Chapter 40
“Talk quickly, or get out of the way Justin, ‘cos I’ve got 30 minutes to be showered and dressed if I’m not going to be late for school.” Ruth said, the tone of her voice telling Justin just how pissed at him she was.
Ruth scanned her card key through and walked into her room, Justin following hot on her heals.
“I’m not going till you’ve talked to me, Ruth.” Justin said, sitting down on the bed.
“Fine.” Ruth replied, before grabbing a towel and disappearing into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
A quick shower later and Ruth re-entered her room, dressed only in towels, hoping that Justin had gone, but instead found him sitting in the same position on the bed.
“I’m not going, Ruth.” Justin restated.
“I don’t see what your problem is, Justin. You’ve been pushing me to JC since we all got back together.” Ruth replied, rummaging though her suitcase looking for clean underwear. Grabbing her skirt she went back to the bathroom, re-emerging minutes later wearing skirt, tights, and bra. No top.
“You’ve forgotten your shirt.” Justin said, stating the obvious.
“It’s over there. But I’ve got to make-up first and if I put my shirt on I’ll get something down it.” Ruth replied, sitting down in front of the mirror. She rummaged through her make-up box pulling out foundation, powder, eyebrow pluckers, etc and proceeded to start ‘putting on her face’. Not a lot of make up, just enough to bring out her eyes and even up her skin tone. She’d got to the face powder stage when Justin finally said what was on his mind.
“You’re going to leave me for JC and JC’s going to leave me for you and I’ll have no one.”
“Justin, sweetie. I’m not going to ‘leave you’ for JC. I can’t speak for JC, but I’m pretty sure he’s not going to leave you for me. We’re not going to run away and join the circus together. One because I’m allergic to cats and two because at the moment, we aren’t even dating, so I don’t know why you’re getting so paranoid.” Ruth replied, trying to put on mascara and talk at the same time.
“What’s cats got to do with the circus?” Justin asked, confused.
“Circuses have tigers. Tigers are big cats. If little cats give me nosebleeds, what are big cats going to do. My face might explode.” Ruth replied, seeing perfect logic in her answer.
She stood up from the desk and pulled on her shirt while Justin tried to digest that wonderful piece of Ruth logic.
“You’re stupid.” Was the only answer he could come up with.
“Hey, never call a teacher stupid.” Ruth replied. “I’ll put you in detention.”
Justin just laughed at that, there wasn’t much else you could do when someone was trying to act sensible, but had a towel turban on their heads.
“So, how did it go with Hollie last night?” Ruth asked, swearing as she couldn’t find a hair brush.
“Okay. She’s dead clever though, and that makes me feel a bit dumb. Also sometimes I don’t know if she’s making mental notes to write stories about me with.”
Ruth could only laugh to that. “She’s back to Uni today isn’t she?” she asked.
“No, next week.” Justin replied.
“Ahh, you seeing her again then?”
“I think so. I’m going to have to check what she’s writing these days though.” Justin said, furrowing his brow slightly.
Ruth picked up her bag from the floor, made sure she had her box of marked books and turned to Justin. “You all talked out now?” she asked.
“Nearly” he replied, “So, you and J didn’t..”
“NO” Ruth shouted as she opened the door to exit her room. “Justin, last night I would have slept with Lonnie, Lance or even Joey for goodness sake, I just didn’t want to be alone. JC invited me to spend the night with him, and I did. That’s all.”
The two continued down the corridor to the security room, Justin carrying Ruth’s box of books.
“So, nothing happened then?” Justin asked.
“Well, we kissed.” Ruth admitted.
“You did! That’s great. Ruth, really, I’m sorry about before. I guess I’m just head fucked.”
“That you are, sweetie.” Ruth agreed. “But, you can’t go pushing me and JC. What happens, happens, okay. With or without your help or interference.”
Justin opened the door to security and delivered Ruth to their protection. The plan was that Lonnie would take her to school and explain his presence to the Head. Although the school had fairly good security for the UK, he’d talked it over with Ruth and wasn’t happy about leaving her there all day. So, the result was, he stayed or Ruth left.
45 minutes later they were in school and had an appointment to see the Head just before the Staff meeting at 8.15. Ruth wanted to drop her things off in the classroom so they went there rather than waiting outside the Head’s room. She opened up her classroom door only to find the whole of the blackboard covered in pictures and graffiti of her and members of *NSYNC, as well as offensive graffiti on the walls and desks.
Lonnie took one look and bundled Ruth out of there. HE locked the classroom and pretty much stormed to the Head’s office. Within five minutes the Police had been called and Ruth had been ‘released from her supply contract’ for both her and the children’s safety.
Assuring her that this incident wouldn’t affect her reference and wishing Ruth all the best with finding the stalker, the Head signed Ruth off the school register. The classroom would be kept shut until the Police had finished with it, this was now a criminal damage case as well as a stalker situation. Lonnie had already assured the Head that a ‘donation’ would come from *NSYNC to repair the classroom, mostly to keep Ruth’s name from being mud, as the school could ill afford to replace a whole classroom.
So, it came to be that Ruth ended up back in the *NSYNC camp pretty much as soon as she’d left them. The guys were just having breakfast and they jumped up as they saw the white faced Ruth walking into the room.
“Ruth!” said Justin, running over from where he’d been deliberating over cereal or muffin. “You okay, honey?” he said as he pulled her into a hug.
“No…..” was all Ruth could muster before bursting into tears she’d been holding back since seeing the classroom that morning.
On the table in the corner, JC just sat, watching the scene and eating his muffin. Not wanting to go over. She had Justin, she had Lonnie, Lance or even Joey. What the hell did she need him for. He was just someone who’d offered her somewhere to sleep. That’s all.
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