Secret Admirer

Chapter 5

"I really like you. I mean, really like you - you just don't know it yet."

Ethan Miles

The school bell rang and Elise and I walked to class together - Advanced Algebra was one of the few classes we had together. We decided to sit together towards the back of the classroom. A few rows ahead of us were my mates Zac and Jimmy. They've always pressed me to go out with Elise, thinking that we had a 'thing' between us. I always told them to shut up and mind their own business. I'd never really thought of Eli as more than a friend. Plus, I'd had a crush on someone else for a while. I hadn't worked up the courage to ask her out yet. Probably should get things moving in that department I thought. I wasn't too fond of the idea of going to prom on my own.

The teacher Ms Camsboe walked in and the class immediately stopped talking. Everyone was scared of this woman - she was one of those psychopathic teachers who would give out detentions for no reason or get mad when there was so much as a whisper shed in the classroom. Today she wore a long t-shirt dress that had rose patterns printed on it and loafers - the kind of thing you'd expect a really old lady to wear (even thought she's only in her forties). Actually scratch that - my grandma has better fashion sense than her. I couldn't help but smile, amused. Turning to Elise, I said, "Ms Camel Toe really needs to get some new clothes." 'Camel Toe' was our nickname for the Math teacher. Elise burst out laughing and everyone in the class turned and stared at us, including Ms Camboe. "Is something funny?" she asked crankily.

"Um no Miss, nothing is funny," Elise replied, shaking. She hated getting in trouble and making people mad - especially teachers. I knew what was coming next and I started to prepare myself for Elise getting mad at me.

Ms Camboe started laughing. "Well guess what? I think this is pretty funny: both you and Mr Miles have an after-school detention today." Crap, I was right. Elise is gonna be so mad with me.

At the sound of the bell, the class was dismissed and there was a stampede towards the classroom door. Everyone wanted to get out before Ms Camboe could start yelling at someone else. "I'm so sorry Eli, please don't hate me!" I said as soon as we walked out the door.

Elise just laughed - which was really unexpected. "Seriously Ethan? I could never hate you, that joke just made my day!"

Stunned to say anything, I just walked in silence.

"Plus, I'm just glad that my first detention will be with you!"

"So.. you're not mad?" I asked, confused.

"Of course not!"

With that, we had to go our seperate ways - I had History next and Elise had AP English. "See you later!" I said and she waved in reply.

The last session felt like it went on forever. The bell rang and I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally! I thought. School's over and I can go home. Shit. I remembered then that I had to go to a detention with Ms Camel Toe. Oh well. Can't be that bad. Elise was going to be there after all.

Ms Camboe told Elise and I to meet her at her office. When I arrived, Elise was already there, patiently waiting. "Is she here yet?" I asked before taking a seat next to her. "Nope. And she gives everyone else a hard time when they're late." That was true - it was one of the many things that annoyed me. Teachers always got angry when students were late to a class or a detention or didn't hand their homework in. Then they themselves are late or take forever to mark our exams and assignments. Talk about hypocrites.

Camel Toe finally showed up and told us our punishment was to scrape off the gum underneath the desks. Luckily it was only the one classroom we had to do and not the whole school. Still -gross. Also, could this woman get anymore predictable? The witch gave us the equipment - a scraper and a plastic bag each - and we walked over to the classroom. She had us go down to our math classroom - the one where she so joyously gave us the detention a few hours before. Once we were in the classroom and there wasn't a teacher in sight, Elise got out her phone. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm just letting Mum know that I'll be home a little late."

I tutted and shook my head. "Miss Williams - breaking all the rules today."

Once she was satisfied, she put her phone into the front pouch on her bag and closed the zipper. "Let's get to work," she said. I replied with a sarcastic 'yay.'

"Seven done, eight to go," I sighed - there were thirty desks in the class so we were able to evenly split the work load. "How about you?" Elise sluggishly responded saying she'd done five desks.

"Oh, look at this one," she said. "Someone's drawn a penis. Seriously, if you're gonna write a stupid note underneath a desk, at least make it something funny and unexpected."

"Yeah. Something along the lines of: Ms Camel Toe is a stupid psychotic cow." Elise burst out laughing. I could swear her intestines were going to come out of her nostrils.

"What? It's true!" I said, which only made her laugh even more. After about 45 minutes of scraping and reading out idiotic notes written under the desks, we were finally done and were able to go home. It was still warm and sunny outside so once we got in my mustang, I opened the roof. Convertibles were awesome - especially the old vintage ones like my mustang. As we drove off, the wind blew our hair, giving us the feeling of freedom. I looked over to Elise who had a small smile on her face. The ride home was mostly silent, with the only sounds being the rumble of the car's engine and the roaring of the wind.