Page 35 of Teaching the Teacher's Pet

“But you shouldseeit.”

“I don’t want to.”

He just watched me for a beat, gauging how annoyed I was by my tone, before he put his phone away. “You’re in a bit of a mood tonight.”

The atmosphere of the Wallflower diner was quiet, though it wouldn’t be for long. The quaint interior would soon fill up once the football players showered and changed. The diner was located right on the edge of city lines, but technically, its postal code was in Jefferson territory. Since it was so close, though, it was a race of which school team would show up first to claim the spot.

We really were in a time of greasers verses socs, except it was socs verses other socs.

Maybe that was why Alex had chosen to come here tonight, and maybe that was why I was practically inhaling my cheeseburger and steak fries, ready to leave.

“I’m just tired,” I told him, and it wasn’t exactly a lie. There were several things on my mind, though. My parents, Rachel, Ava, Jozie, Alex. Connor. I’d folded his sweatpants and stashed them in the top drawer of my dresser after I’d washed them, because heaven forbid Mom take them from the dryer and demand to know who they were from. “It’s been a long week.”

“Has anyone said anything about the Most Likely Tos? Or has it pretty much dropped off?”

“I haven’t heard anything since the other day.” Rachel’s prediction of people losing interest after a week had been accurate after all. “Then again, my label isn’t that interesting, is it? People are more fascinated by the relationship-oriented ones.”

Alex grimaced. “Yeah, I know.”

I knew he was thinking about being on the list last year. His label had been a relationship-oriented one. “Your label did kind of stink, but itdidbring us together. So that’s good, right?”

He swiped a French fry through his ketchup, halting a little to give me a brief nod. “One of the good things to come from it.”

As I wiped my fingers on my napkin, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything good about my name being on the list. If there was, it definitely wasn’t as obvious.

“I actually remember the first time I saw you,” he went on, pausing to chew. “We were in the cafeteria. I think it was a day or two after the Most Likely To list came out? Either way, I was scanning the whole room for someone who’d make a good girlfriend. And then I saw you.”

The story of our relationship had never been an overly romantic one—most of those mushy-gushy scenarios only happened in movies—but until that moment, I’d never known the full extent of how coincidental we were. How dependent upon the Most Likely Tos our relationship had been. It wasn’t like he’d had a crush on me for weeks and finally mustered up the courage to ask me out. He’d gonesearchingfor someone so he couldrectify his castingor whatever Ava had called it.

And maybe deep down I knew that, but it was another thing to have him blatantly admit it.

“How’s your tutoring coming along?” he asked as I sat back in my seat, struggling to wade through the wave of negativity that suddenly swarmed the Wallflower’s small dining room. “Who are you tutoring again? I don’t remember if you’ve said. Do I know them?”

“Probably not. It’s a freshman.” The lie slipped from my mouth smoothly, so long as I didn’t look him in the eye. “And it’s going okay.”

“What did you do at home tonight? Homework?”

I had, in fact, read through the assignedPride and Prejudicechapters, but also skimmed through the Algebra II textbook and wrote down practice problems for Connor to work on Monday. I needed the comfort of equations to keep me company. “I had to finish it because Ava’s sending me an article to read through tonight.”

Alex sighed. “You should’ve come to the game tonight, you know. Done something other than homework.”

“I don’t like football games.” Jeez, was I caught in a time loop? That sentence might as well have been my catch phrase.

“Then come for the company.”

“It’s not like I can sit with you,” I pointed out, folding my arms. “You’re in the band.”

“Well, I’m sure Rachel and Ava would love it if you went,” he said, squeezing six fries between his fingers and swiping them through ketchup.

The door to the Wallflower swung open with a chime, and along with it came a flurry of new voices chatting about. “Wouldyoulike it if I came?”

Alex’s focus had snagged on something behind me. Intrigue dripped from his voice as he leaned over the table, murmuring, “Jade, Madison, and Kyle came in.”

My shoulders instinctively drooped. I shouldn’t have looked. It was a compulsory movement, glancing over my shoulder. As soon as I turned, I regretted it, because I found the horror duo wading past tables with a boy, presumably named Kyle, trailing behind.

“Fancy seeing you two here,” Jade said as she approached, because no way could she miss an opportunity to give her little digs. She eyed my plate as if it were a dead rat. “You know, that burger issogreasy.”

My eyes were on Alex as he flipped a switch, going from curious to shocked to bedazzled as he gawked up at Jade. His eyes turned warm and melty, an expression he’d once given me whenever our eyes would lock. Months ago. Now, they were directed at my arch-enemy, leaving me out in the cold.

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