Getting his way

Chapter 5

Kate had been in good time, even though they had had their morning shenanigans.

Gunning through the city's streets, she wore a silvery helmet that complimented her silver bike. Both were gifts from Chris, who had, in his words "no intention of seeing her head smashed against the f*****g sidewalk". In the beginning she had been a bit apprehensive of wearing it, but after one of her classmates got a concussion because he got knocked off his bike she'd worn it. She enjoyed the morning workout (second of the day), and the lightweight bike made it all the easier. She had requested a road bike, and he'd obliged, even though he'd fussed about if a cruiser bike wouldn't be more comfortable for her? She smiled slightly at the memory. Twenty minutes later she arrived at the school, tossing her hair as she removed the helmet. It was always good to get a bit of a sweat in, get that blood flowin' and endorphins goin'. Anandamides, she mentally corrected herself. Those 3 years of biology weren't going to waste just yet. Her teacher would probably have been proud. She bit her lip as she closed the helmets straps around the strap of her backpack. Well, not of all what she had been doing. She looked up at the giant clock hanging over the school, noting that she had a couple of minutes before the bell rang. She walked over to the smoking section, where she, to no surprise, found two of her four group mates. "Hi guys!" she said with a smile, though keeping a bit of a distance due to the smoke. They both greeted them with a slight wave, and cut their conversation short. They both liked her, and they weren't exactly good about hiding it. Over the years, she'd gotten that reaction from many - however, the interest usually dwindled as soon as they'd met Chris. He had that reaction on people. Well, she could have her fun. Twirling her hair as they talked about what they were gonna work on today, and what their goals were, they all walked in just before the bell rang.

Only one of the other group mates were sitting in the group room. "Anyone heard from Jonas?" he asked taking a long glance at each of them as they shook their heads no. She'd never liked Jonas, or the guy asking about him - his name was Xander, and the two she'd walked in with were Shane and Jayce. She tried to remember as many names as she could, as preparation for when she'd eventually teach actual classes. For now, anyone she came across were her guinea pigs. As the three newcomers settled in, Xander was clearly agitated. "He could've at least let us know he wasn't coming in. Or am I alone in thinking that?" The three others murmured in agreement, even though Kate felt the attitude was misplaced. "Well, we'll just have to pick up the slack and ask for Charles to remove him from our group. He hasn't showed up for any of our sessions yet, and it seems unfair that we're working our, ahem, behinds off just for him to share in the glory." Kate looked around, as if to check they were all on the same page, but everyone just nodded. It was a mandatory assignment, and they were grouped based on what ages they were studying to work with - no one knew each other that well, except for the smokers. Smoke breaks bring people together, as Kate knew too well.

Xander, who, for some reason or the other, had appointed himself as team leader, cleared his throat and began handing out goals for each person. Kate sorta zoned out, but she was good at hiding it, and at least had the presence of mind to write down what he'd told her to do. At that, they each stuck their heads into their own computers and started working, only pausing momentarily to go for smoke-, water- or toilet breaks. On one of these trips, she discovered, to a small bit of annoyance that she had started her period, and a slightly bigger annoyance when she realized she hadn't packed pads in her bag. Grumbling, she shot Chris a quick text, which he almost immediately replied to.

As she smiled at her phone under the table, Xander cleared his throat. Oh yeah, he'll do well in the upper classes. She sent him a short smile, then c****d her head to the right. "Just had to fix some girl stuff." Xander shuddered. "Can't you do that on your own time?" Kate grimaced as she opened her computer again. "No Xander, I'm afraid I don't control neither the flow of time or the flow of, well.. flow." All the boys shuddered, and she took a short look around the group. "Oh, real mature you guys. You realize you'll all likely have students that will have to attend to these matters, right?" Shocked, she realized that Shane was disagreeing. "My students will be between eight and 14!" As she took out five minutes of their 'busy schedule' to explain how early a period can start (between 10 and 15, usually), for some reason all the guys had to get up for a short walk. She chuckled, and worked on her part again. The atmosphere, thankfully, hadn't been destroyed by it. She assumed they realized she was right. They joked around, and even Xander warmed up a little bit over the course of the day. As she got her next texts, she excused herself again. When she came back, she had Chris with her, and a shirt that was buttoned up crooked, with a slight flush on her cheeks. After that, the atmosphere did take a slight plummet, and even she didn't try to alleviate it. This was the second-to-last time they were going to be doing this, anyway. When the last bell of the day rang, Xander immediately tried to get the smokers to stay, but incredibly they both had places to be, and oh look, they were gonna be late if they didn't leave now! Xander yelled after them, through the door they left opened, that they'd better finish their pieces. Kate smiled and waved at the boys as they left, but stayed behind with the self-appointed leader.

4 PM came and went, and around 4:30 she finally checked her phone. Oh - Chris had texted her hours ago. "So, Xander, how are we getting on?" she asked, putting on her nicest voice. Xander, reluctantly, admitted that he was getting a bit tired. "Well, shouldn't we break up for today, then circle back next time? We can always just send each other our parts. It's no use if our best man can't do his best work." Flattery worked perfectly - he actually thanked her for thinking of how he was feeling, and they walked their seperate ways out of the school.

K: //Sure, if the offer still stands ♡ //