“ENGLISH? REALLY AGGIE?”
“Mrs. Evans is out sick. I need someone to cover her classroom. And it’s not English.”
Phew. “Okay, well then what is it?”
“Everything,” she perks, walking ahead of me, and unlocking the classroom door.
“Agnes, you know I can’t teach English. And what does everything mean? I’m not a teacher. I have no idea how to educate these little alien people!” This is not a good idea. I don’t know how she convinced me this was even an okay idea.
“Gretchen, its easy stuff. Read to them during English. Color during art. Count blocks during math. Simple stuff.”
I walk in behind her and look at the room that has vomited stick people drawings, happy faces and cartoon presidents. Well, I think they’re presidents. How do I not know if they’re presidents or not!? I’m having a total Billy Madison moment. How in the hell did I even graduate elementary school?
“You have GOT to be kidding me right now.”
“Gretchen, it’s only for six hours a day.”
Oh, heck no. Talk about giving the youth of tomorrow no fighting chance before they even get started. I thought when I signed up for this I would be doing simple things, like hallway duty or answering phones. I turn to offer my other services, when… holy shit, a freakin hunk of a dude walks by.
“It will be fine, just—”
“Holy mother of hotness, who was that?” I push past her and head towards the door.
“Who was who? And watch your mouth; you’re around kids.”
“That guy. Big, buff, blonde, shorts. Lots of leg.” I’m practically drooling just describing him. I step outside and run into a solid surface.
“Oh, shit,” I lift my hands to grab for the body I just ran into, so I don’t fall over. “Sorry, I wasn’t…” I trail off as I stare off into the greenest eyes I have ever seen. “I… I…”
“Oh, Peter, good morning. This is my sister, Gretchen Thompson. She’ll be substituting for Ms. Evan’s classroom for a while. Gretchen, this is Peter. He teaches science next door.”
Aaand, you lost me. His eyes are a place I could get lost in, but she ruined it at Peter. Then strike two with science teacher. I mean nerd alert! He’s even wearing those black rimmed glasses. Hard pass. I snap out of it and try looking over his shoulders. Where did that giant go?
“Gretchen, this is where you say, hello back.” My sister scolds me. Ugh. These two are ruining my game. “Hey, nice to meet you. Um, Ags, I um, I’m going to go tour the school. I’ll see you around.” I begin to leave, lamely waving at the science nerd, but my sister grabs me.
“Not so fast. School starts in seven minutes. You need to stay in the classroom.”
But… but… I look at Agnes, then at Nerd Alert. He’s standing there with his hands casually in his pockets, smiling at me kindly. Ugh. Till next period, giant hunk. I shrug my shoulders and head back into the room. “Well, see ya around, Peter Parker.” And just as he offers me the confused look, I walk into my temple of doom.
“So then, he said to her that he wanted to take her to his house in the woods and have her meet his family; but, when she got there for her birthday party, his sister Alice, which I think it was deliberate, gave her a gift and made her get a papercut on her finger…” I get cut off for the billionth time trying to tell my story because someone else has a question.
“Yes, Billy?”
“My name is Gavin.”
“Of course, what do you want?”
“Why is the vampire at a house; don’t they live in Transanania?”
I sigh, because they are not following, whatsoever. “Well, yes, but these are the Cullens, they kinda just do what they want…” I’m interrupted again by a knock on the door. We all turn to see Nerd Alert standing in the door.
“Everyone, say hi to Peter Parker,” I wave nonchalantly in his direction. The kids look confused. But Peter has that everything’s A-okay smile on his face.
“Hello, kids. I wanted to just stick my head in. I can hear you from the other room. I thought you could use some help. With reading options and all.”
Dude, who does he think he is? The Twilight Saga is a huge deal in English literature. “Listen up Peter Parker—”
“It’s actually Wesley, and—”
“What is?” He’s lost me.
“My last name is Wesley, not Parker. And, I thought that maybe you would want to try some of these.” I now notice a stack of books in his hand. “I stopped over at the library on my break and grabbed some. Since its Shark Week and the kids are learning about their favorite aquatic animals.” He walks deeper into the classroom like he owns it. The kids all smiles, like he’s cool, and me, I’m all annoyed because he’s steppin’ on my turf.
“Seriously, we’re fine. I was reading important literature…” I fade off as he walks over to where I’m seated in front of the teacher’s desk. A whiff of his cologne hits my nostrils and I find my nose twitching for more. Bending forward, he leans down, his body extremely too close to mine. His mouth brushes past my ear and I swear I feel his warm, nerdy breath blow against my earlobe.
“These should help you,” he says softly, his breath, yep, I smell mint, brushes against my cheek as he retracts back to his standing position. I just stare at him. His thick, dark hair is brushed back in a kind of hot way. His glasses, nerdy but semi-hot covering his bright green eyes. As my vision lowers, I notice his nerdy collared shirt is clearly too tight on him, because I can see legit muscle outline. When I finally bring my runaway eyes back to his, he’s sporting a smug look that says, I just got caught checking him out.
“I think they have a few years before the Twilight Saga becomes of importance.” He smiles even bigger.
Ew!
“Yeah, no thanks, Peter Parker. We’re good here. Don’t you have a date with Einstein or something?” I reply, but he only laughs at me, the sound kind of hot and, stop! What am I doing!?
