Author's note. This is a continuing story and although you might enjoy this chapter on its own merits, you would be advised to read the first chapter first. (It is a short chapter!).
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For several weeks prior to the incident, Miss Clemar's mind had been going through an inner battle - a battle that a winner was slowly emerging from, and as the stronger of the two became more clear, there was no doubt that the clear victor was beginning to take charge of her.
Despite the logical side of her brain telling her to let it go, Miss Clemar was drawn to it despite herself. Could "He" really have been right about her from the beginning? How was it possible that she would do something just because he suggested she should? Why was her mind constantly being drawn to it at each and every idle moment of her day? It unsettled her.
Even Miss Clemar's sleep was fitful at best. Every passing day she felt its gravitational pull. Each day it was drawing her ever closer in a tighter spiral towards it. Yes, there was clearly a winner emerging from this battle. The logical side, the sensible side of her was steadily losing ground.
She felt less confident. It made her less sure of herself. Mostly it alarmed her that she felt this way, and yet, was he right all along? The worst part of it all - it excited her to her very core.
She barely communicated with him. It had been weeks since she replied to him at all, but that didn't stop her from opening her phone and re-reading each message that he had sent her many times over! Despite her resistance in the beginning, this "thing" was beginning to consume and devour her.
For most teachers and students, it was the summer holidays, but it wasn't a vacation for Miss Clemar, and certainly it was not for the small population of the students that were in attendance over those summer months as well.
Most students were there to retake a course or two in order to improve their marks or complete a required course to meet the college entrance requirements - coming up in just a few short months.
Most of the younger high school students were there because their parents were pushing them forward to complete and pass courses that they simply failed or did poorly on during the previous school term in order to keep up with their classmates and friends for the coming fall.
He had sent and left a message for her a few weeks before. She couldn't bring herself to reply to him. She read it and ever since she had received it, she re-read it, over and over. No, he wasn't being pushy about it. She would simply go to the site, open her private messages and there would be something new there for her to try.
Denial and logic kept Miss Clemar from telling him what she was really thinking and feeling. She was keeping him away from her for a reason.
Finally, that day, she had been sitting at her desk in the empty classroom. She was on her usual break. Yes, as she normally does (especially in the hotter summer months), she was wearing a skirt and blouse that day. It was too hot for anything else. She looked good. She always did.