Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)
Chapter 35: Senior Year

Chapter 35: Senior Year 

EMMA’s POV :

"Can you believe it? We're officially high school seniors,"

Carrie exclaimed as we walked down the long hallway and rows of lockers.

"l suddenly feel so old,"

Mark said as he put his arm around Carrie.

"I think I'm having senioritis already,"Tiff added, rolling her eyes.

"Look alive, Tiff.College applications are coming up,"Carrie said.

"I’m not gonna go to college.I'm taking a gap year to backpack across Europe,"Tiff announced proudly.

"Are you really?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"My parents think it's a good idea.This way I can figure out what I really want in life.I also have an auntthat lives in Barcelona.She’s gonna let me stay with her,"

"Wow, your parents are the best,"I admitted.

Tiff really had the coolest parents out of all of us.

They were these vegan, hippie, and earth loving type of folks.

They were always happy, positive, and Zen.

They encouraged their kids to explore and live life boundlessly.

I would say they did a great job because Tiff turned out to be an amazing girl.

"God, I wish I could do that.My parents would never let me,"Carrie sighed.

"Me too.They‘re dead set on sending me to college ever since I was two.When I told them UC Berkeleyis my first choice, they actually laughed at me.They said UC Berkeley's a safety school.They don’t wantanything less than Ivy Leagues or MIT and Stanford,"

Mark rambled about his home life.As student body president, his whole life was dedicated tocollege.This was his moment.

"My parents met in Berkeley,"Tiff cut in,

"What, your parents don't think UC Berkeley is good enough for you?"

"Clearly, you've never met my parents,"he replied.

"Yeah, and trust me, it’s better that way,"Carrie scoffed ,

"They actually think that I was the one that poisoned Mark into wanting to go to UC Berkeley,"

"But it’s kinda true though? Mark’s only applying to Berkeley because you wanna go to Berkeley," Ipointed out the obvious and Carrie glared at me.

"Yeah, but that’s not the point now is it?"

Carrie slapped my arm playfully and I laughed.

"How about you, little miss perfect attendance? You thought about where you're applying to?"

"A bunch of schools in the east coast.And like, one school in the state,"

I sighed when I remembered I had to apply to one, "Safety net,"

"The east coast? Like what?"Mark asked.

"Some schools in New York like the CUNYs, Fordham, Barnard, and Columbia.Also Princeton andUniversity of Pennsylvania, but I wouldn't count on those,"

"Why not? You're definitely Ivy League material,"Carrie stated.

"Yeah.You scored a 1500 on your SATs, your grades are amazing, and you did a bunch ofextracurricular activities,"Tiff added.

"And teachers love you.I bet they'll write you a kickass recommendation letter,"

Mark chimed in.

"Yeah, I bet,"Carrie laughed meaningfully.

"Teachers totally do love you,"Tiff winked and nudged me to the direction of a teacher that was walkingtowards us.

"Guys, stop it,"I shushed them quickly as Mr.Hayes walked over and nodded to us. Mark still had noclue and I intended to keep it that way.

"Hi, Mr.Hayes,"Tiff and Carrie said in unison.

"Carrie, Mark, Tiffany,"he greeted everyone, pausing for a second before giving me a look and said,"Emma,"

He was eyeing me from head to toe.He bit his lip as he noticed how short my skirt was.He narrowedhis eyes at me, but I just gave him a confident smile.

"Hi,"I said.

"Have a great first day,"he meant to say it to everyone, but his eyes were fixed intently on mine.

Tiff and Carrie were having a hard time suppressing their laughs.

"You too," I muttered quickly.

I had one hand shoving Tiff and Carrie to keep them quiet.

My friends were making this situation awkward as hell, but lan was unfazed by everything.

Instead, he let out a small chuckle and leaned closer to me.

"Good job on your art portfolio, by the way,"he said slowly.

My breath hitched as soon as I caught his delicious masculine scent.

"Five out of five," Damn.

Even his smell is contagious.

His lips twitched into a naughty smirk as he knew the effect he had on me.

He nodded goodbye to my friends one last time before turning to his heels.

I couldn't stop watching him as he walked away, all cool and sexy AF.

I thought senior year was gonna be a breeze.

I had finished my AP Art class so I had no other classes with lan.

How foolish of me to think that things wouldn't be awkward with us in the same school.

Because of course, he wasn't gonna let me off so easily.

And boy, do I like it.

I had a free period today after lunch, so I decided to meet Mrs.Ash, our guidance counselor for somewisdom in regards to my college future.

Mrs.Ash was a small red- haired woman in her sixties.

Every year she said she was retiring, but she never did.Her office was this small square room with adesk in the middle.

She had all these motivational posters on the wall with cliché quotes such as, ‘The Only Way toGuarantee Failure is to Never Try" or "Discipline: When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline willtake care of itself".

She was on the phone for a while, so I had ample time to read through the motivational posters andletters from her previous students on the wall.

Judging from those letters, these students really loved and thanked her for helping them go to college.

Mrs.Ash was known to be a realist.

She would tell you straight up if you weren't Harvard material.

