Love is Blind (18 page)

We went into the office and I took a couple of
calming breaths before approaching the secretary. “Can I help you?”
she asked.

“We need to see the principal,” I told her. “The
substitute teacher from our Biology class sent us here.”

She nodded and knocked on the door to his
office. She poked her head in and said something to him before
stepping back and motioning for us to go in. “He can see you right
away.”

I took Blake’s hand again and guided him into
the office. Mr. Avery, the principal, looked up from the papers on
his desk. He was a distinguished looking man with dark hair that
was going gray at the temples. “Please, have a seat. What seems to
be the problem?”

Blake and I settled into the chairs on the other
side of the desk from him. “We just got sent here by the substitute
teacher in our Biology class,” Blake told him.

Mr. Avery raised an eyebrow. “And what are your
names?”

“I’m Hailey Baker, and this is Blake Adams,” I
said.

Recognition flitted over his face. “And why did
he send you here?”

“Well, Mr. White always lets us do our work
together. Since Blake is blind, I read the questions to him and
then we answer them together.”

Mr. Avery nodded. “I am aware of this already.
Continue.”

“Well, that’s what we were doing today. Only Mr.
Grant,” I said the name with more than a little venom, “didn’t like
us talking. I tried to explain it to him, but he kept cutting me
off.”

“And then implied that she was pretty much just
trying to flirt with me,” Blake said.

Mr. Avery’s face hardened a little. “I see.
Anything else?”

“He also grabbed Blake’s sunglasses off of him
when Blake refused to take them off. I might have lost my temper a
little bit after that. I kind of called him a few names,” I
admitted a little sheepishly.

“I called him a dickhead, because he is one,”
Blake said with no remorse.

Mr. Avery sighed and laced his fingers
together on the desk in front of him. “I do not necessarily blame
you for becoming angry but that’s no excuse for disrespecting a
teacher. I’ll let it go this time because you appear to have been
sorely provoked, but do not let it happen again in the future.” He
paused and studied us for a moment. “I’m aware of your relationship
and I also know that you always work together in Mr. White’s
class.”

I looked at him in surprise. “How do you know
about our relationship?”

He smiled a little at me. “Teachers gossip as
well, Ms. Baker. Since you have joined our school, all of Mr.
Adam’s teachers have noticed a difference, especially in the last
couple of weeks. While he still doesn’t participate in any class
except Biology, he no longer snaps at everyone who tries to speak
to him.”

“I’m sitting right here, you know,” Blake said
dryly.

Mr. Avery chuckled a little. “Forgive me. Now,
as to the issue of Mr. Grant, I will be sure to talk to him about
his behaviour.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Avery, I think you
need to do more than just talk to him. I understand that he didn’t
want us talking during class, but he should have given us the
chance to explain ourselves. We may only be teenagers, but even we
deserve to tell our side of the story. Everyone does, no matter
what the circumstances might be.”

The principal inclined his head. “I happen to
agree, Ms. Baker. I will speak to the other students in your class
as well, and I promise that should their stories match up to yours,
I will take action to have Mr. Grant properly disciplined. I have
no tolerance for teachers that abuse my students. Is that
satisfactory to you?”

I nodded. “Thank you for listening to our side
of the story.”

“You are quite welcome. Now, I’ll write a pass
for you so that you can go to the library for the rest of the
period. I do request that you refrain from talking about this to
your peers when you see them later.”

We both agreed and I took the pass he held
out to us before leaving the office. We went to the library and
once we were sitting in the corner of the library, Blake shook his
head in amazement. “I can’t believe he actually listened to us,” he
murmured.

“I know. I think my opinion of authority figures
might have just gone up a little.” Ever since Marcus had gotten off
so lightly after the accident, I’d had little respect for the
people who were supposed to be in charge in most aspects of
life.

“Mine too,” Blake agreed. “I haven’t dealt with
Mr. Avery much in the past, but he seems like an alright guy.” We
spent the rest of the period alone in the library listening to
music on my Ipod.

