“No way,” Casey gasped, staring at me with wide eyes. “He ate dinner at your house? With you?”
“Shh!” I hushed her, looking around the cafeteria warily for anyone who might have heard. “You can’t tell anybody!”
“I won’t!” Casey responded, making an X over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
I sighed and kicked the trashcan we were standing next to. It became a habit to have private conversations near the trashcan for Casey and I, so everyone knew when we were there not to come throw their trash away. Casey grinned to herself, glancing at Mr. Heywood, who had just entered the lunchroom.
“There’s your dinner guest,” Casey commented, nudging me in the shoulder. “Go talk to him.”
“And be beaten to death? I think not,” I responded, rolling my eyes. “I don’t trust that guy. He’s got a split personality.”
Casey laughed, shaking her head at me. “I don’t know what you are talking about. From what I know of him, that guy was about as mean as a nun.”
“That didn’t make sense at all.”
“Shut up,” Casey responded quickly.
I laughed. “Well believe what you want. You weren’t the one that was basically forced to make him a dozen cups of coffee and dinner.”
She snorted. “I would have done it willingly anyways.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh, what do you know? …Here comes your boyfriend. I’m going to leave you two to talk.”
Casey blew a raspberry at me. “Okay. But tell me if anything happens between you and Mr. Heywood!”
“There’s nothing going to happen between us!” I hissed at her, giving her one last warning look before turning my back on her.
I looked around for Mr. Heywood quickly; I didn’t want to run into him when getting in line for lunch. To my luck, it seemed like he had left the cafeteria already. I walked to a la carte and stood in line, shoving my hand into my pocket to get my lunch money, and letting out a sigh.
“Why the sigh?”
I jumped and twisted around to see Mr. Heywood standing behind me. He smiled pleasantly at me, looking innocent. I eyed him suspiciously.
“Well?”
“Just thinking,” I responded slowly, “about you.”
“Falling for my good looks already? I thought you were different from most of the girls here…”
“No,” I snapped, frowning at him. “About your split personality.”
“Shh!”
“Why?”
Mr. Heywood lowered his voice, giving me an urgent look. “If anyone finds out how I used to be, I’ll be fired, and I really need the money right now. So shut up about it. Please,” he added, trying to cover up for his rudeness.
I blinked at him. He said please? Maybe he wasn’t as bad as I thought he was… Well, as long as I ignored the “shut up” in his last sentence.
When we made it to the front of the line I noticed there was chicken soup on the soup list. My favorite. Mr. Heywood cut in front of me and I frowned, but he was a teacher and you had to let teachers cut, so I couldn’t protest. He ordered chicken soup, just like I was about to.
“What would you like dear?” the cafeteria lady asked when Mr. Heywood got his soup.
“Chicken soup,” I responded.
“Sorry, we just ran out.”
I heard Mr. Heywood snort from in front of me. I stared at the lunch lady in disbelief. It was just my luck. “I guess a cheese burger then…”
The lunch lady smiled and placed a cheeseburger on my tray. I made my way to the cash register and paid for my cheeseburger. Mr. Heywood was paying at the other one. When I got my change back I made my way back to my table but Mr. Heywood stopped me.
“What?” I asked, slightly annoyed.
“Here,” he said, placing the soup on my tray. “You can have it.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Um, thanks. Why?”
“A thank you for yesterday,” he responded before walking off with a wave.
I frowned after him for a moment. I really couldn’t tell if this guy was nice or not. He seemed nice, but a little pushy. Or maybe he was faking it. I pursed my lips. He was so confusing.
I walked back over to my table where Lance and Willis were talking. Danielle and Sadie were frowning at the pair looking irritated. I watched curiously from a distance for a second before going to sit down. Danielle and Sadie looked at me pityingly.
“You should have waited before coming back,” Danielle told me, stifling a yawn with her hand.
“Why?”
“Listen,” Sadie responded, pointing to the boys who were focusing on the wall on the other side of the lunchroom.
“Ring ring,” Lance said, his face impassive.
“Hello?” Willis responded, his expression mimicking Lance’s.
“Ring ring,” Lance repeated.
“H-hello?” Willis responded, his face still straight.
“Ring ring.”
“He… hello?”
“Ring ring—”
“Okay!” I cried, slamming my fists down. “Must you two mimic stupid videos from YouTube everyday?”
“Oh, chill Holly,” Willis responded, laughing. “You haven’t had to deal with it all summer. I think it’s catch up time.”
“And you have the line wrong,” Lance continued, frowning at me. “It’s: You have a bad connection!’”
I frowned at them as they continued laughing. Sadie and Danielle chuckled as I rubbed my forehead.
“Told you,” they both chorused.
“It could be worse,” I told them. “At least they aren’t reciting the whole video.”
