"Oh, maybe I came on too strong. Maybe I waited too long. Maybe I played my cards wrong. Oh, just a little bit wrong. Baby, I apologize for it." -Ed Sheeran.

Nikolai is trying his best to remain levelheaded, but it is hard not to become distracted by the two small but attractive pearls on Kelly's chest. Or the glistening droplets of water racing down her stomach, or that somehow sexy scar, decorating the skin near her tiny navel. Or even the way her cheeks have taken on a pink hue just by the articulation of two simple words.

Good girl.

He observes that whenever he addresses her as such, she begins to blush immensely as if he touched the most sensitive part of her being. He cannot deny that uttering the phrase also gets him a bit spurred on.

And that is what he has been running away from this entire time. He doesn't want to become aroused in a situation such as this. Although he secretly enjoys watching her in apprehension, this is just not the time to tease her. That turns him on, and when that happens, it is not something easily hidden. The front of his trunks does not have enough room to contain his stimulation.

Therefore, to undo what he just did, he begins to inch away from Kelly, but upon impulse, she grabs onto his naked waists and pulls him back flush against her.

So that their cores are squashing again.

Her eyes appear sparkly and even more innocent as she stares up at him. "Don't move away, sir..." She whispers.

Mr. Todd is shocked, and then she becomes a bit braver and begins to press him harder against her.

He can feel her entire lady area against him, and his eyes widen as he tries to move away. "Wow, Kelly."

Returning to her senses, she quickly retracts her hands as if she got burned by fire, her cheeks toning deeper as she comes to terms with what she just did.

Oh God! What was that? What on earth did she just do?

Nikolai stares down at her speechlessly, his Adam's apple shifting in his throat as he swallows.

She tenses up.

"No, sir. It's not what it seems; it's just that you were about to get us caught, so I..." She looks down. "I was pulling you back so we wouldn't get caught. They are still there..." She closes her eyes.

But that isn't the only reason. She liked having him dangerously close, so her subconscious acted upon it without her consent. She wishes the ground would open up and take her in.

"I think we can head back now; don't you think?" Ms. Smith's voice interrupts the weird silence between them, and Kelly reopens her eyes as the sound of sloshing water resounds in the air.

The two women breathlessly climb out of the pool and begin to head toward the hallway. The smacking noises of their bare feet against the ground gradually fade out as they drift out of range.

Kelly looks up at Nikolai when there is silence again. "I-I think they left."

"Yeah...we can go out now." He speaks. He has still not recovered from the earlier incident but tries to push it at the back of his mind. It was his fault for calling her a 'good girl,' knowing that the term tends to affect her. He blames himself for this one.

They begin to walk out of the dense corner, the cool and refreshing air surrounding them again.

"Wait, Ms. Peterson! I forgot my towel!"

Kelly's eyes widen as Ms. Smith begins to return to the piscina. She hastily steps back until they are both backed up into the cramped corner again. This time, Mr. Todd is pressing against the wall while Kelly's butt is crushing his groin.

He sighs inaudibly. The little panties she is wearing reveal her entire butt cheeks, which are now cramming against his wet thighs. He tries to keep his gaze ahead as the sight below him is much too salacious.

Kelly is too worried about them getting caught to pay attention to the compromising position. However, the feel of something rigid underneath her forces her to acknowledge what she has been sitting against.

His member.

It grows larger underneath her, and her body stiffens as heat washes over her face. The corner is becoming hot, so her entire figure is bathing in sweat. But it is no longer the temperature that is causing her to perspire this much.

"Sir..." She whispers in awe.

Nikolai sighs, knowing exactly what she is feeling. There is nothing he can do about it. The thing won't listen to him anyway. "I am sorry. The corner is much too small, and we are cramming together. It'll happen. I can assure you that it means nothing..."

Kelly gulps and drops her gaze to her feet, the red polish on her toes glowing in the dark. "I-I know. I understand. It's...it's happening to me too..."

Nikolai narrows his eyes, genuinely confused. "What is?"

