The Not Gate (Tom and Alice #1) Read Free Page A

its deeper meaning. Alice had become captivated by Charlotte Brontë in a way Mrs Atkins could never have achieved.
    Mr Chambers placed a sheet on her desk next to her hand.
    Before he came to the school Alice would have excitedly grabbed at the sheet, revelling in the thrill of a test and filling in the answers before he’d even returned to his desk. But now she left the A4 sheet untouched and continued to follow his body with her eyes. His fingers peeling sheet after sheet from the stack and placing them in front of uninterested students. His back was wide and manly, the soft white cotton of his shirt pulling against his muscular shoulders with every movement.
    ‘Okay, you have ten minutes to answer as many questions on the handout as you can. Then we’ll go through what you have together. Please make sure you add any answers you don’t have as this will act as a good revision tool come exam time,’ he said, perching on the edge of his desk.
    Alice reached for the paper and scanned the first few questions.
    Fairly easy.
    She figured she had at least two more minutes of staring time before she had to start filling out the form. She held her pen against her mouth in an ‘I’m thinking’ sort of way, as she gaped at his beautiful thighs when he pulled a chair over and rested one foot on top of it.
    She imagined kneeling on the floor in front of him. A bit like the way you did at primary school, huddled around your teacher’s legs listening to the afternoon story and desperate to be the one to sit closest to them. But she wasn’t waiting for a childhood fable, she imagined herself waiting for him to look at her with his snowstorm eyes and in his seductive voice, instruct her to do his bidding.
    She shook her head and started to scribble answers down hurriedly. She had to stop these irrational thoughts, what the hell was wrong with her? She’d never pass anything if she couldn’t shake this feeling.
    ‘Right let’s see how you’ve done then. Let’s have hands up for the answers please.’ Mr Chambers started working his way down the list of questions.
    ‘What was the topic of the book Jane was reading at the start of the novel?’ he asked.
    Alice offered her hand in the air. He looked around the room and asked Robert for the answer.
    ‘What was the nature of Jane’s first encounter with Rochester?’ the words rolled off his tongue.
    Again Alice’s hand was up and he picked someone else. But by the end of the quiz he’d strangely not asked her for a single answer. He would glance up from the sheet of paper and pick someone else. What made it even worse was that on two occasions he had asked Robert for an answer and both times her hand had been up and she knew he’d seen her.
    It struck her then like a bloody sledge hammer. That in her clear like (love) for Mr Chambers, she had blindly and stupidly missed his total disdain for her. In fact, thinking about it now, during his entire first week he’d barely even looked at her.
    ‘Well done guys, good job,’ he said, jumping from the edge of the desk.
    ‘Essay question for homework, title: Is Jane a likable protagonist? Why or why not? You have four weeks before it’s actually due, so please make it impressive.’
    Alice felt suddenly flustered. How was she going to fix this? No teacher had disliked her before and now the one that she was fast becoming obsessed with, couldn’t stand her?
    ‘Any questions?’ he continued.
    Alice looked up at him again. He was making notes in his folder, his head down and his hand working quickly over the page.
    Please don’t hate me.

THROUGH THE WINDOW
    Wednesday 4 th October
    Q uestion: At what point does watching someone become unacceptable voyeurism?
    Answer: When that someone is a sixteen-year-old pupil, it’s always unacceptable.
    Tom knew this, like he knew the back of his hand but could he fucking stop?
    He stood by the window of his upstairs English room and looked out at the playing fields. He had a free