Chapter 15

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I leaned my chin onto my thumbs so that my nose was buried between my hands as I stared at the empty classroom in front of me. I had been trying to brush off being upset with Ben, but I couldn't seem to let it go... The more I thought about it, the more I thought about him being awkward at the mention of Sergio, the more suspicious I got. I sighed finally deciding to call Alex. If he knew anything about what Ben was hiding, I was going to trick him into telling.

I grabbed my phone and I began scrolling to his number but I stopped when someone entered the classroom. I looked up and raised my brows surprised to see Stanley.

"Are you okay?" I asked glancing at the cup he held in his hand. Whatever he usually did during recess, he made sure I couldn't find him because even when I went looking I never ran into him outside the class he had with me.

He gave a nod before he walked over to me and placed the cup on my desk. I looked down and chuckled. The smell of the steam that the cup was letting off told me it was hot chocolate.

"You snuck out of school to get me this?"

"No, I just walked out. It's really easy to get out of this place." He replied. I laughed agreeing.

"Thanks, Stan." I said wondering where he got money for it but deciding against asking. Though it did make me wonder how he got money for alcohol and cigarettes as well. Savings? From where? "Do I look wrecked?" I asked as I looked up him and he gave a nod with a smirk.

I chuckled at his honesty as the bell rang and took a sip of the drink.

"Please try not to start anything with Aaron today."

"You're just going to assume that I start it?" He asked.

I gave him a flat look and he chuckled making me smile.

"It's not my problem if he gets ticked off by my presence." He said, my face didn't change and he rolled his eyes, "I'll try." He walked over to a canvas and sat down behind it.

I got up grabbing my cup and walked to the back of the classroom, past all the desks and waited for everyone to file in and take their seats as I drank my hot chocolate. I stopped when I saw writing on the side of the cup and fixed my eyes on it as I drew it back from my face. 'Sorry about yesterday.' It was written in a terrible handwriting and I looked past the cup at Stanley who was focused on his sketch pad and didn't glance my way before I chuckled and drank some more. When the class was filled I told them what we were doing. It was an abstract lesson where they could do anything as long as it depicted what we had learnt abstract was based on previous lessons.

The class got shockingly quiet very quickly as everyone focused on their work. I loved letting the kids do what they wanted, they got so absorbed in it some of them never even heard the bell ring. My eyes shifted to Stanley who had moved away from his canvas and was sitting on the floor leaned against the wall with headphones on his ears, his feet on his chair. His canvas was in front of him blocking him from being seen by most of the class as he focused on the sketchbook on his lap.

My eyes shifted towards the front of the class and I raised my brows seeing Emily draw charcoal across her canvas, creating something that looked strikingly similar to the boy sitting on the floor across the room. I watched her glance by her canvas before she proceeded to add more detail. She was doing the opposite of what I had instructed them to do, which was unusual for her. She was second in most classes, first in others, always competing against Aaron for no.1 in academics. The good, quiet girl was attracted to the bad boy. I thought that only happened in teenage romance novels and movies. Maybe I should tell her to back off, because despite knowing Stanley had so much hidden in him beyond that cold, angry exterior I had to protect her from what would happen to her feelings if she let them grow more. Stanley didn't seem the least interested in anyone romantically. He didn't even seem interested in making friends with anyone in this school.

My eyes skimmed over the rest of the class and I smiled watching a few kids whisper to their friends or Aaron and his friends showing each other their canvases and either commenting on how good it looked or breaking out into soft laughter in reaction. Aaron glanced toward Stanley and his smiling eyes instantly turned to an angry glare, his jaw clenching. It was really weird for me to see him this agitated and angry so often. I looked at Stanley to see him respond to Aaron's glare with a smirk before he looked back at his drawing. I glanced back at Aaron to see him looking angrier than he had before. Stan really did know how to tick him off, and the funny thing was all he had to do was look at Aaron.

I sighed at the thought of having to deal with the two of them for the rest of the year. I really couldn't see myself having the energy for it...

The class ended and everyone began handing in their work. Stan was the last to walk towards me with a page in his hand.

"I'll walk back." Stanley said as he handed me what he had drawn. I looked at him. "I'm not going to smoke until my lungs give out and stay at a club all night, I just want the air and you have a meeting. I'll be there when you get there." He said.

"Be careful." He chuckled. "I'm serious." I frowned.

"Can I have the keys?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah." I handed him my keys to our house, "How do you even get in clubs?" I frowned.

"What? Clubs? Who said anything about clubs?"

"Stan." His reply to my growling his name was a smile before he left and I grinned after him.

I attended the staff meeting which lasted 30 minutes over our set schedule of one hour pissing almost everyone off as only two people in the meeting really insisted on trying to convince us that a juggling competition would better everyone's school spirit and raise funds while the rest of us disagreed with the idea.

When the meeting was finally over, I made my way to my classroom to collect my bags and realised I had forgotten my phone on my desk, luckily my door had been locked. It began ringing almost immediately after I picked it up and I stared at the screen before I gave a sigh. He isn't going to stop. One of the few things Alex and I have in common is persistence when we've set our mind to something.

I frowned answering the call.

"What, Alexander?" I asked, my tone blunt. He was silent and I gave a humourless chuckle, "You didn't expect me to answer?"

"No... I mean – yeah, I didn't." He said.

"What do you want? Wait. I have a question." I said.

"You – you do?" He asked sounding sceptical. Alexander was pretty easy to trick, he had been since we were kids. I was hoping I could play this out well enough, even though I felt bad for messing with him. He owed me for keeping the drug thing from me though, didn't he? Here goes.

"Ben and Sergio. Did you know?" I asked hiding my nervousness. What if I was wrong? Oh well. He was silent and I froze. "You knew..." I mumbled lifting my hand to cover my mouth in shock more at the fact that I was right – or at least it seemed that way – than to help with my accusatory acting.

"Jordan, it – it was nothing. Sergio said that to me. It was just – a spur of the moment thing, Ben was drunk and he backed off when Sergio cut it off."

I stared at the door happy that it was shut as I felt my chest tighten and my throat dry up.

"What are you talking about?" I asked stunned. Alexander was silent for a few seconds as he figured out that I had tricked him before he spoke.

"It was just a kiss... It was a mistake." He said softly, "Jordan, I spoke to them, it was just a kiss." He said.

"Just a... to Sergio?" I asked softly, my voice couldn't seem to go higher.

"To – to both of them. Listen, Jordan. He slipped up, oaky? It happens. Ben loves..." His voice drowned out as I moved the phone from my ear and placed it beside me on the desk. I didn't even hang up. The conversation didn't seem real to me...

I had thought about it, but I didn't think it could be true, I didn't think either of them would do something like this. Was it just a kiss? Why didn't he tell me about a random drunken kiss? I would have been pissed, obviously... Was there more to it? Something they hadn't even told Alexander? Just a kiss couldn't be why Ben thought this needed to be hidden so badly and why Sergio seemed weird when I met him.

There was more to it.

I just didn't know whether I wanted to ask Ben about it or just leave without an explanation. I was tired of the lying.

I cleared my throat before sighing. No, I'll ask. For the small part of me that still had hope that nothing happened beyond a kiss. I would talk to him about it.

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