clementine // joshler

16

josh's point of view

i put my car into park and turn it off, locking the doors before walking up to hayley's door.

i knock and she answers within a minute, wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt i'm pretty sure i gave her in high-school. she's got her hair wrapped up in a towel on top of her head so i assume she just got out of the shower.

"c'mon in, j-dawg." she steps aside to let me in with a smile and closes the door behind me.

"hey, h. taylor not here?" i ask, already making my way to my usual spot on her couch.

"nah, she's with her brother. she said he wanted to see me too but alas, duty calls." she sits next to me, her legs crossed.

"you should've gone with them. i would've been fine," i tell her.

"it's no big deal. i promise. you didn't want to be home and i didn't particularly want to be at her brother's apartment. it worked out great," she reassures me, elbowing me gently. "are you doing alright though?"

"yeah, i'm okay. i got an email asking if i'd like to renew the lease earlier today. just had me overthinking things and i didn't really wanna be there anymore," i admit.

to be completely honest, i stared at the email on my phone until my eyes teared up and my vision blurred. i just froze.

"you're not renewing it, are you?"

"definitely not."

"good. lucky for you, house hunters is one of my favorite shows."

"you know that show is like... staged, right?"

"shhhh."

-

after finding a pretty nice apartment much closer to the school and putting in an application, hayley orders a pizza. we sit on her couch while we eat it, an episode of house hunters playing in the background.

"so, how's your semester going?" i ask.

she shrugs. "it's alright. my final for one of my classes is a twenty-five page paper though, so that sucks."

"jesus." i shake my head. "grad school would've killed me."

"how's your semester going, mr. dun? make any teacher friends yet?"

"no." i sigh.

it makes me feel so... lame. i'm the newest teacher there, and the youngest. it can be very isolating.

"i'm sorry, j. you're too cool for them anyway." hayley pats my shoulder. "at least you'll always have me!"

"like an incurable disease."

"yep! that's me!"

-

i wake up to my alarm, as usual. i get ready for the day and then sort through my notifications while i drink my coffee.

when i open my email, i see one from the apartment complex i applied to with hayley saying i've been approved. i make a mental note to try and remember to fill out the paperwork later and to notify the landlord of my current home that i won't be renewing the lease here.

it's definitely a relief to know that i won't have to be here anymore. it hasn't been as hard as i thought it might be to live here alone, but i still find things of hers every now and then. i still have far too many memories here for my liking. and besides all that, i definitely need to downsize anyway.

i call hayley on my drive to work to give her the news.

"that's awesome, j! when's move-in day?"

"about a month away. i'm pretty excited." i smile to myself. "you're gonna help me pack, right?"

"duh! i think we should start as soon as possible so it doesn't get overwhelming. we'll just do a little at a time, you know?" she suggests.

"sounds like a plan."

-

today, i have lunch duty.

i stand in my place, watching again as students fill the room. i see a few of my own students pass by. it feels a bit awkward, but not nearly as awkward as running into tyler at his job.

he walks past me on his way from the lunch line to his usual table, offering a small smile and wave. i return the gesture and then look away, trying hard not to let my eyes linger anywhere in particular.

this is much more stressful than i think it should be.

i notice a table of girls staring at me, giggling and whispering, which doesn't help. i have to refrain from rolling my eyes at them. if you're going to talk about someone, shouldn't you at least try to be more discreet?

another teacher walking up to stand beside me is a welcomed distraction.

"hey! mr. dun, right?" she says, friendly smile on her face. "my name is rachel. it's nice to meet you."

"oh, hey! um, yeah. you can call me josh. it's nice to meet you too," i introduce myself to her, feeling hopeful that maybe i'll be able to make a friend after all.

she looks to be about thirty, with shoulder length hair and a pronoun pin on her jacket. definitely less scary than most of the older (republican) teachers i've met so far.

we talk for awhile and she tells me that she was in my place about eight years ago. she reassures me that it gets easier as time goes on and the intimidation will die down. it's nice to talk to someone who gets it.

we end up talking until the bell rings, exchanging socials and numbers before making our way to our respective classrooms.

i leave my door open and take a seat behind my desk, pulling up the attendance form while i wait.

tyler and emily walk in first, laughing about something.

i wonder if he ever figured out what to do about the boy he was telling me about the other day.

i guess it's not my business.

(an: or is it..? 😏 i bet you guys can tell what's coming, haha. anyway, sorry this is late and boring! filler chapters are necessary but this book is relatively drama free anyway, which makes it a nice break from ab lol. hope you're all well!)