Nathan Hensleigh's Story

Chloe Huntington

Chloe's head popped out of her bedroom door, peering sneakily around. She was on the look out for any of her brothers, well, half brothers really, or that silly boy Chance. Most mornings, it was a race between the children of Poseidon to reach the banks of the lake, to try and nab the best spot that there was for swimming, and keeping towels dry. Sometimes even Nathan Hensleigh, the good old History teacher sometimes came to the lake in the mornings, for a wake-up dip. She was the only daughter of Poseidon at Olympus Academy, which meant she had a reputation to uphold. Her dorm room was one of those closest to the lake, so she had a little of a head start when it came to getting there first. She spotted no movement with her eyes, and decided that the coast was clear. She felt like she was part of MI5, as she crept her way cautiously towards the lake, keeping her eyes open for any signs of a water demi-god.

With her towel slung over her shoulder, and the lake in sight, Chloe was soon whistling a happy tune as she walked. It seemed as if she was the first one to arrive, with no other towels around or any movement in the water. She could be totally wrong; they didn't all rush to the lake every morning, maybe the boys were having a lie-in? Who knew. She plopped her towel down by the big oak tree that stood next to the water, the only large mass of shade around, and slipped out of her outfit, revealing her bikini underneath.

Then, she disappeared under the waves, diving in perfect form into the deepest end of the lake. She stayed under the water for a good few minutes, her eyes open, looking around at the scenery she had grown so accustomed to over the years that she had been at Olympus Academy. She let out a few soft breaths, the bubbles appearing in front of her making her giggle. They always did - sometimes, in moments like this, she couldn't believe that she actually was breathing underwater, or her father was the brother of the all powerful Zeus - but it was all true. After a few tranquil moments of being under the water, she began to kick her feet, propelling her body upwards. Within seconds, her head broke the surface, her eyes closed, blocking them from the already scorching sunshine.

---

Lukas Tricon

Lukas groaned and buried his head deeper under his duvet, as the insistent beeping of his alarm clock rung through his ears, begging him to wake up and get a start to the day. But today, he wasn't feeling like waking up, getting out of bed, and being the happy boy that he had been a few weeks ago. Because he wasn't that boy any more. Nope, he was shriveling, weeping mess. That sounds really unmasculine and soppy, but it was true. Lukas had barely left his dorm room in weeks, only for food, occasional lessons, or when his twin Nova had literally dragged him out into the sunshine. He couldn't help it though - everything reminded him of her. His Clover.

She had been at this school, the Olympus Academy for Demi-Gods for a little while, but had dumped him and left the campus on their one year anniversary. She hadn't given him a reason; she had just stopped talking to him, packed up all of her things, and left. She had even dropped off the little silver charm bracelet onto his doorstep on her way out. He had never felt about anyone the way he did about Clover, and she had literally crushed him, and took every bit of happiness and life out of him with her, wherever she had gone to. Going outside reminded him of her, the sunrise reminding him of her gorgeous red hair, the chirping of birds reminding him of her melodious voice when she sang, the laughing of other girls around the campus reminding him how much he had loved hearing her laugh. He hated himself for feeling this way, for not hating her for leaving him like this, for feeling so sorry for himself that he couldn't do anything any more - but he just couldn't help it. She had been his rock, his life, his everything, and she had broken him.

Without her around, Lukas had closed up - not just himself into his room, but he had closed off her personality, his happiness, and his friends. Many had tried to coax him out of his room, but he hadn't wanted to leave - when he was in this sort of mood, Lukas was an extremely stubborn boy, and it would take a miracle to get him to move now. His hand reached out from underneath the warmth of his quilt, smacking the button on top of his alarm, snooze.

Today wasn't the day to be getting up and out into the world again.
Today was another wallowing-in-self-pity day.

---

Vanessa Tate

R.I.P. to the girl you use to see.
Her days are over, baby she's over...

Rita Ora's song played through the headphones, leading the song into the ears of the Latina woman. Her feet pounded against the forest floor as she ran, each foot smacking against the dirt in time with the beat. Her breath was steady as she made her way through her ready-made path, weaving in and out of the trees, dodging roots and ducking underneath branches. Every morning, Vanessa woke up at six AM, put on her jogging clothes, plugged her iPod into her ears, and left as quietly as she could, heading out into the woods for a two hour run. When she was running, Ness felt a sense of freedom flow through her, as if she could never be caught, never be confined, and never be ensnared. She was at her very best and happiest when she was running, and she always had a smile upon her face.

Ness had been a runner for as long as she could remember, and coming to Olympus Academy hadn't changed anything. Her running time had grown, from only being half an hour when she first arrived here, to the two hours that she would do every morning now. Sometimes she takes her bow and arrow with her, and do a little bit of archery practice, but she found that it was slightly irritating to run with, even with it slung over her back. So this morning, like most, it was just her, her music and the nature surrounding her.

Ness' mood instantly dropped slightly as she came out of the glades, as it usually did, her sense of freedom and care-freeness disappearing as she left behind the comfort of the trees. She slowed down, stopping her run, so that she was walking, and pulled her earphones out. She paused for a moment, resting her palms on her knees, taking in a few deep breaths. She could see the dorms now, and knowing that a shower was just minutes away, her mood brightened back up again. Reaching up to her hair, the Latina pulled out her ponytail, letting her long brunette waves tumble down her back. A small wave was sent in the direction of Jules, daughter of Apollo, who was walking past her, before she entered into her room.

After just under an hour, she was out of the shower, ready made up, and exiting her room dressed in this, heading towards her history classroom.

Nate opened his right eye to look at the clock, groaning to realize he'd awoken at 4 am. He had a truly messed up sleeping schedule, which consisted of him not really sleeping. Three hours it had been this time, and it hadn't been much more the last couple of days either. Problem was, he couldn't go back to sleep. He was wide awake and so, he merely opened his left eye too, a resigned sigh emanating from his lips. Suppose it was just as well, though as it meant he could go for a swim and still be in his assigned classroom an hour before the students would start to arrive. Students... he still thought it a little weird that he had an entire group of students as he was the only history teacher. His eyes widened a little as he realized what day it was; Thursday... Thursday meant Ness, and Ness meant awkwardness. And secrets. So many secrets. Having your ex as a student? Well, Nathan could've lived his life without that, being pretty content.

He adored the girl, sure, and he'd missed her, even though he hadn't really been in love with her, after they'd broken up, but they couldn't let anyone find out. The shock of seeing her at the Academy in the first place had been overwhelming. He'd assumed her to be just another human, definitely not a daughter of Nike. He hadn't seen her in years - about three years to be exact and this had been the last place he'd expected her to be. The handsome teacher ran a hand through his messy hair and a made a face. Well, smile and wave, Nate. There's a long day ahead of you.... he thought. Actually Nathan had about four classes on Thursdays, so it wasn't too bad. Except for starting out with Ness'. It's not that he held any ill feelings towards her at all, because honestly, Ness was probably the sweetest girl he'd ever met, but the fact her father had been the one to stop the relationship? Well, Nate had a certain pride to maintain. He wondered how her dad would react to the fact that Nate was now her teacher. The thought made him smile a little.

Meanwhile, Nate's thought running amok as always in the morning, he got up, grabbed his bathing shorts off the back of a chair in his room, put them on and made his way to the lake. No one else would be up this early, so he got to enjoy the silence and solitude. Sometimes that was very appreciated in the midst of all the crazy in this place. It was warm out, so he had to no need of putting anything atop his swimming attire, making it easy for him to start running not far from the lake and then take a jump, landing far out in the still water with an audible splash. He sighed as the calming quality of the water soothed his mind. No more worrying over Ness. Things would work out, and if not... well, she'd probably be leaving soon, being 19 and all. That's when he'd left.

.....

