Forbidden Miss Foster

Chapter 30

Kennedy's POV

It's my last class before the end of the day and I'm absolutely starving ; left over hash browns from Sheila (my favourite kitchen lady) in the canteen sounds really fucking good right now.

Sat in the second row , my legs outstretched in front of me with the tip of my pen held between my teeth , I watch intently as Rosie slowly paces back and forth across the front of the classroom. I feel my eyes following her every move , her voice commanding respect and attention as she imparts her knowledge onto the rest of us.

Her hair lays tucked behind her ears , both of her hands sitting deep inside her trouser pockets. Despite everything, I still find myself mesmerised by her.

"Can anyone tell me what we did at the end of last lesson? What policy we reviewed?"

Rosie's eyes scan the room, and her stare is met with the blank expressions of my classmates. I know the answer, we studied the Rome-Berlin Axis for almost an hour last lesson , but I'd rather watch this play out, and so I cease to break the tension building in the room so soon.

Raising her eyebrows , she perches on the front edge of her desk , crossing her arms across her chest and one leg over the other. The look she's giving all of us is nothing shy of intimidating....it's also nothing shy of a turn on.

The kids in the row in front of me are nervously flicking through their notes , feeling the heat of Rosie's glare searing through their foreheads.

"Surely one of you paid attention?" her tongue prods the inside of her cheek in an irritated fashion.

Unlike everybody else in here , who have their gazes fixed determinedly on god knows what , looking sheepishly elsewhere, I maintain eye contact with her. Usually I wouldn't be so brave , but I feel safe in the knowledge that if she picks on me for an answer , I can save my own ass.

Despite this , she picks on a girl in the row behind me.

"Jemima, what policy did we look at last lesson? I talked everyone through it and then you guys wrote a summary of it referencing the green textbook."

I don't turn around , because that would be a bitchy thing to do , but I still can sense the panic emulating from behind me , specifically in the area where Jemima is sat.

"Um..." she pauses for an uncomfortable amount of time, "I can't remember."

I watch as Rosie resists the urge to roll her eyes  , I don't even blame her.

When Rosie teaches , she commands the attention of the room. She paces slowly , methodically , and her utterances are delivered enthusiastically accompanied by the use of her hands. She alters the pitch , tone and the intonation of her voice in order to really hit the message home , making eye contact with each student. For everyone to have simply zoned out during that would be disheartening to say the least.

The room falls silent for several seconds.

"Matthews?"

I take inhale sharply , both noting and admittedly swooning over her use of my last name.

I sit up slightly in my seat.

"We looked at the Rome-Berlin axis" I state.

Rosie nods , "When was it and what did it involve?"

"1936. It was an agreement between Italy and Germany and basically said that they would not compete over territory. Italy agreed to focus on the Med whilst Germany agreed to focus on the Baltics."

She smiles , "Good , well done Kennedy."

Rosie carries on teaching whilst I subsequently sink into my chair with relief.

——

The bell rings and immediately everybody stands up to leave , mindlessly shoving miscellaneous pieces of paper into their bags just to be forgotten about later.

As I'm sliding my laptop into its case , someone sets their hand down on the front of my desk. I look up to see Rosie stood in front of me.

"Can you stay behind?" she asks , in a neutral tone as to give no indication of her reason why.

Her brown eyes focus on mine ; even if I had world-saving plans , I'd probably still abandon them were she to look at me this way.

I nod my head , "Sure."

I watch patiently as the others leave , and when the last of my classmates eventually depart , Rosie saunters over to the door and shuts it. I feel my heartbeat stutter momentarily.

"You feeling okay?" Rosie begins , sitting casually on top of the desk next to my mine , dangling her legs over the side. "You seemed quiet today? The only reason I picked on you for that question was to hear you speak."

I let my shoulders fall , releasing tension I hadn't fully realised was there. "Yeah I'm okay, are YOU okay?"

Rosie smiles inquisitively , "Oh , I'm fine..why'd you ask?"

Sensing the growing ache in my back , I slide my bag off of my shoulders and set it down next to my feet.

"The fact that nobody was answering you during the lesson earlier seemed to really piss you off , not to say that I blame you because I don't blame you at all." I state , with as much empathy as I can muster.

Rosie smiles , looking down at her hands in her lap whilst fiddling with the rings on her fingers. "You'd like to think that as young adults they'd care about their future even a little bit , but I've been teaching for 4 years now , I'm used to it:"

I inhale , parting my lips as I'm about to formulate a reply , but I'm interrupted when the classroom door swings open. Both mine and Rosie's heads whip round to see who walked in.

It's the head teacher. Shit. Not that we were doing anything wrong , but still...shit.

"Mr Brooks.." Rosie greets him , standing up from her seat on the desk. She smiles , "What can I do for you?"

Mr Brooks glances briefly at me before looking back to Rosie , "I didn't mean to interrupt Miss Foster , this can wait." he says with a smile.

Rosie shakes her head , "Give me two minutes and I'll meet you in the office."

Mr Brooks nods graciously and then leaves the room , closing the door behind him. I release a breath I was subconsciously holding , looking to Rosie who seemed to be doing the same.

"Sorry about that." she said , "The reason I asked you to stay back was just to say that you left a few of your things at my house.."

Rosie's voice lowers considerably in volume following that last part.

"I would normally just drive us both back to grab them and then drop you home afterwards , but I have a meeting in 15 minutes which will likely go on for another hour or two."

"I don't need any of it urgently, they can wait , it's okay." I reply.

Rosie reaches into her back pocket and pulls out her house keys.

"If you walk over there now , feel free to let yourself in , make yourself something to eat and I'll drop you home later tonight...does that sound okay?"

I feel a certain warmth appear in the pit of my stomach. I feel guilty for wanting to accept her offer , but I'd honestly appreciate just a couple more hours away from my own home.

"Are you sure?" I ask , not wanting to jump at the opportunity and sound as desperate as I feel.

Rosie smiles , "Yes Kennedy."

"Thank you , I seriously don't know how I'm going to make this up to you." I state , as she places the set of keys gently into my palm.

Rosie shakes her head , "Stop being polite and go!" , she peers over my shoulder and out of the window , "If you leave now you might just escape the rain."