The Gravity of Love (2 page)

Molly rolled her eyes. "Just get us to
the school and I'll worry what to do with Harry."

_______________________________________________________________________

But when the two teachers reached the
school, they were in for a big surprise. As in, every student surrounding them
were smiling, giggling and whispering. So much so, in fact, that when she
called her class to order, they simply didn't hear her.

"Alright!" She shouted over the
multiple conversations. "I want to know what's so fascinating for all of
you that you can't concentrate on what I'm saying!"

A boy in the first row that she knew as
Tommy Benskin smirked. "Maybe because we're too busy concentrating on
something Principal Redford said yesterday."

This took her by surprise.
"Well...what did Principal Redford say?"

A girl stood up, a slow, mischievous grin
appearing on her gloss smeared lips. "Well yesterday, the two of you were
conversing in here...and we heard him say...well he said that he wants you to
say yes. So fill the blanks in and tell us how did he propose? And
when?"

Molly's mouth fell slightly ajar. They had
to be kidding! Surely they wouldn't have spread such an innocent joke, that
wasn't meant to be overheard by other ears, all around the school! Instead of
staying and fumbling through something coherent and allow them to witness her
cheeks growing more and more scarlet, she swung open the door to the adjoining
classroom next door, where the student were all busy with a test already.
"Marty, can you watch my students for me quick? I have some...immediate
business to take care of with Harrison Redford."

A chorus of "ooohs" came from
behind her and Marty rushed over to the door.

"Students, everyone keep focused on
your test. You have fifteen minutes left."

"But...but is Miss Radcliffe going to
go accept Principal Redford's proposal?" One of her students asked
eagerly.

Marty's eyes nearly popped out of her head
as she whipped around to look at Molly. "Do these kids know something I
don't?"

Her fellow coworker rolled her eyes and
sighed. "Of course not! Just...just watch these guys. Class, start reading
chapter three of Persuasion by Jane Austen. Keep going until I return."

And with that, Molly started to run down
the hallway until she reached the office. Swinging in, she was quickly stopped
by the secretary, Mrs. Swiesser. "Mr. Redford is currently busy in his
office right now. He won't see anyone."

"Oh, he'll see me." Molly said
with determination, then marched in to the back office that was her friend's.

"Have you heard yet or am I the last
to know?" She asked him.

Harrison looked up from his papers and took
off the glasses he was always embarrassed to be seen in, though Molly always
thought they suited his office look. "That would depend...what are you
talking about?"

She held up her left hand. "You may
not be able to see it, but everyone else can. I have an imaginary ring on this
finger," She pointed to her ring finger, "and apparently you're the
one who gave it to me."

An eyebrow quirked up. "Huh, how about
that? I get more accomplished when I sleep walk and talk than I thought."

She groaned. "Come on Red, this isn't a
joke. None of my students will study because they think you proposed to me
yesterday."

His eyes looked in alarm. "Oh..."
He said, the wheels in his mind spinning out of control.

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"
She asked softly, sinking in to one of his leather plush chairs in the corner
of the room.

"I'll fix it, Molls, don't you worry.
Just give me to tomorrow and I'll have everything cleared up."

"Thank you. We certainly can't have my
students being distracted from their studies because of this."

"Of course not. That...and if I'm
engaged, I'll have one hell of a time getting dates from now on." He
teased her, his eyes the color of a lake in the early winter, glittering as he
ran a hand through his shaggy, thick brown hair, taking his long bangs out of
his eyes. "You and Marty go hold down the fort for the rest of the day. I
have a lot of business calls to make today, and then I'm all yours to solve the
problem."

Molly smiled. "Good. And by the
way...for now on, watch what you say in front of the kids...Principal."

He laughed at her mischievous look as she
left his little office and made her way back to her own room.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison Grier Redford, a teenager himself
in a manly body, was more than met the eye. But what met the eye was certainly
enough for most women. Harrison laughed each time Molly would roll her dark
brown eyes at the idea, wondering what was with the entire female race that had
such weaknesses from broad shoulders, a tall build, thick shaggy hair that hung
haphazardly to frame his face, and a particular shade of royal blue eyes. But
beneath good looks and plenty of muscle laid a complicated soul who's biggest
habit was running away or ignoring his problems. Not that he had anything
major. He had skipped out on a real college education to join the marines at
eighteen and stayed there until he turned twenty two. He considered those years
to be some of the best and the most thrilling of his life. He was doing
something worthwhile. He was helping people other than himself. It was a
change. And it had felt good. But he had come home when his brother had fallen
ill, contracting some kind of disease he still couldn't pronounce, nor
understand. And after the two years it took for his brother to make it through,
Harrison couldn't get himself to find the rapturous adventure that he had once
held inside him. Instead, he settled down. Made plans with his lifelong friend
Molly to move out of their parents' houses and in to apartment buildings. He
took Molly two years after he left, as soon as she was ready. With getting that
apartment, he needed a job. The first one that opened to him was his father's.
He had taken some college courses in teaching when he was still in high school,
as soon as Molly had expressed interest in doing the same field. Somehow, he
managed to qualify, thanks to his dear father. Father Redford retired and
bought a nice big yellow boat, and Harrison started his life living in the real
world on his own.