Having bathed in the lake for about two hours, Nathan Hensleigh, history teacher at the Olympus Academy, slowly walked back to his humble abode to grab a shower and dress in this (without the jacket). After said deeds, the 24 year old gathered his papers in his briefcase and casually strode along the path to his classroom. Upon reaching the door, being 1½ hours early, he unlocked it and stepped inside before pushing it shut once more. He smiled, looking around the room he was growing to love. In truth, he'd hated history back when he'd studied at the academy, but he'd later realized, upon taking it in college, the importance of the subject, and how interesting it could really be once you had the right teacher. He remembered his old history teacher, Miss Hannigan as a rigid old hag, so it was really no wonder he hadn't liked the subject. She'd been a daughter of Athena, if he remembered correctly. Now, that was not to say that he had anything against those descending from the Goddess of wisdom, but he much preferred Aphrodite's girls... Cough, okay, so he wasn't supposed to be thinking stuff like that. He taught several of them, for Christ's sake. Fact never kept his mind from wandering though.

Nathan sighed and plopped himself down into the big, soft chair behind his wooden teacher's desk, just before the blackboard. They should really get some smart-boards soon, like he'd seen at college - keep up with the modern world. The darkhaired beauty of a man let his gaze wander about the room; the chairs, the tables, the big windows, the maps here and there - oh, and the drawing he and some of his old demigod buddies had made, in the corner. He couldn't believe it was still there after 5 years. It showcased Napoleon and Hitler arguing about who did the best job of attempting world-dominance. Really, Miss Hannigan should've been proud they'd even taken notice of the names in the first place, but no, she'd had them punished. He smiled to himself, leaning back in his chair. He'd rather kill himself than become a teacher like that.

Then Nathan took out papers from his briefcase and read them over. On his first day, he had given the kids an assignment. They were to write a two-page essay about what they thought most important in history - whatever period interested them most, really. It was only an intro, and he hadn't given them more than a week to do it. Really he'd done it to see where interest was centered, and perhaps how much they'd learned of writing proper essays in history. They probably hated him already for the short time-span, but he had to start things a little rough. So yes, he'd been pretty tough when grading the papers too, though he'd made an art of commenting on everything, so that they knew exactly what to change for next time.

Now he'd been at the school for almost three weeks, and he'd finished grading papers last night, so he was ready to hand them back. He was hoping they improved, because he saw promise in their papers, even though it appeared that the majority had no clue how to properly write a history essay, at least when dealing with Nathan. He expected a lot from his students, mainly because he wanted them to excel.

The teacher waited, reading to make sure he'd gotten everything and had given fair grades for everyone. When the door opened to reveal the first student of the day, he had to fight himself not to give into the awkwardness related to the girl. He cleared his throat, put his papers down on the desk and smiled at her. "Morning, Vanessa," he said, a little stiff, sensing someone else close behind her.

Chloe Huntington

Everything about the water relaxed her - the feel of it against her skin, enveloping every curve of her body, the sound of it in her ears, reminding her of the sea that her father once saved her from, and the smell of it, that smell that you can only get from natural bodies of water. It was peaceful, tranquil, and with no-one else around to interrupt it and take it away from her, Chloe felt at peace. She moved in the water, shifting her body so that it was almost resting on top of the lake, her hands at her sides, moving her around as she pleased. Her eyes were closed as she floated there, and soon, a soft lullaby that her grandmother had sung to her as a child was coming from her lips. Only when she felt truly happy would she delve down deep enough to pull the lullaby from her memory, and have the courage to sing it out loud. That was physical proof at how tranquil she actually felt. She pushed aside all thoughts of classes and assignment as she floated, drifting through the water, moving through her lake, feeling free.

However, the peacefulness of her morning didn't last long, and soon, she began to feel another presence entering the lake. The sound of feet on the grass, the masculine breathing, and then the movement of the water as the person moved in, deeper and deeper, towards her. Her large blue eyes opened slowly, and she turned her head to the right, her half brother's voice hitting her ears as she did so. She was closer to Fen than she was with Lance and Nate; she didn't know why. Maybe it was because she felt she had to protect innocent little Fen, and cared about him more than she did about her womanizing teacher, or mysteriously confusing half-brother. She could feel some sort of tension radiating off of him, through that strange emotionally link that most of the students had with each other, and with at least one teacher. However, as soon as his feet touched the water, and he moved in deeper, the tension began to eradicate, and he joined her on the same, tranquil plain that she had been once since entering the water herself.

"Fen honey, it's never too early to be in the water. You should know this by now." Chloe smiled at him, her hand flicking a few droplets of water in her half-brother's direction. Her eyes slowly slid closed again as she continued to float, now not bothered by the new presence in the lake. If it had been anyone else, she probably would have swum to the edge and left. However, not Fen. Fen was one of her best friends, and her closest sibling out of the three that she had.

---

Luke Tricon

Lukas had nearly dozed back off into his dream world of no pain, when he heard that irritatingly happy voice of Nova hit his ears. He squeezed his eyes tighter as the boy began to speak at an alarmingly fast pace, talking to him about brownies. Then, he smelt the sickly sweetness of the chocolate as his brother waved it in front of his nose, and he buried his head into the mattress, trying to get away from it before it made him sick. He tried so hard to drift back off into oblivion, to go back to his dream world where he was happy with the girl of his dreams. In his dreams, Clover was still with him, still wearing his charm bracelet, and smiling every time he looked at her. He hated coming out of his sleep and realizing that it really all was just a dream, which is why he was willing himself, almost pleading with himself, to go back there.

"Ugh...Nova, no." Luke groaned to the boy that was chirpily bustling around his room, and he tried to pull the duvet back up over his face. However, his attempt was futile, as his younger brother was sitting on it, so he quickly gave up and went back to pressing his face into his pillow. Why couldn't Nova leave him alone? He wasn't interested in getting out of bed today, unless Clover was standing right outside his door. Then he'd be out in seconds. He knew that he couldn't stay in this bed, in this room, in this state for the rest of his life, but for the next few days and weeks, it seemed like the best option to the son of Hephaestus. His fingers were itching to make something, to fix something, to work on anything, but he couldn't even will himself to climb out of bed. His pathological needs would have to wait for a while, as he wallowed in self misery.

Then, he heard the beautiful voice of Ava Sawyer outside of his room, and his head briefly popped out from under the duvet, although not far enough to give him brother any false hope of him actually getting out. Awh, she had brought him some breakfast. How nice. Ava was the only other person on this planet who would be understand half of what he was feeling right now. She was Clover's best friend, and that meant that she was feeling the same emptiness and hollowness that he was. His head crept back under the safety of his duvet as Nova began to call out, too loudly for his tired ears. "I don't want any brownies... they're too sweet... not hungry anyway." His voice was dry and his throat was scratchy as he spoke, It had been ages since he had eaten a proper meal, or drank something substantial. He was becoming ill, but he didn't care.

---

Ness Tate

Vanessa hadn't really heard Ava's voice as she made her way to the history classroom that she had been avoiding. She hadn't been to a lesson since Nate had arrived and taken over; who could blame her? She was angry at him, infatuated by him, and cursed by him. Angry, because she had searched for him the moment she had turned eighteen. She had tried to call him, or get in contact with him somehow. She had promised him that she would as soon as she became an adult. However, she couldn't reach him. It was as if he had fallen off of the face of the Earth; and it practically shattered her heart. It was only then that she realized how he must have seen her. A sixteen year old, innocent little girl ready for the taking. Had he really just used her like that? She hadn't given himself over to her, which was a good thing in her eyes, but she had opened up her heart for him. And what had he done? He had crushed it, like a bug.

