Conquer

9 "You shouldn't. It is disturbing."

Our principal was a petite woman in her late 50s with short hairs and glasses.

"Ms White, how are you?" She inquired in a friendly manner.

"Edgy," I murmured, fumbling with my fingers.

"I have a meeting in ten minutes, so I'll make this short. As you are aware of, any kind of recording is prohibited in this school. Hence, the violation against the rule will be chastised. I need you to tell me who may have done this."

"Inni Oh. He did this," I uttered weakly.

She jotted down a note. "I will talk to Mr Oh. Mr Morgan is in charge of the school's homepage. He's currently working on removing all the contents regarding to the video. It will be done by the end of the day. Should there be any further kind of harassment, Mr White, please contact me immediately. You may leave now."

My jaw dropped. I stood up hesitantly. Just as I touched the door handle, the principal called: "And Ms White?"

"Yes?" I turned around tentatively. Crap. I knew she wouldn't let me off the hook so easily.

" 'Talking is silver, silence is golden.' Please keep that in mind. I expect students to have the necessary amount of respect for their teacher." She gave me a final nod.

"Understood, Miss," I obeyed quietly, stepping out of the office. I leaned with my back against the door. My heart thumped ferociously. I took a few deep breaths to gather myself, relieved that I was not further punished.

I inwardly ridiculed Inni. He better came up with something smarter next time. He'd caused himself more harm than me. Anyway, I was gonna stay far away from him, which should be manageable since we only had geography together.

Speaking of, my last class of the day was geography. I made my way to the room, feeling exhausted. I'd already been granted enough attention today. I didn't need any further.

I kept my gaze fixed on the ground as I entered the room. That's why I didn't notice my seat was occupied. Forced to look up, I found the sole free table was right in front of Mr Ragger's. Crap. If that hadn't been premeditated.

I ground my teeth and took the seat. "Good afternoon, Ellen."

I pressed a tight smile. "Mr Ragger, I'm sorry about what I said last week."

" I guess I'll just have to work harder to make my lessons more interesting." He flashed me a smile which should have affected me - it certainly affected other girls - but it didn't. I wasn't into teacher-student-relationship.

"Whether you mean it or not, apology accepted. Now take out your books and pens, please, so you can at least pretend you're interested." Mr Ragger threw me a wry smile.

Tsss ... I wrinkled my nose but did what he asked. Ten minutes into the class the door was kicked open and Jasper leisurely walked in. He looked enticing in his white Shirt with a logo of some band and a pair of faded blue jeans. He handed Mr Ragger a piece of paper. Mr Ragger scanned it, nodded, then directed him to the seat next to me, which, of course, was the only vacant one in the entire room.

For God's sake, I hate coincidences ...

Jasper dropped his bag and lowered down onto his seat. "Can I look into your book? I haven't got around to borrow one from the library yet."

Wordlessly I nudged the book to the middle of the table . He murmured "thanks", otherwise remaining silent the whole time, unlike the first day we met. Occasionally stealing a surreptitious glance at him, I found him being completely focused on the lesson, often raising his hand in order to inquire or to contradict. Moreover, his inputs were actually reasonable and sophisticated. He did not lie about being Mr Ragger's favourite student. I bet he was popular with all teachers.

"Ms Ellen White?"

I woke up from my thoughts, startled. Mr Ragger was looking at me expectantly. "Yes?" I answered tentatively.

He smiled widely, making some girls sigh in admiration. Crap. Get a grip, ladies. Mr Ragger was your teacher, and he had a five-year-old son. Absolutely off-limits.

"Brilliant. Should you have further questions, either email me or stop by my office. Or you may ask Jasper, surely he's more than willing to help."

"Wait-"

"You may all leave now, I've got a conference with other colleagues in five minutes."

In a twinkling of an eye everybody rushed out of the room, including Mr Ragger. I turned to face Jasper, who was sitting with his hands crossed behind his head, wearing an amused expression. I felt the urgent need to slap that off his face.

"Would you please tell me what just happened?" I uttered petulantly.

Suddenly he was merely inches away from me, his thighs touching mine. I could clearly the golden pigments of his blue iris. My breathing involuntarily stopped.

"You've been watching me," he observed quietly. I shivered at the hoarseness of his voice.

"You shouldn't. It is disturbing," he continued. His minty breath brushed my skin. Then he leaned back, commenced packing up while informing me about the presentation Mr Ragger had assigned me to.

"Fuck you," I murmured, stuffing my folders into my bag. That bastard intended to make my life a living hell.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Not you. Mr Ragger," I snorted.

He chuckled, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Hey," he paused in the threshold, "make sure to check out the homepage and let me know if there are anymore inappropriate postings."

"What?" I blurted, confused. But he already left.

_

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