Now here he was, twenty eight years old and
dating every woman in the Nevada state, some from California as well. He knew
Molly disapproved of his dating techniques, but he considered them better than
hers, seeing that she hadn't had a date since...well, maybe she never did. It
wasn't that she couldn't Lord knows even he knew of all the guys over the
years that had asked her for dates, but she always refused. The feisty five
foot seven woman of his nearly his same age and that he towered over with his
six foot four frame, shared more traits from the reddish part of her hair
heritage rather than the brunette strands. Molly Radcliffe had a horrid
Scottish temper, a loud Italian voice that also allowed her hands to cook the
most amazing of meals when she wanted to, and the sassiness of her French side.
With curly auburn hair that reached just below her ribcage and eyes of dark
chocolate brown, she was a beauty. Not to say she was completely out of the
ordinary. Not runway model gorgeous or stop on the street to gawk looking, but
it was something special. Unique. Completely hers. If Harrison bothered to stop
and think about his best friend, he'd realize she was those things more because
of her great confidence in her own self. He was a big, strong marines man that
was trained to save a person in multiple situations, but Molly never took
advantage. She wanted to save herself. No damsel in distress for her. Though
even she had to admit that she needed more adventure in her life. More fun.
More danger to toy with. Her life was still so safe and easy going. She needed
to shake it up a bit more. Make it as feisty as her attitude was. But her
schedule of a teacher and a friend to many never seemed to allow her that
release.

One day, he'd have to show her how. If only
she'd allow herself to see his side of things. The good side. She'd become
looser then.

But for now, she had come to him to make
him stop the rumors that he had apparently started. And he needed a damn good,
convincing way of making sure her students, and all the others, knew that there
was no connection of that sort between him and Molly. Just like there never
would be.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Are you ready? After all, you never
know what kind of surprises await past that door." Marty said,
unsuccessfully trying to hide a grin. Really, she couldn't wait to find out
what Harrison was doing to fix the problem that had spread throughout the
school. Her mismatched eyes, one of a strange hazel and the other blue, were
dancing with excitement. "That boy better not let me down."

Molly just shook her head, opening the
glass door, leading the way to their classrooms, holding her breath in silent
prayer that Harrison wouldn't make a fool of either of them. She was wasting
that breath...

_______________________________________________________________________

It was five minutes before lunch period and
Molly was putting up the assignment.

Read chapters five through seven in
Persuasion. Write out summary and your viewpoints on these chapters.

Test on Monday start studying now!!

She was still copying this from her
assignment book when there was a knock at the door. Before she could even turn
around, Harrison came in the room. And on his arm, was someone who made a
shiver run down her spine and anger spark in her eyes.

She looked towards the door that conjoined
the two classrooms and saw Marty peering in through the window, her jaw gaping.

For on his arm, was the woman with platinum
blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. With the height of five eleven without her
trademark four inch heels on, it was easy to see that she was once a model,
back in the day. She made the stereotypical views on models being snobs come
true. She was worse than stuck up she was better than everyone else in this
place. Better than anyone...but the man she had her eye on for months, whom she
was determined to get. Well, she had gotten him, obviously.

"Principal Harrison, Miss Candice
Greybill...to what do I owe this pleasure?" Molly asked, trying to keep
her voice even.

Harrison looked around the room, making
sure all eyes were on him. They surely were.

"Oh, I'm going to take off. I just
wanted to say I couldn't make it to dinner tonight with you and Miss Lewison
tonight. Miss Greybill and I are going out. You understand, don't you? It's
kind of a last minute thing..."

There weren't any supper plans for tonight.
There never were. When you wanted to eat with one of the three, you came over
around dinner time and plopped on the sofa until it was time to cook or call
in. But despite the fact that he wasn't really breaking any previous dinner
dates to her, it still made her blood boil at the thought. She wanted to
release her burst of fury, to tell him that this wasn't the way he should have
done it. But she was an English teacher, standing in front of her class. It was
her duty to remain calm no matter what in front of those children.

So instead of allowing her claws to show,
she gave them a curt nod. "Fine with me." She said stiffly, then
addressed her room.

"Make sure you copied the assignment.
Class dismissed." And with those words, she hurried towards Marty's
classroom, of whom she'd already dismissed when she had started gawking,
knowing she'd need to hear all about this as soon as possible.

Harrison watched her retreat, stepping
aside the door to let the flood of twenty students out of the room. The pretty
little blonde on his arm that was the high school's art teacher and scrapbook
leader, tugged on his sleeve, reminding him that he should be moving too. But
there was something about the way Molly's eyes glistened over for a moment
before her fury interfered that held his thoughts captive. What was wrong with
her now? He doubted he'd be able to find out. There was just some things Molly
never told him. Privacy was her friend. Or at least, until the screams rose too
high in her throat to keep down. Yet usually those were masked with lies as
well. A mysterious creature, that one was. With a shrug, he walked out of the
room, shutting off the lights and closing the door.

_______________________________________________________________________

"You know...for someone as talkative
as you, it's never a good sign when you fall completely silent after something
that happened like it did at school." Marty rattled off, busying herself with
getting drinks for the two of them.

Molly shrugged. "I'm completely fine.
Why would you think I wouldn't be?"

Marty groaned. "Because I know you.
Lets see, Harrison went and dumped his new girl for this one, just to prove
that he's not with you. I know you heard the new talkings of your students
that you must be below Harrison's tastes and that's why he don't date you not
the other way around where you won't date him. And then, to top it all off, he
goes and dates Candice Greybill the woman we both despise." Molly shook
her head. "I don't despise her..."