Tamper

Chapter 16

It was an ordinary, spring day when it all finally went to hell.

Liam knew he should not have become comfortable. He knew that it couldn't be as easy as that - getting to keep his job, while still being able to be with Zayn. It felt too good to be true. Turned out that it was.

Liam was in his class after school, in no big hurry to leave. It was a Wednesday and although the term was almost over, the work continued to pile up. The school aggregate had dropped and Dunne wasn't pleased. If parents were paying extortionate school fees for their children to attend McEllan, said children should be guaranteed entry into top universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Hell, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were certainly not out of the question. The McEllan stamp of approval meant guaranteed admission. Or, it once had.

The current Year 10s were struggling to complete the course, the Easy A of yester-year almost seeming like a dream. And, upon Dunne's request, he was shuffling marks to struggling students, giving them an extra push where needed. It was a dirty business, but he had no room to disagree.

His classroom door opened and he heard lone twin footfall signalling someone was walking down the hall. He sipped his now cold coffee and looked up expectantly. When Zayn appeared, Liam smiled, putting down his mug.

"Aren't you supposed to be in study hall?" Liam asked when Zayn walked in.

"I'm bunking off. I told Mr Richard I wasn't feeling well and needed to go take a lay down. He said I could leave." Zayn pushed the door shut and reached for his tie, tugging it loose. He looked happy; he had a bounce in his step and his hair was dishevelled as if he had run to the Phypher Building. The blazer was next, shrugged off and thrown on a random desk. "As you can see, I'm fighting fit."

Zayn was grinning as he reached to unbutton his school shirt. Liam watched in bemusement. Zayn had always been so serious, with a heaviness to him, and Liam didn't want to break the spell. He got up from his chair and went around his desk, meeting Zayn in front of the class.

"As much as I'm enjoying this striptease, we can't," Liam said.

"Ever since the Ritz, I've been fantasizing about us doing it in class." Zayn reached for Liam's trousers. "How about we turn the fantasy to reality?"

Liam caught Zayn's hand just before it grazed his groin. He brought it to his lips, placing a kiss to each of Zayn's fingers. In between the kisses, he spoke.

"Zayn, I will love you until there's no air left in my lungs. Anything you want, I will try to give to you. But we can't do this here." In his classroom. Like a parody of the totally illegal sex he'd had with Louis.

"I don't want to cheapen us like that. We're better than this." Liam pressed Zayn's hand to his chest, right over his heart, drawing Zayn in for a lingering kiss. "Go to your room, touch yourself, and think about me," he whispered when he pulled away.

Zayn laughed. "If you insist."

He walked to the desk and picked up his blazer, shrugging it on. Next was his tie. When it was pulled on straight, Zayn winked at Liam and walked out. Liam watched him disappear before he sat down at his desk to finish the mark reallocation exercise. He was in such a good mood that some lucky student went from having a D to a B+.

***

The good mood barely lasted ten minutes.

He heard stomping footfall down the hall. Someone threw his classroom door open. Liam looked up.

"Alice, what's wrong?" Liam asked when she slammed the door close behind her, stalking towards him. Her blue eyes blazed, her pale blonde hair fanning out over her shoulders. In her right hand, she held a stack of papers. She threw them on his desk.