Dream Catch Me (Student/Teacher)

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Forty One

Jane's POV

I had to focus back on reality again, and having Joe talk to me at our last meeting gave me some shred, however how small, of hope that he might still like me. On the Thursday morning I woke up early, it was the day before the opening party and there was a buzz of excitement that hung around the store all day; whether it was from Alex, Ellie, myself or curious locals who peered in through the windows.

An early start ensured I would be there for the delivery of all the furniture, although leaving me slightly late for my classes. I had to sign off each delivery as it came, as I was the one who had bought it. Chairs, tables, and various pieces were all delivered within the hour and the whole store was filled with packaging of polystyrene and tonnes of plastic.

I had insisted I stay to help out and unpack everything, but Alex had also insisted I went to school, with Joe. Joe had come over in the morning like I had asked when I last saw him, and helped load off the piece to the shop. I got distracted more than once by the way his biceps flexed under his shirt sleeve, and I almost had to smack myself to stop the thoughts.

"Jane," Alex warned me. "You're going to school. I will unpack everything and put it where you told me." I groaned but Alex held up the map I had drawn him. "I can follow this! By the time you get home, almost all of it will be done and you can help with the final details." I wanted to ensure that everything was in the place I intended it to be, and I felt the next best thing to being there was to draw a map for Alex.

I had drawn where I wanted the modern, square and wooden tables to go, where people could enjoy a coffee, and how many chairs with each table. I had shown him where to put the small couches and armchairs I had bought, but that was only the beginning. I had yet to figure out the way the book store area would be set out; bookshelves and reading nooks. I sighed, realising that Alex forcing me to school was a good thing; I would be able to make a plan with a fresh view and away from the shop.

I felt that sometimes you had to leave something alone and then come back to it for things to fit into the place you need them to; and I felt that could happen with the shop. I was incredibly proud with all we had achieved in just over a week, and I knew it would be a tight finish for the opening party the next night.

Joe was about to leave the shop for his next period class when Alex shouted out to him, "Do you think you can drop Jane off too?" I wanted to smack him right there and then. he was the one who had caused this awkwardness and now he was forcing me to face it. I growled under my breath but was surprised when Joe said, "Sure." We walked out to his car in an awkward silence and continued the silence all the way to school.

It would've been okay if the silence wasn't filled with awkwardness or tension, but because we had both been put under a lot of strain lately the air had been infected. He pulled up to the school, everyone moving around their classes and put the car in park. Not wanting to be rude, I mumbled an audible "thanks," before I jumped out of his car and sprinted off to my class. I never thought I would be sprinting off to class, especially a class with Mr Lewis.

I was surprised. After his note in my locker, I hadn't had anything else or been bothered by him that I had noticed. I had been distracted by my feelings for Joe and I wondered if I had missed anything because of it. I hoped at that point that Lewis was all talk and no action and he wasn't going to pursue his 'promise'. I arrived just in time to class, relief flooded me as I realised I had only just skipped out on a detention with Mr Lewis.

"Good morning," he greeted civilly and gave me a nod. Confusion overwhelmed me and caused me to stop in my tracks and gaze at him. What had just happened? Did he just say something that wasn't threatening? But was it a good thing or a bad thing? I was shunted out of my gaze as someone from behind me pushed me into the class and apologised for being late. I scurried to my seat next to Jaz and looked at her to see if she had noticed anything.

"Did you see that?" I asked her, whispering so no one but the two of us could hear. Jaz shook her head, "I only saw the end bit where you were staring at him. But you should've seen him before you got here! He was pacing and looked nervous. Is something going on?" Her genuine concern almost made me spills the beans, but I remembered the danger I could've put her in and quickly snapped my mouth shut.

"No," I assured her. "He's just acting weird is all." She agreed and glanced back up to where he sat at his desk. I followed her look and looked up to see he was taring at me again. He may seem more nervous than usual, but those unforgiving black eyes still held that mixture of lust and evil that sent a shudder through my body. I tried to focus on my work, but I kept gazing up and finding him staring at me again each time. My body unintentionally shook each time I caught his gaze, and by the end of the lesson he had looked at me so many time I felt as if I were going to throw up.