At lunch that day, the rumors were already
going around about what happened with Mr. Grant. Apparently after
Blake and I went to the library, Mr. Avery went to the classroom
and asked a few students to come out and speak to him. After he had
done that, he had Mr. Grant come out so he could talk to him as
well.

What happened after that was unclear. One rumour
said that Mr. Grant threw a fit and had a shouting match with the
principal. Another rumour said that Mr. Grant got angry, but Mr.
Avery just told him to leave. I tended to believe the second one,
because I couldn’t see the principal actually shouting at him.

All of our friends asked us what had happened
and we gave them the details of the classroom incident. We were
getting a lot of looks from everyone else in the cafeteria, but no
one approached us. Apparently their curiosity wasn’t strong enough
to risk the surliness of my boyfriend.

At one point during lunch, I had to go to the
bathroom so I excused myself from the table. I was still in the
stall when I heard two other girls come in and start talking. I
didn’t think anything of it until I heard one of the girl’s mention
Blake’s name.

“Did you hear what happened with that Blake
this morning?” the first girl asked.

“Yeah, he and his girlfriend got into some kind
of an argument with one of the teachers, right?” the second girl
replied.

“Something like that. They went to the
principal’s office and then the principal kicked that teacher out
of the school! Can you believe that?”

“Well, it sounded like the teacher was being
really unfair to them,” the second girl said.

The first girl snorted. “Doubtful. Blake
probably just didn’t understand a question or something and lost
it. You know he has a reputation of losing his temper a lot.”

“I would as well if I was in that situation. It
must be really hard for him having lost his sight like that. It’s
nice that he has a girlfriend now.”

“Nice? I think it’s just weird. I mean, how can
she want to date someone like that? She must be doing it out of
pity or something.”

I was about to storm out of the stall and
give that girl a piece of my mind, but the other girl spoke again.
“I don’t think she feels any pity for him. I’ve seen the two of
them together and I think they really care about each other.”

The first girl muttered something that I didn’t
quite catch and then the two of them left the bathroom, obviously
finished with fixing their makeup or whatever it was that they were
doing. I slowly emerged from the bathroom stall and went to the
sink to wash my hands.

I thought over what I had just heard. The first
girl was one of those people that deserved a good smack upside the
head. But the second girl had actually shown some compassion, which
had been unexpected. I got the impression that she might still see
Blake as different, but not necessarily in a bad way.

After I finished drying my hands, I walked
towards the door and that’s when I spotted the flyer. A smile
played on my lips as an idea formed in my head.

Chapter twenty

The next morning I went over to Blake’s house
bright and early. I knocked on the door and a moment later Sophie
opened it. “Hey, Blake is being lazy so he’s still in bed.”

I laughed. “That’s okay; I’ll go wake him up
then.”

Sophie grinned. “Don’t do anything naughty.”

I winked as I walked past her and headed to
Blake’s room. “No promises,” I called back over my shoulder. Her
laughter followed me down the hallway.

I opened the door to Blake’s room and saw him
lying over the covers in a pair of pajama pants. His head turned in
my direction. “This better be important,” he grumbled.

I walked over to the side of the bed. “I’m
always important.”

His lips turned up into a smile. “What are you
doing here this early?”

I climbed onto the bed. “Well, I had this idea,”
I began as I jumped on top of him.

He grunted when I landed on him, his arms
winding around my waist. “If your idea doesn’t involve you losing
some clothes, then I don’t want to hear it.”

I smacked his shoulder. “Pervert,” I
muttered.

He slid one hand up my back until he reached my
head. He pulled me down so that he could kiss me softly. “You like
it when I’m a pervert,” he murmured against my lips.

I shivered a little and pressed myself closer to
him. “Maybe sometimes,” I agreed.

He shifted and flipped us over so that he was
now hovering over me. He braced himself on one arm and let his free
hand trace the contours of my face. “You’re so beautiful,” he said
quietly.