Kelly swallows yet again. Her throat feels parched, but she can tell that it is not because of the heat. "I..." She closes her eyes tightly. "I am feeling kind of...aroused."

Mr. Todd is taken aback by her confession. His cheeks redden as he quickly eases her off him.

"Sir?" She whirls around, stepping out of the corner just a little.

He turns his back to her and presses his palm against the wall above him, hanging his head and shutting his eyes.

She frowns. Maybe she should not have admitted to that. What on earth has gotten into her? Why would she reveal that to him? Is she that comfortable with confiding in the man?

"Mr. Todd...are-are you alright?"

He raises a palm as if to respond to her concern. He's alright; he just needs to get rid of the projection in his shorts. He just needs to redirect his mind. Think of other things.

Kelly feels as though she screwed up. First, she pulled him back against her when he had tried to move away, and now she just revealed that sitting against his lap made her stimulated.

She quickly tries to amend it. "But-but I-I didn't mean all the time...I meant just for this moment. I didn't mean all the time, Mr. Todd. I mean, it's not like I touch myself thinking about you or anything like that-oh my God, what am I saying?" She covers her face.

Amazement takes over Nikolai's face as he turns around. "Kelly, go to your room. Get some rest." He shuts his eyes. "Just go to your room."

She bites on her lip. "Sir—"

"Up to your room." He points in the direction of the exit.

She scowls as she turns away and begins to walk back to the deck, and Nikolai sighs and rubs his forehead before following her.

Wrong choice. At every step she takes, her butt moves along with her. He grounds his jaw and looks away.

"And use a towel." He tells her.

She swings around, her wet hair falling along her shoulders. "Sir?"

"A towel. Wrap it around yourself." He grabs the brown cloth from the ground. "Is this yours?"

Kelly stares up at him. Does he hate seeing her in the swimsuit that much? Were his earlier compliments nothing but fables then?

But what can she say? Her lower half had been hiding in the pool, so he did not get the chance to see her 'unappealing' legs. But now that he has, he is probably feeling just as 'disgusted' as she is.

Her eyes burn as she takes it from him. "Thank you, sir." She quickly wraps it around herself, turning her face away so he won't see the glistening tears gathering in her eyes.

"Mr. Todd?"

Both heads snap in the direction that the voice derived from, and Kelly gasps when she sees Ms. Smith walking up to them. Her bathing suit is a purple pair, and her hair is bundled at the top of her head in a messy heap. Now that she is not wearing makeup, she looks noticeably different.

"When did you arrive? You didn't pass me along the way."

Nikolai straightens his spine composedly. "I took the other direction."

She bobs her head slowly. "Oh, okay. What is going on here?" She quirks an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she looks from Kelly to her colleague.

"Oh. She wasn't aware that the teachers' area is off-limits. So, I was just informing her. She's about to head back to her room now."

He looks at Kelly as a cue for her to leave, but Ms. Smith will not be having it. She steps up to the teen as she is about to walk off, taking in the younger girl's attire from head to toe.

Kelly pulls up the straps of her swim bra when the lady's inspection lands on her cleavage.

"You should be punished for this, you know." Ms. Smith's disapproving eyes glide back up to her face.

"That will not be necessary. She was not aware." Nikolai disagrees.

"Or maybe she was aware. But was just trying to gain someone's attention." She cocks her head to the side, and Kelly cannot stop her eyes from narrowing at the nerve of this woman.

What is she implying?

Ms. Smith lets out a sigh. "Please return to your room. It is past midnight."

Kelly swallows the disrespectful words threatening to fall off her tongue as she lowers her head and walks away. Not even her mother tells her when to go to bed. Who does this lady think she is?

"I keep seeing you two a lot lately." Ms. Smith begins as soon as Nik's student vanishes behind the stone walls.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He turns his head to her. He is annoyed.

"I don't know. I mean, I am very much aware that students at Camber High have been taking a romantic interest in you. Everyone knows that. Therefore, I just think that she's trying to catch your eyes by being this ill-mannered."