She made her way confidently towards the history classroom that she had been so happy to avoid, now with her head held high. Every girl in the school was cooing over this man, her man, and she had left her room early to make sure that she could have a few minutes alone with him, just to talk. However, as soon as that door opened and she saw him standing there, she felt her knees buckle. Three years, it had been since she had been this close to him. Three years since she had promised him that they would be together again someday. It took her all of her strength to not push him up against the wall right now and take them back to when she was sixteen, that day in the woods, the day he had first kissed her, and she had felt his passion. She couldn't believe that she was actually thinking like this; this wasn't her. But she couldn't help it. He brought out that wild side in her more than anyone she had met before. She wasn't that silly, innocent little girl that he had known back then - she had grown up, at least a little bit, and acted more like a woman now, than a child. Ness couldn't help but feel him stiffen slightly as he saw that she was there, but she kept her head high, and even forced herself to smile slightly at him. "Good morning Nate. Or is it Mr Hensleigh, now?"

Ness walked into the classroom and dropped her back down onto one of the desks, nearest the door. "Since when have you called me Vanessa, anyway?" She smiled, her confidence growing more and more, along with her smile. However, before she could do any more, or actually speak to him, she was interrupted by one of her best friends in the entire world, Jules. One of the two people she trusted more than anything. And one of the people that she almost despised for liking Nate. Of course, she didn't hate her - Jules was like her sister - however, she couldn't help but feel slightly irritated by the way that she had her eyes on him. "Hey Jules." She grinned brightly, pulling herself up on to the same desk, so that she was sitting next to her friend. "I'm good thanks honey, how are you?" Then, almost instantly after, the other best friend arrived - darling Ava. Again, they were like sisters, and again, this girl had a crush on the man that she had ... loved. "Ava! Morning, sweetie."

"Good morning Nate. Or is it Mr Hensleigh, now?" Were Ness' first words and they had the young teacher making a face, before he cleared his throat. He couldn't quite decide on her tone, if he had to be honest. There was something different about her, though; an air of confidence. She's grown into quite woman, hadn't she? She had been little more than a child back when he'd known her, but she'd been mature enough, and he'd loved spending time with her. She'd been incredibly easy to charm; blushing with every kind word. He'd thought it adorable, but it seemed she had evolved somewhat past that, which he thought at little sad. He liked the old Ness, however, he was certain he'd like the woman in front of him too. She couldn't possibly have changed too much. He cast her a wry smile, "probably Mr Hensleigh," he merely said, glancing at the open door behind her.

When she decided on the table nearest the door, it made Nate's heart sink. She had been skipping his classes, but he hadn't been entirely able to figure out why, and now she was choosing to sit nearest the door. To do what? Run from him again? They needed to talk, badly. He could sense some resentment from her, like she was angry with him over something. What on earth could she be angry about? She was the one who'd been avoiding him, not the other way around. The teacher frowned slightly as he watched her, trying to decipher the Latina woman. She was smiling, but he knew her and it didn't mean she was actually happy - well, he knew her three years ago, and how much could she really have changed? You've changed, a part of his mind peeped, making him sigh softly. Yeah, he hadn't been a very nice guy. He'd used women... in truth he's cheated on Ness several times during the 6 months they were together, but he wasn't that man anymore. He had grown to respect women as well as girls. He would never cheat on a girl now. Actually, he would never consequently date done, because it meant monogamy, and Nate wasn't very good at that. He had no control over his lower parts. It was more it that controlled his actions, not the other way around.

He was drawn from pondering when Ness spoke up once more, however. This made him chuckle slightly, glancing at the door. "I'm not sure how to..." he began. His words came to an end the second Juliette stepped inside, though. Way to time things. He cleared his throat, collecting himself. The gorgeous teacher stood and smiled at the girl as she greeted Ness like they were best friends. Uh oh. Not good. He almost ran out of the classroom right there. He was well aware that many of the girls were crushing him... they made it quite... obvious. Some more than others. Juliette was among the obvious ones, and if Ness still had feelings for him? She had been deeply in love with him back when, but he didn't know whether something was still there. He'd only been there three weeks, and already he wanted to get out. What on earth had he gotten himself into?

As the girls conversed, Nate took to gathering his papers in a nice little stack, ready for delivery, so to speak. Ness hadn't handed one in, which presented another problem; she had to. He couldn't treat her differently merely because they'd dated. One, it would seem suspicious, and two, it would be morally incorrect. And who are you to speak of morals? a part of him asked. He sighed inwardly. He knew himself, which meant he also knew that he'd changed. He was a better man. He was still incredibly weak when it came to women, a problem he was still fighting, but he treated them properly at all times. In fact, that had only drawn more of them.

As Ava stepped inside, Nathan's gaze took a little tour of the girl, noting that this was another woman Ness talked to like she was her best friend. She was also one of the more... active flirters in this class. He sent her a smile much like the one he'd presented Juliette with; gorgeous and charming, yet slightly professional. Okay, so he had to work on getting some of the charming-factor out of his smile, because it overshadowed everything else, and gave this girls the feeling that he was interested. Not that he wasn't... he just wasn't allowed to be, so he tried to keep a little bit of a distance for starters; like not calling them by their nicknames, but rather their actual names, or surnames. He wasn't picky on that one.

As several other student made their way inside, Nathan relaxed, though not visibly. In appearances, he had seemed like he had the entire situation under control at all times, so he was quite at ease already. His thoughts were quite problematic, however. He glanced at the clock, noticing that class had now officially begun, so he cleared his throat to gain silence, watching the group of student with a warning look, telling them to be quiet, along with a wry, breathtaking smile. He couldn't really help his looks. In all honesty he would've loved to be less attractive. It would present less complications considering his job.

Once everything quieted down, the man spoke, graded essays still in his hands. "That's better," he said, noting the silence a tad teasingly, "I'm going to be handing out your essays, where-after everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions. I don't expect there to be all that many, as I have pretty much overwritten the entire thing with comments." He added, voice a bit more serious, though kidding at the end, as he started walking down the classroom, putting essays in front of the right students here and there. After a couple of students' looks or horror, he chuckled - still handing out papers. "Don't look so horrified. It may all be red, but it's not all bad," he said, again with a teasing note. As he passed Ness, he leaned down to quietly murmur, making sure only she could hear, "we need to speak after class." It was all he said as he kept on moving. It wouldn't seem weird that he'd spoken to her; after all, she hadn't handed in the paper, which was honestly among the things he needed to speak with her about.

Ava Sawyer


As Ava entered the classroom she took a seat to the right of Ness as Jules was too her left “Morning ladies” she greeted cheerfully placing her bag in front of her to pull out everything she would need for the class, which consisted of a notepad and pen, leaning forward on her elbows she turned her head to face Ness “So hon, why we sat all the way back here?” she asked Ness curiously, her eyebrow slightly arched as she noted all of the empty desks nearer the front.

Noting the smile Mr Hensleigh sent her way she returned it, nothing overly flirtatious, she was a daughter of Aphrodite, a master of seduction, it sure as hell would take a lot more than a charming smile to reduce her to a giggling idiot, unfortunately the same thing could not be said for many of the other girls who were in the class. She watched them like a sauce of entertainment, the way they would hitch their skirts higher and lower their tops whenever the handsome history teacher was around, the way they would giggle profusely and twirl their hair around their finger…it was sickening to watch yet also highly entertaining. Grabbing her apple, she took a large bite out of it before turning back to her friends “So, you ready for the ball tonight?” she asked getting rather excited, her thoughts quickly turned to Lukas as she wondered if she could get him to go…probably not but she decided that she would do everything within her power to try.

Discarding her apple core in the bin by the door she quickly returned to her seat as Mr Hensleigh began to speak "That's better," he said, noting the silence a tad teasingly, "I'm going to be handing out your essays, where-after everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions. I don't expect there to be all that many, as I have pretty much overwritten the entire thing with comments." Ava waited on edge for her paper to arrive, although some might not believe it but she was actually extremely studious and took her grades extremely seriously, they were the only chance of people seeing her more as a dumb blonde. A large smile graced her lips as she was handed her paper back with a large ‘B-’ written across the top, looking up at Mr Hensleigh she smiled “Thanks sir” she replied quickly, before turning to Ness who didn’t seem to have a paper before her “Did you not do it?” she asked with a small laugh.

