Sorry for the late update. You deserve a long chapter, so here you go ^-^ picture showing Colin Firth as Mr Wilson. Don't forget to comment and vote please.
"I friggin' hate Mondays," muttered Sadie against her pillow as her alarm woke her up for school. She closed her eyes just to get some extra minutes of sleep, but soon heard Liz asking her if she were getting ready. "Yes," she replied, still in bed with her hair all messed up and wearing her PJs. "I'll be right down."
Getting up from her bed, she opened her closet and decided to wear her brand new classic blue jeans. Sadie usually hated wearing new clothes to school, for she felt that it would be a waste of amazing outfits for such a boring place; but today was different. She wanted to impress everyone around her.
She wanted to show them she wasn't that nerdy girl who does not know anything about fashion. Classic jeans never go out of style (pun intended, Swifties) therefore she thought it would be safe for her to wear it. After going through all her clothes, Sadie then chose a plain white sweater with 'London' written on it.
After taking a quick shower and putting getting into her bathrobe, Sadie went to back to her connected bedroom and put all the books which she needed that day into her backpack. She also did not forget to include her make-up bag; her father still had no idea she was wearing make-up to school. Sadie had no idea if he would allow it or not, but she wouldn't risk mentioning it to him. Liz had also sworn not to tell him or anyone else, as she would never get her into trouble.
Finally, she was all dressed up and ready, so Sadie went down to the dining room to grab something to eat. Her father, who was ready to leave, frowned when he saw that she still needed to have breakfast. "Sadie, what took you so long?" he sighed, placing his black leather briefcase on the dining table and resting his hands on it.
"Sorry, Dad," she apologised. "How about a waffle-to-go, Liz, please?"
Mr Wilson's face relaxed as he forced a smile and suggested, "Maybe we could grab a coffee before school instead, if that's alright, Sadie."
His daughter looked as pleased as ever as her face was glowing with a tender smile; it had been ages since her father had taken her out for coffee - probably before he was elected mayor, "Family time?" she said softly, keeping herself from shedding tears of joy.
"Yes, my dear," he smiled. It had also been a very long time since she had seen him look happy. It defined his handsome facial features, which had started to look dull and stressed for the last couple of years.
On their way to the cafeteria, Sadie examined her father; he was still quite handsome for his age. Being a Jane Austen addict and admirer, he reminded her of Colin Firth, who had played Mr Darcy in 1995. Mr Wilson had his same brown curls and stunning eyes. She wished she looked more like him, but knew she was the exact clone of her mother. "Dad?"
"Yes?" he asked, focusing on the road. Although Mr Wilson was the mayor of Yorkwood, he refused to have his own driver and preferred to drive himself everywhere using his personal car. This would lessen the town's expenses and the people's gossip, he hoped.
"Have you been avoiding me because I look like Mum?"
Her father suddenly lost control of his vehicle and took an emergency brake as a safety measure. All the cars behind them honked the horn non-stop while some even cursed loudly out their car windows.
Mr Wilson closed his eyes for a couple of seconds as he took a deep breath then looked over at Sadie making sure she was not injured. Although looking paler than usual, Sadie was fine, so he decided to carry on driving and not reply to her previous question, which he had found quite shocking.
After finding a good parking spot at a local cafeteria which had been open for as long as Sadie could remember, Mr Wilson parked his car and made sure it was locked before they walked to the entrance. People seemed to enjoy robbing cars these days; they would break the glass or pick the lock and start the car. Not that he cared about his car - but he did have some important paperwork on the back seat in his briefcase.
Mr Wilson and Sadie found an empty sitting booth and waited for a person to take their orders. Everyone around them suddenly whispered to each other and even pointed at Mr Wilson. One woman said, maybe a little to loudly, "Oh, look! The mayor's cheating on his wife with a minor - shame on him."
Another replied, "But I thought his wife passed away a couple of years ago? Or maybe they're separated - I don't know."
Sadie remembered what it was like to be in the spotlight. People kept forgetting that the mayor of the town had children of his own and that sometimes - just sometimes - he took them out to have breakfast. Suddenly, she did not feel hungry anymore; she just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. But her father would never allow that.
