Page 74 of The Teacher of Nothing
I have Willa now. She’s the distraction I’ve needed. The push in the right direction so I can heal my heart of all this hatred for my father and Jamie. Willa is innocent and sweet. Loving and kind. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.
Simply put, she’s not capable of hurting me.
She wouldn’t.
She just wouldn’t.
Relief floods through me because I know it to be true. Willa’s not like Jamie. It’s time to acknowledge that and believe in it. Hope curls around my heart and tugs.
With Willa, I can move past all this shit.
Finally be happy.
As Dad prattles on about how expensive his wife is, I find that I’m not boiling over with rage like usual. A wave of calm washes over me.
It doesn’t matter anymore. This thing with Willa is already so powerful. Life-changing. I can feel it from my head all the way down to my toes.
She’s quickly becoming my everything.
And my past, in comparison, is absolutely nothing.
Fucking nothing.
Willa
“…and then he asked me out, but I told him no. I had to do it, right? Right?”
I blink away my Callum daze and meet Gemma’s questioning stare. She gnaws on her plump bottom lip as though she’s second-guessing everything.
“Um, right,” I say, though I have no idea if it’s the right thing to say or not.
She sighs heavily and relaxes. “Not only would Dempsey give him shit, but my dad wouldn’t allow it.”
“Your dad seems strict.”
“You have no idea. Mom is really cool and if it were up to her, she’d let me do more stuff. But it’s Dad who keeps me under his thumb. I hate it. It’s so unfair.”
I reach over and take her hand. “You got to come here and have a sleepover.”
“Freedom. Finally.” She grins in a slightly wicked way that reminds me of Callum.
She flips through the apps on my television, searching for another movie to watch, and continues her babbling. It’s nearly midnight, but I’m still buzzing with energy from the text exchange me and Callum shared earlier. I’ll need to come off this high if I ever have a hope of falling asleep. I’ve blocked the door from any unwanted intruders, but I still can’t believe Levi hasn’t tried to peek in on what I’m doing. I’m grateful but wary.
“Did you hear that?”
Gemma puts a finger to her lips, eyes wide and dancing with mischief. I listen for the door, but there aren’t any sounds coming from that direction. Before I can relax, I hear the sound too. At the window.
For a split second, my heart thunders so hard in my chest I can feel it in my ears. I have an awkward encounter already playing in my head of Gemma discovering her much older brother is coming to the window of her new friend.
He won’t.
He knows better.
Gemma tosses the remote control onto the bed before climbing off and sauntering over to the window. She pulls the curtain aside. Two figures loom in the darkness.
Levi? Darren?
But it’s not them.
