Gwen had always had a crush on her geography teacher since she got to high school. Nothing serious though, just a little infatuation.

It didn’t matter that she totally despised his subject, it also didn’t matter that he was married. What was most important to her was the fact that he was still in his 20s. And he was smoking hot…scorchingly sexy.

He’s still pretty achievable, she’d always tell her self.

In fact, he was probably the only reason she stayed in the class.

You couldn’t really get too mad at her though- she wasn’t the only one who eyeballed him on a daily basis. A specimen couldn’t exist being that good looking and not expect a lot of popularity with the opposite sex.

Even a few members of his own sex who swung that way had a thing for him.

Anyway, as she sat in her desk rolling her eyes at some girl she caught stealing glances at their teacher’s ass when his back was turned, Gwen realized she really needed to get over what she felt for him. It was just weird, not to mention pathetic.

“Right class,” Mr Nakamura finally turned to them. “Open your textbooks, turn to page 67.”

The classroom was suddenly filled with the sound of rustling pages, with a few bored groans here and there.

“Sorry guys, you get homework today.” Mr Nakamura smiled apologetically. “You’re gonna do all the questions under the graphs from page 67 to page 74-“

The groans were even louder this time.

“Hey hey, come on you guys!” Mr Nakamura looked helpless. “You barely got any classwork today. Plus, it’s Friday- that’s why it’s so much. You can do it over the weekend,”

“Sir, how about you don’t give us anything at all? It’s a weekend man, I have plans,” Some guy with gauged ears complained.

Mr Nakamura gave him a look and laughed breezily. Gwen’s heart clenched. She felt ridiculous, it was irritating.

“Liam,”

The boy looked at him with hope in his eyes. “Yes sir?”

“Your education is much more important than anything else you have planned-“ Mr Nakamura smirked at him. He got a few laughs.

“What if his grandma died or something? His plans might be to attend her funeral, sir. ” Some girl randomly piped in. Gwen couldn’t be bothered to look at her face.

The girl went on, mischief in her eyes. “You’re ageist. You totally just automatically assumed he had plans to go to a party or something,”

“Yeah!” Liam agreed enthusiastically, slapping his table as if he’d just found the solution to world hunger.

Mr Nakamura looked even more helpless.

‘Poor baby.’ Gwen thought. He was too nice at times.

“Well is that what you have planned Liam? Did your grandmother pass away?” He crossed his arms.

“Uh…no, but-“

“Then you get homework. No buts, just do it…man.” Mr Nakamura arched his brow and smiled. He’d finally won. Then he paused.

“Oh and by the way,” Their teacher started. “I’ll be checking your answers this time. I know I usually don’t but I will in our next class, since Liam here has pretty much made me paranoid that you never do the homework I give you,”

Gwen was practically deafened by another round of groaning and complainants. She rubbed her temples and contemplated slapping someone. Anybody really.

“Thanks a lot Liam,” Someone muttered.

“Nice one.”

“You just can’t keep your mouth shut, ass wipe.”

“Steven,” Mr Nakamura eyed him sternly. “Language.”

“What the hell?” Liam glared at all of them. “A minute ago, you were all on my side-“

“He’s such an idiot,” The girl sitting beside Gwen leaned in and whispered to her. They talked to each other sometimes, so she was obligated to reply.

Gwen mentally sighed as she slipped on a smile. “Isn’t he?” She furrowed her eyebrows in mock disgust.

“Guys, that’s enough.” Their teacher said. “Why are you attacking him, the scores for this assignment won’t even affect your grades. Jesus- doing homework won’t kill you, you know.”

He got even more laughs. Their teacher just sighed.

“So it’s final, you have homework to do this weekend. No excuses.” Then he peered at his wrist watch. “I’m gonna let you all off early. Now get out of here you crazy adolescent beasts…before I start pulling out my hair. That’s right, you’ve weakened poor old me- you should be ashamed.”

