The suffocating stillness of the classroom was alleviated when the door to my right crashed open and the first student stepped into the empty space. Boy, girl. Boy, boy, girl. One after another they trickled in, and as the seats filled I remained in the far corner, leaning up against the wall with my legs crossed.
I always did this whenever I started a new class, especially at a new school. I observed. It was interesting to see how the students interacted before they knew I was watching. Before they put on a good show and behaved as they were expected to.
Talking, giggling, and flirting, the students on the first day were always excited to see one another and it was the perfect opportunity to catch them in that snapshot of their true selves. That moment of unobserved freedom.
As everyone took their seats and the second bell peeled through the halls, I pushed off the wall and moved to stand in front of the old wooden desk at the front of my classroom.
One by one, heads lifted and eyes found me waiting on them, and as they realized I had been standing there all along, they immediately settled. The talking subsided and slipped into whispers, and then finally, silence.
I remained steady and still for several minutes, until I had every last person’s attention. Then the door opened for the final time that morning and she stepped into my classroom. Late.
I looked at her—she looked at me.
My ending, staring right at me from the very beginning.
~
Stepping through the classroom door, I was shocked to be faced with a man, instead of Mrs. Ross, our regular History teacher.
This was a stranger. A stranger who knew nothing of one Addison Lancaster, and he was looking at me, with a scowl of annoyance plastered across his face.
That was the moment I first saw Mr. McKendrick.
He was the teacher that every girl dreamed about. The one we would all have a crush on by the end of the year. Hell, maybe even by the end of the class. With brown hair streaked gold by the sun, pulled back into a short, messy ponytail at the nape of his neck, he was unlike any teacher I’d ever seen before.
“And who would you would be?”
That voice. I swear it touched me—I was that affected.
“Miss?”
Blinking once, I pulled my mind back into focus and realized that for one brief moment, the ticking had stopped. My body had taken over my mind, which is something that never happened with me.
“Miss? I’m talking to you.”
Laughter erupted from the classroom and then it was back, tick, tick, tick—three. My new teacher turned to the students, their mouths shut and the room plunged back into a tense silence.
Wow, that was some kind of authority right there. One glance from this man and my unruly classmates shut down and became respectful—and we weren’t even ten minutes into the period.
Again his eyes came back to mine and even as they conveyed his irritation, they also held something else. Something I instantly craved.
Like a lion, his eyes were fierce as he stared at me, appraised me. All men did, they couldn’t seem to help it. No matter how inappropriate they knew it was, I always drew their attention.
With my wide, bowed lips, innocent blue eyes, and a figure that belonged on a twentysomething, not a teen—I knew what I had and I was never afraid to use it. Unlike most men, whose eyes betrayed their interest, I pictured this one stalking me from across the room, and me allowing it.
“Miss? I asked you a question.”
I’d forgotten what he’d asked the minute I’d looked at him. I was too busy imagining his hands touching me, his mouth tasting me.
It took him four long strides to be close enough that I could see the stubble dotting his upper lip.
“You’re late,” he stated, his tone impenetrable as he opted for a different route, since it was obvious I was not going to answer him. “On your first day. Not a fantastic way to start the school year, would you say?”
Aiming a coy look at him from beneath my lashes, I finally found my voice and as usual, my runaway tongue got the better of me, assuring a firm place on his shit list.
“Maybe you could keep me after school, teach me to tell the time.”
“Since it’s the first day, I don’t think that will be necessary. But from now on be on time. Your name please.”
“Addison. Addison Lancaster.”
“Thank you. Now go and take a seat.”
Shrugging my bag further up on my shoulder, I spun on my toes, making my way down the second aisle toward the back, with a little more sway to my hips than usual. Glancing at Brandon, I noticed he looked up at me and winked, reminding me of exactly why I’d been late. Returning the sexy gesture, I owned the sensual smile I aimed his way as it spread across my mouth. Taking my seat, I grinned at my friends and smirked at any others looking my way.