Against All Odds Read online

  Against All Odds

  by

  Alexia Vella Deguara

  Copyright © 2013 Alexia Vella Deguara

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10:147912429X

  ISBN-13:978-147912429 :

  DEDICATION

  I dedicate this book to my husband Marlon and my two children, Aleandro and Diego and to all the persons who have believed in my story and encouraged me to publish it.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks to Melita Callus and Jana Vella for their patience and for helping me out, without their help this book would have never been published.

  CHAPTER 1

  I slowly opened my eyes and peered at the clock sitting on my bedside table. It was nearly eight. I rose immediately in panic. I had overslept and it was my first day of senior school! I went into the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and got dressed. I had to hurry if I didn't want to get punished on my first day at school. As I went running downstairs, I heard my mother shouting to go and eat my breakfast but there was no time for that. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran outside. If only I had a car I thought, I wouldn't be running like a furious freak. I arrived at school exactly on time.

  “Hey Cas.”

  The masculine voice came from behind me. I turned around to see my hot boyfriend looking at me with his sexy smile.

  “Overslept huh?” He said grabbing me by the waist, wrapping his arm around me.

  “Yeah and it's all your fault,” I told him primly.”I told you that I should go home, but you kept insisting I stay.”

  He smiled and then put his mouth close to my ear.

  “It was worth it, don't you think?” He whispered.

  I blushed. Although we had been together for about 4 months, I still felt embarrassed talking to him about these things and the night before we had lost control. He had kissed me hungrily, his hands had run all over my body, caressing me intimately. I could still feel his scent all over me.

  “Yes it was,” I admitted.

  “Next time it will be even better,” he told me teasingly. “Cas, you know how much I want you and I know that you want me too. So why are you so afraid to do it?”

  He was talking about sex. Although we were intimate. I still felt I wasn't ready to go that far. I really liked Julian. He was gorgeous but sometimes I wasn't sure if I loved him enough to give him all of myself. I know it might sound stupid but I have always wished my first time to be special and although I am 17 nearly 18 I am still a virgin. Probably I was the only one in my class to have not done it yet and probably this was the reason why my previous 2 boyfriends had left me, but Julian was different. He was patient,at least for now.

  “Julian you know that I like you,” I said. “It's just I’m not ready yet. Even though I must say yesterday we were close.”

  “I know Cassidy and I will wait. I don't want to pressure you, but you have to understand that I really want to be with you... totally.”

  This was becoming even more embarrassing than I had thought. Fortunately the bell rang, saving me from continuing this conversation.

  “OK Jul, we'll talk about this later. I have to go now, I’m late already.”

  “What lesson do you have now?” He asked me.

  “English and you?”

  “Maths, it's really a pity Cas that we don't have a single lesson together. It's not fair,” he grumbled.

  “I will miss you for sure, but honestly I think it's better this way. How would I concentrate on my lesson with you near me?” I said with a smile. He grinned.

  “Well you're right. I would be tempted to kiss you all the time". He said brushing his hand on my cheek. Then he pressed me against him and kissed my forehead.

  “See you later Cas. I will be at the canteen. Maybe we can have lunch together.”

  “Yeah OK. See you later Jul,” I replied walking away.

  I hurriedly walked to the English class; the bell had already rang and I didn't want to be late. Suddenly in the corridor I saw Lucy, my best friend since first grade.

  “Hey Lucy!” I said waving.

  “Cas!” She said as she ran towards me.

  “What lesson do you have?” She asked all hopefully.

  “English and you?”

  “English too!” She replied happily.

  “Are we together?” I really hoped we would be in the same class, Lucy was a real laugh, she could make any lesson sound fun. It would also be the first good news of the day.

  “Yeah I think so! Who is your teacher Cas?”

  “Mr Spencer. A new one I assume.”

  “I've got him too. We're definitely together then! Let's go.”

  Luckily the teacher hadn't arrived yet. I put my bag down and took a desk in the corner. Lucy sat next to me and started rummaging in her bag looking for something. I took a pen and started to play with it. English wasn't my favorite subject. I took out a piece of paper and began to draw. I really loved Art. I began to draw a pair of eyes,Julian's eyes. Then his nose and his beautiful lips. Portraits were my favorite.

  “What are you doing Cas?” Lucy asked curiously.

  “Oh nothing just a portrait of Jul.”

  At that moment the door opened and whilst I was still trying to figure out how to do Julian's hair, I heard a powerful sexy voice greeting us.

