Skylar • Ethan Dolan

30

My eyes fluttered open, taking a moment to adjust to the light as I began to sit up and stretch. A smile crept up onto my lips, but was quickly replaced by a frown when I heard a voice which was awfully too familiar. It reminded me of what'd happened right before I'd passed out.

Ethan and I were caught.

The congregation of people, including my parents, two policemen, Emma, the principal and last of all, Ethan himself, were stood together, yelling in the centre of the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked, grabbing all of their attention. Oh great, they'd noticed I was awake.

"Oh look who's finally awake," Mother snapped.

"Okay, let's just all calm down for a moment until we sort this out." My dad, being the more level-headed parent, suggested. He placed a hand on my mother's shoulder.

Then one of the policemen stood forward, taking off his hat and placing it beneath one of his arms. "Hello, Skylar, I'm Office Carlile and this is Officer Ashby," He said, referring to the red haired officer behind him. "We're both here today because we have reason to assume that Mr Dolan and yourself have been involved in an illegal relationship."

I scoffed, shaking my head. "What the heck are you talking about?" I was feigning stupidity. It was my only tactic. However, I felt sick to my stomach. This could never end well.

"I think you know fine well what the heck we're talking about, young lady," My mother seethed, looking angry as she practically shoved the hard back book into my face. I quickly grabbed it before it fell to the ground and took on look before I felt tears instantly well in my eyes.

My sketchbook.

As if I was taking far too much time, mother leapt forward and ripped open the book to show me the pages she wanted me to see. I'd drawn Ethan, on several occasions. But the one that she was focused on was the one where he was sleeping, in his bed, with nothing but a sheet to cover his abdomen.

"What the fuck, you went through my bag?!" I screamed. She was such a fucking bitch. She'd never, ever cared to look at any of my drawings for as long as I lived. She absolutely hated the art of drawing.

"You left it at my house!" She said defensively, using the term 'my' to make it clear that I was in fact kicked out.

"I don't fucking care!" I continued to yell. "You could've just thrown it away with the rest of my shit!" This couldn't possibly be happening.

"Calm down, please, Miss Nelson, Mrs Nelson," The principal said. "Skylar, your mother is under the impression that you are in a relationship with Mr Dolan,"

Ethan. I'd almost forgotten that he was in the room, too. I turned to him but he didn't see, as his eyes were glued to the ground. He looked absolutely mortified. This was all my fault.

"Are you in a relationship with Mr Dolan?" Officer Carlile spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Ethan's head snapped up, his gaze catching mine. His eyes were scared and wide. I had no idea what to do now. Yet he was still silent. It was up to me, and I'd promised from the beginning that I wouldn't ever try and purposely get him into trouble, so that's what I'd try to do.

I let out a laugh. It was dry, yet I thought it was fairly convincing. "Okay, you got me," Everyone was looking at me intensely. It was honestly beginning to make me flush. "I have a really big crush on my English teacher."

"That's why you drew him in the nude?" Mother wanted to know, a slight hint of sarcasm to her tone. It would've been impressive if I had even the slightest bit of respect left for her.