Leave a Trace

Chapter One: Promise

Chapter One: Promise

I jump when my classroom door is thrown open so hard that it slams against the wall with a loud bang. My eyes snap up from my phone, locking on the blue eyes of my best friend.

"Did you hear?" She asks. Her hair is falling out of it's tight bun. She's out of breath.

"Did you run here?" I ask.

"I ran up the stairs." She responds, walking across my room to stop in front of my desk. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" I raise a brow at her.

Her eyes turn to saucers.

"Nobody told you?" She gasps.

"Nobody told me what?" I reply.

"There's a new teacher."

I frown. "Okay, and? We get new teachers all the time. Did they finally replace the world history teacher? I'm tired of having to watch their kids. The freshmen are brats and I'm running out of referral slips."

"Yes, it's the world history teacher. A male world history teacher."

"The last one was male."

"Eric Johnson was like, sixty. No, Belle, this guy is like, twenty six. And he's hot."

"Have you actually seen him?" I roll my eyes.

"I've heard about him." She says with a huff. "I've heard he has blue-green sexy ass eyes, nice muscles, dark hair-" she cuts off, biting her lip. "I want a piece of him."

"Cool." I say shortly, picking my phone up off my desk. I unlock it with my thumbprint and start scrolling through my brothers instagram again.

She snatches the device from my hand.

"Are you gay?"

"I'm not gay." I huff. "It's seven in the morning and I'm tired. He's a new teacher. Whoo hoo." I fake a fist pump in the air and sit up, allowing my legs to drop from my desk.

"Apparently he's so attractive that people are stopping to stare."

"Excellent." I grumble. "I don't care, Ness. He's a guy. There's a lot of guys in the world."

"But this one is hot!" She whines.

The first bell rings and I can hear students flooding into the halls. My door opens and kids start filing in, but Vanessa stays in her spot, glaring at me.

I stand up, smoothing out my dress pants.

"You just wait until you see him." She says, not caring that the students in here are listening. "I hear he's panty dropping."

I take a swipe for my phone but she yanks her hand back and points at me.

"If I see him, I'll sneak a picture and send it to you." She promises. She shoves my phone back at me. "Are you giving that test today?" She questions.

"Yes." I reply.

"If you see him, sneak a picture."

"No." I say. "How will I know if I see him anyways?"

"Oh, you'll know...or so I've heard. I guess his name is Mr. Caulton. I don't know his first name, but that means you get to sit with him at assembly's and meetings, because your last name is Caldwell. Shit, I am so jealous. I bet he smells like sex-"

"Don't you have a class to teach?" I ask, my eyes flitting around the room. The class is too quiet today, so I know everyone is listening to her. "You need to stop, Vanessa."