The Romantic Rollercoaster

It was a brisk October day. Emily strolled to work. She spent her Saturdays working checkout at the grocery store to make some spending money. She wore a light silk scarf over her uniform, which gave her an air of elegance and sophistication beyond her age.

She arrived in good time and sat at her checkout. Her manager, Damien, asked for a word before she began. She came into his office. A striking young man was filling out a new starter form.

"Emily, this is James," said Damien. James looked up and smiled at Emily. She reflexively smiled back. He was very good looking, with a thick head of deep brown hair, a solid square jaw, and high cheekbones so sharp you could cut yourself on them. His most striking feature were his dazzling steel-blue eyes, which glistened under the lights.

"I'd like you to show James how to use the checkouts," Damien said. "He'll be shadowing you today, if that's OK."

"Oh, no problem," said Emily. She always enjoyed making new friends, and tried to be as helpful as possible.

It was quite a slow morning, so Emily and James had a few chances to talk between customers. After Emily had shown him how to weigh a carrot, James explained that he'd just moved to town for college.

"You must be a sophomore, I guess?" he said.

"Oh, no," said Emily. "I'm actually a high school senior."

"You're kidding?" said James. Emily smiled gently. "Wow, I'd never have guessed."

"I get that quite a lot. I was born at the start of September, so I look older than people expect."

"Oh, I know all about that - I was born at the end of July, so people are always telling me how young I look," said James. Now it was Emily's turn to be surprised. James was so manly and mature that it was hard to believe he was only a few weeks older than her. Most boys her age were reckless and brash, which was a poor combination on the tills, but James was patient and self-assured, and seemed to genuinely enjoy helping every doodling old lady struggling to find the exact change. Emily would have pegged him as a fellow September baby, and probably as someone who had taken a couple of years out before college.

James and Emily walked to the bus stop together when they clocked off.

"Thanks for your help today," James said to Emily.

"No problem!" said Emily, smiling. "It was really nice to have someone lending me a hand."

"I'm glad," said James.

There was a tantalising moment of silence.

"So," said James. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Oh, no," said Emily. "Boys have never been interested in me."

"I'm surprised you don't have boys queuing up around the block," James said. "You're really cute."

Emily blushed. It was very flattering to have James pay attention to her. "What about you, James? Is there anyone special in your life?"

"Well, there's this one girl I'd like to ask out."

"I think you should go for it."

"Do you want to go for a picnic tomorrow?"

Emily was a very happy person most of the time, but now happiness overtook her whole body. "Yes, I'd love to."

***

Emily was back to school on Monday after the best weekend of her life. Her date with James had been brilliant. It had been an unseasonably balmy day. After a delightful hour lying in the shade and eating together, she and James had gone for lemonade and ice cream and had talked about their hopes and fears. Afterwards, James walked her home, and she'd had her first kiss.

After first period, her phone buzzed. She saw that she had a text from James.

"I found some really nice sourdough at the market, do you want to pop over at lunch?" James's student dormitory was just across the road from Emily's school.

"I'd love to!" Emily replied.

"Emily!" said Miss Hawes, who was on hallway duty. "No phones in school! I'll be taking that." Emily handed her phone over without protest. She wouldn't normally have brought it in, but she didn't want to miss a message from James. "You can spend your lunch time in detention."

Emily was a model student and had never received detention before. She was determined not to serve this one, either. She would go and see James and hope Miss Hawes forgot about detention.

So lunch time came, and Emily sneaked out. This was her third rule break - using her phone, skipping detention, and sneaking out during the school day. She crossed the quiet road and went into James' dormitory. She knew he was in flat 301, so she climbed the stairs to the third floor. His room was right in front of the staircase. She knocked, excited to see James again.

James opened the door, a plate of sourdough in his hand. "Hey gorgeous!" he said, beaming. "Come in!"

