"Christ... What were you going to do?" He snaps, frowning at me.

"I don't know... I hadn't thought that far ahead yet." I wipe away the tears and sniff unattractively.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l." He pulls me into his chest and strokes my hair soothingly. "I wouldn't do that to you. You know I would never do that to you. You're all I need."

I'm all he needs?

"I feel sick."

"It'll pa.s.s. You'll feel better and then we can laugh at how silly we've been."

I shake my head, disbelieving him. "Now it'll always be in my head. You can have a relationship with her. You can be with her or any other woman. You can go out and have fun, go on dates, cuddle in front of your parents. You can't do that with me."

"Elle..." He brushes his lips against my forehead and tilts my head back, using his thumb to wipe away more of my tears. "I only have until August with you." His reminder of how short our time together really is. .h.i.ts me hard. "Let me enjoy that without the drama."

"How are we going to handle it when I graduate and go away?"

"We'll deal with it. You'll be way too excited to even think about me." He states, pulling my head back to his chest. I rest my ear against his collar, loving the sound of his steady heartbeat. "Come on, let's get you home."

"Elle, Isaac!" We break apart in a second, both of us staring wide eyed down the alley to where Mr Price Senior stands, his hands clenched into fists by his sides. "Get inside now."

"It's not what it looks like," Isaac tries and nods for me to get moving.

"Get the h.e.l.l inside." Mr Price hisses, looking angrier than I've ever seen him. We do as we're told, exiting the alleyway before rushing to the house. Mr Price stops me with a hand on my arm and shakes his head. "You go home. I need to talk to my son."

"I swear it wasn't..."

"I believe you, but you need to go home so I can speak to my son." He gives me the stare that only teachers can pull off.

I nod and walk quickly to my mum's car. Suddenly the whole cheating thing doesn't seem so bad. Now I have this to contend with.

We just got caught.

Chapter Twenty Four.

Eloise Eloise: Call me!

Eloise: What's going on?

Eloise: Don't you get how worried I am?

Eloise: h.e.l.lo? I know you're home. Your lights are on and no I'm not stalking you, I just drove past with my dad.

Eloise: Isaac, please... message me or something!

Isaac isn't in school on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mr Price is, but I daren't speak to him. I'm scared of what he'll say. He hasn't searched for me himself or tried talking to me.

My chest tingles painfully whenever I think about it all. What the h.e.l.l is going on? Why isn't he calling me?

I daren't text him anything else for fear that he's lost his phone or somebody has handed it in to the authorities, ready to catch us in the act, so to speak. What's worse is I don't know whether it's better for me to avoid and remain silent or better for me to go and speak to Mr Price.

I decide silence at this point is probably the best bet.

Maybe that's why Isaac hasn't been in touch.

I decide calling Hayley and having her hang out with me at work will probably help cheer me up to some extent.

It doesn't. It makes me feel worse when she sits and tells me all about her latest relationship and how they're both going to Boston together, all happy and seemingly in love.

Isaac I stare at my old house, the one I could afford to pay for on my old wages. It's empty when I sign over the deed and I realise just how empty I feel inside.

I bought this house with the idea that I'd probably settle down at some point, not yet but at some point in the future. It's not huge but it could easily fit a three or four person family.

I call the removal company and make sure that they've taken my things to the garage back in my home town. My phone lights up with another message. It's from Elle but I just can't deal with that right now.

My dad knows something isn't right. He didn't believe my excuse that she was just distraught over what happened with Mum. He didn't challenge it either, but he did warn me to stay away from her, that he'd be keeping a close eye on things.

I don't know what to do. With everything that's happening... my mum, me having to sell this place knowing the chances of me ever coming back are slim to none and my dad needing the money to pay for my mother's care... The NHS will only provide so much cover and if we don't start paying the carer for more hours, mum will be put in a home. She still has her mind. She has bad days, but until she's totally lost every semblance of herself, there's not a chance she'll be going into a care home.

I rub my eyes and look around, feeling exhausted after two days of packing and moving s.h.i.t out of my house.

It's not mine anymore. I thought it could have been a great place for me to stay and visit Elle if she ever wanted me to.

I should never have been thinking that far ahead. I guess I forgot for a while that I'd have to let her go.

Now I just can't risk it anymore, but I'm not sure how to let her go yet.

I need to focus on my mum and dad. I need to focus on work. I need to get a second job or something. It's not like the book I wrote is bringing in any money. It got me enough in the beginning to help buy my house, but now it never leaves the shelves.

I'm f.u.c.ked.

I have to make a choice: do I risk losing my job and family over a girl I'm not even able to keep? A clever, strong, bold, funny, brave, extremely beautiful, once in a lifetime kind of girl. A girl who has so much going for her, a girl who deserves so much better. She's just a girl.

Eloise: Please call me. I really need you to call me.

I can't do this to either of us anymore.

It was stupid to ever start.

I punch the wall. My fist does no damage to the stone, but the stone definitely does damage to my fist. f.u.c.k.

I should have just let her think I cheated on her. I had the perfect opportunity to break her heart so badly that she'd leave me so I wouldn't have to. Double f.u.c.k.

I can't do that to her though. That kind of s.h.i.t is damaging. She'll think she wasn't good enough and that's just ridiculous. No. I need to man up and break up properly. No more sneaking around.