Ness Tate

As the rest of the class came shuffling in, Ness slid off of the table onto her chair. "Ava, who chooses to sit at the front of the class? Wouldn't you much prefer to sit back here and gaze at him from afar?" She laughed along with her joke, although the smile barely reaching her eyes. She didn't like the idea of all the other girls at the Academy having a thing for Nate, but she couldn't stop them, could she? So, she played along, and sat down at a desk on the right of Jules. The blonde sat on the other side of her, as they would have done in any other class they have together, and it didn't change here. her head whipped to the left for a moment, turning to the girl who had asked her about the dance that night. In all honesty, she had forgotten much about it. They had gone out as a group and bought dresses for the event ages ago, it felt like months, but since her ex-boyfriend had turned up as a teacher, nothing else had really gotten into her mind. "Oh, the dance? Shoot, I completely forgot." Her hand slapped her forehead gently, and she frowned.

"No, I'm not ready yet, but I've got the dress, and I can figure out something to do with my mop of hair. Have you asked Luke yet? I know you want to." She smiled gently, that confidence that had been in her system moments before now completely eradicated, leaving just the naive and sweet Ness behind. Soon, the gorgeous history teacher began handing out the essays that had been given in, probably last week, and she paused for a moment. She hadn't handed in a paper; she hadn't known that there had been a paper! She had been avoiding the class, remember? As he advanced towards her, her stomach grew more and more twisted, tying itself into knots. She had never missed an assignment deadline before - she was always one of the first to hand them in, right after the daughters of Athena. Maybe this would be on her record forever... what if it ruined everything.

"We need to talk after class."

The husky voice said into her ear as he bent down to talk to her, his tone soft, yet stern. If anyone had realized that he had spoken to her, those that weren't asleep, or were her friends, they would just have expected that he was keeping her behind after class to ask her why she had been missing class, and why she hadn't given in the assignment. She swiveled around in her seat as Ava's voice hit her ears, and she shook her head.

"No, I didn't do it. For the last few history lessons, I've had a migraine, remember?" She spoke softly, the worry evident in her voice about her current situation.

She just wanted class to end so she could get this over with.

Nathan took his time walking around the classroom, handing out the Essays. Eira, Ava and Juliette. As he put down Ava's graded paper, she thanked him, which earned her a smile, especially at the sir part. That was probably the first time he'd ever been called sir, and it felt... well, weird, sort of. He didn't spend a lot of time hovering however, so in stead he cast a little "you're welcome, Ava," over his shoulder as he continued. Upon reaching Juliette, putting down her Essay he sent her a smile and quietly said, "rather impressing, Juliette." Then he straightened and was just about to walk back to his desk when she shot him a little remark about the red, making him laugh, his usual masculine chuckle, really. "It does hold some appeal, doesn't it?" he said, wry smile on his lips, amusement in his voice. He realized he might come off as a bit flirtatious to anyone with an ear for that sort of thing, but he was truly trying to stay professional. However, Juliette tended to make it rather difficult.

The handsome man then attempted once more to walk back, but only managed a single step until Juliette was there again, handing him a piece of paper with a list. He couldn't yet determine what it was, however. "By the way..." she said, causing him to raise an eyebrow and take the paper. The teacher gave it a quick once-over, face alight with understanding. "Ah yes, the songs for tonight, I take it?" He said, smiling at her, his piercing eyes focused solely on her. "I'll look it over after class and come find you afterwards." He finished, his eyes finally leaving her to glance around the room before he at last walked to the front of the class, leaning casually against the desk. Nathan put the note Juliette had given him next to him on it, for later inspection. He had agreed to help out with the ball, and so he spent a little time with Juliette and a couple of the other students out of class, setting things up. He would also be chaperoning this evening, something he knew would be quite the challenge. Discarding the thoughts for later, he sent a gorgeous smile the entire class' way, noting some chit chat over by the girls.

"A bit of silence, please," he said firmly, letting no doubt about his seriousness exist. Then, once things had quieted down, he continued... "I realize some of you may be disappointed with your grades. I understand your old history teacher was very... generous with them. However, I have high standards, and my expectations follow those standards." He was rarely this serious, but he needed them all to understand him and why he was to strict with grades. Not because he had a particular desire for them to like him, but because it was important information. If it had been him at the little desks, he would've wanted it. "As you can see, though, I'm very thorough and I give praise where praise is deserved. For everyone." He smiled again, easing up the serene tone. "I do it for you guys - not because I like being mean," he added. Then he chuckled slightly. "Okay, so I do... a little." When the expected chuckles died down, Nathan rubbed his neck, eyes going over every student. "So... any questions?"

Presented with a forest of fingers instantly, Nathan laughed. "And how many of you have complaints about my handwriting?" When almost all the fingers stayed up, he smiled wryly. His handwriting was terrible, in truth, especially when trying to fit a lot of text, in very little space. He'd have to remember to add that they should use proper spacing between lines, or this would be an issue every time. "Alright, c'mon up then. I'll clarify."

Nathan spent about 15 minutes talking about the Essays, answering questions, clearing up issues with his hand-writing and so forth. Afterwards he spent another 15 minutes talking about how a proper essay should be written in history, how to make quoted and footnotes properly - when to put them there, and how many on each page. He also spent time talking about the language with which a proper essay is written and so forth. The way he saw it, he had a lot to pick up on after their previous teacher. Apparently she had been a little more... relaxed, about her job than Nathan. Problem was that it had affected the students, which he would have none of. This was another improvement he was going to work on.

Then he picked up where they'd left off last time; The roman empire. As he only had half an hour left, Nathan spent it conversing with his students; revision was healthy for everyone. He'd long since stood to take notes for them on the blackboard, which he consistently did every time something important was mentioned. He was pleased to notice that everyone remembered many of the more important facts and even some dates and years. During this half hour, Nathan took his time, letting everyone catch up, clarifying if one didn't quite understand and so forth. He wasn't cheap when it came to jokes and a bit of teasing. All in all, Nathan had thought it a rewarding class when it ended.

Glancing at the clock, realizing it was time to stop, Nathan finished the sentence he'd been writing and turned to present his class with a smile. "That would be it for today, everyone. As you all scramble to get out of here, remember to grab a paper from the stack over here," he said, pointing at the papers on the corner of his desk. "It's your new essay-assignment, complete with all you need to know. I hope you took some decent notes this time, because I will be evaluating accordingly." It was on the Roman Empire; he wanted to know how much each individual had grasped about writing Essays. This time it was 4 pages, however, and he'd given them three weeks. Shouldn't be too much to ask of them. Then he merely stood back and watched with a smile as the students stumbled over themselves to grab assignments and hurry outside. The weather was great - he couldn't blame them for disliking being cooped up inside. His gaze, however, soon focused on Ness, waiting for them to finally be alone.

Chloe Huntington

"Dear Fen, there is no way I could loose myself in the water." Chloe's voice was soft as she spoke to her half-brother, her eyes still closed as she drifted along the top of the water. There was no need to stress at this precise moment in time; there was nothing that could make her stress out or worry when she was in this peaceful state of mind. The water really did calm her, took away all of her troubles, and replaced them with that cool affection that could only come from the ripples. "If I'm late, I'm late." She said, a smile playing at her lips as she spoke. Boone would probably crucify her if she was late, but that never usually stopped her. He was her older brother for all sense and purposes, just without the whole "blood bond" thing. They had known each other for so long, that now she wasn't scared of him any more, as other students at the Academy were. He was a big softie really - you just had to get passed the hard exterior.

