My boots pressing against the floor made a quiet echoing sound in the empty hallway of my school. There were students and teachers here and there for after school activities but you could only hear their muffled voices through their doors or the loud yelling of the jocks outside on the football field. Besides that, I was the only person in the sophomore hallway. I made my way to Ms. Bradbury's classroom to finish up my classwork and to bring up my Geometry grade.

As I made my way to her class, I spotted Ms. Bradbury holding a stack of papers and her school laptop.

"Ah, Ms. Young, I'm glad I caught you. I have a meeting to go to," she told me as I met her at her classroom door, "Do you mind waiting in Mr. Payne's room until I get back? I know your mother won't be able to come get you until around four. I should be back before then and you'll be able to finish your assignment."

"I don't mind," I answered calmly. Keep calm, Chloe, I told myself, you'll only need to make it through until her meeting is over. I took a deep breath, giving her a polite smile. She smiled back.

"Good, see you in a little bit," she said, slipping past me and down the hallway.

I have Mr. Payne third period, so he's one of the first teachers I see every morning. I took another deep breath and made my way towards his classroom.

---

"Angela, your writing is absolutely intoxicating," I heard Mr. Payne say as I approached his open classroom door. His back was turned to me as he stood in front of Angela Reigns, who is obviously using English as a reason to get closer to Mr. Payne. "I have seen a major improvement from you!"

I knocked awkwardly on his door. He turned, not expecting someone to be knocking at his door before smiling once he realized who it was.

"Hello, Chloe, is there anything I can help you with?" he asked, rolling up the sleeves of his green-and-white, plaid button-down to his elbows.
"Ms. Bradbury told me to come in here while she finishes her meeting." It came out like a question, a nervous habit of mine.
Mr. Payne chuckled, "Of course! Sit anywhere you like." He gave me a friendly smile that made my stomach flip.

Stop, I told myself harshly, Mr. Payne is almost twice your age. You cannot like him. I forced my legs to move towards a seat in the front row, four seats away from Angela who gave me a glare.

"Okay, uh, Chloe, I'd give you work to do, but you're one of my top students, so would you like to try some college skills?" Mr. Payne asked, rummaging through his papers.
"Uh, sure." It came out like another question.
He looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "You don't have to, Chloe."
"N-No!" I defended nervously, "I-I'd love to try them." I forced a smile. Goddammit, Chloe.
"Alright," he responded hesitantly, walking towards me and placing a stapled packet on my desk, "I'll count it as extra credit, if you even need any." He joked.

Angela, not amused with the fact that I was taking Mr. Payne's attention, shot her hand up. "Mr. Payne, I don't understand," she whined. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He walked over to her and begin assisting her with the prompt, unaware of Angela's roaming eyes.

After several minutes of working on the packet, Angela informed Mr. Payne that her mom couldn't pick her up so Mr. Payne offered to take her home.

"Chloe, I'll be right back. I trust you to stay in here by yourself. If I'm not back before Ms. Bradbury gets back, you can leave the packet on my desk. Have a nice evening." And with that, he left, keys in his hand.

I continued working silently on the packet until I heard a soft ring. I looked up from the paper and at Mr. Payne's desk, realizing the noise was his cellphone, sitting untouched on his desk. I stood from the student desk I was sitting in, peeking my head out the door, looking for any nearby teachers before heading towards his desk. I knew how rude it was to go through someone's else personal things, but the rumors about Mr. Payne are still burning in my mind and I really wanted to find out the truth.

His phone screen lit up from a text message from a guy named Niall Horan:

"Liam, are you heading out of the school anytime soon? Got someone here who wants his fuckin' money," I read silently. What could this mean? Loan shark? Did Mr. Payne lose a bet? The guy sounds pretty mad in the text.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming towards the classroom. I panicked and dropped his phone, leaving a crack in the screen.

"Oh no!" I breathed, hurriedly picking up the phone and placing it back on the desk, thinking of an excuse to why I had his phone in the first place.

Someone entered the room and without looking up from the ground, I said, "Mr. Payne, I'm so sorry!"

Notes

Okay, first of all, thank you so much for the comments! I love how quickly you guys fell in love with my story. I really hope you like this chapter, even though it's kind of a cliffhanger, haha. Anyways, I hope to have a new chapter up soon. Please, continue leaving comments; I love hearing from you guys.
- Avril.