Page 13 of No Romeo
A pencil smacked my face seconds before Lola did the unthinkable. “Hendrix Jethro Hunt!”
The entire class fell silent. And that little plume of rage that had been building in my chest ever since I saw the words,I miss you tooon that treehouse wall ignited into a full-blown inferno. She knew I hated my middle name, hated it with the passion of a thousand dying suns. That right there was gloves off, no holds barred.
“Oh, you did fucking not!”
A flicker of pride lit up her eyes. One side of her mouth curled in a hot-as-hell-bitchy smirk right before she slowly lifted her middle finger.
Heat engulfed my face, but before I could retaliate, the classroom door banged shut.
“Why on God’s green Earth are you all quiet?” Smith chucked her planner to her desk, mumbling something about Jesus before she took her seat. “Princess Leia, get that middle finger out of the air.”
Lola shoved her finger just a little bit higher before facing the front of the class.
“I swear to God, woman….” I said through a clenched jaw.
“Mr. Hunt Number Two, swearing to Jesus ain’t gonna do you no good. I have no doubt you deserved that nasty finger. Now face the front and hush.”
But I couldn’t—Lola had pissed me the hell off. I gripped the sides of my desk, glaring at her like I could make her head explode. “Hey, Lola, my-mom-didn’t-give-enough-shits-about-me-to-give-me-a-middle-name Stevens, you remember how I used to say your pussy tasted so good?”
Lola’s eye twitched as she turned in her desk to look at me. Smith clapped her hands. “Uh-uh. No, sir. I know you aren’t talking about eating cat in my classroom.”
The rage rampaged through me, and even though what I was about to say was bullshit, I couldn’t stop it. Petty word vomit spilled out of my mouth like lava. “Jessica’s tastes way fucking better.”
Laughter bounced around the room, and Lola’s face went pussy pink. Smith clapped her hands.
Lola shouted over her. “I bet your dick tastes like all the trash you stick it in!”
Before I could respond, Smith shot across the room and whacked me on the back of the head. “You’re gonna sit your trash-flavored self out in the hall and write out, ‘I won’t talk about eating no cats in Miss Smith’s class’ one-hundred times.”
“Or maybe it should be that he won’t talk about trash diving in Jessica’s open bin?” Lola said.
A few snorts of laughter echoed around the room before they cut off.
The hell would I let her get one up on me. “How about I beat one off on your face and let you see how it tastes.”
“Enough!” Smith grabbed me by the ear, hauling me to my feet like the Incredible Hulk fueled by vodka.
“Damn, Miss Smith,” I fought free of her hold. “You’re strong for a drunk.”
I could almost see the steam swirling from the top of her head.
“Get your nasty, X-rated self on down to Principal Brown’s.” She shoved me toward the door. “‘Cause if you don’t get out my classroom, there ain’t gonna be a wheel for Jesus to take.”
She went back to her desk, scribbled out a detention slip, then slapped it in my waiting palm. I’d been through this drill a thousand times before.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” I said.
She glared at me before I turned to leave.
At least I didn’t have to sit through that stupid class. Who in Dayton needs biology? I stared down at the pink slip on my way through the empty halls.Hendrix Hunt—disrupting class by talking about eating cats.God, Brown was going to love this.
The receptionist glanced up from behind the counter when I stepped into the office, rolling her eyes behind her glasses. “Have a nice summer, Mr. Hunt?”
“I stayed in this hellhole.” I scribbled my name on the sign-in sheet. “What do you think?”
She nodded toward the two worn chairs outside of Brown’s closed door. “I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see you on the second day of school.”
“He should expect nothing less.”
