Chemical Attraction (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chemical Attraction Chapter 20

Hello to all my wonderful fans. Thanks for sticking with me during the last couple of months. They've literally been hell as my gran died and I had my A level exams. But I'm back now :) I can't believe I finally reached Chapter 20! 

Hope you enjoy this chapter :) Please comment, vote and fan me if you haven't already. Thanks!

EDIT: Don't know about anyone else, but I've just got this crazy new format for reading (I actually quite like it) and the vote button is now WAAYYY down there at the bottom of the page on the left ;) haha.. anyone want to try clicking it as a test? :P

Chapter 20

The classroom was bustling as I stumbled in, bleary-eyed and over ten minutes late. Somehow I had managed to completely sleep through my alarm, only waking up when the bell for the end of lunch went. I still felt ridiculously tired and my stomach rumbled noisily from missing breakfast and lunch. At least my headache had finally started to wear off.

I squeezed my way through the students, who were armed with lab coats and goggles, trying to find Mr Cooper. At last, I spotted a familiar figure crouching down in a corner, passing out Bunsen burners to a queue of classmates. Quickly, I grabbed myself a lab coat from the rack and a pair of goggles and joined the end of the queue, hoping he hadn’t realised I was late.

As I approached him, we made swift eye contact and surprise flitted across his features.

“I didn’t think you were coming.” He said quietly, appraising me with a cool expression. “You’re very late.”

“I know- sorry.” I hovered beside him awkwardly, waiting for him to pass me a bunsen burner. To my confusion, he shut the door and securely locked it, before beckoning me to follow him to the front.

“I’ve already had the technicians prepare you a different practical- one on the effect of concentration on the rate of reaction.” He explained as he passed me a sheet of paper. “Instructions are on here and all the necessary equipment is in the tray on your desk. If you do need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks,” I smiled at him, but he merely averted his eyes before turning away.

My heart sunk as I remembered how cruel I had been as I ordered him to get out of my life. I had over-reacted and I longed to take back those words. But what was the point now that it was no longer possible to be with him anyway? We had been doomed from the start.

Glumly, I sat down my desk and started to read through the practical. It seemed fairly straight forward, so I simply got on with it, mixing up the different concentrations and measuring the time of the reaction with a stopwatch. It left my mind fairly free to wander, so I whiled away the lesson, day-dreaming about our first kiss. It stung my heart to dwell on it, but it was preferable to anything else; it being the only moment of total bliss in my recent life.

I was so absorbed in my fantasy that I didn’t realise the bell had gone, and that all the students were packing up and leaving. Shaking myself, I hurriedly packed up my equipment, keeping my eyes away from Mr Cooper who was hovering by the door. I could feel his gaze upon me, and no longer bearing it, I sneaked a quick glance in his direction. His expression was torn and filled with hurt, his careful coolness falling away as the last student left the room.

We were alone.

‘Uh oh,’ I thought in a panic. I shoved my pencil case into my bag, slung it over my shoulder and scuttled towards the door, my eyes planted firmly towards the floor.

Suddenly, Mr Cooper’s arm stuck out across the doorway, blocking my exit. I snapped my eyes up and my stomach flipped over as I realised how close our faces were. His eyes were darker than usual, reflecting his sober mood.