As she drifted closer and closer to Fen, she could feel the air around her growing a little tenser. Her eyes opened for a moment to examine his face briefly - he looked sad and different, his beautiful smile being instead replaced by a growing grimace. She knew that he was slightly less confident, compared to his three other siblings, as for one brief moment, he had spoken to her about it. She felt bad after that conversation, as she realized that she did "baby" him a lot, always looking out for him and protecting him, but she couldn't help it - that was the way that she felt. She was just about to turn back onto her front, go over there and hug him and ask him what was wrong, but instead a shrill voice, calling out her name hit her ears.

Instead of jumping up to see who it was, Chloe just lay there and laughed. Soon, the water was moving and bouncing all around her body, and she was almost instantly being wrapped in her best friends arms. Most people when they saw Chance, especially in a hysterical state like this, they would probably just believe that he was drunk, or high, or something. They probably wouldn't even be able to understand his insane babbling. But she could.

"Okay, okay." She spoke gently, hugging her best friend back, stroking his hair softly as he cried into her shoulder. She didn't answer his previous question, but instead just focused on his insane words. "Miss Piggy? You smashed her? Oh Chance... don't you even worry about it, okay? You're not a murderer; she was just a money grabbing pig, you know that. I've seen her steal from people." Yes, she knew that she had to treat Chance like a child sometimes, but they were best friends, and she would do anything to see that smile back on his face again. "You don't need to do anything, Chance. You got her for her crimes. She deserved it."

---

Luke Tricon

Lukas ignored his brother's playful voice as he shoved a brownie into his mouth, stifling his words. He didn't really care of the brownies were "aw-thomm" in all seriousness, they reminded him too much of Clover - she had baked brownies for him on more than one occasion. Of course, that didn't mean that he wouldn't ever eat brownies again, because they really were one of his favourite snacks, but for now, they reminded him too much of her. Nova didn't know this though - how could he have remembered that tiny little detail? Besides, Nova had too been making brownies since they were children. His head was still shoved into his pillow as there were a few moment of a comfortable silence. Maybe Nova had finally given up on him, and was going to let him go back into his own little dream world where Clo-- Then he started talking again. Maybe not.

He suddenly felt something foreign on his chest, and his head slowly rose from it's position, to examine it. He looked at the device for a moment, before he almost robotically removed his hands from underneath the quilt. His fingers delicately traced the name that had been engraved into it, and it was almost impossible to see that his brother had edited it, changing the 'C' into a 'K.' The back was glass, meaning that he could see the inner workings of it, and his mind began to work almost instantly, working out what he would have to remove, or change, and tinker with to make this thing work again. "T-Thanks, Nova." He spoke gently, feeling his brother's tools, his favourite ones, being placed down on the mattress next to him. Ever so slowly but surely, he moved from his almost fetal position, so that he was now sitting up. That would give his brother some hope.

However, there was soon a knock at the door, and before Lukas could start to work on the trinket, Nova was bounding over there, answering the door to Jayme Winters. She was a nice enough girl - Everlie's sister. Everlie was one of his closest female friends, which meant that he had to like Jayme, even if their personalities clashed. However, they didn't, and they were quite good friends. "Do you really think I'm going to that ball tonight Nova?" He sighed, placing his present back down on the bed, next to the tools. He nodded a greeting to Jayme as she stood there, ignoring his brother's comment about him being a skeleton. Although, that was a good metaphor for how he was feeling. "Oh, she brought me breakfast? Could... could someone thank her for me? I don't... really want her seeing me like this."

That was strange, that he didn't want Ava to see him in this state. Well, they had grown slightly closer since her departure.

---

Ness Tate

"I've not been feeling well recently." Ness shrugged, a smile playing on her lips as she answered her friend, who looked generally shocked at her abundance of knowledge about the ball. It wasn't a completely insane answer - that her migraines had grown worse. She actually did have a problem with migraines, she would usually get at least one a week. It just so happened that recently, "they" had to fall on Mr Hensleigh's history lessons, didn't it? Shame that. Ness knew that one day, she would have to tell Jules and Ava what had happened in her past, but for now, she was quite happy keeping it a personal secret. She would only tell them when it was absolutely necessary. Anyway, that could be never. It really was her choice.

"In a platonic way? Really?" A laugh came from her lips as she looked at Ava, her eyes filled with denial. They had spoken about Luke Tricon before, and each time they had, Ava's eyes had always brightened up a little, her eyes got slightly wider, and her voice had began to babble, her words running together. "Yeah, you just believe that, honey." She grinned, before her blonde friend quickly changed the subject to that of them getting ready together. Ness nodded in affirmation of this idea. "Sure, we can get ready together. I was actually going to ask if you could help me with my hair, before I forgot all about it. Is... is that okay? You know how hopeless I am with hair." That was true - it always had been. Then, her friend's hand was on her shoulder, gently comforting her. "Thanks..."

As the lesson dragged on, Ness grew more and more uncomfortable. She didn't want to be alone in the room with Nate any more - especially if he was going to tell her off for not doing a stupid history assignment. Her palms felt hot as she took down the notes, and she had to take a sip of the water out of her backpack as her lips and throat grew dry. The Latina was one of those girls that cried when she was told off by teachers, but only after she had left the room and was in the comfort of her bedroom. However, this teacher was different. If he shouted at her, or told her off... well, she didn't know what she would do. Soon, he was dismissing the class members, and his eyes came to rest on her. She avoided his gaze, turning quickly around to talk to Jules and Ava. "You guys go on ahead to the ball meeting, or whatever. I'll meet you there okay? No point waiting for me." She smiled, secretly begging her friends not to leave her alone. However, this was something that she had to do - She had to speak to him.

Soon, the room was empty, and it was just the two of them left; Nate standing at the front of the room, and her seated at the back. Her confidence had been shot completely now, and she was back to that innocent little mess that he had known three years ago. She cleared her throat quietly as she packed up her things, and felt her knees buckle underneath her as she stood up. Her steps were slow as she walked towards the front of the classroom, and she put her bag down on the front desk.

So, Sir," She spoke, trying not to let her voice crack in front of him, which surprisingly worked, "you wanted to talk to me?"

Ava Sawyer


Ava rolled her eyes at Ness prying into her love life…or lack of it in her case, why was it so hard to believe that herself and Luke were just good friends? Granted that they had become a lot closer over recent weeks but Luke was still reeling from his breakup with Clover, he had loved her, probably still did and it was going to take a heck of a long time to mend his broken heart. Yet it was a task she was hell bent on completing as she missed the old Luke deeply, going from a proud, cocky and fun nature to living practically as a recluse in his room, was a hard thing to watch and she wanted desperately to change that.

"Yeah, you just believe that, honey." Ness’s words played on her mind throughout the remainder of the lesson, she thought about it deeply, was Ness right, had this thing turned into something less platonic and more romantic, well for Ava anyway, refusing to think about it, she shook her head and looked at the clock…shit! She had wasted nearly the whole of the lesson thinking about Luke "It's your new essay-assignment, complete with all you need to know. I hope you took some decent notes this time, because I will be evaluating accordingly." Mr Hensleigh voice shook her from thought, causing the blonde to look down at her blank notepad…damn you Luke, she cursed mentally quickly clearing away her things, making a mental note to copy Ness’s notes later. Walking to the front of the class she picked up the sheet of paper, glancing over it quickly, groaning inwardly at its length “great” she muttered trying to figure out when she would actually have the time to complete this assignment “See you later Mr Hensleigh” she smiled brightly at the handsome teacher, walking back over to Ness and Jules handing them each a sheet, nodding as Ness said she would meet them their “I need to go get a box of decorations from my room anyway” she explained quickly before saying a quick goodbye to her friends and leaving the classroom.

