Part 21 (2/2)
”It still seems forever though, compared to seeing you every day here.”
”Let's go this way.” He took her on a brief diversion around to where the pavilion was, instead of straight back to Michaelmas House.
”This will really get tongues wagging.”
”What they don't see they can't know,” he said, leading he around the back where they were out of eyesight. Laura felt a slight shudder looking at the now-repaired window. ”The scene of the crime?” he asked.
”Something like that.”
”It's also where I first touched your hand. And I knew that I wasn't imagining what was between us.”
”And what was that?” she asked, smiling.
His lips answered her. They were warm and firm on hers in the chilly air. She savoured the feel of him, the taste, the intimacy of his tongue entwining with hers. Felt how tall he was as he had to bend down to kiss her as she reached up to meet him. Felt the strength of his arms around her. The power, both physical and emotional, he had over her.
”That I love you,” he said, as he broke away. He fingered her necklace, the one had had given her. ”And that I hope this will be on a ring one day.”
She kissed him again. ”I love you too.”
Just three weeks. Somehow she would endure it.
Laura brazened it out when she got back to Michaelmas House. She told anyone who asked that she had been discussing Goethe with Mr Rydell. She at least had a reputation for being good at literature and poetry, so some were convinced and silenced.
Susie beat the remainder into submission by accusing them of having jealous crushes of their own. ”My Rydell, you're my idol!” she chanted at one girl.
Teresa knew what she knew and was all the more enraged that Laura and Susie appeared to be getting away with everything again. But people were already trickling away, more interested in going home and seeing their families again than school gossip. By January it would be long forgotten.
Susie was the first of the four to go, her parents driving up in a grey Bentley. Her mother looked very glamorous from what they could see through the window. ”Easy to see where Susie gets it from,” Charlotte said.
So the three of them sat together once more.
”It feels like another lifetime, when I think back to the start of this term,” Laura said. ”I know it's the longest term but it feels like years have pa.s.sed.”
As devastated as she was by Mr Rydell leaving, she was relieved the intensity of the term was over. They all needed a break.
”I wonder if The Axe will be back next term?” Charlotte asked.
”I don't think so. I don't think you could come back after that,” Margery said. She had mixed feelings about what Susie had done. All in all it was for the best, but Mrs Ayers' public breakdown had made her uneasy.
”So it's off to Italy for you?” Charlotte said to Laura. She herself was looking forward to seeing Julian, there would be a couple of b.a.l.l.s around Christmas and she was going to try and find a date for Margery.
”Yes, I can't wait. Skiing too, if the snows come.”
And him. Her future. Her soulmate. The man who had taught her more than she could have ever imagined. Lessons she would remember long after Latin verbs and calculus had faded from memory. Forbidden lessons: lessons of desire, lessons of love.
Glossary of terms.
Some of the British English terms used in Forbidden Lessons may be unfamiliar to non UK readers. This glossary is provided as a guide.
A-levels.
Final high school exams, usually only three to four subjects are studied, in the last two years Common room.
Room used for leisure or social activities by pupils.
Demerit Penalty point imposed for a wrongdoing Dorm (Dormitory) bedroom for multiple pupils at a boarding school.
Exeat A kind of short school holiday, when boarding pupils are allowed to leave the school overnight Games Term used for sport, physical exercise.
Gated Gonfined to school grounds, similar to grounding Half-term A short holiday half-way through a school term.
House Schools are often divided into houses, usually for the purposes of residential accommodation Mufti Regular clothes, being out of school uniform.
Out of bounds An area on or off school grounds to which access is forbidden Oxbridge Oxford + Cambridge, England's two most elite universities, similar to Ivy League.
Prep (Preparation) a term used for homework, and the time allotted to complete homework Sixth form The final two years of school, when one is studying for A-levels.
About Noel Cades.
Noel Cades is a British writer who currently lives in Sydney, Australia. A fan of romance, mystery and cla.s.sic children's novels, Noel's favourite authors include Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie and Tove Jansson.
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