"What are you thinking?" She heard her father inquire after silence filled the room. "Is something bothering you?"
A waiter - who seemed a bit too excited to meet the mayor - took their order and silence followed. However, Sadie's thoughts were interrupted as soon as her father placed his hand on hers, since she was resting it on the table separating them. She gasped and stared at him blankly until she opened her mouth to say, "Doesn't all this bother you?"
Mr Wilson raised an eyebrow not understanding what she was referring to. But as soon as Sadie rolled her eyes at the people gossiping about them a few feet away he chuckled.
"I had to get used to it, love. People will always say stuff about you; you will always be judged and there will always be rumours, especially when you're in the limelight like us. My advice is this: don't ever ever let these judgements - or rumours - define you. Do you understand?"
Flashes of the bullying at her school reminded Sadie of the several times she was called a 'slut' or a 'snob'. She realised that none of these two terms defined her character as she was quite the opposite. Sadie would never let these words reflect her behaviour.
"Yes, Daddy," she assured her father, as he squeezed her hand tighter and ignored all the comments around them.
After they finished their iced lattes and Mr Wilson took a couple of pictures with the same people who were gossiping about him a couple of minutes before, he paid the bill and drove Sadie to school.
Sadie barely had enough time to run to the toilet, let alone apply her usual make-up routine. Instead, she ran to her first lesson and chose a seat right in front of the teacher's desk. This way, she would not hear the other students at the back call her names; and also so she would get a better view of her history teacher.
Mr Cooper was not the school's favourite teacher although it was only his second week working there. True, he was admired by the girls because he was the new, handsome teacher. However, he was soon hated because of the interesting way he punished his students. One would not expect such a good looking teacher to even punish girls; but he did he did he enjoyed it. He assigned long presentations or complicated essays to those students who were cheeky or bothered him during his classes.
As soon as Sadie leaned to open her book bag to get out her writing pad and pen, Mr Cooper walked into the classroom straight to the teacher's desk.
Looking around the classroom, he noticed that Sadie was the only student so far. He leaned on his desk in front of her and crossed his arms. Mr Cooper's smirk turned into a sweet smile as he said, "So, how do you like my classes so far, Miss Wilson?"
Sadie blushed and looked away as she played with her fingers. "Um, I like them because I like dates." She blushed even more upon realising what she had just said to her teacher. Then, she covered her mouth and shook her head disbelievingly. She meant historical dates! Why did she always have to embarrass herself in front of cute guys? What will he think of her now?
Mr Cooper chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you meant 'history', Miss."
"I did," she replied, gaining some confidence. "But history equals dates, right?"
Mr Cooper smirked but, when he was about to reply, a student joined them in the room. Only a couple of seconds later, other students came in for their history lecture. He sighed and searched for his leather bag, which he had not even opened yet. As he was looking for his whiteboard marker, he saw a redhead student walking towards Sadie. From the corner of his eye, he saw him kissing her cheek and he immediately looked away.
"Thank you for letting me stay last Saturday, Princess," he told her.
Mr Cooper walked towards the whiteboard and wrote 'The Reign of Terror', as he heard Sadie reply, "No problem at all - it was awesome."
Drew sat down close to Sadie and took out his notepad and writing stuff. They smiled at each other as he said, "You look really nice today, girl; what's the effort?"
Suddenly, they heard someone clear his throat loudly, and realised that it was Mr Cooper. Drew smiled at him sheepishly, while Sadie did her best to avoid the teacher's beautiful eyes. "Tell me, Drew," started Mr Cooper with a smirk. "What do you know about the 'Reign of Terror'?"
The class went silent as everyone gaped at Drew. They knew what would follow if he failed to answer correctly. Mr Cooper was the strictest teacher in Yorkwood High, although he was the most recent one to be given a teaching job there.
Usually new teachers were naive and too nice - but not Mr Cooper. He punished students for speaking without raising their hands during lessons; for negative comments about other students - especially Sadie; not answering questions correctly; or if he just didn't like someone. Drew happened to be on his bad side, for some reason.
