Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I sigh as Mack jogs my way, his cheesy smile aging so much it might as well be cheddar from Wisconsin. He holds up a hand to his class, tossing a pair of cymbals to the boy behind him just beforehand, remarking, “Make yourselves busy, guys. I’ll be right back.”
His ruffled hair bounces as he quickly closes the last few feet between us, and I have to actively work not to roll my eyes. Him telling his class to work without him is an absolute joke—the man doesn’t have them work while he’s there.
“What can I do for you, Katy?” he asks informally as he guides us into the hall. Once we’re there, his laid-back approach to everything never wavers as he leans against the wall and crosses his khaki-pant-clad legs at the ankle. Black Chuck Taylors stick out from the bottom of his pants.
“Do you have any idea how loud your class is being right now?” I question back.
He tilts his head to the side, and a smirk crests one corner of his mouth. “Well, that depends. What kind of scale are we working with? Decibels? Hertz?”
I shake my head in frustration. I don’t have time for him to be playful. The period feels like it’s already half over, and I have zero time to waste. “We’re trying to take a test next door. A little deference to my students would be nice.”
“A test?” he retorts with a laugh. “On the Friday before spring break?” He shakes his head. “I think I found your first mistake, Katy Cat.”
Katy Cat? Sheesh. If I had a nickel for every time this guy has made me roll my eyes, I’d be a lot richer than I am right now. As it is, all I can look forward to is the upcoming week of vacation which, thankfully, includes seven whole days without his classroom making my ears bleed and my nerves frazzle.
Just get through today, Katy. Just get through today, and then it’s rest and relaxation time.
“Can you keep the volume down or not?” I ask, cutting straight to the point.
“Sure,” he agrees easily enough, drawing a wrinkle of suspicion between my eyebrows. “We were just about to head out to the rooftop terrace for our first water balloon fight of the year anyway.”
Water balloon fight? Is he for real?
It’s situations like this that make me wonder how he’s still drawing a paycheck as a flipping educator. I get the motivation to keep learning fun for your students, but his version of mixing fun and education is on another level. A level that always appears to include very little educating.
“What exactly do water balloons have to do with music?”
“Ah!” he hums, shaking a dramatic finger between our faces. “What don’t they have to do with it, Katy Cat?”
I sigh at both his riddle-like answer and the ridiculously annoying nickname he gave me a year and a half ago and shake my head. “Never mind. I better get back to my classroom so my students don’t have to wait any longer than they already have.”
“Gotcha,” Mack taunts with a wink, strolling back in through his door, only to lean back out into the hallway dramatically, not quite done with me yet. “Oh, we’ll be on the rooftop terrace if you get done with time to spare. Bring your kids out to play. We’ve got plenty of balloons.”
I shake my head again and smile sarcastically, enhancing the expression with an over-the-top thumbs-up. A deep, throaty laugh jumps from his lungs and makes the strong cords of his neck flex, and my chest tightens.
I don’t know how on earth someone so annoying can be so attractive, but I know one thing with certainty—I can’t wait to be free of work, and him—and on the beach for a whole week.
“Oh, by the way. I almost forgot to tell you,” he adds. “We have to meet with Principal Harris during lunch today.”
“What?” I scrunch up my nose. “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask her why?” I quirk my brow, and he just shrugs.
“Didn’t see the point. She’ll tell us at lunch.” And then, he turns on his heel and heads back into his classroom.
Seriously?
Any sane, normal human being would have asked her, but no, not Mack Houston. That man just skates his good-looking ass through life without a damn care in the world. I, on the other hand, will be overthinking this meeting for the next two hours.
Good grief. I loathe him so much it’s physically painful.
Now, I just have to make it through the rest of today, including the meeting I apparently have with Principal Harris, and then, it’s sunny Florida, here I come.
The end-of-day dismissal bell can’t come soon enough.
Mack
The lunchroom is rowdy as I drop off my class at their assigned table and give high fives on my way through the others. One enthusiastic child throws an Uncrustable at me in hopes of bringing me to a stop, but I just rip it out of the package as I walk and turn back to look him directly in the eye while I take a bite.