Nate told Ava he'd join them shortly in the gym, and chuckled at Juliette's little reminder. "I won't.." he merely said, his voiced laced with flirtatious undercurrents. Man, he couldn't even control it anymore. Or maybe it was merely because it was Juliette. It wasn't that his words were wrong, exactly, but his tone was, and he was incapable of changing it. Only woman he'd ever been capable of not flirting with was Amerie; for some reason, the English teacher just didn't appeal to him, which was weird, 'cause she was certainly not unattractive. It was just as well, however. Boone could have her. It seemed Nathan had enough on his hands as it was, and if Boone wanted the stuck up English teacher, who was Nathan to say anything against that?

As Ava and Juliette left the room, he was suddenly alone with Ness. The beautiful girl he'd actually cared for. Now, Nathan wouldn't call it love, but he had always cared a great deal for her, even if it had pretty much all faded during their years apart, and he certainly didn't want it back. Feelings, no matter how weak, were problems, especially since she was now his student. Man, had he been fighting himself the entire class, trying not to look at her too much, or get lost in worried thoughts. He wasn't sure whether anyone had picked up on his slightly less himself way of acting, but he thought not. He was normally very talented when it came to hiding what was going on inside. He always came off as the funny, smiling, charming guy who never had any problems, and never felt awkward about anything. In truth, Nathan felt sort of awkward about the whole student-flirting going on, and now with Ness there? He was in trouble. That much he knew.

While Ness packed up her things, the gorgeous teacher took the few necessary steps to reach the door, which he then closed before turning to the beautiful woman in his presence. At that point she'd already placed her bag on his rectangular desk at the front; his desk. He was just about to say... well, something. He wasn't quite sure what, when Ness spoke first, a little sarcastically hostile when she spoke the word 'sir'; probably payback for him calling her Vanessa in stead of the nickname he'd given her years ago. Her grandfather had always called her Nessie, but somehow Nate had had some issues with that. To him it had seemed more like something you'd call a little girl, and Ness had been young enough as it was. So yeah, he'd started called her Ness, and apparently it'd stuck.

Nathan sighed before smiling at her; just a little, soft smile - nothing overly grand. Then he walked up next to her to resume his position, leaning against the desk, but this time he was looking only at Ness, and not an entire class. It felt a little weird being here with her, of all places. "You've been avoiding me," he ended up saying, a little teasingly. He needed to break the ice somehow, and he was strangely unfamiliar with situations like this one. "What'd I ever do to you?" Again, his tone of voice was teasing. He didn't blame her at all, really, but he could tell Ness was extremely uncomfortable, and he didn't like it. He didn't like anyone feeling uncomfortable around him in truth, but especially not Ness.

Nathan looked at Ness, focused on her, his beautiful eyes warm, yes with that ever-present glint of flirtation, along with a tad of humor. He put his hands in his pocket, rather unsure of where to put himself. He was always confident with women. Always, with no exception. Yet here was one, and look at who'd caused it. He was betting he felt a lot better about things than her, however, even if he was the one with a job on the line.

Ness Tate

The awkwardness was swimming around Ness as she stood next to Nate, his body literally millimeters away from hers. She didn't like feeling this way around him; she cared for him too much to feel like this, but it was wrong for her to even like him now, let alone know that she had been with him in the past. Her hands were slightly shaky as she stood there, not really knowing what to say. She didn't move from her spot, her eyes fixated on the desk in front of her, doing her best to keep her gaze from his. She more like that young woman he had fallen for when they were younger, with that confidence eradicated from her system, and she felt like she was sixteen again. As she took a deep breath in, her arm brushed gently against his, instantly taking her mind back to that tree in the woods.

She probably looked stupid, her eyes zoning out, as if she was going on a long journey back in time; but in her mind, she was. That day in the woods was the first day that he had kissed her. It was one of the best days of her life, purely because she didn't have to be anyone else than her on that day. No false pretenses, no fake smiles, she was just her, and she didn't have to hide how happy she was that day from him. In three years though, everything had changed. He was still as sexy as ever, but he didn't have the side that she had fallen for any more, or at least she hadn't seen it yet. That adorable side, the one who cared, the sweet one who picked her up a daffodil from the floor, and tucked it behind her ear, just to make her smile.

Suddenly, the Latina woman was ripped out of her reverie by the man standing next to her, his sultry voice hitting her ears. "Yeah... I suppose I have." She spoke softly, her eyes still focused on the desk in front of her. Slowly, her head turned towards him and her eyes met with his, and she felt that sensation of butterflies dart around in his stomach, the ones that she hadn't felt for years. With his next question, she could hear the tone of playfulness rattling around, however, she didn't pay attention to it, and answered bluntly. "You made me fall for you." She whispered, before then doing something that Ness was even shocked about herself.

Before she could stop herself, Ness moved in front of her teacher, and went up on her tiptoes, so that she was the right height. Then, she delicately brushed her lips against his, joining them together with the tiniest bit of force that she could muster up. The very soft kiss was over after a matter of two seconds, and she moved to pick up her bag again, and headed towards the door. She couldn't believe what she had done - that wasn't the Ness that she knew now; that wasn't how she acted at all.

No, that was the way that she would have acted before he left her, defying ever rule around her just to have him.
She had to get out now, before she got both of them into any more trouble.

"You made me fall for you." There words to answer his playful question were nothing but a soft whisper, yet seemed to reverberate throughout the room, the blame in them so clear it was actually almost tangible. Her dark eyes were sensitive, yet he found they also possessed a new strength he couldn’t recall ever seeing before. His bright ones were plastered to her brown ones, a look of apology in them. He was unable to remove his gaze, yet he couldn’t quite figure out what to say to her right now either. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt so damn guilty, yet his easy smile had faded with her words and though he desperately wanted it back, Ness was standing there, keeping it from resurfacing. The handsome teacher felt the sudden urge to run from it all, just get out of there. But that was the old Nate; the one who cheated, never took responsibility and made girls fall for him… just for the fun of it, really. Yeah, he had been a cruel young man, yet when his mother died, everything changed. That had been only months after he and Ness had broken up.

He sighed, glancing at the wide windows, wishing himself out of the awkward situation. A situation that caused guilt to flutter inside him, something he still didn’t understand. Why did he feel so damn guilty, like he was to blame for something? He had actually not attempted to make Ness fall for him at any point… it had just happened, and he thought maybe, in time, he could’ve fallen for her too. However, he’d never gotten the chance to find out, and it didn’t really matter now anyway. His gaze was glued to what he could see of the grass outside. If someone walked by they wouldn’t immediately notice the two individuals within the room, yet if someone was to actually look inside with purpose, they would become quite apparent. As Nate’s beautiful eyes fell on Ness again, she had moved to stand in front of him. “Ness, I…” he began, but was interrupted when her lips suddenly brushed against his. This, he had not expected, and it honestly shocked him to feel her soft lips once more. Not a bad kind of shock, however, but he found himself unable to react, until instinct took over…

He had stood there like an idiot, lips still slightly parted, his eyes glued to the beauty in front of him, not quite able to really… think, in all honesty. It was like Ness had shut down his brain with a single kiss, which was a little unnerving, or at least it would be once he got to think of it. At the moment, however, instinct took a hold of him. As Ness turned around and grabbed her bag, the teacher’s hand shot out to gently clasp her thin wrist, while at the same time almost forcefully pulling her back to him. The second she was within reach, Nathan moved, his lips soon reaching hers. This kiss, however, was nothing even close to brief and soft. No, this was a “gods I’ve missed you” kind of consuming, crushing kiss that would leave them both breathless. As he felt her body relax, his arms wound around her impeccable waist, bringing her softness closer to his own muscled form, all the while kissing her with the same passion they’d shared before.

