Meet Me After Class

Chapter 4: The Substitute Teacher

"Toby farted right in front of my face while I was daydreaming about Ryan Gosling," Penny deadpanned.

"Belle's friends came over and I had to decamp at Adam's," I shared with Penny, absentmindedly poking at my dry salad with a fork.

The indoor cafeteria was packed that day because of the dark clouds outside, a heavy rain underway. I glanced around, briefly contemplating my surroundings.

Students queued up in the lunch line, and the fashionably late ones were scrambling for an open table. But the cool kids, the Megans and Masons of the world, effortlessly claimed the prime spot. Lucky for us, the three musketeers, we didn't really care if we had to take the table near the garbage bins.

"Fart beats squealing little girls any given day, Wendy," Penny argued.

Adam looked at each of us, playing our ridiculous game. "You two are hilarious."

"Thank you," Penny and I answered him at once.

"You win. I'll buy you lunch tomorrow," I told Penny who grinned at me right away.

It was a nice game when you didn't bring any extra cash for lunch, but only fun if you really won. In my case, I could only count the times I ever did win. Penny's life had somehow more embarrassing and awkward moments than me. Sometimes I had to wonder how she was able to manage and still not lose her mind.

It was a nice game, the lunch roulette, especially when you were running low on lunch cash, but it only counted as fun if you scored a win. Personally, I could probably tally up the times I'd actually won. Penny, though, she could practically write a novel about her more embarrassing and awkward moments. I often wondered how she kept it together without losing her mind.

"Hi, Penny."

And just like that, Penny's face mirrored the bad weather outside.

"Hi, Jay," I greeted.

"Wendy!" Jay executed a quick curtsy, plopping his tray on our table, settling in next to Adam. "Did you do something with your hair? I dig it," he complimented, directing it at Penny, who was already giving him the stink eye.

"I had it trimmed and it's none of your business," Penny retorted, unapologetic.

Jay only laughed and turned to Adam. "I need your help."

"On what?"

"Something's not right..."

"Your face?" Penny whispered, and I had to stifle a giggle with my hand.

But Jay was so engrossed in explaining to Adam what he needed his help for, blissfully oblivious to my best friend's snarky aside.

Jay wasn't exactly topping my list of favorite people, but I didn't harbor the intense disdain Penny did. Adam once mentioned something about Jay having an off childhood—whatever that meant.

I couldn't pinpoint the exact moment Penny started despising Jay, but if I had to guess, it might have been when he started hitting on her. Jay wasn't terrible-looking, a bit pale, not too much that you'd mistake him for a ghost, and with some basic self-care, like daily showers and maybe running a comb through that dark mess of hair perpetually in his eyes, he might come off as more confident and, well, not particularly unpleasant.

But despite all that, he looked like he could always maintain a level of cool even when Penny downright showed her hostility towards him.

When Adam agreed to cut his lunch short to help Jay, Penny couldn't resist a tease. "Can't resist your boyfriend, can you?"