Tomorrow's Money

Skipping school wasn't something I had ever done, but I felt it was my only option. I'd finished my day at school after my terrible break down in art, but my mind wasn't on school. It was on everything Mr. Way and I had talked about. I ended up skipping school the next two days. On the first day, I wandered around town, not really knowing what to do with myself. I was paranoid about getting caught, so I sat in the public library until it was time for school to get out. On day two, I had a run in with Mr. Way.

I had gotten to the mall by bribing my driver with extra money. He agreed to drop me off and get me home in time so my parents wouldn't find out about me missing school. I sat in a book store, reading Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, when I saw him ordering coffee at the Starbucks in the book store. I sat back in the couch I was sitting in, trying to blend in. He turned around and saw me almost immediately. He gave me a look of confusion and walked over. "Shouldn't you be in school?" He asked as he took a seat in the couch across from mine.

"Maybe." I shrugged. I didn't want him to tell anyone I had been skipping, but was almost sure he would.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked, probably already knowing my answer.

"I just got stressed out. I don't know. I guess I kind of tried to run away from my problems." I admitted, feeling ashamed. Running away was definitely no way to handle problems.

"You can't just run every time something bad happens." He said, half with sympathy half in a lecture.

"I know that." I sighed. Suddenly, a thought came and I looked up at him with challenging eyes. "And what are you doing here instead of being at school?"

"Oh, fuck, well.." He struggled, laughing a bit. "I guess I just wanted the day off!" He admitted, knowing how lame his excuse was.

"Oh, Mr. Way! Cutting school and swearing in front of a student!!" I teased.

He laughed is contagious, awkward laugh. "It's Gerard." He said, still smiling though now calm. "Outside of school, anyway."

"Gerard." I repeated, making a mental note to remember not to Call him Mr. Way outside of school. "Right." I smiled back, wondering what on earth made him let me use his first name.

"So since we've now caught each other skipping school, you want some lunch? I'm buying." He offered.

I thought the offer was nice but I didn't want to get in trouble. "Are you sure?" I asked, kind of silently reminding him that I was his student still and people might think that's weird.

"Yeah of course." He said, not really catching my drift.

"You don't think people would think anything weird if they saw us?" I implied, knowing he'd understand this time.

"Who is going to see us anyway?" He said with that crooked, mischievous smile of his. I thought it was odd that he hadn't mentioned anything about it being okay is someone saw or that it wasn't "wrong." Instead he just said that no one would see. I pushed it to the back of my mind and agreed to go with him.

Mr. Way, or, ahem, Gerard, took me to a little cafe somewhere outside of Newark. I had never been there and probably would never even remember the name of the place, had it not been him to take me there. It was called The Capulet Cafe. We sat int the back, far from windows or really any natural lighting. The lights that hung from the ceiling were dim and the place was pretty dead. I had no idea why he'd chosen the place until I started eating the food I'd ordered.

"This is amazing. No wonder you brought me here." I laughed as the look of approval graced Gerard's face.

"I told you, this place looks shitty but they have great food." He said, taking another bite of his own meal.

"So I guess we better go to school tomorrow, huh?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Sure do. But hey, we got away for a little while. Now we just get through Friday and bam! Two more days of this!" He said excitedly. I knew he meant not going to school by "this" but I thought it'd be funny to mess with him.

"Oh so you're taking me to lunch this weekend? How sweet of you!" I gushed, acting flattered.

"You want me to?" He chuckled, half kidding.

"Do you want to?" I asked, being a little more serious now.

"Actually, why not go to a movie? There's a few good ones coming out and it'd be less likely for someone to bump into us." He said. I was really shocked to hear his offer. Was he trying to ask me out on a date? There was only one way to find out.

"So, what, you're taking a 17 year old out on a date now?" I said this in the most sarcastic voice I could muster, just in case he found the seriousness of my question offensive.

"No." He said, a little too quick. "Maybe. What?" He started getting a little awkward. He started messing with his hair a bit and stumbling around his words. "Would you consider that a date?"

"Well.. Kind of." I shrugged, being totally honest. "That's usually what people do on dates."

"Well, it's not wrong, is it?" He was looking for some sort of approval, but it was hard to truthfully give. Yes. It was wrong. I was 17 and he was 24. It was legally very wrong.

"No. Maybe. What?" I said, copying what Gerard had just said.

We laughed for a moment but were quickly hushed by our own awkward situation. "Well.." Gerard started. "You are 17. So I guess it is wrong, but it's not like we have to do anything. A 24 year old can innocently take a 17 year old to a movie, right?" He sounded like he was trying to persuade me into thinking it was okay, but really he was trying to persuade himself.

