Imperfect Match (Student/teacher romance)

Chapter 18 - Lose Yourself

JENNA'S P.O.V.

Had it not been for my father's absence and my mother's excessive drinking, then the next few weeks of my life would have been perfect. I was now living at Oliver's house, Julian had become my confidante and of course, I got to see Trevor every single day.

"Why do you spend so much time with our English teacher, Jen?" Cam asked, as we carried our lunch trays to a table.

"Extra tutoring." I said calmly. I had used this lie so often now, it came out as a force of habit whenever Mr Wyatt was mentioned.

"You seriously can't be that bad at English. You could always just use the cheat sheets Mikey gives us!" He snorted, waving papers in front of my face.

"The cheat sheets he gives you." I laughed, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

Cam shook his head and began to shovel noodles into his mouth like his life depended on it. I laughed and gazed around the bland cafeteria only to find myself being stared down by Chelsea and her mindless minions, Penelope and May, as they strutted towards our table. I rolled my eyes and turned away, hoping that they would pass but there was a ringing clatter and sure enough I saw a pair of professionally manicured hands had slammed their tray on our table to gain our attention.

"What do you want?" Cam spat, his voice muffled by the noodles still in his mouth.

I expected Chelsea to cringe or scowl or show some sign of disgust at Cam's lack of table manners but she merely looked at him. There was something in the way that she looked at him that struck me as odd. She looked nervous.

"The Winter Formal's this Friday.." she said coolly.

"I knew that, thanks." Cam muttered harshly.

I looked between them awkwardly, There was no denying Cam disliked her, and I had always thought it was mutual but the way she watched him as he picked at his food, as if it were the most interesting thing she'd seen all day, made me wonder. She chewed on her lip, turning to her friends for help but they were too self involved to even notice.

"And I don't have a date yet.."

"No surprises there."

I coughed and spluttered as I tried to gulp down my drink and laugh at the same time. Chelsea glared at me and Cam grinned, content that I appreciated his joke. Chelsea's hands balled into fists, I could almost hear her grinding her teeth.

"I'm asking you, you git!" She yelled.

Cam dropped his fork onto the table, his eyes widening, his jaw hanging open in complete shock. The look on his face was priceless but Chelsea's seemed even more so. She smiled, not in a smug way or an arrogant way, but in a relieved sort of way and I never thought I ever related to her more. That feeling. It was an amazing feeling, like an immense weight was lifted off of your shoulders, or like the millions of uncomfortable butterflies fluttering in your stomach just flew away.

"What?" He managed to say incredulously.

"Great! Pick me up at six." She said, beaming. "Hey, Jenna."

I watched as she turned, completely forgetting her lunch still sitting on our table, and pranced away happily. As soon as she was out of sight, I turned to see Cam still looking completely dumbstruck and burst out laughing. He scowled, crossing his arms.

"Shut it. I'm not taking her!" He snapped.

"Oh, yes you are." I said, jabbing him with the spoon on Chelsea's tray, "She asked you, you said yes-"

"I didn't say yes!"

"Well, you didn't say no."

He glared at me before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Fine! Who are you going with then!"