My body felt sore, but not excruciatingly so, so I slowly sat up.

“Elliot! Are you alright I saw you crash out the window” A familiar but muffled voice came from behind me. I yanked the helmet off and looked down at my clothes, my white fitted top that I had never worn before had a big grass stain across the front of it. My jeans worn torn at the knee and I had grazed myself on the gravel on the footpath by where I had fallen. My knee stung, but other than that I felt fine.

“I’m fine, I grazed my knee, but unfortunately for the world, I live to torment another day” I groaned, taking Matt’s outstretched hand, he helped pull me to my feet and chucked my arm around his shoulder and began walking to his front door

“Gees, now I know why you don’t drive to school”

I pulled my arm off his shoulder and turned back around, I had to clean up the scooter, catch a bus to the store and home again and do my homework, I didn’t have time for a cheeky asshole teacher who made fun of my driving.

“I have to go, and the brakes failed. Not my driving” I mumbled hobbling down the driveway

“Elliot, let me take a look at that knee first, I insist” Matt warned, running up behind me and stepping in front of me before I could take another step “I was kidding about the driving too, sorry”

“No, I have got way to many things to do, it’s a graze, I’ll live” I said stepping to the side as I tried to get passed him, before I could carry on walking however he lifted me over his shoulder and started walking towards his door.

“Mr C…. Matt! Put me down, this is completely inappropriate!” I screeched as he opened his front door and walked inside. He set me down on the plush, black leather couch and looked at me, a surprised look on his face

“I’m not trying to murder you Elliot, I am trying to help” and with that he knelt down in front of me and ripped the bottom part of my torn jeans, leaving me with shorts on one leg. He got up and walked away for a few minutes and returned with gauze, antiseptic cream and a bandage.

“Not that these were my favourite jeans or anything, but you could have asked before redesigning them” I huffed loudly as I looked around the room. Matts house was tidier than you’d expect for a single guy in his 20’s, it was minimalist though, only a few paintings and pictures on the wall. Of course he had all the mod cons most 21st century boys (and girls) were in to. In front of me sat a 50” tv and an xbox 360 as well as a stack of at least 50 games.

“Gamer huh” I noted

“When I get the chance, you?”

“My Gamertag is Bellie69” I said blushing, I was a bit of a gamer, I mean what else did I have to do. I mostly played those first person shooters, the ones where you hear little boys rage about being killed by a girl and cry about how I must be hacking… yeah those ones. I looked back at Matt who’d stopped cleaning my graze. His eyes caught mine and I wondered what I had said to catch him off guard this time. His eyes changed soon enough and began to dance and a smirk pressed upon his face

“69?” he mused

“Blame Ryan, he started the account for me” I replied honestly, I was used to the reaction of the seemingly sexual connotations on the end of my tag, and to be honest it had annoyed me many many times before. I was a pretty wellknown player on some of the more difficult games now though, so it was less of a problem now, that it had been.

“That makes sense”

It was at the moment I became very aware of Matt’s hands on my knee, his left hand cupped the back of my knee, which usually would have had me in fits of laughter because I am insanely ticklish, but the sting of the graze was enough to offset the ticklish feeling.

His right hand dabbed the graze with gauze and he gently blew against the graze, the cool air was nice upon the stinging. I looked down at Matt and found myself admiring his beautiful eyes as they concentrate on my knee, the way his soft lips were shaped in to a small ‘o’ as he blew on my knee.

I wondered if his lips were as soft as they looked, how they would feel on mine, and if he was a good kisser. Woaaaah hold your horses psycho! You don’t think things like this! Especially NOT about your teacher I told myself closing my eyes and leaning back against the couch. I tried to think about anything else, other than my teacher touching my leg, but it was futile, so instead I sat uncomfortably until he had applied antiseptic and the bandage.

“I could have done that myself you know, but thank you” I said standing up as quickly as I possibly could, almost running for the door. I’d probably missed the last bus in to town now, let alone the last bus home so the store would have to wait. I just had to get out of here as quickly as possible, because clearly I was losing my mind and turning in to one of those girls that drools all over their insanely good looking teachers.

“Elliot, where were you going… on the scooter?” he asked as I opened his front door. I sighed, why did he have to ask, I wasn’t thinking straight enough to come up with a fake answer.

“Um, I was going to the store for groceries, its okay it can wait” I said taking a step out the door.