"Right." I agreed. There wasn't anything wrong with that. I didn't have to be illegal. As long as nothing romantic happened, it would be fine. Little did I know, fine wasn't exactly how it would end up.

We finished our meals and Gerard took me back to where I said I'd meet my driver. I was sad to see my day with him end, but a little bit more hopeful about our not date, thing. "Thank you for lunch and everything." I said as I waited for my driver to show up."

"Oh, anytime." He laughed, remembering we'd skipped school. "Well, no more skipping school. But you know what I mean."

"Yeah. Well I should go, he's here." I said, pointing to my driver on his way into the parking lot of the mall.

Gerard wrapped me up in a warm hug. I couldn't tell if he hugged me because he thought I needed it, or because he needed it himself. He tried to lead on that he was perfectly happy with his life, but I knew better. I really did.

I pulled away from him with a smile, though inside I was sad to let go. I waved goodbye and got in the car and went home. I could not believe what had just happened and wished I could have been with him longer, as fucked up as that is.

I avoided my parents at all costs that night, not really wanting to face them after my guilt of skipping school and agreeing to a date with my 24 year old student teacher. Yikes.

I went to bed with thought of Gerard raging in my mind. I wanted this date to go well, but did I really want to get involved with someone as old as he was? It sure wasn't something I wanted my parents to know about.

I went to school the next day, answering all the questions about not being there with a "I was sick" and leaving it at that. I'd even told Marley that. No way was I telling her I set up a date with her boyfriend's brother. That would have been a little.. Odd.

When art finally came around, I was a little surprised to see Gerard standing at the front of the room with no sign of Ms. Kurt. Once everyone got settled in and the bell rang, Gerard stepped forward and took charge of the class.

"Hi everyone." He greeted, hushing the students. "Ms. Kurt is going to be gone for a while. All I know is that she had some personal, family issues she needed to deal with and I'll be covering her place for the next two weeks." The class seemed to get a little excited over this, probably figuring Gerard would go easy on them. "Now, even though i wasn't here yesterday, I know you were all assigned a different project to work on. So go ahead and continue those. If anyone needs something, let me know." With that, he sat back at his desk.

I hadn't been there the day before so I didn't know what my assignment was, and I'd assumed Gerard had forgotten. I went over to him and talked quietly, even though the whole class was talking normally and paying attention to their conversations. "Hey, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." I told him, hoping he knew.

"Oh, right! I'm so sorry." He laughed. "I totally forgot that you need your assignment." He dug around in the desk until he found a note from Ms. Kurt with my name on it. Under it was a description of my project. "This is it. Generally she's assigned you to work with clay. I think Marley is also working with clay so you won't be doing it by yourself. But she said she wanted you to start sculpting pretty much anything you want. The point of the project is to familiarize yourself with the general subject of clay work and the pottery wheel. She wants one sculpture, it can be small, and at least one thrown project. Okay?" He explained. He seemed very cheery, which was nice.

"Will do." I smiled. "Oh, and about our, uh plans." I said, even more quietly than before.

"Say no more." He said, writing down a number on my note from Ms. Kurt. "After school, text that with your name and I'll let you know." He flashed me his gorgeous smile, which made me smile too.

"Thanks." I sat back down and started sketching designs for my sculpture. Marley came over, hands covered in clay, and gave me that suspicious look.

"What were you talking about over there?" She asked.

My heart sank and I felt scared. Did she hear us? "My project? I wasn't here to get it yesterday. He was explaining what I was doing." I tried not to sound too worried but I had no idea if it was working or not.

"That's all you were talking about?" She asked, still very suspicious.

"Yeah why?" I lied. I hated lying to her but I had to.

"I saw you two smiling at each other. He was totally flirting with you." She gushed a little, which was unexpected.

"Oh my god he was not!" I lied again. I didn't want to make this a habit.

"I know him! He was too! That's so weird! He's like 24." She laughed.

"Shut up Marley!" I laughed, playing along with her a little.

Marley went back to her project, still giggling at herself. I took a big sigh of relief and got back to sketching. I sketched the rest of the class period. I wanted to make sure I knew what I wanted to sculpt, so I took my time with it. And I also didn't want to sit by Marley and chance talking about Gerard again. Luckily I got out of there and finished my day at school without having that conversation again.

When I got home my parents were gone again. Fear struck me as I realized those guys had probably been stalking my house, waiting for it to be empty. I was paranoid, afraid they'd come back. I turned a few lights on throughout the house and got into my PJ's to try and relax, though it was harder than it seemed.

I suddenly remembered to that I was supposed to text Gerard. I got my phone out and sent a message. "Hey, it's Lily."

