Page 5 of The Teacher of Nothing
Especially Mr. Park.
Speak of the devil.
He steps into the threshold of his classroom door, filling the walkway with his massive, muscular frame. A tiny whine crawls out of my throat. Not because he terrifies me. No, because I find him so sexy it hurts.
It’s a thing.
I physically ache when I look at him. It starts in the center of my chest and pulsates this fiery, painful throb all the way down my appendages. It’s frustrating, to say the least.
“Hey,” Mr. Park calls out as he leans a shoulder on the doorframe to make room for someone entering the classroom. “Have either of you seen Spencer?”
Dempsey, a younger, but still handsome version of his brother, gives Mr. Park a chin lift. “Yeah, I think he was getting high in the bathroom earlier.”
Mr. Park doesn’t take the bait. “Tell him I’m looking for him.”
“Is he in trouble?” Gemma asks, brows scrunching together. “What did he do?”
I find myself drawn to the three of them, slowly approaching as though by being near them, I’ll somehow become one of them.
The Park princes and princess.
Royalty among the average townspeople.
More money than God.
If the rumors are true anyway…
“He’s trying to fail Miss Collins’s class.” Mr. Park frowns at Gemma. “What’s your grade in there?”
She scoffs, huffing in an indignant way. “Seriously, Callum? You’re my brother not my dad. It’s none of your business.”
Callum.
The name suits him.
Just thinking of it has my heart fluttering and my stomach twisting.
“Watch where you’re walking,” a girl hisses, bumping into me. “Freak.”
I recoil at her words. I’m not a freak. Just quiet. I don’t have friends, though. My stepbrother made sure of that. There’s no telling what he whispered in everyone’s ears to make them treat me as an outcast. I don’t exactly help the situation. Rather than trying to prove to them I’m someone else—someone better than he says—I turned into a silent ghost who quietly haunts the hallways and classrooms, mostly keeping to myself.
Except for yesterday.
Except with Mr. Park.
Callum.
I actually worked up the nerve to speak to him. To attempt to be playful and flirting. All because I caught him staring at me with an intensity I couldn’t ignore even if I’d wanted to. It emboldened me. For once in my powerless life, I felt like I held the hand with all the cards.
But I was wrong.
He snuffed out the flickering fire all too easily and I’ve been obsessing over it since.
Mr. Park’s deep voice cuts through my self-deprecating thoughts. “Grades are important, Gemma.”
Dempsey cackles, playfully tugging on his sister’s long, silky mahogany-colored hair. “Did you hear that, Gemmy-Lou?” He lowers his voice, mocking their brother. “Grades are important.”
Mr. Park stalks over to them, jaw clenching. Dempsey, despite being half his size, doesn’t back down. Gemma’s face is red from humiliation. Whatever Mr. Park says to them is in a low tone and through gritted teeth. I can’t make out what he’s saying, so I take a second to admire him before I have to actually face him in class.