“You know, I still need milk, I could give you a ride” He offered, my stomach flipped and I found myself nodding, even though I wanted to say no, run home and hide under my pillow until the normal me returned, the me that was basically a boy herself.

“You go get changed and meet me back here in 15 minutes then okay?”

I nodded again and left the house. I walked down the driveway and picked up the rickety, now totalled scooter and rolled it across the road back home. I dumped it by the door and kicked it a couple of times, ruing it for trying to kill me.

I walked back in the house, through the dining room and up the stairs to my bedroom. The house was dark inside now, considering it was nearing 6.30pm and unlike many other ‘family homes’ mine was not jovial, there was no delicious dinner cooking on the stovetop, and my parents weren’t asking me how my day was, instead it was empty, dark and silent.

Sighing I opened my closet and grabbed a new pair of jeans and a guns and roses t-shirt. I climbed out of my jeans pulling on the new ones afterward and then changed shirts. I grabbed my clothes and threw them in my laundry hamper, which was nearing full and carried it downstairs to the laundry room. I chucked the clothes in, and set them for a wash. I checked my pockets for the house keys and credit card, and then walked back out of the house and over to Matts.

When he answered the door his eyes widened and he took a small step back

“That was insanely quick. I thought girls take forever to get changed.”

“Most girls, but not me” I retorted.

Matt smiled and then walked out the door, locking it behind him. The sun was pretty much set now and it was beginning to get quite dark.

“So when do your parents get home?” He asked as we both hopped in to the car

“Usually around 1 or 2am, and they leave at 6 in the morning, How they function on four hours of sleep and run a successful business makes no sense, but they do it. Obviously I am just not good enough company for either of them to take turns” I muttered, looking out the window at my dark house, filled with no one. Matt took off down the road and didn’t say anything for a while. We came to a red light a couple of blocks down and he said softly

“You know, when I was a kid my mom was really overprotective, my dad died when I was 8 and she was so certain she was going to lose me too that she smothered me and my sister jeanie with attention and cotton wool. I craved freedom in my teens so badly that sometimes I dreamed about running away, of course, she wasn’t a terrible mom and I love her dearly, but I guess my upbringing, was on the other edge of the sword than yours”

I smiled, as much as I yearned to have some contact with my parents that meant actually seeing them without being at the restaurant, I was thankful I had my space too. Thankful they trusted me to look after myself, even if sometimes I just wanted to be look after.

“Some kind of middle ground would be nice huh” I stated, pulling my phone out of my jeans pocket, I’d forgotten to look at it when I’d changed clothes. I had 5 texts, 2 from Ryan and 3 from louise,

Hows detention with lover booooooi – Louise 3.43

Call us when your done and we’ll go get pizza – Louise 4.30

Where r u? Worried! – Louise 6pm

Answer Lou, she’d going Mad – Ryan 6.10pm

Elliot Jade Andrews…. TEXT ONE OF US NOW – Ryan 6.30

I quickly sent back a text to them both, stating I was fine, busy, and I’d jump on IM in an hour or so. At least they cared right?

We pulled into the store a little while later and separated to do shopping, both silently deciding that shopping together and being seen by someone either of us knew would look kind of weird.

I grabbed all the basics, bread, milk, sugar and coffee but remembered the credit card and grinned to myself. If I was going to continuously have to be home alone, I was going to finally have some fun with it.

I checked my wallet to make sure my fake ID was in there and walked down the liquor isle, I grabbed a 24 pack of Heineken and a cask wine for Louise. Usually during our sleepovers we’d have one or two of dads and watch movies, but hell… I had been a good girl for far too long, I wanted to do something no one expected me to. I grabbed the snacks for Friday night as well as a pint of ice cream and I wandered to the checkouts. I loaded my groceries on to the conveyor belt and looked around, half praying that Matt wouldn’t see the alcohol, because he knew I was underage, he might land me right in it.

“ID Miss?” The girl behind the counter droned, like this was the last place she wanted to be. I smiled and handed over the ID I’d had for a year, Ryan had got them made for us, so we could attend an R21 music festival one spring.

The girl looked at the ID and then back up at me “You’re 22?” she said, obviously not believing it, lucky for me the ID looked as legit as the actual Licenses they were modelled off and I just nodded. She put the rest of my things through and as I went to pay I felt a tap on my shoulder

“Beer Miss Andrews?” Matt whispered in my ear, only loudly enough for myself to here luckily.

