7 Julian
Julian
The first day of school arrives before I’m ready.
I’m a nervous wreck, sweating through my button-up shirt as I pass the stairs to my car.
It’s partly from anxiety, but mostly from the dry Texas heat that’s likely to stick around until late November.
I don’t notice Leti until I’m barreling into her at the bottom of the stairs.
“Watch it,” she screeches; then our eyes meet. “Oh. It’s you.”
Her mouth curls in exasperation. She has on a white, gauzy blouse tucked into black dress pants. Her dark hair is a straight, sleek waterfall down her back.
“Sorry about that,” I say. “Howdy, neighbor.”
She’s not paying me any attention, her eyes locked on my exposed forearms for a little too long before I clear my throat. Her eyes snap up to my face, a rosy blush covering her cheeks. God, she’s way too fucking pretty.
“What?”
“I said hi,” I repeat. “Off to work?”
She glances down at her phone and says, “Wish I could talk more, but I’m running late.
” Then she speeds past me to her car in the parking lot.
I let out a sigh as I watch her drive off.
It’s clear she wants nothing to do with me.
Even though she’s everywhere, more so now that we live in the same apartment building.
This is going to be a long week.
On the road, I recognize a blue Nissan tailgating me and a glance in my rearview mirror confirms it—Leti is behind the wheel. She knows what kind of car I drive. Is she tailgating me on purpose? I try to put it out of my mind and stare at the road ahead, even as her car inches forward on my ass.
Christ, what is her deal?
I’m a street down from the school, and then I’ll lose her.
If I’m lucky, she’ll make a turn down the next main road and be out of my line of sight.
But that’s not what happens. Before the last stoplight, she darts into the left lane, floors it, and merges in front of me without so much as a signal.
The hot-pink bumper sticker on her car reads, Warning: I learned to drive from video games.
Yeah, no shit.
Then she forgets her signal again and turns into the school. My school. Just my fucking luck. This woman’s already accused me of stalking once. How many coincidences is she willing to believe?
I pull into the first parking space I find, not even caring that it’s the farthest spot possible from the front office. The last thing I need is another chance encounter with Leti. With my luck, she’ll yell at me in front of the principal and get me fired on my first official day as a teacher.
I glance around the parking lot for any sign of her, just to be safe, before making the long trek to the main building. Before heading to my classroom, I need to drop off some paperwork at the front office. As I step inside, I immediately halt in my tracks.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Leti’s voice and subsequent glare freezes me in the doorway, and every head swivels my way.
“I’m just dropping off some paperwork.” Clarissa, the receptionist, takes the folder I hand her. “I had no idea this was the school you worked at. Guess we didn’t cover that on Saturday night.”
“Ooh, what was Saturday night?” Clarissa is around our age and from what little I know of her, a huge gossip.
I bite down on my tongue as Leti’s glare intensifies.
She takes a drink from her iced latte and crosses her arms over her chest. “Are you Mr. Dawson’s replacement?”
My brows crease, but Clarissa answers for me. “He sure is. He was a student teacher last year. Glad to have you back, Julian.”
“Fine. You’re forgiven,” Leti tells me. “If only because I won’t have to cover his classes anymore. Any clue when Robin will be in?” She directs the last question to Clarissa, who eyes the time on her phone.
“She should be in soon. I can call you when she arrives. Did you— Oh.” Her face transforms with realization. “That’s right. You scheduled that meeting about the sub problem.”
“The problem being that I’m not a built-in substitute teacher for this school,” Leti says.
“I’m full-time now with my own job and responsibilities that don’t include covering for the amount of teachers we lose in a year.
I swear to god, if I’m tagged for another long-term sub position, she’s getting an earful. ”
“I know, I know.” Clarissa nods, typing something on her computer. “I’ll let you know as soon as she’s in. Not that I think it’ll be a problem. All open positions last year are full now, and we have our lovely new teacher here taking over for Mr. Dawson.”
“Lovely. Sure.” Leti rolls her eyes, moving past me.
“So, do you always drive like that?” She stops short on the sidewalk outside, whipping around to face me. “We were in a school zone. It’s kinda unsafe.”
“How do you—” She quickly shakes her head as realization lights her eyes. Under her breath, so low I can barely hear her, she curses. “I knew that car looked familiar.”
“I take it you were too busy breaking every traffic law in the book to realize you were tailgating me?”
“Too busy running late to notice you barging in on yet another area of my life.” She takes a sip from the latte in her hand.
When I raise a brow at the plastic cup at her lips, she glowers and cuts me off before I can make a quip about knowing good and well why she was running late this morning.
“It’s bad enough we live in the same apartment building.
Now we work at the same school? Which god did I piss off to make that happen? ”
“The god of defensive driving, maybe?” Her glare turns even deadlier, but in the short time of our reintroduction I think I’ve gained some sort of immunity to it. “Looks like we have a lot more in common than we thought. How long have you been here?”
“I’ve been an assistant librarian for three years.
