Thursday, 18th July, 2013.
"Goodness gracious, you're still in bed!" Audrey gasped dramatically, glancing over at the one and only frame in the room which was a wall clock. "The kids are having breakfast downstairs and you are here sleeping. . . It's already 7:15am for goodness sake Grace!" She grumbled to her niece as she pushed open the windows, letting in the morning sunlight to pour into the small room.
Grace pulled up the comforter and covered her face to avoid the sun rays which were blinding her eyesight. "I am not going anywhere today Aunt." She made up her mind as she turned her body to the left, ready to continue her sleep. But the next thing Grace felt was her comforter being dragged and pulled away from her body.
"Get out of bed you lazy bone!" Audrey kept pulling and yelling at her niece until Grace's sky blue cotton night gown was exposed. With her caramel messy hair scattered across her pale skin, she looked. . . ethereal.
In a lazy tone, Grace mumbled. "Aunt please just give me a moment. I'm not a kid, you don't have to force me to go to school you know. I'm turning eightee—"
"—but you're not yet eighteen." Audrey cuts through with a glare. "You're still seventeen Grace. So don't try to lecture me on how I should and shouldn't treat you. Until you're twenty, you will not be considered as an adult in this household."
Grace managed to pull herself up from the bed. "I'm up. . ." She groaned heavily before she stood and reluctantly managed to get herself to the bathroom.
When Audrey was sure that Grace wouldn't return to bed, she left the room and hurried downstairs to check on the kids.
At school, Grace walked into the library, managing to keep the sound of her shoes as quiet as possible.
Upon reaching close enough to the back of a girl, she leaned close and let out a low, guttural sound that made her best friend, Nova Raymond to almost jumped out of the chair, taken by surprise.
"...calm down, calm down it's me," said Grace quietly, trying not to laugh after startling her friend. She noticed a few students glaring her way for causing such a scene in the library.
"Calm down my foot!" Nova lashed out in an irritated voice. "I tell you girl, you're going to be the cause of my death if you don't stop this habit." The brunette nagged for a while before she later shrugged and laughed along with her friend.
They were of the same age; seventeen, but Grace was taller.
Silently, the girls moved out of the library and headed for the school cafeteria to grab some snack. But along the way, the bell was rung to signify that break time was over. Although none of the girls noticed because they were engrossed in some conversation about school and graduation.
"I'm not really going to miss this school after graduation. I've had enough of it." Nova spoke and Grace replied with a sympathetic nod. "And oh," Nova paused for a moment and turned to give her friend a questioning look. "I left your book at home again. Why don't you ever remind me to bring it along to school?"
"You can just keep it. It's just a novel."
"But it's your favorite novel." Nova insisted. "I should return it tomorrow."
"Students!" A thunderous voice came from behind the girls and as they turned around startled, their eyes fell on Mr Thompson, the cruel Discipline Master of the Academy.
Within a blink of an eye, the girls took to their heels knowing that they weren't supposed to be found in the hallway after break period was over.
"Stop right there." Grace could hear the Discipline Master's voice thundering loudly behind her but she wasn't willing to stop and surrender.
Without looking back, one took a corner to the left while the other, took to the right.
Along the way, Grace bumped into a person. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She apologized immediately but froze when she realized that she had bumped into none other than Bradley Archer; the school's most handsome and mysterious teacher.
To her surprise, Mr Bradley didn't even say a thing as he bent down and picked up his pen from the floor. He wore a sombre expression today unlike most days when he'd wore a stoic face, and he looked as though his mind was carried away.
Mr Bradley Archer was an intern teacher who taught Biology, and while Grace was an art student who had nothing to do with Biology, she'd still noticed some strange things about him which his students might have not. Like the way he'd always wore his sleeves long during winter, autumn, spring and even during the summer. In all four seasons, he never exposed his arms.
Sometimes he would show up in school with a broken lip, and other times with a plaster to cover his bruises. Sometimes to mask her curiosity, she would choose to believe the rumor going around that perhaps Mr Bradley worked part time as a boxer.
The young teacher was so popular among the girls for his notable hot features which was his athletic body, tanned skin, curly dark hair, bony cheeks and blue eyes which she found quite alluring most of the times.
Even though Grace was bad at measuring heights, she could guess he might be something around six feet tall. Though she wondered why he didn't even spared her a glance before he walked away briskly. It was unusual because she was so used to getting male attention and was aware of her own beauty. But anyway, that was Mr Bradley Archer. Certainly not a normal guy.
Grace shrugged and proceeded towards the long hallway which would lead to her classroom. In her mind, she scolded herself for being unable to stop replaying the scene of her chest bumping against the man. As she looked up in front of her, she saw Mr Thompson coming at her once again.
Grace ran in the opposite direction and somehow, her legs ended up leading her straight into the male restroom and in front of Mr Bradley who was in the middle of doing something. Though he was quick to pull up his pants and hide the cigarettes in his hand even after she'd seen it.
"Mr Bradley I'm so sorry." Grace apologized, clearly embarrassed. "Please don't mind me. I'm not here on purpose."
"Then perhaps you should take your leave now." Mr Bradley said as he pointed at the door, equally embarrassed that his student might've seen something on him which wasn't supposed to be seen. Actually, that wasn't even a possibility. He was sure that she had seen his manhood as her flushed cheeks said it all.
"In a minute, please." Grace pleaded. "Let me stay until. . ." She glanced over at the door but she couldn't bring the words out of her mouth. "Anyway, did I just saw a cigarette in your hand Mr Bradley?" She thought of changing the subject to buy herself some more time until it was safe to leave.
"Shhh!" My Bradley signaled. "You must not be loud."
"Rule101, I know." Grace grinned at the Biology teacher, wanting to press her advantage. "And you're an intern teacher, Mr Bradley. Imagine what it would be like if words about you smoking in the bathroom got out."
She was teasing the young teacher, that much was obvious. But to her surprise, Mr Bradley's expression quickly turned very dark and serious. "Rule 117. On no circumstance is a girl allowed to enter the Male restroom. Two weeks detention?" He rubbed his chin with an eyebrow cocked up. "Well, I need not to mention the part about how shameful the news would sound. I know you're a smart girl Miss McCullen, which means your parents will be highly disappointed in you."
"Mr Bradley, I promise you I only said that to tease you. I did not see anything at all." Grace said reassuringly but also shocked to know that he knew her name. "The Discipline Master might be out there, what do I do? I can't go back out there, the punishment is going to be doubled if he sees me coming out of the Male rest—" Before Grace could finish, Mr Bradley had grabbed and shoved her into one of the toilets and almost slammed the door in her face.
Not up to a few seconds passed before Grace heard someone flung the main door opened. She heard Mr Thompson's voice asking Mr Bradley if a female student might've entered into the restroom. But Mr Bradley gave a convincing response and after a while, she could hear nothing more.
"You can come out." Mr Bradley's voice said, and Grace managed to stuck her head out to ensure she was safe before she finally reemerged.
"I can't thank you enough Sir. You saved my life."
"Go back to class." The Biology teacher dismissed without looking at her face.
As Grace walked out of the restroom and took the corner down the hallway, Mr Bradley followed. By the time they both raised their heads to look ahead of them, it was too late. Mr Thompson was standing at the near end of the hallway with folded arms as though he'd been waiting a long time for them to come out.