He got cheers in response before the usual stampede of students hastily packing up and rushing out the room. Gwen couldn’t help but eye their teacher, as she slowly put her books back into her bag.

He was now busy going through some papers on his table and his sleeves were fortunately rolled up. When his biceps flexed subtly as he reached for a pen, Gwen’s heart clenched again.

Goddammit.

………………………………………………

Gwen walked over to the vending machine at the corner of the hall, carefully making sure she didn’t brush shoulders with the teacher who walked past her. The machine was an ancient beauty; a janitor once told her it had been around since the early 90s. So she couldn’t help being drawn to it, so much she ignored the fact it was in a really crappy condition. Gwen was a total sucker for antiques.

Besides that, she was thirsty. And it was either she bought a drink from this giant old tin can or she went home with nothing. Their school was so cheap they couldn’t even afford to replace the machine, never mind them providing more than one.

Gwen fed it some spare change and made her order for a raspberry soda. Someone familiar slipped into her thoughts from nowhere.

‘She used to like these,’ Gwen thought. She silently watched as the machine whirred.

Her mother used to like the raspberry flavored drink so much she made sure they had packs of it stashed in their home. It was almost an addiction.

“Is it stuck?”

Gwen was pulled out of her mind. She turned and found Sullivan approaching her.

“What? What’s stuck?” she ran her fingers down her bangs absentmindedly. Finally, she glanced at the vending machine and realized her drink hadn’t come out yet.

Oh. Gwen rolled her eyes at her idiocy. Well, there went her money.

“Shit, I was really hoping to get a coke.” Sullivan sighed. He kicked the machine twice, his doc marten slightly scuffed- still her drink didn’t budge an inch. “I think it’s finally broken. Do you think they’ll finally get us a new one?”

Gwen gave him a look. “Uh…no chance. They’ll probably just get it fixed rather than replace it,”

“True. I forgot, it’s this school were talking about.” He gave a half smile.

“What’re you even still doing here? School closed liked two hours ago,” Gwen smiled back at him. It was a genuine one.

“Band practice,” He arched his eyebrow when it looked like she was about to say something. “Lame? I don’t care.”

Gwen’s smile broadened. They were still standing right in front of the dysfunctional crappy tin can.

“I could boldly ask the same for you; what are you doing here, Gwen?” He asked her boredly.

“I had detention today, that ended an hour ago. I’ve just been hanging around cause I have nothing better to do,” Gwen shrugged. “But I was about to leave though, right after getting a drink.” She eyed the machine. She was definitely going home thirsty.

“Ah.” Sullivan shrugged and gave her a half smile. “Well, see you around then?” He had already begun to walk away, pulling out his phone from his pocket. To probably call the people he actually cared about- and wanted to talk to.

“See you around Sullivan,” Gwen winked cheerily, waiting for him to disappear.

Once he did, she let out a deep sigh.

When she left, Gwen went to her favorite arcade. As she played one of the games there she prayed that there would be a party tomorrow. At least she hoped someone would call her up about it. She obviously didn’t have anything else planned for the weekend (like always), and she’d rather die than be stuck in that house with her father.

He was almost unbearable to be around. Gwen couldn’t stand how much he moped one minute and could be sarcastic the next. How much his work had consumed him. How much he loved to slap on a cheesy smile and play make believe that everything was somehow alright…whenever it wasn’t.

He was a good actor anyway. Because he’d somehow managed to pretend for the past few years.

Gwen could hardly stand his face anymore. And still that wasn’t the worst of him. What irked her the most was how he somehow had some sort of expectation of her to do the same. To Pretend.

“Gwendolyn,” a male voice boomed.

Gwen peered around and found a large man with a fedora perched on his thick head of hair. A smile genuinely morphed onto her face as soon as she recognized his face.

“Mr Gibbs,”

“Always nice to see you around here,” He smiled at her. Gwen suddenly noticed some sparkly fabric in his hand. He traced her gaze.

“By the way, you left your scarf here yesterday,” he laughed. It was a deep and warming sound.