It wasn't that he was particularly disgusting, it was that horrible look in his eyes that made me wonder what I had missed while being distracted the past week. Ashe sat behind his desk, he looked as if he was lying in wait for someone to walk past so he could pounce on them, but that someone would be me. I managed to leave the class without incident, just one last longing and lustful gaze in my direction.

It was lucky I got out of there in one piece. If we were following the patterns from the last few weeks, it would've been that I was either attacked into a kiss or either one of us ended up on the floor. Jaz linked her arm through mine as we walked off to our next class. "He's a creep, he looks like he wants to eat you." She noted and mock shuddered. I laughed nervously, wondering if she was serious. You can almost bet that she was joking and didn't know what was going on, but there was that small seed of doubt in my mind.

We endured the morning classes with only one run in with Joe. I had almost walked right into him, not looking where I was going and had automatically apologised before I looked up to see it was him."Oh," I said stupidly, letting my mouth gape and hang loose. "Sorry," he mumbled and walked off. I wished he was saying sorry for something else, but from where we were I highly doubted anything would ever happen.

All I knew was that I had my exams in a week and a half, and after then I would work in Walton's and after that I would leave. Well that was the plan anyway. I almost wanted to find my list I had written with my steps to happiness, and write down 'recover from heartbreak' so I could eventually cross it out and be one step closer to my goal.

-

After school , I had filched a ride off Jaz back to Walton's where the empty shell in which is was in the morning had been filled to the brim and transformed. The counter that had been installed in a small kitchen type fashion was fully stocked with mugs, glasses and coffee. Then over to the left was a couple of tables like how I had drawn in the map, and closer to the window is where Alex had placed the couches and armchairs. I almost squealed in delight at the progress made since I left, but a I looked over further to the right, book shelves were gathered together and the boxes of books were stacked high.

"Well, we've got a lot of work to do." A voice said from behind me. I spun on my heel to find Jaz. "You really expect me to just drop you off?" She said before I could ask her what she was doing here. "I wanted to see how it was coming along anyway! It's looking good" she announced and spun around, taking in the whole store. I fished out the map I had drawn in my study period of how I wanted the bookcases and book displays to be. While the two shops had been merged together, there was still two distinctive shop fronts, and I wanted to create an area which still had books and then cafe.

I showed the plan to Jaz and we set about moving bookcases. Several times we had to call Alex over to help us move the heavy shelves into place, but once that was done, we stocked the shelves according to authors last names and different genres. When we had completed one half of the store and it was well into the late afternoon Jaz had to go, saying she had to study. I waved her off but continued to unpack the boxes on my own.

Night fell too quickly, and I didn't stop until all of the books had been stocked. I huffed out a loud breath as I sat down on an empty upturned box and admired my handiwork. "Looks good." Alex affirmed from behind me. "Good job! Now you should go to bed, work on it in the morning instead. I might stay down here and finish a few things, but you go up." I didn't decline his offer and collapsed onto my bed after I had taken a relaxing shower that stung the several paper cuts I had acquired stocking the shelves.

I didn't bother in studying that night, or bother with any homework in fact. I simply crashed and didn't even hear Alex come up after he had finished. Dreams filled with books and pages and pages of words. While filled with stories I couldn't read any of them and all I could see was a background of pages.

-

I woke up knowing that 'today was the day'. While owning the shop and going through the renovation process, I didn't fully feel like it was going to work, but now knowing that the day had finally come it felt more real than before. I jumped out of bed and threw the curtains back, expecting the sun to be streaming through the windows and blinding me. Unfortunately it was raining and dull, with the sky a dark concrete grey, but I had hoped it wasn't foreshadowing anything bad that could happen at the party tonight.