A few moments went by before my phone went off. I opened my text and it was form Gerard. "Hey there!" He said.

"So our plans?" I wrote, hoping he;d want to talk about more than our plans. Taking to him was kind of comforting with my paranoia that night.

"Saturday at 8 okay? I can come pick you up." He said. I wondered what he was doing, if he was curious about me, maybe even if his hair fell in front of his beautiful hazel eyes when he looked down at his phone to text me.

"Yes, sounds good! Hopefully no one will be here so I won't have to explain!" I sent, knowing he'd get that I was only kidding.

"I may be a bit hard to explain! lol" He said. Oh god!

I laughed at his text and sent "Maybe!"

"So what are you doing?" He asked, just like I hoped he would. This way, I knew we'd talk for at least a little while.

"Sitting at home. Parents left again." I replied.

"Are you okay?" He asked, probably knowing exactly how I was feeling.

"I'd love to say yes but I'm honestly a little paranoid." I admitted, feeling even more afraid reliving the last time.

"When will your parents be back?" He asked.

"Tomorrow. Maybe the next day. They weren't sure. Just not tonight they said." I didn't want to be alone that long, but I didn't have much choice.

"Do you want some company? Or would that be weird?" Or did I?

"No, that's not weird, considering we already have a date-ish thing planned? Keep it innocent, remember? lol" I sent. I figured he was doing that funny thing where he got all awkward and nervous and I couldn't help but smile.

"Okay. I can be there in 20 if you want. Address?" I couldn't believe I was letting my now student/substitute teacher come over to my house to keep me company. I sent him my address anyway and waited.

I went to the bathroom and fixed my still perfectly curled hair and make up. I put on a nice, tight pair of sweat pants with a matching shirt and zip up hoodie, just to make it seem like I wasn't dressing up. I wanted to be comfortable anyway.

About 25 minutes later I heard a car pull up. I unlocked the door before he could knock. "Hi Gerard." I smiled as I opened the door.

"Hey. You okay?" He asked as I let him into the house.

"I feel better now that I'm not alone." I said, shutting and locking the door behind him. "What is that?" I asked, referring to the grocery bags in his hand.

"Oh, I bought a pizza and some chips. I figured you'd be hungry." He said. I thought it was incredibly sweet of him, even though I had enough food in our damn mansion to last me a year.

"Thank you." I smiled, leading him to the kitchen. We popped in the pizza and sat next to each other at the island.

"So your place is huge." He laughed, though I could already tell he was embarrassed of his own place just by looking at mine.

"Yeah. It makes everything a bit more lonely though." I admitted. A look of sympathy crossed his face, but quickly was hidden.

"So what kind of movies do you like?" He asked, probably to start figuring out what to watch.

"I like lots of movies." I laughed, "what do you feel like watching?" I asked.

"I'd say horror, but maybe that's a bad idea with your paranoia." He laughed a little, though I knew he was being serious.

"Horror is my favorite too. And maybe since I'm not alone I'll be fine." We went to my collection of movies in what we called the theater room (though it wasn't really a theater, more so a room with a big TV and a couch)

"That's it. Ouija. I haven't seen it yet." He said, holding the movie. Something about him right then made me stop and admire him for a second. Maybe it was the boyish glimmer in his eyes when he talked about the horror movies he loved, or the excitement he got over watching this movie he'd wanted to see, but most of all, I think it was just the fact that he was so beautiful on the inside. He stopped whatever he was doing to come over because I was scared, and he went to the trouble of bringing me food and everything. It was sweet of him and I loved how he cared.

"Perfect." I smiled. At that point, he could have picked fucking Barney and I'd have let him watch it. Saying no wasn't exactly something I would have been able to do anyway, not with that look in his eyes.

We got the pizza out of the oven and sat down to watch Ouija. Mistake. I was scared as hell and almost shaking. he was right about this being a bad idea with my paranoia. At one point, somewhere near the middle of the movie, I'd found myself clinging to him, grasping his arm and almost hiding behind him. I knew he noticed, but he didn't stop me. Who the hell would find out anyway, right?

At another point, I ended up screaming and unintentionally burying my face in his neck. I was calmed by not seeing the TV first of all, and the way he cradled me, the way he smelled, even his own calm breathing made me feel good. I looked up at him to find he was already looking back down at me. and before I could let out my "Sorr-" His lips slowly sank into mine, sending my heart into a frenzy. I was panicking, my hear was racing, palms sweating, thoughts screaming and yet.. I kissed him back. Slow, loving, that's how this was. There was no lust behind it at all. I felt nothing but warmth and comfort behind his tight embrace caring kiss. I knew right then that I had to have more. Friends was not going to cut it..