  “Good morning class. I'm Mr Spencer, and I will be teaching you English this year,” he said in his deep voice.

  The girls reacted in unison to his presence. I heard everyone gasp and as I lifted my face in his direction I understood why. My heart nearly stopped as I took in his whole appearance. He was the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen. I opened my mouth without actually noticing and the pen I was holding between my nose and lips fell on my metal pencil case making a huge clanking sound. Everyone turned to look at me, including Mr Spencer, who looked at me and smiled unexpectedly.

  “Wow,Cas he is really hot," whispered Lucy.

  I was still looking at him with my mouth open.

  “Cas, shut your mouth you look like a goldfish. Cas. Are you with me? Hey earth calling Cas!” She said waving her hand in front of my face.

  At that moment I realized that my friend was talking to me.

  “What did you say?” I asked distractedly.

  “Oh nothing. It seems that Mr Spencer had a huge impact on you Cas,” she told me. “He's a teacher don't forget it and you have Jul,” she said clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

  “What are you talking about?” I said shoving her in a friendly way. “I was just admiring his face. It's perfect from a painter's point of view. This is just artistic criticism.”

  “Oh really? It didn't look like that to me,” she said knowingly.

  “Oh Lucy, stop it!Didn't you ever admire a model or fancied a footballer? It's like that, no one can deny he's sexy as hell.”

  Suddenly Mr Spencer cleared his throat and we realised he was standing just in front of us. I felt my cheeks flush, hoping he didn't hear what we were saying.

  “Can you please share your conversation with the class? It's not very polite to whisper,” he said in a deep taunting voice.

  I stood there in embarrassment,my heart pounding in my chest. He was standing just in front of me looking down at my face with his piercing blue eyes and I didn't have the slightest idea of what to say.

  “So, what is your name?” He asked me.

  “I... I.." I couldn't seem to formulate a single word in his presence. Thank God Lucy came to my rescue.

  “Her name is Cassidy Hastley”. I heard Lucy say.

  Mr Spencer looked at Lucy and gave her a dismissive look.

  “Well I didn't ask you, did I ? Your friend had no difficulty in talking few moments ago. So Cassidy, what is it
you were saying?”He asked again.

  At that moment I really wished the ground would open and swallow me up. My face was going to explode, it felt so warm, I was feeling so embarrassed.

  “Cassidy,if you don't respond, I'll have to give you a detention. Is this the way you want to start your senior year? I think it wouldn't be a nice thing for me to do on the first day.”

  I took a deep breath and tried again. “We were just talking about..." I paused trying to think of something.

  “About?”

  I held my breath. I had to invent something immediately, but what? His gaze was making me nervous. I stood there looking at his face, scrutinizing every detail. His perfect nose gave him an arrogant look which made him look even more sexy and his full lips looked like they would be really good to kiss. I wondered how that would feel. I flushed even more, if that was possible. How could I think about such things in a moment like that?

  “You,” I finished helplessly.

  I heard a rumble between the other students as everyone started whispering among themselves. Lucy gave me a strange look. At first he was somehow taken aback but then he smirked.

  “What about me?”

  This guy was doing a very good job to embarrass me. I couldn't tell him how attractive he was, could I? I just looked down at my desk. I couldn't stand his gaze anymore.

  “So? I'm waiting Cassidy."

  “Just give me the detention .I won't tell you what I said,” I said tiredly.

  “Was it that awful?” He asked. He was trying to be serious but I knew he was playing. I didn't respond.

  “OK then, you'll get a detention since you don't want to tell me what you said," he said in a cool voice. Just as he was walking back to his desk, Lucy opened her mouth and said it. The thing which I had been dreading to say since he first asked me to. He stood still, his back towards us. The whole class giggled and everyone was looking at Mr Spencer to see what was coming next. I glared at Lucy. If looks could kill she would have surely been dead by now. I wished I could see his expression but he was not facing us. It was better if he stayed like that after all, I thought. I didn't want him to look at me.

  “Excuse me?” He asked Lucy turning around after he had composed himself.

  “You heard,” she said defiantly. “She said that you are sexy as hell,”she repeated. "Now can you please not punish her?”

  He looked at me enquiringly. I was shaking now, I wanted to die right there on the spot.

  “Ms Hastley is that so?” He asked me. I swear he had an amused look on his face.

  Wasn't I enough embarrassed? Why was he putting me through all this? I decided I was not going to give him the satisfaction of replying. But he came near me and put his beautiful big hands on my desk.