'What the heck is that?' thought Drew, referring to the 'Reign of Terror'. He glanced at Sadie, who was looking at him, probably hoping he would know the answer, since she was a history geek. He should know these things, for goodness' sake! How could he impress Sadie if he didn't know one bit about history?
"Drew," smirked Mr Cooper as he leaned on his desk and crossed his arms once again. He seemed to be enjoying this. Drew immediately shifted his gaze at the teacher and Mr Cooper continued, "I'm talking to you, not Miss Wilson. But it seems that I'm not getting an answer from you - haven't you been reading the papers I suggested last week? You had a whole weekend to do this!"
Sadie sighed and looked at Mr Cooper, who returned her gaze. Their eyes connected for a couple of seconds but she then looked away. No teacher had ever treated Drew in this way before, especially in her presence. She wanted to help him and avoid him getting punished, so Sadie opened her mouth and said, "Sir, I can help Drew."
Mr Cooper's expression was serious and encouraged, "Go on."
Sadie gulped and began, "Well, it is part of the famous French Revolution. But now, people in authority, who were under Robespierre's rule, were accusing anyone who disagreed with their ideas of treason. All these were executed using a guillotine, however the first victim would be the Queen."
Mr Cooper stared at Sadie in amusement. Tension filled the room as everyone was now expecting the teacher to give Sadie some feedback. Drew smiled to himself, hoping that he had bypassed a punishment from Mr Cooper. He had never been in trouble at school before. Addressing Sadie, Mr Cooper said, "See me after class."
Sadie's face went pale as she replied, "Yes, Sir."
"And Drew," he continued. Drew looked up at him. "Tomorrow I want a two thousand word paper about the 'Reign of Terror.'"
After the lesson, Sadie collected her stuff and tried to avoid seeing Mr Cooper, not after he treated Drew in that manner. She mumbled a 'thanks' to him, hoping he would have forgotten about their meeting by now, but he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "I thought I told you to see me after class."
This was followed by mumbles and comments around the class. Some suggested that she was in huge crap, while others thought he would try to seduce her. Drew looked up at Sadie and the teacher, feeling guilt rush over him. It was all his fault. She had only been trying to help a friend. Didn't this teacher have any feelings?
"Oh," she murmured. "Sorry, I forgot. I'll wait here."
"Sure, you did," he smirked, as he collected his stationery in a pencil case while the other students started leaving for their next class. He saw Drew grabbing his stuff and leaving, so he decided to remind him about his punishment, "Don't forget about the paper I mentioned earlier."
Drew did not answer, but nodded hurriedly and rushed out of the classroom. As the rest of the students left, Sadie's heart started beating faster. She was scared of getting into trouble. It would make her father so upset, for she had never gotten a detention before.
"Geez, don't teenagers close doors anymore these days?" Mr Cooper mumbled as he rushed to the door, closing it. He then turned to Sadie, exhibiting a smile and walked to her. "Sorry about that," he added.
As he sat down at his desk, Mr Cooper started, "Miss Wilson, I'm really impressed at your - um - appreciation for history."
Sadie relaxed and walked towards her desk, placing her bag on top. She turned to him and replied, rather shyly, "Thank you."
Mr Cooper rested his cheek on his right arm and continued to inquire, "What made you so interested in history?"
"My mum used to own huge collections of historical fictions so, at a younger age I read them all," she opened up. "Then I got interested in the real thing since they're not always accurate."
Mr Cooper smiled and nodded at her. "That's all I wanted to know for today."
Sadie thought this meeting a good opportunity to help her friend so she asked, "Why did you punish Drew? He didn't do anything."
He seemed to be thoughtful for a minute, but soon replied, "I know," Sadie raised an eyebrow, forcing him to elaborate his answer. "I have to show him who's boss, don't I?" Sadie crossed her arms, and jumped when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, as a woman in her early twenties entered the room. "I'll give you a late pass, Miss Wilson."
Sadie took the pass which Mr Cooper handed her and started walking out of the classroom. Soon enough, she knew the lady waiting inside the room had given her a death stare and hated her guts.