But if she saw something good in you, she would make sure you know about it and not let it go towaste.

"Ms.Sinclair,"she said when she finally finished her call , Sorry about the interruption.My husband forgotwhere he put his keys, again,

"It's okay.I hope he replaces it,"

"It's his jeans’ pocket.Always is,"she rolled her eyes and grabbed a brown file from her desk.

It had my name on it and she started flipping through the pages furiously.

"So, I see you're applying to several schools out of state.And one school in the state.The University ofGeorgia,"she read aloud.

"Yeah, that’s a back-up plan.My parents think we might not have enough money for out-of-state tuition,

"I paused for a moment before continuing, "But I've been working all summer.I'm working on theweekends too.I've been saving up.I think I can make it,"

"Right, there are financial aid and scholarships available.I can help you look into some of that,"

"That would be great,"I nodded appreciatively.

"Okay.Now, financial components aside, let's take a look at your grades,"Her eyes busily scanned thepapers in her hand.

She nodded appreciatively a few times, so I took it as a good sign.

"You scored very well on your SATs.You've got marvelous grades.And your teachers all have nothingbut nice things to say about you.And your extracurricular activities are superb,"she said as she put thepapers down.

"So, are you saying that I have a good chance at Princeton, Columbia, or U Penn?" I asked withhopeful eyes.

She didn't answer right away.

Instead, she took a deep breath and watched me intently."That's possible,"she said finally, "With theright college essay, Ms.Sinclair, I think you can go far," I let out a relieved sigh and said, "That’s good tohear,"

"But tell me, why these schools in particular?"she paused for a moment before saying,

"The University of Georgia is also a good school.But you don’t seem to care as much for it,"

"The University of Georgia is a great school, but..." But that’s not where lan and I will be.

We’re gonna be in the east coast next year.

"But it’s not an Ivy League school,"I said instead.

"If you're dead set on the Ivy League, then I must tell you, they're not easy," she said in a commandingtone.

"Your college essay should be priority number one.And then you need to prepare yourself for aninterview, either with a staff from the school or a_ selected alumni representative,"

Whoa, suddenly everything looked so daunting.That tone of voice hers wasn’t helping either.

"Think you can handle all that?"she said again.

I swallowed hard at her question and my mind started racing.

I was thinking hard about the future—about how it could be.

lan and I would be living in the east coast.

He would get that job in the art gallery and I would be a student in Princeton—or Columbia—or theUniversity of Pennsylvania.We could get an apartment together.We could live together and be happyforever.

"Yes, I can handle it," the words escaped my mouth faster than I expected.

Mrs.Ash studied my face and I remained confident.

Finally, she nodded her head in approval and said, "Alright, then we better get to work,"

After leaving the guidance counselor's office, I was feeling pretty great.

Yes, I still had my work cut out for me, but at least I was on the right track.

Mrs.Ash sent me off with some brochures on scholarships and some community service opportunitiesthat I could do to enhance my resume.

As I walking down the corridor, I noticed the door to the art room was slightly open.

I stopped my tracks and I saw lan, he was alone in the studio.

I thought that this might be a good time to say hi, so I hiked my skirt up a bit more and straightened myshirt before entering the classroom.

"Mr.Hayes,"

I knocked on the door and stepped inside.

I thought about making a sexy entrance, purposefully showing off my legs as I walked in.

"Ms.Sinclair,"

lan turned around abruptly when he heard me.

And that was when I noticed that he wasn't alone in the room.

There were about ten junior kids in there, huddled around a painting. "I didn't realize you have a classright now,"

I smiled awkwardly and haphazardly pulled my skirt down to its normal length.

"You're not in this class anymore, Emma.What are you doing here?"he took a step closer to me andspoke lowly.

"Oh, I think I left a book in here somewhere,"I said loudly, so the other kids wouldn't notice anythingweird.

Smiling confidently, I said, "Do you mind if I take a look around?"

"Go ahead,"he nodded in agreement.

"In the meantime, class please continue your observation on the painting.I'll give you two minutesbefore we discuss,"

The students’ attention left me as they went back to the task at hand.

I let out a relieved sigh as I paced aimlessly to the bookcase at the corner of the room.

lan was watching my every move like a hawk.

I knew my plan didn't work right away, but I was feeling that I could still save it.

Smiling naughtily to myself, I stood straight and bent down seductively, pretending to look forsomething on the lower shelf.

"It should be around here somewhere..."

"Do you need a hand?"he coughed and tried to avert his gaze from me.

"Nope, I found it,"I chirped and picked up a random book.

Thankfully, the other students were not paying attention to us.It would be bad if they did, becausethey'd notice the bulge that was forming on Mr.

Hayes’ pants.

"Thank you, Mr.Hayes,"

I said and licked my lips when I was only an arm's length away from him.

"You're welcome,"he swallowed hard.

I was about to run for the exit, but since no one was paying attention, I thought it would be okay if Istay and play a little bit more.

"Have a great class," I purposefully brushed past him on my way out and whispered, "See you tonight,"

"You are so gonna pay for this,"he hissed under his breath.

"Looking forward to it,"