With one little kiss, Vanessa Tate had brought him to his knees. Every bit of desire and care he’d held for the girl had come rushing back, leaving him helpless. He would regain his posture, though… he just couldn’t figure out when, and right now, with Ness in his arms, he didn’t much care either. It was unimportant. The fact that the whole things was wrong, that what he was doing was forbidden, and that he was only making things worse for both of them, didn’t even cross his mind. He was completely focused on the girl in his arms. After a little while, however, Nate’s mind began its way back to somewhat normal, causing him to gently break the kiss, gazing down at her, his eyes warm and soft. He didn’t want to let go just yet, however. For some reason her warmth completed him. He didn’t think it was love… it never had been, but rather that he had missed her a lot. Apparently had not only his mind and heart missed her, no, Nate’s body had missed the Latina too. There was nothing sexual about it just yet, but it was like his being was craving to be near her.

Get a grip, Nathan, a part of him scolded, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. Instead, the young teacher smiled at the student, a charming smile like always, the warmth in his eyes complimenting it perfectly. “So,” he said, slightly breathless, and a little shocked still, “yeah…” he finished. He had thought of something better moments ago, but it sort of kept evading his mind just like all the responsible things he should be considering right now. A part of him knew he should stop things while he was ahead, but another part quenched the notion. “I didn’t do it on purpose, you know…” he added; an apology to her earlier accusation… or rather, accusation-like statement.

Ness Tate

Ness wanted to leave. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, and get back to the normality of her life. She wanted to head to the gym, and catch up on what she had missed when it came to sorting out the ball, and spend her time laughing with Ava and Jules, forgetting all which had happened in that room that afternoon. If she continued to stay here, or even think about him, Vanessa knew that she wasn't going to be able to leave. He was too intoxicating to completely eradicate from her mind, and she tried her upmost best to walk out of that classroom, before she did something that she would regret, or that would get them both into more trouble than they were already in. She hadn't though about that when she had acted - by kissing him, she had put his job on the line. Guilt rushed through her as the door came closer and closer, and she grew closer and closer to freedom.

The next few seconds were a blur.

Before she knew it, Nate had wrapped his large, masculine hands around her waist, and pulled him close to him once more, her bag dropping to the floor with a quiet thud, it's contents spilling out over the floor. But, her bag and stationary was the last thing on her mind at the moment. He pulled her in close, so that their bodies were touching, and then his mouth was on hers, kissing her. His kiss was completely the opposite of hers; she had gone for subtle, and sweet, an almost brush of the lips instead of a true kiss. Nate, on the other hand, surprised her by kissing her forcefully, crushing her lips between his. Her hands slid up around his neck as they stood there, the butterflies in her stomach almost making her feel sick with ecstasy.

The kiss took her back to three years ago, when they had been a couple, and she could feel the old Nathan Hensleigh coming back to her - the one that had cared, the one that had smiled when he saw her, and the one that she had fallen for. She knew throughout their "relationship" that he had cheated on her, but that had made her more and more determined to keep him in her life. By letting him go, she would have been admitting defeat, and realizing that she couldn't keep a man like him, which she hated to think about. So instead, she had let her heart be whisked away by a cheating rat, but she didn't care.

Her mind came back to the situation that they were in now as she could feel his lips loosing pressure against hers, and she did all that she could to keep him there for the last few seconds. There was no going back to avoiding him now, or hiding in the bushes when he walked past her on the pathway. She couldn't ignore him any more, not after this. Not after he had relit that flame inside her that had diminished so long ago. They were in an awful position - any sort of relationship between them would be completely forbidden, but Ness wasn't so sure that she had will power to stay away from him. Not after that amazing kiss.

"I know." She replied softly, her forehead resting against his. Her breathing was in unison with his, heavy and almost as if she was panting, and her heart was beating at an almost impossible rate. "What are we going to do now?" She said quietly, but seriously, moving her head to an upright position. Her eyes linked with his again, and it caused her to smile, and instantly she decided not to worry about any of the serious stuff any more. "Is it still Mr Hensleigh?" She asked him misheviously, locking her hands together behind his neck.

They were in trouble now.

While his room suddenly filled up and people began to ask him to engage, Boone did his best not to implode on the spot but not much else. First in was Cadence who, unsurprisingly, seemed extremely enthused about a day's full of education and learning. You could tell from that eager sigh and rolling eyes - not to mention the way she flung her things down on his floor. He rolled his eyes back, ever the mature one, and then suddenly he wasn't rolling his eyes but rather drawing them wide, like a lamb caught in head lights at the sight of Amarie. She laughed and for just a second, the tiniest bit of a smile caught onto his face, but he dismissed it immediately under the prospect that other people might catch him being the pleasasnt. "I suppose you are talking about your own outfit, Mr. Keating? I am quite excited to see this. I have no doubts that you will look nothing but splendid." She had retorted. "Oh, naturally. I didn't forget to tell you all that I'm Cinderella, did I? Oh, I did. How forgetful I am. I assure you that I'll be looking fine tonight- got special panty hose just for the occasio-" he'd begun to rant, a response entirely too long and oh-so-very typical of the man, but was interrupted by a bellowing voice that instantly wiped that smug little look right off his face. "BOONE!" Fion had boomed, and he groaned, dipping his face down into his craddling arms.

"Please, not now." he mumbled in futile, not even loud enough for the other to hear. It was pointless to voice it anyway because the insufferable man could not be tamed no matter how much you tried. He dropped his things on his desk, which forced him to put his head up, and he cringed at how horribly bright he seemed. Good lord, was he literally radiating light? It was too early for someone to be smiling so large. "Atreus," he warned, though the word connotated something along the lines of, "Why? WHYYYYY?????" He would have complained like a fussy older brother, but then the other man was pouring him coffee and he'd forgotten about being crass. "Glad to see the desk's the only thing that's changed. Sugar?" Fion had said and, too wrapped up in the need for caffeine, he only murmured out a small, "Yes, please." before bringing the brew straight to his lips. It was a silly gesture, one that showed how much Boone had come to simply accept the man's nagging for the sake of all the benefits it came with.

"What? Why are you always surprised, after all this time?" Fion had said on the tail of a laugh. "Fion, I don't understand how you expect everyone to treat you like a normal, unsurprising person when you continue to storm into rooms wearing that golden retriever skin on your jaw. Seriously, man, I'll buy you a razor if you need one..." Boone snarked easily, though he clearly meant no harm. Honestly, he was just preoccupied with trying to shoo the other man out before he was seriously embarrassed in front of Amarie. Wait, what? No, he didn't think that. Of course Boone wasn't concerned with what the woman thought about him. That's just absurd.

"....You've lost weight." Speak of the devil. Is that humiliation he heard crying in the distance, steadily approaching closer and closer as the minutes rolled by? Fion then went on to suggest dining on Betty's cooking and Boone could do nothing but exasperatedly face palm. Okay, so maybe he'd skipped a few meals here or there. He looked down at his frame, bregrudgingly acknowledging that he had slimmed down considerably lately. He was just so busy! And maybe just a little bit dependent on other people to force him to take care of himself. But only just a little bit. If he were a man who blushed, he probably would have there. Luckily, it was rare that anything of the sort happened to him. He wasn't the Power Control teacher for nothing, mind you.

Finally, Fion turned around to realize that he'd just publically harrassed Boone in front of his students and interest woman. Or maybe he didn't realize that. Actually, probably not. Regardless, he realized that people were around and offered them a good morning. Somewhere along these lines, Peter had come strolling in and voiced Keating's thoughts. "I hate you for being so cheery in the morning". Boone sighed in agreement. "My sentiments exactly. And, unlike yourself, Fion, some of us actually have classes. You know, with books and stuff. " Though, if he were being honest, mashed potatoes sounded pretty good about now.