“Oh!” Gwen looked surprised. Was she even wearing a scarf yesterday?

Seriously, maybe all the alcohol she’s been drinking was finally taking its toll on her brain.

“Thanks sir,” she blushed. Then she got curious. “Where’s Mrs Gibbs? She’s usually over at the merch stall-“

“She’s out visiting a sick friend of hers,” He replied, then his eyes twinkled mischievously. “The ol’ Mrs can’t man the stall all the time.”

Gwen felt stupid. “Right. Sorry.”

“But,” Mr Gibbs eyed her purposely. “That’s exactly why we need more help around here,”

Gwen stared at him. What was he trying to say? After a long silence went by, Mr Gibbs broke it.

“I’m offering you a job, Gwendolyn.” He said simply.

Jesus, she really was stupid.

“Oh!” Gwen was stunned. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Mr Gibbs nodded encouragingly. “You pointed it out yourself. I’m afraid my wife and I can’t run this place alone forever. Besides, we’ve already discussed it with each other and have been looking for someone. And who better to employ than you?”

Gwen smirked. The way he said it sounded oddly poetic.

“I won’t force it on you, obviously.” Mr Gibbs rubbed his neck, smiling. “You probably have other things to do every day after school besides coming here. But I will ask you to think about it…will you?”

There was nothing to think about. Working at the arcade would be a dream come true.

“I will, thanks. I’ll think about it.” Yet she left him hanging.

Mr Gibbs smiled at her. “I’ll leave you alone to play your game,” Then he left.

Jesus, she could barely keep a conversation going. Sighing, she reached into her bag for a stick of gum then turned her attention back to her game. At the corner of her eye, she could see some guy staring.

‘What’s with all these guys staring at me today?’

When she’d had enough of his ogling, she turned her head and locked her eyes with his. He got flustered and immediately looked down.

Too easy. ‘What a loser.’ She rolled her eyes and went on trying to vanquish her enemies in the game. It was the ultimate stress reliever.

When she was done mercilessly massacring slimy aliens, she stopped for a salted croissant at her favorite eatery and strode straight out of the mall she was in, all the way home.

“I did all the paper work and I’ve put my assistant to work on the deal,”

“Yes I know about the error sir, but it’s only a minor mistake…”

“I’ll have it all taken care of. There’s nothing to worry about,”

“Yes sir,”

“I see- No sir,”

“Of course sir.”

“Yes sir…I will personally work some extra hours to get it all done in time.”

Gwen was on the verge of tearing her ears off so she didn’t have to listen to her father’s typical groveling to his boss. His mediocrity almost brought her to tears. Everything that came out of his mouth was pathetic.

“Yes sir…uh, of course sir!” He paced the room, nodding eagerly- even though his boss literally wasn’t in the same room as him. At one interval, he leaned against her table to scribble something down on a stray napkin while he mumbled and muttered.

She didn’t dare look up from her magazine. One glance at him and her stomach would churn.

“You know you’re always right sir,” Then he let out a desperate laugh that grated her hearing. “Again, you have nothing to worry about. The deal should be cleared in no time- Monday, tops. Yes sir, have a good evening sir.”

Beep. The call was over.

Weakling. He was such a fucking weakling. Jesus.

“So how was your day honey?”

Gwen was instantly snapped out of her thoughts, over where she was sitting at the kitchen table. She worked up the will to look calm and collected. Sending a cool look his way, she replied;

“Good.” She grinned.

“Ok.” He smiled. Gwen could barely take his falseness.

“Yeah.” She engulfed herself back into her read.

Mr Acosta nodded and reached for the fridge to take out an apple and a yoghurt cup. He went past his daughter and right out of the kitchen. The coast finally felt clear so Gwen let out a breath and tossed her magazine down. Reaching for her phone in her pocket, she texted some guy she talked to at school sometimes.

‘give me a heads up if anything interesting comes up this weekend. Xoxo’ ~Gwen

By interesting, she meant parties. The girl wondered when exactly her life had gotten so bland.