Chapter 196

**Logan** 

Carl places a cup of tea on the table next to me. He dragged me in this morning to practice for his concert. I was initially going to phone in to give myself another day, but Carl had other ideas. I didn’t even get the chance to see Megan. 

All morning we’ve been in his classroom, and I’m getting tired. How he knew I had no lessons this morning is beyond me. Grade 12 class no longer exists because their English exam was last week, so I had no class to teach this morning, and I’m usually free after that. Then there’s a break, and I have Grade 12 English, the one that’s on the opposite side of the year to Megan. 

He somehow got the other Art teacher to teach my Art class, after that. From the explanation I got from him, I can only assume he slept with her. How I have no idea, she’s a married woman with two kids. She only came back from maternity after easter. 

“Can we take a break for a bit?” I ask him as I put the guitar down and reach for my drink. 

“No, your voice is rusty,” he says and takes the guitar himself. 

“Maybe because someone is forcing me to do this,” I mutter into my mug. He glares at me and starts to strum a few chords. “Can’t I just give you the money? How much do you want? Write it down on a cheque, and I’ll sign it,” I say, and he shakes his head. 

“It’ll be fun, Megan said she’d play the piano for me,” 

“I don’t care,” 

“What if she agrees to sing?” he asks. I tilt my head in thought. I do like it when she sings, she has a fantastic voice, but I’m probably biased. 

“Fine,” he won’t be able to convince her. I can’t even persuade her.

“Good because she already agreed,” he says with a grin. 

“Fuck sake,” I ground out and take a sip of my tea. 

“From the top, you like this song, it’s depressing as shit, but you like it,” he says and starts to play the first few chords of Song #3 by Slipknot. 

“You’re a dick, give me the guitar, you’re shit at it,” I snap and snatch the guitar out of his hands. He laughs as I start playing.

*‘Song #3 by Stone Sour’*

‘If you take a step towards me, You will take my breath away, So I'll keep you close, And keep my secret safe,’ I sing.

Carl’s a fuckwit. I know he does most things to wind me up, and I always allow it, but it gets on my nerves. He smirks as he watches me. I think playing makes him think of when we were teenagers, and we used to play all the time. I think he likes the idea of being a rockstar but doesn’t like the idea of fame and money. That’s his parents doing; they’re rich as hell and swan around like they don’t have a son anymore just because of his sexual preference. It’s fucked up. They found out what he went through with his ex and told him it was his own fault. Came to visit him in the hospital just to say that to him. Maybe this is why I indulge him so much. 

“Right that’s enough, can I please go get some food now?” I ask him once I finish the song. 

“Fine, if you must eat,” he sighs. Then I hear clapping. I look and so does Carl to see Megan stood at the doorway of his classroom. 

“I only came to practice,” she says and walks inside and shuts the door behind her. She’s only wearing a summer dress and wedges, and she looks beautiful. Her hair is down in waves, and she’s wearing minimal makeup. 

When she came into Brett’s old room the other day I was in so much pain and everything seemed so unbearable, but seeing her just made me focus. The pain faded for just a moment, and I felt like me again. 

I watch as she walks over to us and sits on the stool by the piano. 

“You look hot, did you dress for me?” Carl asks. She looks down at the skirt of her dress and then back to Carl. 

“No, Courtney,” she says, and I see the images going through his head. She chuckles and shakes her head as she looks at me. “I figured I should try to wear as many of my clothes as possible before I become fat,” she says.

“I’m pretty sure I said you’d look good fat,” I say as I put the guitar down. She smiles and turns her attention back to Carl. 

“Have you finished imagining Courtney and I naked?” she asks. He tilts his head in response. ”When did you get him to sing?” she asks.

“He tricked me,” I say and reach for my cup of tea. 

“It wasn’t hard, to be honest,” Carl says, and I frown. “Deep down I think he wanted to,” 

“Don’t you have a lesson?” I ask. 