“It’s for my dad” I whispered back as I swiped the credit card.

He didn’t say anything else, so bought my lie. I smiled, pleased with myself and pushed my trolley outside and down to Matt’s car. He came out a little while after and unlocked the boot of his car.

“is the beer really for your dad?” he questioned “It seems like he’s never home to drink them anyway”

My mouth fell in to an ‘O’ he had a good point there, in fact, the beers we’d had last night had been there for 12 months. I shrugged and lifted my groceries into the car. Like I needed to explain my shopping to my teacher in the middle of a car park at night.

“Elliot?” he said, warning me he was waiting for an answer

“Fine, they’re for me, my parents are away this weekend. Ryan and Louise are coming over and I thought we’d have some celebratory drinks”

“Celebrating what exactly?” he said, furrowing his brow

“The end of the first week of our last year in the hell hole that is Bellevue High” I said dreamily “Althought I do wish it was for the end of high school altogether, now that would be something to really celebrate”

Matt pushed his trolley over to the trolley bay and took mine as he walked passed me. He came back to the car and unlocked it. I could tell he was thinking something, and that he wanted to say something, because he kept making a sighing sound.

“What?” I finally asked, getting sick of him sighing

He started the car and pulled his seatbelt on

“Well knowing my underage students are going to be drinking across the road from me on Friday night makes me uneasy” he replied honestly, pulling out of the park and manouvering out of the carpark. I rolled my eyes, if he was such a stickler for rules he probably shouldn’t continue giving me rides home, or to the store, or on his shoulders…. And he definitely shouldn’t be blowing on my knee. STOP IT you psycho, stop thinking about him like that! I yelled at myself silently.

“Lucky you aren’t a police officer then Matt” I joked.

“please just promise me that you’ll let me know if anything happens?” he pleaded, a sense of urgency to his voice “And please promise me you won’t drive anywhere”

I rolled my eyes, did he think I was stupid?

“Fine Matt, I will run across the road to you, drunk and vunerable if anything is to happen…. Because that’s clearly more appropriate than you being aware that we may or may not be drinking.” I found myself blurting out. I covered my mouth with my hand, shocked I’d even said it. I heard a muffled laugh from his direction.

We sat in silence the rest of the way home, and he drove in to my driveway first and helped me unload my shopping.

“Thanks for the bandage, and the lift to the store, I’d probably have gone another 24 hours without eating otherwise” I replied honestly, walking Matt back to the front door.

“Anytime… actually do you have your phone on you?” he asked stopping and turning back around. I dug into my pocket and pulled my phone out. He took it off me and started tapping away. A large grin flashed across his face and he said “Your friend Louise is hilarious, she’s sent you a text. Uh there is my number, if you need anything, text or call”

Oh god, what Had louise said? If I knew her half as well as I thought I did it would be something regarding Matt and me.

“uh, thanks” I mumbled taking the phone back. Matt left and I opened my last message, there in big black letters it read

Stop jumping Mr.C’s bones already. Ryan is being a knob! – Louise 7.39pm

Great, Just great. Now he was going to assume I’d said something about him that warranted such a text. I put the shopping away and threw the credit card on the bench. I took the pint of ice cream upstairs with me and sat down in front of my laptop. I opened it and signed in to IM

Louuuuie – FINALLY Ellie!

Elliebellie – OMG on the text Lou, man…. Really really not cool

Louuuuie – So you WERE with him

Elliebellie – Nooooooooo

Louuuuie – Where were u?

Elliebellie – Shopping, Where Ryan?

Ryryguy – I’m here, just stuffing my face with pie

Elliebellie – I’ve got icecream for dinner, Cookie dough flavour… nom nom nom

Louuuuie – I’m eating celery. L

Louuuuie – Anyway, what was so important you were uncontactable for hours?

Elliebellie – A series of unfortunate events, just glad the night is almost over. I’ve got homework to do, so I’ll see you guys tomorrow okay.

Ryryguy – Seeya ElliePHANT

Louuuuie – I still don’t believe you. See ya.

I sighed and logged out of IM. I took out my homework and got through it as fast as I could. The sooner today was over, the closer the weekend was and I really could use a night with my best friends just forgetting everything. I went to bed around 11pm and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.