*old version* In These Arms

Chapter 21 *pic of Mr Collins*

Bella was sitting in the library the next day finishing up some last minute homework, honestly she was happy to get away from everyone. Hardly nobody ever visited the library which was the way she liked it, it was the only place in this school where she could disappear. Hiding away wasn't the answer, she knew that, but right now she didn't care. The relationship she had with Liam was tarnished for good and there was nothing she could do to mend it. She had made a complete fool of herself yesterday, how could she take that back? Not only did she let herself down, but so did he. For the first time since she had known him, he disappointed her. So why did she miss him so much?

"Bella," she heard, making her head shoot up.

"Hi, Mr. Collins," she smiled weakly.

"Last minute homework?" he asked, pointing towards the papers in front of her which just so happened to belong to his lesson.

"Uhh..."

"Was the assignment I gave you too hard?"

Bella stayed silent for a minute before jerking her head back towards him, "No," she muttered, there was no point in lying she already had a week of detention to look forward to. "So I guess this means another detention right?" she sighed defeated.

Bella stayed quiet and was a little surprised when he took a seat next to her. Great she thought, what lecture am I gonna hear now?

"Well, I guess that depends on what excuse I'm about to hear."

Bella leaned back in her chair and stared at her hands in her lap. "Actually, I don't really have one, sorry," she replied quietly.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he nodded his head and leaned forwards, his arms resting on top of the table. "High school," he started. "A pain in the ass huh?"

Her head shot back up in surprise making him chuckle. "I hated every second of mine," he continued. "Couldn't wait for it to be over!"

"And yet you became a teacher?"

Mr Collins chuckled to himself, "Pretty hypocritical right?" he replied, making her smile. "College was the high point of my life."

"Is that when you decided to teach?" she asked.

"No, that's when I fell in love," he stated, looking over at her. "You know Bella, people are always going to talk, they might not know all the facts, hell none of it could be true, but if that's the only good thing going on in their sad little lives, then you may as well give them something good to talk about," he smiled kindly.

Bella smiled back, not sure whether to feel embarrassed or not that he had probably heard the rumours himself, though from what he was saying she felt like a part of him knew it was a lie.

"By the way, I had a word with your science teacher, he's giving you a warning this time, let's not have a repeat, ok," he told her.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do that."

"Just make sure that paper is finished and on my desk by the end of the lesson ok," he said, standing up. Bella nodded her head with a smile.

"Mr Collins," she called out before he walked away.

"Yes?"

She looked down nervously before asking, "Would it be asking too much if maybe you could help out Liam as well? It wasn't his fault, he was only sticking up for me."

"I can't do that, after all he was the one who started the fight," he noted.

"Right," she nodded.