My heart fluttered and I responded by capturing
his lips with mine. I wrapped my arms around his bare torso,
running one hand up and down his back. He let out a little sound of
pleasure and nibbled at my bottom lip so that he could deepen the
kiss. A moment later he tugged on the bottom of my shirt and pulled
it off over my head.

I went to roll us over again, but apparently I
misjudged how close to the edge of the bed we were because we both
suddenly went tumbling through the air. I let out a small shriek
before I landed on top of him with a thud.

I pushed myself up a little and looked down at
him. He was flat on his back with a stunned look on his face. I
could feel the laughter bubbling up and a moment later I started
giggling hysterically. “Oh my god, I can’t believe that just
happened,” I gasped.

Blake let out a small groan. “I don’t even know
what did happen,” he stated.

“Well, I was trying to roll us over but
obviously misjudged where the edge of the bed was.” I patted his
cheek, trying to stifle my laughter. “Thanks for breaking my
fall.”

His lips twitched up into a smile. “No problem.”
Then he grew serious. “That didn’t hurt your back, did it?”

“No, I’m okay. But your face was priceless!” I
broke out into laughter again and this time he joined me. I
collapsed on top of him, no longer able to hold myself up. He put
his arms around me and held me to him as we both struggled to calm
down.

When we finally managed to breathe again, I
climbed off of him. He got to his feet with a groan, one hand going
back to rub the small of his back. “I know they say that love
hurts, but this is ridiculous,” he complained.

I started to chuckle, but then stopped abruptly.
“What did you say?”

He frowned a little. “I said…” he trailed off
when he realized what he had implied and his cheeks went a little
red.

I put one hand on his face. “I’ve never seen you
blush before,” I murmured.

He sighed and pulled away to sit on the edge of
the bed. “I didn’t mean to say that,” he told me.

Disappointment rushed through me. “Oh,” I
muttered.

He reached for my hand and pulled me to him
until I was standing between his legs while he was sitting on the
bed. “It’s not that I didn’t mean it,” he said. “I just wanted it
to be special when I told you.”

My lips tugged into a smile. “Well, technically
you still haven’t told me,” I reminded him. “And since when does
anything in our relationship go as planned?”

He smiled and pulled me onto his lap. “I love
you,” he murmured into my ear.

I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. “I
love you too,” I replied. “I know we haven’t been dating for long,
but apparently love doesn’t care about time restraints.”

He smiled and ran his hand over my still bare
back. “So what was your idea anyways?”

I was confused for a moment before I remembered
the reason I came over in the first place. “I think we should enter
the talent show for our school.”

He frowned. “Why would we do that?”

“To show everyone what we’re made of,” I
replied. “We can get up in front of the school and let them see
that even though you may be blind, you’re still awesome.”

He sighed. “This is important to you, isn’t
it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we’ll do it.”

I lifted my head off his shoulder. “Really?
You’re not going to fight me on this or make me promise you
something in return?”

He shook his head. “If it’s important to you,
then we’ll do it. I just told you that I love you. Do you really
think I’m going to deny you something that means a lot to you?”

I was speechless for a moment. Then I twisted
around until I was straddling him and crashed my lips to his
roughly. He let out a small grunt of surprise, but quickly
responded. He let his body fall back onto the bed, pulling me with
him.

Things were getting pretty heated when he
suddenly pulled away. “We need to stop now, before I can’t,” he
said hoarsely.

“What if I don’t want to stop?” I whispered.

He blew out a long breath. “We’re not going to
do this for the first time when Sophie is in the house. I don’t
want to have to worry about anyone coming in and interrupting
us.”

I pushed myself up so that I could look down at
his face. “Is that the only reason?” I asked quietly.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

I shrugged and rolled off of him. “Nothing,” I
muttered.

A moment later he was on top of me. “Don’t lie
to me, Hales. What did you mean by that?”