"Can we please do a girls night?" Kylie asks, hooking her arm through mine while we walk to English. "I feel like it's been forever since we hung out together. Just the two of us."

"Yeah, we can do that. My mom has been up my ass since yesterday. Apparently I'm home less than they are," I complain, rolling my eyes to myself. When I got back from Harry's last night she yelled at me for ten minutes about how being out all night is unacceptable and some other shit I didn't listen to.

"Good. Oh, I forgot something in my locker. I'll meet you in class."

"Okay."

She turns and takes off down the hall in the other direction. We were going to be early anyway, so she'll be fine. When I get inside Harry isn't there yet, so I sit in my usual seat with my phone in my hand to wait for Kylie. She arrives as does everyone else in the class and there's still no sign of Harry. Ten minutes later there's still no sign of him, but everyone else inside is getting antsy and threatening to take off. As someone is starting to walk out a very anxious looking Harry walks into the room.

"Going somewhere, Daniel?"

"Uh...no, Mr. Stlyes," he stammers.

"Take your seat," he says, pointing to the desks. Daniel turns and sits down again. Like I've said before, Harry can be extremely intimidating when he wants to be, and by his dishevelled hair and tensed up shoulders I can tell that something is wrong. He won't be his usual fun, happy self while he's teaching today.

"Well? Take out your books. Start reading, which is what you should have been doing for the last ten minutes I wasn't here," he says frustratedly, waving his hand at us. I stare at him for a moment before turning my book open like everyone else. He stays silent the whole time, face buried in his hands. When he looks up finally he looks right at me, an unreadable expression on his face.

He stays completely silent, except for telling a few people to keep their mouths shut. I have no idea what's going on, but he's really freaking me out at this point. When the bell rings everyone exits and I send him a quick text saying I'll meet him at his apartment.

"Kylie, I'll meet you at my house after school, okay?"

"Okay, are you going somewhere?" she asks, putting her hand on my arm to stop me.

"Yeah, I need to make sure he's okay," I say quietly.

"Oh, of course. Yeah, he was acting kind of strange. Go ahead, I'll text you when I'm leaving school."

"Thanks." I smile at her and take off down the steps, racing over to Harry's apartment. He takes a while getting home and I pace around the kitchen while I wait, chewing my nails the entire time. I have an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Harry finally walks in and I walks straight up to him, throwing my arms around his neck. He kicks the door shut and buries his face against my neck, holding me tight against him. I don't know what's wrong, but it's obviously really bothering him. We stand there like that for a while and I repeatedly stroke the back of his head.

"Tell me what's wrong," I whisper. "What happened?"

"It finally got around to the faculty," he says quietly.

"What did?"

"That rumour. About me seeing a student."

I instantly pull back and stare at him with wide eyes. He nods a little bit and rubs his hand over his face, stepping away from me and going into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he rests his elbows on his knees and covers his face. This is bad. This is really bad.

"That's why you were late for class?" I conclude. He nods. "How did....what did they say?"

"They informed me of a 'disturbing rumour' going around and asked if there was any merit to it, any reason why someone would think it's true," he explains. "They asked me if there was anything I wanted to come clean about."

"Did you?" I ask, walking over to him. I sit beside him as he shakes his head.

"Of course not, I wouldn't do that to you," he says. I put my hand on his back and he runs his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if they're going to let this go. I said it wasn't true, but what if they didn't believe me? If I wasn't convincing enough then they'll be watching me and as soon as someone's name gets tossed in with mine then I'm totally fucked."

"No one knows it's me. People don't even know if it's true, it's just because you're young and all the girls at school are obsessed with you. There's no proof. I'm sure it'll just go away."

"How? How will it now that the principle knows?" he asks. He stands and starts pacing on the other side of the coffee table. "They aren't just going to let this go! If they thought it was some silly little rumour they wouldn't have brought me in to talk about it. I don't think you understand how bad this could get if people find out about us, Savannah."

"Trust me, I get it," I argue. He shakes his head. "We knew this was a possibility when this whole thing started, now we just have to make sure we're more careful so people don't find out. If there's no proof then no one can find out and this will all go away."

