I had left Harry’s house before he had returned from breakfast with Cara. I waited an hour like he said he was going to be, then gave up.
To be honest, I was kind of annoyed that he had left the morning after he took my virginity to go see another girl, no matter how casual their catch up was.
‘Where are you?’ He had texted me on the drive home.
I couldn’t even be bothered to reply. The next day at school was okay because we didn’t have English on our school timetable, which meant I could avoid him.
At lunch I poked and prodded at my salad with annoyance. Why had he just left me there?
“Guys guys guys! Guess what?! I just got asked to prom!” Madison squealed as she sat down at the lunch table.
Oh great, I had completely forgotten about prom.
“Aw that’s great Mads! Who asked you?” Hannah asked.
“Trey from the football team!” She said clapping her perfectly manicured hands.
“I wonder who’ll ask me.” Daisy sighed resting her hand on her cheek.
“Probably James. You’re good friends with him from photography class aren’t you?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah I guess. I just always thought prom was going to be more fun than this.”
I couldn’t stand the talk about prom anymore so I got up and walked away from the table, saying I had to go print something off in the library.

I wandered through the halls when I saw Harry walking around the corner, a folder under his arm.
He spotted me and quickened his pace to catch up to me.
“Hey.” He said.
“Hi.” I replied bluntly.
“Where were you yesterday? I thought we were going to hang out?”
“Oh I just had stuff to do.” I said continuing to walk away.
“Wait Sophie where are you going?”
“I have to get to the library.”
“Can’t we just talk? What’s wrong?” He grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him.
“Nothing, I’ll see you later.” I held in my anger and frustration as I rounded the corner.
‘Later’ became half an hour later during my free period. We ran into each other again in the hallway, and he made me go into a free classroom.
“What’s up? I don’t understand what’s wrong.” He looked genuinely puzzled, but still adorable in that suit of his.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t say nothing when it’s not nothing.”
“I can’t be bothered to explain, it doesn’t even matter anyway.”
“It matters to me.” His eyes searched mine for answers. “Did I..I mean, did I hurt you the other night?”
I furrowed my brow. “No! No, you were...you were perfect.” I sighed nestling myself into his chest.
He wrapped his arms around me. “Then tell me what’s been bugging you so much.”
“I just...I don’t know, I just was kind of annoyed about how you left me for that girl.” My voice had almost turned into a whisper.
“Cara?” He asked standing up straight. I scuffed my feet and nodded. “But, I was only gone a little bit. I came back, and you weren’t at home.”
“You were gone longer than you said you would be.”
“What, by about five minutes?”
“Look, it doesn’t even matter about how long you were gone, it’s just the fact that you left...after one of the most important nights of my life. You just went and had breakfast with another girl.”
“She’s just an old friend! It wasn’t like I was going on a date with her!”
“It’s just the principal of the matter Harry!”
“No, the principal of the matter is that you’re acting like a teenage girl.”
“I am a teenage girl!”
We both paused and looked at each other.
I was a teenage girl.
I was a teenage girl who had her prom coming up and who had just lost her virginity.
He was a 23 year old teacher with old friends from university.
We were worlds apart.
“I don’t know what to say.” He said locking his hands behind his head.
“I don’t know either.” I muttered.
It was silent for a long time until he finally said the words I had always dreaded to hear. “Maybe, we...we just met to hard and to fast.”
I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.
“Maybe, we should just...leave it for a bit and see what happens.”
I grabbed my bag off the floor and stormed towards the door.
“Don’t just leave like this Sophie.” He complained.
“What else am I supposed to do?!” I watched him as he struggled to find the words to say. I left the room, slamming the door behind me.
________________________________________________________________________

I had called Daisy that afternoon and we met at The Grounds. I couldn’t take it any longer, I had told her everything about Harry and I.
“Shut up. You’re lying. Now what’s the real reason you’re upset?” She had asked.
It took me about an hour to convince her that what I was saying, was the truth.
“How come you never told me any of this Soph?!” She said sipping on her coffee.
“I don’t know actually. Maybe because I knew something like this would happen.” I looked down at my coffee and idly stirred the foam around.
“So, do you agree with what he said? About meeting too hard and too fast?”
“I mean...yeah I guess. It was kind of a whirlwind. And if I’m going to be honest...we we’re never really together, just because we wanted to hang out together...sex was always in the back of my mind, and I’m sure it was in the back of his too.”
“So it was more about the lust than the love?”
“I guess so yeah. The minute we had completed the very act of sex, he was out the door. It was like the job was done, and so it was over.”
“That’s harsh.”
I nodded and took a sip of the coffee letting the hot liquid seep down my throat.
“And if I’m going to be honest, I mean like, how could it ever have worked. You know? He’s a teacher, I’m a student. I’m a teenage girl, and he’s a man. It was always going to be messy I guess.”
“But are you sad about it?”
“More angry than sad. I mean the guy took my virginity...its something I can never get back.”
“Yeah.”
“So I guess tomorrow at school is going to be pretty shitty isn’t it?”
“You know what, it probably will be, but I’ll be there for you in class, and I’m sure he’s not going to try and ask you anything. I think he’ll be very cautious.”
I nodded and gulped. Tomorrow was going to be verrrry interesting.