Eloise I'm so sick of everyone ragging on at me. Mum thinks I'm working too hard. Dad thinks I need to be home more. My bank account is slowly rising, but not enough for the amount I'm going to need. My grades aren't slipping but they will if I don't focus and I really need to focus.

Isaac was the one who made it all better. He was the one who helped me forget. It didn't matter how tired I felt, or how hard I worked, when I came home to him at the end of the night it was all worth it.

Why won't he call me? Why won't he talk to me?

I feel like we're going around in circles over and over. There's nothing easy about this anymore.

Nothing.

I just want the heartache to go away.

I want everything to go back to the way it was, but I know it never will.

"Mr Price is back; I just saw his car in the carpark." Hayley says around a loud yawn.

I nod and drag myself to cla.s.s. Why did I agree to work after school today? I'm so tired.

She's right though. He is back, but looking at him doesn't bring me relief. It only brings me pain. He doesn't look at me. He doesn't acknowledge me and he doesn't even breathe in my direction.

I know what's coming. I'm not stupid and I don't blame him.

The thrill and excitement of sneaking around has worn off. We're no longer fitting and are instead failing.

I feel like crying. I feel like cheering with relief, but most of all I feel like curling into a hole somewhere and vanishing.

This is my fault. I knew this would happen, I just didn't know how much it would hurt.

How can you love somebody so powerfully? It just doesn't seem realistic.

I love him so much, but it's not enough. I love him too much to let him ruin his life. I don't love him enough to let him ruin mine.

So when the bell rings and he nods for me to stay, I shake my head and quickly type one final text.

Eloise: Thank you for a wonderful time. I'll never forget.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and his face remains pa.s.sive as he reads the message. His eyes come to mine and his lips thin, but he doesn't respond.

I still don't know what happened with his dad, but the fact I was welcomed to see Judith yesterday, without a lecture or any kind of guidance from the old man, probably means he believed that whatever Isaac told him was the truth. We had a lucky escape.

I link arms with Hayley and leave the cla.s.sroom, feeling lighter than I did when I came in. Now I am glad I chose to work after school. At least now I'll be too busy to think about any of this.

I've been the luckiest girl in this school, getting to taste the most beautiful man here, having him hold me and comfort me and sleep with me as lovers do. It was romantic. It was a brief fairy tale and it was perfect.

But now it's over and I'll always cherish my time with him.

I'm not sure that I'll ever stop loving him. The next guy I give my heart to sure has some big boots to fill.

Isaac I sit, plane ticket in one hand and a tumbler of vodka in the other. I stare at the date. I stare at the location while sipping my drink, relishing the burn it leaves in my throat. I pick up my phone and stare at the picture I took of Eloise wearing her beret on Boxing Day.

Why can't I get this girl out of my head?

Why do I keep calling her 'girl'?

She's more mature and harder working than most of the women I've met. She's special. I was so lucky to have her, even for a short time, but I was foolish too. I should never have gone for her like I did.

It's her scent, her voice, her looks, her ridiculously s.e.xy body, it all drives me crazy.

Insane.

Completely.

She knew what I was doing and she agreed. She didn't cry, fight, argue or scream. She accepted it and put it into motion before I ever had the chance.

I down the rest of my drink and drop the tickets and my phone onto the couch. I bury my face in my hands and try to think of anything else.

The week pa.s.ses and everything goes as normal. Elle seems fine, my mum hasn't had any major episodes this week and my dad is too preoccupied with my mum to even care about what I'm doing.

I spend the following weekend drinking, something I've never been one to do a lot of. I never saw the point, but it seems to be the only thing stopping me from picking up the phone and calling her.

She looked gorgeous in Friday's lesson; I couldn't take my eyes off her. She looked tired too.

Though she didn't look at me directly, I knew she was alert to my presence and I don't know why that pleases me so much.

Over the last week, Katherine seems to have backed off a lot. I'm not sure why. I spoke to my dad about her showing up at my flat and I have a feeling he might have said something.

The only person who continues to grate my nerves would be Shannon. My student.

She's taken to hanging back after cla.s.ses just so she can offer me her a.s.sistance. The way she does it lets me know that she doesn't want to a.s.sist me with my work. She's not hideous, but she is my student and I wouldn't do that.

Elle was different. I know n.o.body else will see it that way, but she was. To me it was different to taking advantage of a random student.

"Mr Price." My heart warms at the sight of Eloise standing at my door, shifting nervously. She tucks her beautiful hair behind her ears and steps further into the room. She left my cla.s.s four hours ago. It's home time. Why is she still here and why has she come to see me?

"Yeah?" I want to pull her into my arms and kiss her. I want to...

"I had a bit of an accident." She holds up a plastic bag and moves towards me. I peek inside and notice her exercise book for cla.s.s is looking soggy on one side. It looks like somebody vomited red c.r.a.p on it; it smells of tomatoes too. "I'm sorry, I was studying the dates and then Hayley knocked one of those large canisters over. It was full of minestrone soup."

"Oh." I take the bag. I have no idea what to say to her. "It was an accident. It happens."

"Can I exchange it? I'll... umm... pay for another." This is awkward. So awkward. You wouldn't think we'd ever seen each other naked if you were a witness to this exchange.

I shake my head. "It's fine. I have a few spare. I'll get one if you'll give me a moment." I take the bag and dump it in the bin by the door. The cleaner can handle that mess. "Wait here?"

She hesitates. "I actually... can I pick it up tomorrow?"