“Is that the only thing you can think of when it comes to science, Ms. Thompson? Maybe I need to give you a private lesson of your own.”
My mouth drops open. He offers me one more gentle smile and turns to the kids. “Enjoy, everyone. See you this afternoon.” And he turns to me, winks and leaves.
Who the…
I made it through day one with success. The kids were oookay. They said a bunch of cute stuff and one even drew me a picture. I guess I can see why they keep multiplying. All right, fine, I admit, they were really precious.
The final bell has rung and I’m currently standing outside of my classroom, trying to stalk down the hot dude from earlier. From all my prying, because kids have no filter, I was able to get that his name was Mr. Simmons, also known as the gym teacher. Made sense. All the muscle, big. I bet he knew how to throw a girl around. All I need to do is offer him my sweet smile and maybe drop a book, helping a poor woman in despair or whatever and it’s on. I run my fingers through my shoulder length hair, and smooth down my skirt. From what I’ve seen, they employ mostly old people here so my chances he will notice me are high.
I avoided any other run-ins with Nerd Alert. Seriously what’s up with that guy? I bet he sits at home with his little lab kit on the weekends and practices how to build the perfect volcano explosion. I actually laugh out loud, remembering being a kid and having to do that stupid project.
“What’s so funny?”
I jump like a scared cat, turning to see Peter Parker standing in front of me.
“Seriously, Peter Parker. A little creepy just coming at me like that don’t ya think?” I adjust my hair again and lift my chin trying to look over his shoulder. I know since school just ended Mr. Simmons should be coming around the corner anytime now.
“It’s Wesley, and I’ve been standing outside my classroom just as long as you have.”
I then look in his direction. He’s indeed casually standing outside his classroom, his hands in his pockets. I take notice that, in this position, his shirt stretches making a clear outline of his bicep muscles. My eyes wander down his chest wondering if there are any other outlines…
“What are you looking at?”
What! I throw my eyes back up. Oh my god, was I about to stare at his nerdy junk? “Um. Nothing. I was um… I was waiting for a friend.” I spit out, the guilt in my voice prominent.
“I see.” I’m two seconds from slapping that smug smile off his face. “And who is this friend? Is he just as eager to see you?”
My mouth drops, “What exactly are you referring to, Peter Parker?” What a perv!
“Your friend. I’ve been watching you stare down the hallway, adjusting your hair every three seconds. Must be an important friend.”
Ugh. I have not.
Okay. So maybe I have. But, I need to get laid and I think that gym teacher has the potential to suit up. Cedarville wasn’t the best town for men. Like, at all. I dated a few guys but, it being an even smaller town than Wellsboro, it was hard to find the right guy.
“Listen, Peter Parker—”
“Wesley.”
“Whatever, look… I don’t know what your problem is. But I just want to put it out there that I am not interested. I’m sure some girls like the whole glasses and think that pocket protector thing is hot, but not me. I’m sure you’re a great guy but…” I waver off because he’s begun laughing. And not lightly. I didn’t think anything I was saying was all that funny.
“Why are you laughing?” Now annoyed, placing my hands on my hips.
“You. I think you’re cute.”
Cute! Angrily I spout, “Cute? I am not cute!”
“And what are you, then?” He asks, his greens shining with humor.
“I’m sexy.” This gets another laugh from his full lips. “Stop laughing at me!” I demand. I’m going to rip his pen case out of that damn pocket and whip it down the hallway. Holding his tight chest, he tries to calm himself. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t be laughing.”
Damn right he shouldn’t be. How dare he make fun of me? I’m not the walking nerd alert teaching science. I mean, who even cares about science anymore! I take a step toward him, about to give him a piece of my mind, when my heel slips on a slick part of the tile and I fall forward, right into his arms. He catches me instantly, bringing my body flat against his. Jesus, is he like allll muscle? When do nerds have time to work out between lab experiments and science fairs?
“Watch it now,” he says softly his minty breath hitting my face. Mentally, I’m fighting him off me, because he is so ew. But my body is in some weird, delayed mode and it takes a bit longer to physically break way.
“Hey Peter, great presentation at the parent/teacher conferences last night. I think the parents were impressed.” We both look to see Mr. Simmons walk past. While I’m in Peter’s arms.
FUCK!
I push off Peter and adjust my hair, shirt, books, shit! I panic and drop my books. I hear Peter chuckle, that ass wipe, and Mr. Simmons not even taking notice.
“Thanks, Ben. I got great feedback. Looks like we’ll be able to fund the kid’s science fair after all.”
Ben. God Ben sounds so sexy. I would love to moan that name. Bennnnnn…
“Oh, Ben, this is Gretchen Thompson. Agnes’ little sister. She’s substituting with us for a while.”
I smile sexy. Or try. I’m so damn flustered and this is not going like how I practiced.
“Hey, Ben.” I purr his name. He smiles. Like, normal smiles. “Good to meet you. See you around, Peter.” And he turns and walks away.
Well, double fuck!
I turn to Peter who has that god damn smirk on his face. A million nasty names fight to come out, but I decide on a simple grunt, then huff, squaring my shoulders and walking back into my classroom.