"How? How are we going to do that?" he asks. I stand and walk over to him, putting my hands on his arms to make him stop walking. He looks between my eyes frantically.

"We're going to delete each other's phone numbers and all the texts and calls and anything else from our phones. Right now. Then, we're going to sit here and calm down for a few minutes and just figure this out, okay? We'll be more careful and maybe I won't come by as much for a while. We'll just...we'll keep a little more distance between us until this whole thing dies down."

"I don't know," he says, shaking his head. I put my hands on either side of his face and his eyes close.

"Harry, relax. We're going to get through this, alright? Everything is going to be fine."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't. But I do know that I love you. The rest will work itself out."

He smiles small and opens his eyes again, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into a tight embrace. This is scary as hell, but we'll get through it. Somehow we have to get through it. There's no other option at this point, because there is no way in hell I am losing him.

"Can you stay tonight?" he asks lowly, his hands slowly running up and down my back.

"I can't," I breathe. "I already made plans with Kylie and I've barely spent any time with her lately so I can't bail."

"That's fine." He pulls back and smiles weakly at me. "When can I see you again?"

"Maybe tomorrow night. I think it might be a good idea if I only come here during the night so no one sees me around your building," I explain. He nods and my hands rest on either side of his face. "We're going to figure this out, I promise."

After a difficult goodbye I head back to my house to hang out with Kylie. I try to just be there and have fun with her, but she can obviously tell something is bothering me. Without meaning to I spill the entire situation to her.
"What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea. I erased his number and all his messages and stuff, but if they check his phone records or something they'll find out. Can they even do that? I don't know but Harry is really freaked out. I am too, but I have no idea how to do this. When we were talking earlier I had to be the strong one because he was obviously really anxious about it, but I have no idea how we're going to work this out." I take a deep breath and collapse backwards against my pillows when I finish my rant.

"Sav, just breathe. You'll figure it out. I'm sure this will blow over soon. Some other rumour will catch their attention and they'll move on. Oh!" she exclaims. "We should start something way worse! That would take the attention away from you guys."

I just laugh and shake my head. "I'm not going to do that, Ky."

"Alright fine. You should think of something, though."

"Trust me, I know. Okay, I don't want to think about this, it's just going to freak me out more."

"Alright, let's paint our nails or something," she suggests happily.

We spend the rest of the night eating junk and watching old movies, just like the girls nights we used to have before we had relationships. I hadn't realized how much I missed spending time with my best friend. It's weird not really being about to talk about our relationships, though. I don't really want to hear about my brother and it's weird for me to talk about our teacher, so we just stick to more neutral things. Eventually it's after midnight and Kylie is sound asleep beside me. Normally if I can't sleep I'll just text Harry, but that's not really an option anymore. Far to my discomfort, I really miss him. Things were going so perfectly for us ever since Christmas and going to New York. We've been so happy. Now this has to happen.

The possibilities of what could happen if someone finds out that Harry and I are actually together swirl in my mind all night. I could get expelled, Harry could lose his job. We'd both earn terrible reputations and Harry would probably never teach again. Neither of us would be able to live here anymore; the reputation of the student that dates teachers wouldn't be fun to live with and I'm sure the one of the teacher who sleeps with students would be even worse.

Am I fooling myself? The feelings that exist between Harry and I are so strong, but will they last beyond graduation? What if we're both just delusional about this whole thing and realize after that it was just some grand rebellion on both our parts. We both have so much to lose, especially Harry, and it would all be for nothing.

---

Friday, January 31st

I nervously tap on the lunch table while I wait for everyone to finish eating. Harry and I have been keeping our distance and I've only been at his place once since then. We can't talk on the phone or text or anything because people would be able to find that so the only time I really get to see him is in class. I'm going crazy. Mason and Kylie have been like my spies lately, going around and seeing what people are still saying about this whole rumour thing. Apparently people are still talking about it, but not as much as before, and no one has any idea who it is.

Troy hasn't say with us since our little episode last week. Honestly, it's not very bothersome to me because I have enough to deal with without sparking Harry's jealousy. Mason has finally stopped asking me about it; he was annoyed before since the four of us weren't hanging out much anymore, but now he understands.

