"Are you ready yet? There's a bunch of teachers and board people downstairs with their bratty children and I'm not going back down until you come with me," Mason says, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"That bad?"

"You have no idea."

"I'm about to."

He laughs and nods his head. My Dad is on the board of directors at school, which means that he has to be home for events like this. For some reason unknown to me, he volunteered our home to host the gala for the beginning of the year. It's a social event for the controlling families and the teachers at the school. When they're home we have to go with them to stuff like this. Trust me when I say there are literally one million things I would rather be doing right now.

"You look old."

I spin around and glare at Mason. "Wow, thanks Mase."

"No, I didn't mean it like that! I mean you look like an adult."

"Sure, nice fix."

"I'm serious, you look like you're twenty-five or something."

I roll my eyes and smooth my hands over my dress. My mom bought it for me over the summer on one of the extremely rare times we actually spent time together. She insisted on me wearing it tonight. I slide in some diamond stud earrings and select a simple diamond necklace in the shape of a star. My mother also brought Mason and I home a gift so that we would behave tonight. The funny thing is, if they knew us at all they would understand that either way we would act properly. It's funny that they think they need to bribe us. Mason got a Rolex watch, his third one actually. I got a diamond bracelet, which I slide onto my wrist to complete the outfit.

"What do you think, this one or this one?" I ask Mason, holding up two different pairs of silver heels.

"I don't care."

"Just pick one, Mason."

"Fine. That one." He points to the one in my right hand and I scrunch my face together. He rolls his eyes and points to the other one.

"I was thinking the same thing."

---

"That's really interesting. If you'll excuse me, I should go see if my mother needs help with anything." I smile and lift my dress so I can walk away quickly from what must have been the most boring conversation in the history of the world. I flee to the kitchen and slink into the massive pantry to escape the crowd and caterers and the busyness.

I lean against the far shelves, full of spices and other things. Every teacher and all the influential families that are at my school are in my house right now, most of them consisting of either boring old academics or pompous rich assholes. Not in the mood.

My eyes widen when the door swings open and Mr. Styles makes an appearance.

"Shit," he mumbles. He turns around and begins to close the door, but stops and comes back inside. He smiles at me and runs his fingers along his bottom lip. My face turns red as our eyes lock. I probably look like a freak.

"Hi Mr. Styles," I greet, giving him a small wave. He looks quite amused.

"Savannah. What umm...why are you hiding in here?" He looks around the pantry and then back to me.

"I just needed a break," I admit quietly. Goodness this is embarrassing. He chuckles and walks into the closet as well, shutting the door behind him. He leans against the shelving opposite me and slides his hands in his pockets.

"Me too. Well, I was actually looking for a bathroom but mostly because I needed to get out of there. Who knew rich people could be so dull."

I laugh and he smiles widely at me, revealing both dimples. He's so adorable.

"Yeah, you probably just should have stayed home."

"I didn't really have much of a choice, seeing as new teachers are the guests of honour," he explains, running his fingers through his messy curls. He looks young and more casual than most of the other people here, wearing dark jeans with a white t-shirt and a blazer.

"That's unfortunate." He nods and continues to watch my face carefully, like he's waiting for something. "So, how are you liking it here?"

"It's...different. It's quite hot all the time, which is a big change for me. Have you always lived here?"

"Born and raised."

"So you live in Pacific Heights, then?"

I laugh nervously and nod my head. "This is my house, actually."

His eyes go wide for a second. "Shit, sorry. I didn't put two and two together. I saw you earlier but I figured you were just here with your parents."

I laugh and he gets an embarrassed look on his face. Why couldn't he be younger? He's so handsome. We stand there staring at each other for a few minutes and surprisingly enough...it's not awkward. Any time I made eye contact with him during class today I felt like I was under a microscope or something. It was really weird. Now though....I feel oddly at ease around him. At the same time, there's this weird energy between us. I can't help but stare at his face. It sounds creepy, but it's true. His unruly curls that he has attempted to make look neat, the excitement in his green eyes, the way his lips curl perfectly into an amazing dimple-decorated smile. He's beautiful.

"Well I should probably get back before someone notices I'm gone," he says, standing up straight. I automatically frown, smile forming on his face when I don't recover fast enough from my disappointment. I have this weird feeling...like I want to be around him. I don't want him to leave.

"Right." I look down at the ground and he takes a step closer to me. My heart rate increases slightly and I look up to meet his eyes.