“True,” Danielle responded, nodding her head. “I don’t know how they manage to memorize something like that, but boy do they get everything spot on.”
I laughed. “Are you trying to be Lance?”
“No, why?”
“He uses phrases like ‘spot on’ and ‘grand time’ and ‘jolly good’ because he likes the British stereotype.”
“I don’t use ‘jolly good’, Holly,” Lance interjected, smirking at me. “Nice try.”
I shrugged. “You do use ‘spot on’ a lot.”
“Spot on!” Lance responded, swinging his arm. “Cheerio! Tea!”
Danielle and Sadie laughed while I just rolled my eyes. At least he didn’t get offended when we joked about British pronunciation or anything.
“So are you going to the fair this weekend?” Danielle asked me as I started to eat my lunch.
“There’s a fair?”
“Yeah, at the fair grounds,” Danielle explained. “It’s one of those traveling fairs. I bet this will be the only time it’s going there.”
“Huh.”
“So are you going to go?” Danielle repeated.
I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t think I have any plans. Who else is going?”
“Me!” Lance interjected. “And Casey and Willis.”
“And me,” Sadie added. “And Danielle, right?”
Danielle nodded her head. “Yep. So, basically everyone.”
“Well I guess I am then,” I said with a laugh. “Are we meeting up somewhere? What time?”
“Seven,” Lance informed me, stealing my milk.
“Hey!” I cried, reaching over to take it back. “I’m not done with that!”
Lance smirked and stood up. “That’s too bad. Because lunch is over.”
As soon as he finished talking, sure enough, the bell rang. I quickly stood up, swiping the milk back from Lance and grabbing my tray. I cursed myself as I began pushing my way through the throng of people leaving.
If I were late twice in a row, now that I knew the ‘other’ side of Mr. Heywood, what would he do? I managed to avoid spilling my tray and gave it to the cafeteria lady. I smirked to myself. There was no way I could be late today. I would just skip stopping at my locker. We probably wouldn’t need anything, anyway.
To be safe, I still jogged towards the class. The people in the hall were slowly disappearing, but there were still a few so I knew I was still safe. I turned the corner and stopped quickly, nearly running into a group of teachers walking down the hall together. I scowled at them. They would have to walk a little faster; otherwise I would have to push past them.
To my annoyance, they continued walking slowly. They were taking and laughing so loudly they didn’t hear my “excuse me” and “move” no matter how many times I repeated them. I continued to scowl. Now I was going to be late for sure. But my luck changed and they went into a classroom to our left. I started sprinting once they were out of my way. I had maybe ten seconds, and the science hall was about fifteen yards away. I could make it.
I turned the corner to the hall and ran into something hard, letting out a surprised shriek and falling to the ground. I landed on my butt and winced, groaning.
“I’m so sorry!” the person I bumped into apologized.
The bell rang and I hung my head in defeat. “It doesn’t matter. It’s already too late,” I sighed.
A hand appeared in front of me and I grabbed it. I was pulled to my feet and I nodded my head to the person I ran into in thanks. When I looked up I realized it was a girl named Kat in the grade below me. I muttered my apology and sulked towards the classroom.
I entered and all eyes were suddenly on me. Mr. Heywood looked at me and smirked for a split second, but he soon replaced it was a frown.
“This is the second day in a row that you’re late, Ms. Evers,” he told me.
As if it wasn’t obvious.
“I know,” I responded, my face heating up with all the attention that was on me. “Sorry.”
Mr. Heywood smiled politely. “I excused you yesterday, but may I talk to you after class today?”
I stared at him. Me? Alone with him? He’d probably beat me up or something for being late. “Um…”
“Is there a problem?”
“No,” I responded, my shoulders sagging.
“Please have a seat then,” he said, gesturing me forwards with his hand. “We haven’t begun the lesson yet, so you’re okay still.”
I slunk to my seat and slipped in, sighing deeply. He had been nice so far today, so maybe I was only going to get a gently scolding or something? I hoped so.
Someone poked on my shoulder and I turned to see my friend Amy smirking at me.
“You and him alone? You’re pretty lucky. I think I might just be late to class so I can stay after with him.”
I snorted. “No, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why?”
“This guy is—”
I shut my mouth quickly when I felt a hand on my shoulder, pressing down very hard. I looked up to see Mr. Heywood smiling sweetly at me.
“Would you two girls please not talk during class?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Heywood,” Amy responded, sounding flustered.
“It’s quite alright, Amy,” Mr. Heywood responded, smiling at her. “Just try to hold it in when I’m talking.”
“Okay!”
Mr. Heywood released my shoulder and I had to resist the urge to rub it. This guy was most definitely evil. And I had to stay after school with him.