Emily practically skipped into James' room. It was much nicer than she'd imagined. She had been expecting either a big mess, or a room full of cheap mass-produced plastic furniture, but it was much nicer. Everything was made of heavyset wood, and rather than band posters, the walls were covered with art. This must have been an old dorm.

"This is so lovely," Emily said, flopping onto the soft mattress of James' double-poster Queen-sized bed. "You're so lucky."

"I guess," said James, humbly. "I got a full ride, so I thought I may as well ask for a private room." He held out the sourdough, which was covered in melted butter. "Would you like some?"

"Oh, yes." said Emily. She lay back and stretched her arms out, then glanced up at James, her legs apart.

"Do you have a condom?"

***

An hour later, Emily left James' building, having promised to come back straight after school. She thought she'd timed her return so she would slip in just as her next lesson was started. As she snuck through the door, she was struck by the silence. All the corridors were empty. She must be late. Without her phone, she had been relying on the clock in James' apartment, which must have been slow.

Emily hurried to her next classroom, hoping she arrived quickly enough to avoid getting another detention. She opened the door of the science lab, only to find that was empty too. They must have switched rooms!

Worried, Emily headed to reception, hoping she could find out where her class was. She was sure she would be in trouble now, but it was worth it. Nothing in her life had compared to the last hour. James pulling off his t-shirt to reveal a tight, cut body. James climbing over her, pressing down, his breath on her face, his deep blue eyes staring back at hers. James behind her now, driving deep into her, and bringing his hand down onto her bubble butt; she could still feel where he'd hit her, sending pleasure and pain shooting through her body. She'd do it again with no regrets.

As Emily approached reception, the headmistress entered the school along with a couple of teachers in safety jackets and two cops. They stopped dead when they saw Emily.

"That's her," said the headmistress. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, officers. Just where have you been, young lady?"

"I... I nipped out to get something to eat," said Emily. It wasn't entirely untrue.

"During the school day? And during your detention, no less? We had a fire drill and nobody could find you. Miss Hawes said she'd sent you to detention, but when you weren't there we assumed you'd been kidnapped - a pretty young thing like you..."

"If there had been a real fire, you'd be under arrest for endangering the lives of firefighters. As it is, you've wasted police time." said one of the cops. Trembling, Emily held out her hands, expecting to be cuffed. "However, I trust your school will come up with a suitable punishment."

"Indeed," said the headmistress. "As it so happened, Emily helped write our disciplinary policy last year. Young lady, you've disrupted the school day for everyone. As punishment for skipping detention you will serve double detention for the rest of the week. For leaving the school grounds without permission and causing this panic, you will do community service after school all next week. If you skip another detention then you will not get your phone back, and it will be triple detention every day until you graduate. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, miss," said Emily, dejected. After working so hard for the past three years, her reputation had gone up in smoke.

***

At the end of the day, Emily headed to the detention room for the first time. Today, Emily was the only person in detention. She left her bag at the front of the room and sat behind a front-row desk, staring forward with her arms crossed. The clock ticked slowly. Emily had five hours' detention every day this week, and those seconds were going to feel even longer as Emily looked forward to being with James again. To pass the time, she fantasised about every little bit of his body, his primal musk, the taste of a strawberry-flavoured condom in her mouth, the way he moaned as he thrust into her, the feeling of him driving into the deepest parts of her vagina as he stroked her belly. Seconds which originally crawled now flew by. In no time at all, it was eight. Emily grabbed her bag, said goodbye to the security guards by the front door, and danced over the road to see James, full of desire.

He was very sympathetic when Emily recounted how horrified and embarrassed she'd been when she realised that she'd missed a fire drill. The panic of thinking she was going to be arrested had been replaced by dread when she realised just how hard her punishment was going to be, and how much she'd let everyone down. By way of comfort, he started nibbling on her ear lobe. Emily kissed his shoulder. He kissed her neck, then lifted off her shirt...

Yes, this was worth it.