"She is not ill-mannered." He corrects her. "She just didn't know that she wasn't allowed to be here, and I scolded her about it."

"Is that what you think, Nikolai?" She tilts her head. "That she didn't know that the teachers' area is off-limits? It's one of the first rules Ms. Peterson stated before they got off the bus."

"Or maybe she was just not listening."

Ms. Smith sighs. "Just be careful. Don't let that little girl put a dent in your career. She's too...too clingy."

"Why would I allow my student to ruin my career? I don't date my students, so please don't let anyone hear you with that on your tongue."

"I know you don't. But does she? The girl is just everywhere. She was in your office, the auditorium, now at the pool in a thin piece of swimwear that hardly covered her boobs. That could cause a scandal, Nikolai. I know you wouldn't think of dating a child, but these schoolgirls are trouble. They can get you mixed up and tell lies that could scar your entire career. Just be careful. You may not be able to see, but people could be watching you two."

She exhales and reaches for the pink bottle that she left behind on the ground. Then she puts her palms on his shoulders and tips on her manicured toes to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll be leaving first. Come up when you're ready." She smiles at him then walks away, ensuring her hips are swaying and praying that he is watching.

However, Mr. Todd has stopped looking at her since the moment she turned her back, and he releases a sigh as he grabs his belongings from the ground.

••

"Tell me you did not get caught at the teachers' section." Derrick hopes as he stands in line with Kelly, waiting for their turn to choose their breakfast from the buffet.

She blows out her cheeks. She hardly got any sleep this morning since her mind kept on returning to that tight corner she and Nikolai were in. How his body felt touching hers, and how their lower regions felt crushing against each other. She swallows.

"No. Everything was alright." She tells him, keeping her answer short.

She prefers not to speak about it. Not only is the memory nerve-wracking, but she is still embarrassed after revealing her arousal to her teacher. She wishes there was a way to wipe his memory and let him forget that she had ever said that. And then Ms. Smith had to come along after everything and made her feel small. With her slender legs and uptight attitude.

"What are you grabbing?" Derrick changes the topic, sensing her disinterest.

"Everything there," Kelly says.

He smiles and pinches her cheek. "Greedy rabbit."

A mixture of masculine fragrances breeze by her nose as Mr. Todd and Mr. Oliver pass by the line of students. He is also a history teacher at Camber High but is ten years older than Nikolai, making him thirty-five. The two men walk toward the teachers' buffet across from this one.

Today, her tutor is wearing dark grey trousers and a black long-sleeved cotton shirt. He looks captivating as he converses with his coworker, oblivious to Kelly's absorbent eyes.

Admiring comes automatically for her when it comes to him. She finds even his smallest actions and gestures attractive.

The way he smiles at the older man while jamming his hands in his pockets, or the way he occasionally rubs his lips with squinted eyes whenever the man speaks to him. Or even the mere act of rocking on his toes or swaying side to side. They get her heart hammering in her chest.

"Even the teachers' buffet is freaking bigger. What the hell?" Henry speaks over her shoulder, tugging her from her head. "So unfair."

Kelly giggles and forces herself to look away so she won't get caught in the act of staring a second time.

"It's not bigger; it is literally the same size." Derrick laughs.

"Yeah, but with more food." Henry insists.

Kelly cannot contain it. Just one last look at him. One last.

Carefully, she glances over at Nikolai again as Mr. Oliver grips his shoulder and leans in to say something, gesticulating with his hand. Mr. Todd nods his head with narrowed eyes, and when the older man moves away, Nik pivots and begins to walk over in her direction.

She quickly diverts her gaze as he comes to a stop in front of the line. Her hands are clammy as her grip tightens on her glass plate.

"Good morning." He greets the students. "Those who are a part of my Advanced History group, after you're through collecting your breakfasts, please sit at table number four, over there." He points to the instructed place. "We will need to discuss some things about the exams after we've finished eating."

