Free Teach Me Dirty by Jade West

it’s more than that.”
    My little heart beat like a drum. “You do?”
    He made to speak, his lips poised in expression, but the creak and clank of the door opening stopped him in his tracks. He stepped away from me, recoiling as though he shouldn’t be at my side, and the space felt like a chasm, the mood broken. A cleaner backed through the open door, uncurling a bin liner and shaking it until it billowed wide. It took her a moment to realise the room wasn’t empty.
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll come back.”
    “No need, we were just wrapping up.” His voice was back in teacher mode, self-assured and calm, without a hint of fluster. “Are you ready to go, Helen?”
    I nodded, grabbed my palette to empty into the sink but he took it from my hands and gestured instead to my scattering of art supplies. He washed up my palette as I packed, and my heart wouldn’t stop thumping.
    I’d missed a moment, and I knew it.
    The cleaner emptied the bins, then began wiping down the surfaces, and Mr Roberts finished up at the sink and then grabbed his bag — a well-worn satchel like Lizzie’s minus the glitter. He waited in the doorway until I was done packing my things. I followed him out into the dim corridor, and further still, stepping through the main entrance and into the outside air. It was a bright but chilly afternoon, a gust of wind chasing leaves around my shoes, but it was nice. He took a few steps in the direction of his car, easy to see now that the car park was virtually empty.
    I held up a hand as I set off in the opposite direction. “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Yes,” he said. “Good evening, Helen.”
    He took his car keys from his pocket, and I heard them jangle as I walked away.
    His voice caught me off guard. “Do you have anywhere to be?”
    I turned on the spot. “Sorry?”
    “Are you on a schedule? Do you need to be home?”
    I shrugged, then realised how stupid a gesture that was. “I have dinner, at six… Mum’s cooking pork…” I smiled. “No, I don’t have anywhere to be. Not yet.”
    He smiled back. “Then let me show you something else I find beautiful.”
     
    ***

 
    Mark
     
    I tried to convince myself that this was innocent, but I felt like a condemned man from the moment Helen slipped into the passenger seat. I daren’t drive through town, innocent or not, so I took the long route, weaving through a maze of country lanes only to circle wide and head back towards Deerton Heath and home turf. Helen didn’t ask where we were headed. She just stared through the window at the blur of hedgerows, fingers tapping her bare knees compulsively, nervously, a gentle smile on her lips.
    A straggly drift of cloud cleared, and the late afternoon sun found the car. She relaxed into the seat, eyes narrowed against the glare, eyelashes fluttering. The light kissed her hair, and the brown wisps around her face turned auburn, glowing like embers. She dared a glance in my direction, and her eyes caught mine staring back. She looked away in a heartbeat, but her smile widened and a thrill ran through me. I had to drag my attention back to the road.
    I steered the car off the beaten track, and we rumbled our way across the cattle grid, where the hedgerows turned wild, with trees that stretched overhead. When the track turned to nothing but grassy dirt, I pulled the car onto the verge, parking up in my usual spot. I unclipped my seat belt and Helen mirrored me, stepping out into the country air with a cute little bounce.
    She looked almost out of place here. The starkness of school uniform, pleated skirt and black socks. A taboo alone in the countryside. Her enticing loveliness heightened by nature itself.
    I gestured to the fence and she accompanied meekly, her steps light.
    I made easy work of the fence. A leg up and over in a flash before I beckoned Helen to follow. She looked at me from the other side, then looked down at her bare legs and the precarious