"Anyway, we were just discussing how great I'm going to look tonight at the ball, which I'm assuming you rememebered because you're a responsible adult. Amarie's gonna help me with my makeup." he crowed, giving her a sideways glance. "Just to be clear, is there any other level of unprofessionality we should show our pupils before afternoon? I want to make sure that we don't forget something important. What about that affair? I hear Nate's planning on getting his hair cut. That's pretty saucy. I'm talking about his chest hair, of course." Boone babbled. When it dawned on him that he was being relatively talkative, perhaps because he felt comfortable around these two individuals more than most, he decided he would stop while he was still ahead. Or at least not completely behind.

There was a dark ominous spot in the back of her mind, in which she often drifted to when she caught Boone in one of his more gloomy demeanors. He may have never noticed how her expression shifted with sublety the moment Amarie found herself wading in that inky well. It was simple, really; the man was an Ares, and she really did not feel safe enough in allowing him to be so frustrated. It made her feel less of an Aphrodite that it may have been partially her fault, as she had completely neglected him the last couple of days to pan out classroom stuff. Truth be told, she hand't been in an affectionate mood lately, knowing that her father was suffering at a place she couldn't quite fit into anymore. It was driving her absolutely insane. The woman disdained her mother, and was almost nothing like her save for attractiveness and charmspeak. The goddess just wasn't the type of lover that Amarie would idol. Again, she was walking into the foreboding corner of her brain, and just as she did so, Boone's response pulled her out, "Oh, naturally. I didn't forget to tell you all that I'm Cinderella, did I? Oh, I did. How forgetful I am. I assure you that I'll be looking fine tonight- got special panty hose just for the occasio-"

That was the moment when the ever-so energetic child of Zeus came barreling in. The poor Ms. McCarty nearly toppled over in surprise, of course, not the fact that his brawny frame almost ran her down. Of course not. That would be absurd! Fion had been one of her teachers when she came to the Academy, and she had always been fond of him. Still, to this day, he was one of her most favorite people on the face of the planet. Thinking that he would at least acknowledge his former student, she couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, he just went onto seeing that Boone's masculinity was terribly diminished by the end of the day.

'Tap, tap, tap,' echoed the toes of her heels upon the floor, arms now crossed, and face plastered with the expression of being bypassed by Fion. Then he added a bandaid to her already bruised ego as he greeted the students, "Goodmorn!" That was when she flipped like a straight up Ares' child. Hands shot down to her sides, one foot lifted then pounded on the floor in some kind of heated fit, "You, Mr. Atreus, do not love me anymore. I am SO terribly upset! First, you almost run me over with your ridiculously large stature, and then you proceed to pretend I am not even here!" Yes, this was a very meager temper tantrum. Maybe not so Ares, and it would be hard to take seriously. It was, if not utterly laughable, cute. Furthering her angst, "I just -" She couldn't find the words to explain her pain, as it was so easy to hurt a sweet woman like herself, 'AAH!" A sound of frustration was all one could do when they could not conjure the speech. At the same time, her spindly arms flailed.

With this, Boone's glance toward her was rightfully ignored. It was only because he mentioned that fiend of a man, Nathan Hensleigh. Speaking of him, she had to be at the gym for the ball setup. How could she have so stupidly offered her aid when she was going to have to be around him? The idea made her shudder. That meant a flock of little giggly school girls were going to hover around him, kissing at his feet with their aweful hormonal thoughts. Gross. Back in the day, she merely thought Boone to be extremely good looking, albeit frightening. That was it, though. Okay, so that was a lie, but if anyone ever asked, that was her final answer.

"Speaking of that pig, I need to be helping out with the ball. After I go to the teacher's lounge to revel in my friend," which was none other than whiskey. While she didn't look like much of a drinker (more like a drag, actually, in comparison to the rest of her half-sisters), that amber nectar just made her forget about all the negative things. The last comment had been ghostly in tone; more of a musing to herself. Before she turned on her heel to head out, she gave Boone the last attention of her eyes before she'd see him again, "Mr. Keating, I will see you later." Alright, so maybe that was a little bit too telling, but hopefully the students wouldn't catch onto it. It may have been a hint for him, though. To Fion, she just glared. No more that a few seconds later, she was well on her way toward the teacher's lounge, then to the area the evening's festivity was to take place.

Nate couldn’t help a genuine smile at her admission that she knew he hadn’t done it on purpose; caused her to fall for him. He could feel her breath on his lips, causing him to genuinely wish that he could kiss her again. The warmth was just too much to take for his hungering body at this point. He had no idea what it was about Ness, but she’d always been special. He wasn’t entirely sure the two should ever have dated, however. If they’d remained friends back then, they probably wouldn’t be in this difficult situation. A situation her next words brought his mind back onto, "What are we going to do now?" A soft gust of breath escaped his lips. Not quite a sigh, but a gesture of slight frustration nonetheless. She just had to ask that question, did she? He supposed it was just as well. The two were visible to anyone who might be looking for him, checking classrooms from the outside. This wasn’t unusual, really, so he had to let go of her sometimes, nomatter what his body told him.

Problem was that Nathan had serious issues getting his brain to rule his body. The two oftentimes didn’t really mesh well. In truth, they never agreed on anything. The big dilemma was that his body always won the little matches, and it oftentimes caused quite a lot of complications. He’d gotten better at controlling his body, but he was still a sucker, and he knew it. He hadn’t yet replied, but rather watched her when her next words came, asking whether she should still address him formally. It caused him to chuckle, even though he sensed that she was hiding a part of herself from him. He wasn’t going to nag her about, because honestly he couldn’t blame her. She obviously still had feelings for him. He could tell that much from her kiss and the way she looked at him, and he still wasn’t quite sure what to do about it, or whether he could even do anything in the first place. Perhaps play matchmaker? Find her someone good for her? Nathan certainly wasn’t. Ness was still too young, even though she’d gotten older, and he… well, he wasn’t good company for a girl like her.

He smiled at her, though, pushing thoughts into the back of his mind. He would have time to think of that at another time. Perhaps even later this evening, or maybe not until tomorrow. Whenever it would be, he would save his doubts and ponderings for that time. “Honestly, Ness?… none of the students call me Nate, or even Nathan. You see how some of these girls act? I have to distance myself somehow,” he said as if in joke, though it was pretty much the truth, “it’d seem weird if you suddenly started calling me by my first name. However, it’d be just as weird it you called me Mr. Hensleigh in private, so perhaps we could just, differentiate between class and private?” On that note, he slowly let go of her, his mind forcing its way back into the situation and his arms falling to his sides accordingly. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at the windows, relieved to see no one peeking in just now.

“Regarding what we’re going to do, I have to admit I’m probably as clueless as you are, sweetheart.” Man, he hadn’t called anyone sweetheart since he’d last talked to her three years ago. No one else had seemed to fit the nickname perfectly to him. It was an odd thing, really, and now that she was back in his life, it was suddenly the most natural thing in the world. “All I know is… this has to be kept secret,” he added, suddenly serious as he watched her, sighing softly. “I don’t want to hurt you, Ness… I really don’t. I never did.” He said, almost pleading her to understand. His right hand moved to gently tug a strand of wild, dark hair behind her ear, smiling gently at her, though always with that appealing touch. His fingers lingered just a moment longer than necessary, but his eyes were void of the usual flirtatious glint, replaced by a more serene, yet soft and warm one. Then he gave a soft chuckle, though more of a mood-lightening, sort of humorless quality than an outright chuckle. “However unbelievable you might think it, I always cared about you.”

Nate had never had an issue telling people how he felt, though he hadn’t thought he’d ever had to with Ness. Now he suddenly saw the issues that presented. He’d forgotten to take into account that she was a girl, and that especially girls like Ness, got insecure. They needed being told they were special, and that you cared about them. But then again, Nate had been too self-absorbed back then to even notice that. Man, sometimes he really despised his former self, and wondered how anyone could have fallen for him at all.