"Join me?"

My stomach does a summersault and I nod my head. He smiles and opens the door to the cupboard and I follow him closely through the busy kitchen. I don't know how he ended up looking for a bathroom in here. We walk back out into the main living area, still largely populated by the most boring guests we could ever have.

"Do you want to get a drink?" he asks, pointing to the bar near the back door. I nod and follow him over to it. All the kids here are underaged, but we are allowed to drink since we're expected to behave anyway. I usually have some wine or champagne or something. It makes these evenings more bearable.

"I'll have the merlot," I tell the bartender when Harry gestures for me to order. When I look back to him he seems amused and surprised. He probably has no idea that I'm allowed to do this.

"That's some classy alcohol," he jokes, leaning on his elbow against the bar.

"Yeah...that's what happens when you grow up with parents like mine."

"I don't think I've ever seen this many types of rum," he observes, looking at the expansive selection behind the bartender. "It all looks far to expensive for me to have had it before. What do you recommend?" he asks, looking back at me. I pick up my glass and take a look.

"The Prichard's is nice to drink straight. If you want to mix I would go with the Pyrat." I sip my wine nervously and gage his reaction. He looks surprised and amused, which seems like a common expression for him.

"Prichards on the rocks please," he says to the bartender. He nods and Mr. Styles turns back to me. "So, how is it that in the country with the highest drinking age you can get away with this so easily?"

"It's just normal here I guess. Especially for events like this," I explain. He takes his drink and looks around a bit.

"Do you want to go outside?" he asks, pointing behind him. The party flows out onto our back patio around the pool. I nod, yes, and he leads me outside. He seems impressed. I hate that. I don't like it when people know this kind of stuff about me and I hate that it becomes part of who I am. It's annoying and I don't like it.

"Your home is incredible," he observes, stopping a bit outside the crowd and looking up at my house, eyes scanning the back of it and around the backyard.

"Thanks." I sip my wine and watch while he looks at his surroundings. He probably thinks I'm a spoiled brat. Awesome.

Wait, why do I care? He's my teacher, it doesn't really matter. At least it shouldn't.

"Do you want a tour?" I blurt out. He smiles and nods his head and follows me back inside. He's seen half of the main floor, which consists of the living area and kitchen. I lead him through the formal dining room and to the less fancy living room on the far side of the house where Mason and I usually watch movies and stuff. I take him up the stairs there instead of on the other side where everyone would be able to see us.

"That's my parents room, but we probably shouldn't go in there."

He laughs. "Right. How many bedrooms are up here? It's huge."

"Umm...just four." I admit quietly. His mouth drops open.

"Four? That's it?"

"Yeah. My parents', mine and my brother's rooms and a guest bedroom. They all have their own bathrooms as well."

"Wow." I feel slightly embarrassed as I open the door to Mason's room. Mr. Styles pokes his head inside and we continue down the hallway. Next is the guest bedroom, which is quite boring since there's no furniture in it at the moment. I start feeling a tad nervous when we get to the last door.

"This umm..this is my room." I open the door and take a few steps inside, silently thanking myself for remembering to clean it after school today. He slowly follows me inside, mouth slightly open and shock on his features. Our house is ridiculous, I know that. He seems so taken back by it, though.

"This is your bedroom?" He confirms. I nod and he walks further in, staring at the fireplace for a moment. He walks further and steps out on to the balcony that looks down at the backyard. He comes back inside and looks at the wall opposite of him. "Is that your bathroom?" I nod and walk over to it to show him. This is one of my favourite rooms in the house and when we remodelled everything it's the one I was most concerned about. I wanted a getaway. He steps inside and I watch him walk around, looking down at the Jacuzzi and walking past it to the walk in enclosed shower. He glances at the vanity as he makes his way back to me.

"I'm impressed," he says, smiling at me. In my heels he's only a little bit taller than I am.

"You think I'm a snotty rich girl, don't you," I ask, laughing to make it seem like I'm kidding. He shakes his head.

"I don't. I'll admit, your school is crawling with them. You seem different, though." He takes a small step closer to me. "You surprised me."

"I did?" I ask quietly, looking into his eyes. He stares back into mine intensely.

"You did. Why do you think I remember your name?" He chuckles and I look down at his chest when my cheeks flush. My whole body feels alive when he puts his finger under my chin to tilt my head up. Our eyes meet and I hold my breath when I realize how close he is to me.