"Sav, cut it out," Mason says, reaching across the table to put his hand on mine.

"Sorry," I mumble. I turn to look at Harry on the other side of the cafeteria to try to calm myself. He looks just as miserable as I do, not speaking to the people around him and picking mindlessly at his food. Our eyes lock as he slowly lifts his head, curls falling forward onto his forehead. Reaching up to brush them back he gives me a small smile, one I quickly return before looking back at my friends.

"This sucks." I lean my chin on my hand and feel a pout grow on my mouth. Kylie and Mason smile sympathetically at me.

"When was the last time you talked to him?"

"Like...Tuesday maybe? When I went to his place. But it's birthday tomorrow and I want to see him."

"How old is he turning? 32?" Mason asks. He smiles triumphantly as he takes a bite of his sandwich.

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." I roll my eyes at him and look back at Kylie. "Do you think I should just go there?"

"Why don't you call him?" she says like it's the simplest thing in the world.

"Gee Ky, that's brillant. Don't you think I would if I could? But if they can trace our phones to each other that's a problem."

"Hasn't the damage already been done, though? Isn't it a little late to be worried about that, I mean you guys have been texting and stuff," Mason adds.

"I guess, but better be careful just in case."

"Use my phone," Kylie suggests, shrugging her shoulders. Mason and I just stare at her. "What? It's one phone call and I can just say it was a wrong number. Not a big deal."

"Seriously?" I ask. She nods. "Umm..yeah. Okay. I'll call him after school."

"You don't have his number anymore," Mason adds.

"I know his number, don't worry about it," I laugh. Kylie shakes her head.

"You memorized it? Who does that?"

"I know yours," Kylie says. "And Savannah's. You don't know mine?"

"Uh, no," he says simply. "I have a phone for that."

---

"So...are you going to call him?"

"Yeah...yeah...I just.." I stare down at the screen and bite my lip nervously. It's weird that I haven't spoken to him lately and now it's like we're starting all over again. I don't even know what to say to him now.

"Oh for-" she takes the phone out of my hand and presses the call button before handing it back to me. I glare at her while I hold it nervously up to my ear.

"What if he doesn't answer? He doesn't know the number," I whisper.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I don't-"

"Hello?"

My eyes go wide and I almost drop the phone. Kylie laughs a little and walks out of my room so I can talk in private.

"Is...someone there?" he asks, clearly confused.

"Yeah, hey, sorry. It's me," I babble. "Savannah, I mean."

"I got that," he chuckles. "How are you? I miss you."

"I miss you too," I respond, smiling like an idiot. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"I'm pretty sure you were in class today," he says cheekily.

"You know what I mean," I laugh. "Listen, I wanted to ask you about tomorrow."

"Why? What's tomorrow?"

"Your birthday." I roll my eyes and he makes a dramatic 'oh' sound. "Can I come over tomorrow night?"

"No, I don't really want to see you."

"Harry!"

"I'm joking, love. Of course you can come. Liam is taking me out for drinks, but after that I'm all yours," he says warmly. "I can be home at around 9 if you'd like."

"Take your time with Liam, I can just let myself in," I suggest. "Anyway I should go, I'm calling on Kylie's phone."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I love you."

"Love you too," I reply quietly, smiling to myself again. He says bye and then we both hang up. Just hearing his voice again give me some sort of...boost. I already feel better than I felt at school. Kylie comes back in the room and jumps on my bed, snatching her phone and giving me a wierd look.

"You're so in love it's ridiculous," she laughs.

"Shut up."

Notes

oh. my. goodness.
i really wasn't planning on doing that yet...but what the hec, right? im guessing there's going to be about 50 chapters in this story, and there's a lot that has to happen before it raps up. it might end up being a little more than that but who knows.

soooooo how are you guys liking it? please comment and tell me what you think :)

also, please VOTE! there's so many subscribers and not as many votes, so please do bothhh :)

thank you for reading everyone :) hope you like it.xx

also, the video is out for you and i!!!! so exciting. i thot it was...interesting :P not my favourite one of theirs but they were beautiful as always<3