“No, it’s a study period; I have my science exam after lunch. I was going to get some practice time with the piano, but I didn’t know you were here,” she says to me. 

“That’s code for, she wants sex,” Carl says to me. I sigh and look at him. “Just in case you didn’t get that,” 

“It wasn’t, it was code for a threesome, but I like your idea better, Carl,” she says jokingly. I laugh as he narrows his eyes at her. 

“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” he says. She laughs at him before standing up and walking towards me. Moving one arm around her hips and the other I lay on her stomach. 

“How are you feeling?” I ask while looking up at her. 

“Better now I know you’re ok,” she says. I sigh and look down. I must have put her through hell the past few days. I know she could hear me because I heard her throwing up yesterday morning. “I made up with Melanie,” 

“Oh?” I ask.

“I was in the toilets with Courtney, Courtney was getting high like usual,” she says, and I frown at her. “I’ve not smoked anything since finding out, not that I did a lot. Anyway, Melanie walked in with Yasmin and Julie. I was asking them how their exams were going and Melanie just straight up ignored me, which made Courtney angry. She questioned if she stopped talking to me because she’s jealous. I prefer her brother to her, which then made Melanie think I told Courtney what happened in England. Which I didn’t,” she explains. “Anyway we talked, she knows I’m pregnant,” 

“What?” I ask shocked she would tell her. 

“She figured it out as I needed to throw up, I think stress triggers it,” she says and moves her hand through my hair. “I just finished the second Math test,” 

“That’s quick,” Carl says as the exam is two hours long and she’s out a good half an hour before. 

“I know I’m super proud of myself,” she says with a grin. “I think I did well,” 

“You probably did, did you answer every question?” I ask. 

“Yeah, whether I got every question right, is another thing altogether,” she jokes. “So can I have him now?” she asks Carl.

“No, you can have him at lunchtime,” he replies. She pouts and then looks at me. 

“Fine, I’ll go get some food,” she then presses her lips to mine. I pull away and look at them both. 

“Do I not get a say?” 

“No,” Carl snaps, making Megan laugh as she moves out of my grasp. 

“I’ll meet you in your Art room,” she says as she walks away from us. I can’t help but watch her leave. 

Amazingly, she can still look at me with such love after everything. I’d told David not to let her anywhere near me. I didn’t want her to see me like that, to see me in such a wrong way. He agreed. I was angry at first with him, but he pointed out to me that because of her, I got a shower and that she helped me calm down. 

Looking at Carl, I see him watching me. We’ve not discussed what happened Thursday night or what I went through over the weekend. He’s acted like it never happened, but I know, at some point he will talk to me about it in detail. 

“Don’t screw this up,” he says, and I know he’s not referring to the charity concert. “You could have lost her,”

“I know,” I say and rub my eyes. 

“It’s not just her now,”

“I know,”

“It looks like an alien, so I really wonder about your genes,” he says, and I frown at him. 

“How do you know?”

“She didn’t tell you, she went to the doctor, I followed her, and I thought she was going for a termination, so I panicked and told the receptionist I was the father, so I could get in and stop her,” he explains. 

“I see,” I say. It’s a bit frustrating that he’s been able to see my baby before me, but I can understand that it wasn’t intentional. “She told me she went to the doctor,” I say.

“Oh, she must have thought it wasn’t important,” he says. I smile a little.

“It’s ok; I’m glad someone was there for her,” I say. “Now come on,”

“Now you’re willing because she promised sex, I would have offered you sex too,” he says. 

“You don’t suck dick like her,” I state and he bursts out laughing, I’m also pretty sure he pulled a look agreement first before laughing. It should bother me that they’ve slept together, but there’s nothing I can do about it. We weren’t’ together, and it was a one-time thing I can’t hold onto it and resent them when they technically did nothing wrong.  

“And you wouldn’t know, I’m terrific if you just gave me a chance,” he states with a slight upset in his tone.

“One day,” I say.

“You always tease,”