Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Monday after school I moronically drive by Luci’s house, catching Gracie jogging down the street.
“Hey!” I roll down the window.
She waves as she crosses the road. “Luci went back to school,” she offers, shading her eyes from the sun.
“I figured,” I sigh. “Hey, I go running in shorts in the winter too.”
“Weirdo,” Gracie laughs. “So what happened, you guys get into some sort of fight?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I exhale loudly. “I’m a fuck up, you know how it is - and this is not your teacher saying that.”
She laughs. “She’ll come around.”
“I’m not so sure,” I shake my head, gripping onto the steering wheel out of frustration.
“Yeah, your lesson could’ve used some help today. It sort of sucked.”
“Gracie!”
“What?” She shrugs. “You said you’re not my teacher right now.”
She starts tapping her foot against my car, waiting for me to say something. “Hey, so,” I exclaim, pushing aside my hesitation. “Do you think if Luci and I ever dated your parents would be upset?”
“Well,” she pauses. “I don’t think they’d be thrilled with the age difference, or the fact that you met when she was your student, you know?”
I nod. “That seems to be the consensus,” I mummer.
“But,” She cheers up. “If anyone saw you together,” she sighs. “They’d see how wonderful you both are. That you’re meant to be.”
“What, did you get into her books or something?” I joke. “That’s awfully fantastical thinking for you.”
“Well,” she shrugs. “I believe in you guys. I wouldn’t have helped you otherwise.”
“I know, I know,” I roll my eyes, catching a car coming up the street from behind. “I’m forever indebted to you.”
“You are,” she laughs.
“By the way, your dad-”
“I know,” she sighs, rolling her eyes exactly the way Luci does. “I don’t want to talk about it, or think about it, but I will if I need to.”
“Okay.” I figured as much, but wanted to offer anyway. She is Luci’s sister after all.
“See ya tomorrow, teach!” She bangs on the hood of my car before crossing the street and continuing her run.
I head home, taking the stairs up to my apartment two at a time, shaking my head over the fact that I’m still looking to Gracie for advice about Luci. I really do owe her my life.
I fumble for my house key, when behold, there’s my own sister, leaning up against the door.
“Really, Deb,” I move around her. “I’m not in the mood.”
“She gave me a card,” Deb follows me inside anyway, plopping herself on my couch.
“Yeah, she didn’t want to come empty handed.” I open the fridge to see what I have to eat. “She said it was the right thing to do or something.” I find leftover pizza and take a bite without heating it up, trying to ignore Deb’s disgusted face. “You’re free to leave.”
“I like her,” Deb states. “She’s really smart-”
“If you couldn’t tell last night,” I interrupt. “I’m not really looking for your approval.”
“I just don’t want this to come back and bite you in the ass,” she sighs. “You can still end up losing your job, especially if she’s going to be student teaching!”
“There are other jobs out there,” I shrug.
“You’re really that into her that you’d risk-”
“Yes,” I stop her.
“Wait, do you-” She pauses, and I roll my eyes.
“Yes, I love her.”
She nods, trying hard not to offer more of her opinion. “Well,” she exhales. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time.”
“When you see her at school, at least be nice, okay?”
“Of course I will!” She insists. “I like her. I just don’t understand the situation, and I question both your judgment.”
She watches me, frowning, as I take another bite of my cold food.
“Do you want to come over and I can actually make you dinner? Real food, that is?”
“No, I’m good, thanks,” I grossly chew my pizza just to annoy her.
“So what did you do to upset her? You said things aren’t going well?”
“Do you really want to know?” I raise my eyebrows. “It’s not going to make you happy.”
“Yeah,” she offers. “Obviously I love and support you, and yes, I want to know, so tell me the whole story.” She pats the cushion, as if I should come over, but I stay safely behind the kitchen island.
“Well,” I hesitate. “You know how I met her,” I sigh. “It was like from the minute I saw her,” I shake my head, pausing. “I know right from wrong, you know I know that.” I look over and she nods. “You don’t even know how hard it was to stay away from her. She was so easy to fall in love with, and so hard to forget, especially these past couple of years. It’s been awful.”
“Well,” she whispers. “I guess that does explain a lot.”
I sense she’s still wary, but just wait until I get to the part where I really fuck up. It’s about time I told someone else about what happened, and I finally do.