bag?”

“I had to let off some steam. It’s fine.” He got up and walked to the kitchen. He returned with a steak. He placed it on my wrist and kissed my forehead.

“Want to tell me why you were so mad?” I shook my head no and cuddled into his chest.

I was surrounded by textbooks on my living room floor. I was really trying. If I did better in my classes than I wouldn’t need to deal with Nikki anymore. My parents came home around 9:30 from the parent-teacher conferences. They didn’t seem happy.

“Kellie we need to talk” they said walking into the kitchen and sitting at the table.

“Someone’s in trouble” Kaci said wagging around her finger.

“Shut up.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and sat down next to them.

“So your teachers said you were doing a little better. You are actually paying attention in class. You even did better on some of your tests” my mother said to me. Well that’s good but why did they seem mad? “But I ran into someone while I was there. Do you know Mr. Horan?”

Shit. “Umm, well yeah. He, umm, he’s my gym teacher” I stuttered.

“I haven’t seen him since he was just a child” she giggled. “He grew up to be quite the looker. Now I know why you don’t stay focused in class.” I rolled my eyes. I just wanted her to get to the point. “Anyway I am good friends with his mother. I had no clue he wasn’t even back in town. So on the way home I called up Mrs. Horan and there coming for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Seriously? Don’t you think that’s a lot of people?” I asked her. The Payne’s and the Tomlinson’s were already coming over for Thanksgiving. I predicted the night to be a disaster already. Louis, Liam and Niall all under my roof. Maybe if I locked myself in my room they wouldn’t even notice I was missing.

“The more the merrier. Is that going to be weird for you? Having your teacher here?”

“It’s fine.”

“And maybe he can help you with your classes too. Only if he were a few years younger” she joked and patted my hand. She looked over to where my dad was standing. His face was buried in the fridge. “If only I was a few years younger” she whispered. Gross. Not something I wanted to picture. I got up from the table and went back to my homework. “And honey, please be on your best behavior.”

“Whatever you say.”