No, wait, sorry. I’ve been a long-term sub for three different subjects, none of which have panned out because as much as this school likes to force anyone they can get into a classroom, teaching isn’t my calling.
” She scoffs as I trail behind her. “This is my first year as a school librarian, but more likely my fourth year as a built-in sub.”
“That’s rough.” I wince in sympathy. “Wait, you were here in the spring?”
She nods.
“I was here for student teaching. I’m surprised we never bumped into each other.”
“I was in a portable for most of last year. Not a lot of reason to visit the teacher’s lounge when all the assignments I hand out have been printed and copied beforehand.
” One thing I’ve learned since settling into my new classroom is that the portable classrooms at the far edge of campus tend to isolate you from the rest of the school, so I get why we never met until now.
That reminds me, I still need to buy a wheely cart for the hellish trek between my classroom and the closest copy machine in the math building.
“That makes sense,” I say. “And I’m sure they can’t keep you away from the library for long if you’re the one running it this year.”
“Oh, sure they can.” Her smile is as sugary sweet as it is insincere.
“They’ll have me lock up the building until the day I come to my senses and quit.
Working anywhere else as anything else is looking like the better option these days.
” Whether that’s because of me or because the school could better use her as the sub she has no interest in being, I’m not sure. Both, probably.
“Right, well…” She heads up the path without so much as a goodbye. “Good luck!” She doesn’t turn back or acknowledge me as she disappears inside the library.
My first day flies by without further incident.
I consider going out for my lunch break, wondering if I’ll bump into Leti again, but quickly squash that idea.
No need to give her any more of a reason to be annoyed with me when the sight of my face alone does that just fine.
Plus, I already packed a lunch and can’t afford to let it go to waste.
If my mind wasn’t already made up, it is when the thunder of footsteps up the portable ramp is followed by the appearance of the football coach walking into my classroom holding two Whataburger bags.
“Put that sad excuse for a sandwich away.” Theo pulls up a chair in front of my desk before setting the bags down. “Figured you could use a good lunch on your first day.”
“You’re the best.” I tear through the bag and pull out a burger and onion rings. “How’s Marcela?”
“Still has no idea, if that’s what you mean.” A cheesy grin takes up his entire face. “I’m popping the question next weekend.”
I’ve known since orientation week that he’s planning on asking his girlfriend to marry him. The ring hasn’t left his pocket for almost two entire months. When I asked him what the hell he was waiting for, he told me he was working on the perfect proposal with an honest-to-god event planner.
“It’s about damn time.”
“Patience, my man.” He points a fry at me. “It’s all coming together soon.”
“Take plenty of pictures. I want to see them.”
“Oh, I will,” he assures me. “If you’re still around. I hear you’re already beefing with the staff on your first day. What’d you do to piss Leti off?”
I nearly choke on an onion ring. After making a grab for my water bottle, I say, “It’s…a long story.”
“Clarissa said you guys dated.”
“Clarissa is a chismosa.” I take an angry bite of my burger. After a swallow, I add, “But, yeah. We did date…technically twice.”
“Twice?” His mouth pops open.
“And on top of working at the same school, we also live in the same apartment building. She thought I was following her home after our date ended and screamed at me in the middle of the parking lot.”
“Holy shit.” He holds in a laugh when I pin him with a look. “Yeah, that’s pretty bad. And that was after your second date with her?”
“Second first date, actually.” When he still looks confused, I figure I have nothing to lose by telling him the whole, embarrassing story.
“We matched on a dating app last week. I thought…” Fuck, I don’t know what I thought.
“That it would be different this second time around? Anyway, it turns out she didn’t even remember going on our first date.
Or meeting me again at Angela’s party a few months ago. ”
“Angela’s been holding out on me and Marcela. I didn’t know any of this,” he says. As the boyfriend of my cousin’s best friend, his disappointment with the lack of gossip makes sense in a weird way. “How long ago was your first date with her?”
“Four years,” I say. “Which wasn’t that long ago. If I can still remember every single one of our encounters, why can’t she?”
“Sounds like there’s a history there,” he says. “Is that why you swiped right on her?”
“To make my life more complicated? At this point, I have no idea.” I let out a sigh, picking at the remainder of my onion rings. Talking about Leti has my stomach in knots, effectively ruining my appetite. “I’m bound to run into her again, and I have no idea what I’m going to do when that happens.”
“I’d suggest keeping your head low,” he says after polishing off his burger.
“The library is all the way across campus. There’s minimal chance of bumping into her again unless you go out of your way to.
Plus, you can avoid her at your apartment by coming in early and staying late.
You’ll probably be doing a lot of that anyway. ”
“Right.” I nod, even as a disappointment I don’t understand settles in the pit of my stomach. “I’ll try and ignore her, then.”
Ignore the girl who speeds in school zones, chewed my head off twice, and for all intents and purposes wants nothing to do with me. That would certainly be the smart decision to make. And lord knows when it comes to Leti, I haven’t been making any of those lately.