Page 83 of Roommate's Guide to Love

Axel raises his hand between his own laughter. “You say y’all a lot now.”

The rest of my former class continues to laugh. And honestly, his joke helps me laugh away the tears. “Well, I’m living back in Tennessee. I guess being back around it has brought out the Southerner in me.”

“You’re back in Tennessee?” Axel asks. “So you’re not coming back, ever?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure yet, kiddo. I’m not sure.”

A somberness hangs over the call, so I do what any good teacher does when she’s losing the class—change topics.

“But enough about me. This is your Zoom. I doubt that you came up with a covert email, got parental permission, and organized this way just to hear my apology.”

I notice everyone’s mic’s go to mute, except for Makayla.

“We never got to readThe Westing Game.And we were wondering…”

She trails off, and Axel turns his mic on. “We were wondering if we could start a summer book club and read it together?”

It takes a lot to make my jaw drop. I’m not easily shocked. But it’s safe to say that my jaw is firmly on the floor.

“Are you serious?”

“No cap, Miss Banks. You hyped it up so much and then you bounced,” Antonio says. “Plus, our parents said we needed to find something else to do this summer besides play video games. So let’s read.”

“That was only your mom, Antonio,” Makayla says. “But he’s right, Miss Banks. We were looking forward to it. And…well, I know that you didn’t want to quit. I live with my mom. I get it.”

Oh, this poor girl. But good on her to realize the devil is in the house.

“We could read it on our own, but that wouldn’t be as fun,” Axel says. “So we thought, what if we started a book club? We can meet each week on Zoom. You tell us how many chapters to read, you can talk about everything you were going to teach us, and we can talk about what we liked and didn’t like. Isn’t that what a book club is?”

I nod through my tears. “That’s exactly what it is, Axel. That’s exactly what it is.”

“So you’ll do it?” Makayla asks, a hopeful plea to her voice.

“Just remember, you ditched us, Miss Banks. You owe us this.”

Everyone in the chat starts laughing, Daniella’s mom included.

“I’d love to,” I say. “But wait. Not everyone has books. I think it’s on an eBook, but I’d have to make sure I can get copies for everyone.”

“No worries, Miss Banks. We got it covered.”

I raise an eye to Antonio. “May I ask how, or is that making me an accomplice?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. I took the books out of your room. Every copy. So technically, I’m just holding on to your property.”

“Excuse me what!”

Snickers start from my students again. “Well, I saw Hargrove and the mean moms come into the room, and they said they were looking for the books. I couldn’t let them take those. They were your babies! So…”

“I caused a distraction with my mother—told her I ate gluten and didn’t feel good—and Antonio grabbed the books and we all shoved them in our backpacks.”

“Makayla!” I gasp. “I’ve never been more proud.”

She shrugs. “It felt good. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“What am I going to do with you kids?”

“Easy, Miss Banks,” Antonio says, holding up his copy of my favorite book. “You’re going to read with us.”

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