A Forbidden Finale (Student/Teacher Romance)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

The reason Amber hadn't been at the party and Leon had, it turned out, was because she'd been visiting her parents over the weekend. When I was walking to my lesson with Ethan on Monday, she shoved me into the wall with a menacing glare. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

I blinked, shoving her backwards automatically. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"At this party, apparently you and Leon were hitting it off." She shoved my shoulder and I clenched my fists. The corridor was deserted. "He's my boyfriend you slutty cow."

My eyebrows shot up. "You're hilarious," I barked out a single laugh. "He was draping himself off me all night. I left early because I didn't want to put up with him trying to grope me. Maybe you should be saying this to him and not me." I was leaning forward aggressively by the end, daring her to do anything. This was the first time she'd physically confronted me and I couldn't back down to the challenge.

Amber slapped me. Right across the face as hard as she could and I didn't even have time to retaliate before she'd practically skipped down the corridor. "Don't mess with me. I have status in this school. You're expendable. I will get you if you keep pursuing my boyfriend."

And she disappeared around the corner leaving me stood there in a mixture of shock and anger. The bitch had even split my lip.

Part of me was of the mind to sprint after her, shove her to the floor and give her a good kicking, but the more sensible part remained routed where I was stood. Her threats were no doubt grounded in some real power and I just wanted to stay as far away from the pair of lunatics as possible.

That didn't stop the pain in my lip sending rage rushing through my body, though. My hands were clenched into fists and my toes were curled. I'd never been someone's bitch before and it was the worst feeling in the world.

I was going to have to tell Ethan what had happened. May as well get it over and done with. He'd at least know how to calm me down.

Slipping into the ballet studio, I held the end of my cardigan sleeve to my lip and offered a week smile.

It was the first time I'd seen him since our kiss and I wasn't sure what to expect. Any real reaction was masked by the worry that etched into his features upon seeing my face. "What happened? Did someone hit you?" He brought my hand away from my mouth to see the extent of the damage.

"She only bust my lip, it's not really that much of a big deal." Or maybe I should have stressed it as a bigger deal because having Ethan this close to me again was wreaking havoc with my insides. If he ever let us dance together again I probably wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.

"Amber did this?"

"She got whiff that I'd been trying to steal her boyfriend, apparently. I did let her know that he'd been the one practically falling into me all evening."

"You have to tell someone." Ethan rested his hands on my shoulders. "She can't get away with doing that. It's assault."

"Her slap came with some very real threats," I waved off his concern. "So I'd rather just accept it and get on with my life. Hitting someone isn't the end of the world. I've hit plenty of people and never gotten any repercussions. This was probably some karma."

"I'm still your teacher. I'm still supposed to be looking out for your best interests."

"It's in my best interests to keep my head down and get to the end of the year. I'll be going home for Christmas in less than two weeks and I'll get a break from everything. I don't want to rile Amber up even further, it's not worth it. She knows people, her parents probably donate huge sums to the school or something. I don't want to make it into something more."