"We should probably go back downstairs," I whisper, not wanting to move but knowing that this is a potentially dangerous situation. He nods his head and trails his fingers lightly along my jawline before dropping his hand to his side. Every place his skin made contact with mine feels like it's on fire.

I silently take a step backwards before tearing my eyes from his and walking out of my room. I hear him walk behind me as I lead him down the stairs and back to the party. When I get to the edge of the crowd I stop. He does as well, standing right next to me.

"Your home is lovely," he says quietly, hand brushing against mine. I turn my head to look at him, meeting his eyes for a short minute before he steps away and walks towards another one of the younger teachers. My heart is beating ten times faster than normal and I jump when Mason pokes my arm beside me.

"Geez, calm yourself," he laughs. "Mom and Dad said we could leave if we wanted. We've been here for three hours and apparently that's good enough for them. Where were you? I was looking for you."

I shrug and lift my dress as I walk back up the stairs. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Want to go to the boardwalk?"

"Sure."

We both get changed into some more casual clothes so we can go to the boardwalk. He said some of our friends are already hanging out there. I comb through my messy curls and pull my hair into a braid before taking my coral satchel and knocking Mason's door. We head downstairs and as I'm coming down I lock eyes with Mr. Styles. I hit the bottom of the stairs and tear my eyes away from his. Once outside we get into my car; he drives to school and I usually drive us anywhere else.

"That was probably the worst one yet," he complains as I pull onto the road. I just nod my head, not sure if I agree with him. Normally I totally would, but tonight was different for me. What in the world happened tonight with Mr. Styles? I can't let that happen again. If we got caught that would have looked so bad for both of us and he probably would have lost his job.

We meet up with Troy, Ryan, Kylie and Justin at the boardwalk. Everyone plays all the random carnival games and it's a lot of fun, but I feel like my head is somewhere else. My mind is completely taken over with thoughts of deep green eyes and a dimpled smile.

"Sav, everything okay?" Ryan asks, putting his arm around me while we walk to the next game. I immediately notice a difference; when Mr. Styles touched me I felt a wave of electricity cursing through my whole body. Ryan doesn't elicit half of that reaction. What is wrong with me?

"Yeah, I'm fine." I give him a reassuring smile and try to act like everything is okay for the rest of the night. At around 1:30 we all decide to call it a night. Mason drives my car for me, convinced that my head is somewhere else. He has no idea how right he is about that. Our driveway is clear of cars when we get back to the house, thank goodness. Surprisingly enough, our parents are still awake, sitting and talking in the living room.

"Oh, you're back." My dad waves us over and we walk to the living room, confused. They don't usually speak to us. I look at Mason and he shrugs while we both sit on the couch. "Tomorrow night you both will need to be home for dinner. There are two new teachers and your mother and I have invited them here."

"What?" I ask, trying not to yell. That means...

"Which teachers?" Mason asks.

"One is Carla Michelson and the other is Harry Styles."

My moth drops open at my father's words. He is coming here? For dinner? Why is the universe trying to punish me! Seeing him more is just going to make me think about him more and that is the last thing that should happen. This is weird enough as it is. He's my teacher, for goodness sake!

"Dad, you can't expect us to stay home two nights in a row," I groan.

"Yes I can. It's just dinner, Savannah. Mason, feel free to invite Natalie."

"Oh, I think she has plans," he says quickly. I roll my eyes and he smacks my leg. "What time is dinner?" I turn and glare at him. Why is he going along with this?

"They'll be coming at around seven tomorrow evening," my mother says. "We told them it was casual, so you won't need to dress up again." Right, because dress code is what I'm concerned about.

After we're done discussing dinner Mason and I head upstairs to our bedrooms. I slam my door shut and collapse onto my bed. Whatever is going on in my head needs to get sorted out before tomorrow night. So his first name is Harry...that's cute. It suits him.

No, no! I can't think about this anymore. He is my teacher and that's that. Whatever little moment I think I had with him tonight is probably just something I produced in my mind. It wasn't real and there is no way that something could ever happen with him. Sure, he's probably the hottest guy I've ever seen, but he's off limits. Officially. I can't allow myself to be any more than polite around him now. He is my teacher and I am his student. Nothing more and nothing less. That's the way it has to be.

Right?

Notes

oooooooooooooh boy.

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