  “I just want to hear a yes or a no. Then I will decide whether to keep you after school or not.”

  “Yes," I finally blurted helplessly. I knew there was no way I was going to escape this now.

  “Thank you Miss Hastley. Now that we have clarified things, we can start with our lesson.”

  He went to his desk and began to take the attendance. When it was my name's turn he did not call me. Obviously he knew I was there. I looked at Lucy and gave her a look.

  “I just wanted to help,” Lucy said shrugging.

  “Help? Sometimes you can be really bitchy, you know that?" I told her irritated. I think I must have said it more loudly than I had meant as I saw him looking at me again, I swear I saw amusement in his eyes. I felt awful, my heart missed a beat as I felt his eyes on me. He didn't say anything though. He just stood up and began the lesson. I prayed the lesson would finish soon so that I could escape from there as soon as possible. The bell rang and I began to pack everything in my bag. I stood up to go but as I looked towards him I saw him walking my way.

  “Miss Hastley can I have a word with you please?”

  I nodded and sat down again. Lucy looked at us worriedly and asked him, “Are you punishing her?”

  Mr Spencer sighed. “Lucy you can go. You'll see her later."

  Lucy waved at me and went out reluctantly. After the door was closed he sat on his desk and fixed his eyes on me. I tried to be brave and look at him, but as soon as I met his gaze I put my head down again.

  “Do I have detention?” I stuttered.

  “No.”

  “So why am I here?”

  “I heard you. I know you were angry with your friend but I don't accept certain language in my class. Since it's the first day, I'll forgive you but next time I won't be that lenient. Do you understand?”He said.

  I nodded.

  “Good, you can go now. I assume you have another lesson,” he said looking at me.

  “Yes I do.”

  “See you tomorrow Cassy."

  Cassy? No one had ever called me that. Oh my God he was so handsome. I felt my body trembling as I passed next to him. His cologne smelt wonderful, masculine like him. I was just about to open the door when he called my name. I turned towards him.

  “Yes?”

  He smiled at me and then told me, “Thanks for your comment but next time try to keep it for yourself OK?"

  “OK,” I replied weakly.

  Then I opened the door and quickly went outside. I looked hurriedly at my watch. I had another 5 minutes until the next lesson so I decided to go out in the courtyard. I desperately needed to breathe some fresh air...

  CHAPTER 2

  I was feeling much better now. I headed towards the lecture block where Art lessons were usually held and entered the only existent Art room. I still had Mr Spencer in mind. I kept thinking about his beautiful face and how perfect it would be to draw it. I desperately needed to make a portrait of him before I forgot all the details,although I doubted that I would. I arrived in class and opened the door but there was no one in. Maybe it was still early, I thought. I took a seat in the front row and took out my things. There weren't usually a lot of students who took Art, in fact last year we were only five in class. I hoped this year we would be more. I looked worriedly around me, hoping I hadn't gone to the wrong room. I opened my drawing book and started to draw him, starting from his beautiful eyes. It wasn't easy to capture his gaze, intense but friendly at the same time. I then drew his aristocratic nose, so perfect it gave him a snobbish appearance. Finally I started working on his perfectly sensual lips. I drew the outline and then began slowly filling the insides, doing some light shading at the center and enforcing the shade at the corners of his mouth. I was so intensely concentrated that I hadn't heard anyone coming in and when I heard his voice I nearly fainted.

  "Hey you're really talented! It looks just like me”.

  I knew it was him but I was still taken by surprise. I couldn't look at him. What the hell was he doing here? Was he following me around or what? Nah,what was I thinking? I rose my head and looked at him.

  “Mr Spencer, what are you doing here?”

  He did not respond. Instead he took the pencil from my hand and started correcting my portrait. I tried to ignore the burning sensation I felt in my hand where he had touched me when he had taken the pencil.

  “There is just a small mistake here. If you look well at my lips you will notice that my lower lip is a little bit fuller.”

  Saying this he arranged it himself. I was still dazed by his presence. Had I come to the wrong class?

  “Seems like we'll be seeing a lot of each other Cassy," he said as if he had read my mind.

  “I don't understand,” I told him, still confused.

  “Well I will be teaching you Art as well!”

  “What?” I replied incredulously.I couldn't believe it.

  “You don't seem too happy about it,” he told me “I’m not that bad you know... another teacher would have given you a detention for what you said this morning.”