Alex and Wes had been planning it all week and had insisted to keep us out of it, but I had only one request: June would attend. I couldn't wait to see the look on her face, seeing the renovations. My impatience was growing steadily throughout the whole day and I had trouble keeping my attention on my school work. While in Joe's class I could tell he too couldn't stop thinking about it. He was becoming shifty and fidgety while glancing at me throughout the whole period. I felt like he wanted to talk to me, to walk straight up to the front of my desk and just talk. Yet he stayed behind the safety of his desk and kept peering at me.

At one point I looked to him to catch him staring at me with a strange look of regret, from what I could see from the small glimpse I got before he managed to clear his face with the same bored and stern look he had on his face for the past week. It made me angry at first, knowing he wouldn't talk to me unless it really was important. But after awhile, I almost forgot about it, getting fed up with how he made me feel.

Don't get me wrong! Every time he glanced my way or I looked up in the corridor and spotted him, my heart still raced a thousand beats a minute. But every time my heart beat right out of my chest, I cursed myself for the way I felt. It was hard to contain or even forget whenever he was around, but I figured that if he could seemingly do it, then I could too.

In no time at all I was on my way back to the apartment, almost skipping down the street in anticipation for not only the party later on, but seeing the final fruits of our labour in the shop. I didn't want to spoil it, so as soon as I came close to the shop I forced myself to look down at the path. That is until I could no longer contain it.

I looked up.

My heart burst with pride at seeing the beautiful shop in front of me. From the window you could see the perfect balance between coffee shop and book store yet both tied in together to create a sense of a small and cosy space. The sign hung above my head 'Walton's' it read. With seeing the final piece to the puzzle in place, the grin I had been suppressing finally broke free and I let the pride show. I pushed open the door of the shop and the familiar tingle from the old bell rang above me.

The sounds, the warmth, and the smell of books all gave me a sense of home. Knowing that we owned this place and I could effectively come down to the shop at any time I wanted. I would never have to buy another coffee again, and I certainly could just pick up the latest book off the shelf.

"What do you think?" I heard from behind me. Not bothering to turn around I immediately replied with no care as to who would've been listening. "It's amazing! I can't believe it is finally done! All those weeks of planning of actually building. It's right here in front of me, yet I can hardly believe my eyes.." I trailed off in astonishment as I took another look around the shop. The colour of the walls, the clean furniture and the brand knew counter that shone in the warm lights. Each part was a piece that made up the whole shop, and I knew that everything was in place.

"I love it," I whispered under my breath. A chuckle from behind me made me spin around and glare at the person who dared laugh at me for being proud. Alex stood leaning against the wall near the back room that would lead up to the apartment upstairs.

"Well Jane," He started to walk over to me, "We've done it. Just over three months ago we were enemies and I was the worst Brother in the world." Alex looked down as if he was ashamed of the past but looked up as he continued. "But we made it here, a Brother and Sister combo that made a business." Alex's smile lit up the room as he too was bursting with pride. "Put it there!" He yelled loudly and held up his hand for a high five. I laughed and slapped my own hand against his and the sound reverberated through the shop in a satisfying smack. "Now we just need people," I commented in an obvious tone. Alex shoved me lightly for pointing out the obvious.

"The party is at 6, and yes, before you ask; June will be here." Alex held up his hand as I went to remind him of June.

"Good, now we need to scrub up nicely." I commented while looking Alex up and down. He still had old clothes on that had been known as his 'muck clothes' in which he wore around the shop in painting and moving things around. "Well, at least one of us does." I muttered cheekily, earning me a roll of the eyes and another shove.

"Because I know how long girls take to get ready, and we've only got three hours you had better start now."

It was my turn to roll my eyes this time and I did so with such drama that made Alex chuckle but gently nudge me towards the stairs to the apartment. I agreed obligingly and trudged up the stairs quickly. I was still bursting with pride and it grew when I walked in through the door to the apartment. Finally seeing everything come together like I had dreamed was amazing and it helped to take my mind off a few things. But unfortunately, one of those 'few things' would be at the party tonight; Joe.