"Yes, sir." The row of students replies in sync.

Without looking at her, Mr. Todd returns to his buffet line, and Kelly tries not to look in his direction again.

••

"...okay, so with all that said, the end-of-term examinations will not include everything on the syllabus." Mr. Todd informs the students as he sits at the top of the long table. His announcement earns noises of approval and happiness from the batch of seniors.

He keeps a straight face despite the cheers and opens a black folder. He slips a single sheet from it and closes it back.

"Alright. This is the list of topics that will be on the exams. I only have one copy here, so I am going to need someone to make some copies of this for the class."

Kelly remembers that she has a photocopy machine at home where she'd be able to get the copies done for free. She eagerly raises her hand. "Sir, I could get it done for—"

"Gabriella." He smoothly cuts her off. "Could you do that for us?"

Kelly's eyebrows pull together at how blatantly he ignored her presence, and she slowly drops her hand while Derrick glances over at her with concern.

"Sure, sir. I have a photocopy machine at home." Gabriella boasts. "I will gladly get it done as soon as I get back."

"Good." He hands it to the boy closest to him, and the kid sends it down to the smirking female at the bottom of the table.

Kelly stares at the patterns on her shorts. She is offended, but she won't look into that too much. He probably didn't see her.

He starts to speak again, but she has now zoned out completely, unable to focus after that humiliating moment. Without even knowing it, she begins to tap her sneakers against the floor, and that annoys Nikolai for some reason. He halts his speech and presses two fingers against his forehead.

"Could you stop doing that?"

Kelly didn't hear him and continues to jerk her thighs, and reaching his limit, he slaps the table and raises his voice.

"Stop doing that, Kelly Young!"

She freezes instantly, his deep voice chilling her bones as her classmates all turn their heads to look at her. Some with amusement and some with pity. Derrick is among the latter.

"I-I am sorry." She whispers shakily, his blazing glare causing her to sink further into her chair. Her eyes sting with tears as he looks away from her.

"Let's continue." He sighs. "As I was saying earlier, the multiple choices will only cover..."

••

The meeting ends, and everyone gets up to leave the dining hall. Kelly remembers that she did not inform Mr. Todd of her mom's approval of the tutoring extension and the locations he had suggested.

"Derrick, you go first. I was supposed to get back to Mr. Todd about our tutoring session." Kelly tells him, and he nods his head.

"Alright. Text me when you're through." He walks away with Henry as the two boys chat away about football and Japanese animations.

She walks up to Nikolai while he stands up from his chair. He doesn't look at her as he packs up his papers. "Yes?"

She clears her throat. "My mom thinks it's a good idea to have our sessions on Saturdays too. She says your place or mine is fine, and she hopes it won't be of an inconvenience to you."

"Nope," Nikolai says as he begins to walk away, not checking if Kelly has said all she needed to.

She jogs up to his side regardless, walking in line with him as they step out of the room. "So, um...would we start right after we get back to school? Or..."

"Yes. Right when we get back."

"Okay...I hope it won't be an inconvenience for you. Since you usually go to the gym on Saturdays. Plus, I know you have a personal life outside of Camber High, and for me to snag up all your weekend makes me concerned."

"Whose idea was it?" He finally meets her eyes, but his brown orbs look colder today.

"What..."

"Whose idea was it to extend the tutoring?" He questions as he turns the corner, walking up the staircase to his room.

Kelly struggles to keep in line with him. "Yours, of course."

"Exactly. So then why would it be of inconvenience?" He stops in front of his villa room, dipping into his pocket for the pass.

"I was just—"

"Can we talk about this another time?" He slides the card against the electronic door and pushes it open, turning his face to hers. His infamous blank gaze is back. "It's just not the time, and I don't feel like discussing this matter with you right now. When the retreat is over, then you can bring this up, okay?"

She breaks eye contact so he won't see the hurt on her face.

"Do you understand, Kelly?"

She swallows and looks up again. "Okay, sir. I understand."