Page 51 of Teaching the Teacher's Pet

“There,” Connor said, sounding satisfied. “I don’t think anyone saw, do you?”

Fighting off a shiver, I punched him hard in the general direction of his arm, but I wasn’t sure if I ended up hitting his bicep or his chest. Either way, he didn’t flinch. “Dude, seriously. Stoptuggingme places. A simple, ‘Hey, Maisie, come into this closet’ is much better than trying to rip my arm off.”

“I was trying to be sneaky.”

“You don’t have to give me a heart attack in the process.” I readjusted my satchel on my shoulder, scowling deeper. “Hate to mess with your plan, but we can’t tutor in the dark.”

Connor drew away like a wave receding back into the ocean, only he took his body heat with him. He clattered around, cursing as he tripped, until the room suddenly filled with light. An exposed lightbulb was the only thing illuminating the space, and its dangling chain swayed back and forth. “Ta-da.”

The space was only marginally larger than the closet at Center Inspire, but equally filled to the brim with stuff. Boxes of jerseys, those little square scooters we used to ride in elementary school, other various sports equipment. Someone had stacked a few cardboard boxes in front of the shelf, presumably what Connor tripped over.

The space seriously lacked something calledorganization. There were a few tiers of boxes so tall that I could’ve hidden behind them.

“What’s this room for?”

“It’s the storage closet,” Connor said, glancing around with a weird expression of happiness, as if he was proud of the rinky-dink space. “Mostly for gym equipment. No one’ll interrupt us here, don’t worry. Everyone knows that if the door’s shut, no one goes in.”

I couldn’t imagine why someone would want to be in here in the first place. It smelled like three generations of sweat. “It means something if the door is shut?”

Connor cleared his throat. “It means someone’s in here.”

“But why can’t they come in if someone else is in here?”

“Ah, well. Some of the seniors come here for…privacy.”

He wouldn’t look me directly in the eye, and in an instant, I realized why. I clutched my satchel to my chest in horror, glancing around the space with a newfound sense of disgust. “You brought me to a place where people—where people—are youkidding?”

“No one will bother us!” he insisted and turned to where he’d propped his backpack against the wall. “It’s fine. Come on, sit down. Sorry there aren’t any chairs.”

Sit down? On the germ-infested floor? Once images filled my mind, there was no way I’d be sitting down. “The library has chairs.”

“And it has other people.”

And in that instant, Ireallywould’ve liked to be around other people. “It’s creepy to be in here with you.”

Connor peered up at me from the ground, some of his brown hair falling into his eyes. The hazel was definitely darker in here, nearly entirely brown. “It’s not like we’re in here forthatreason. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Mymind? Yeah, because coming here in the first place hinted at a totally innocent train of thought!”

Connor patted the floor beside him.

“I can’t believe you. Seriously. I’m reconsidering making you pay me.”

Dragging my feet, I drew a scooter off the shelf. Absolutely no chance was my butt touching that tile. Science wasn’t my subject of choice, but I knew enough to figure there had to be at least a billion germs crawling around on the dingy, hadn’t-been-mopped-in-ten-years floors.

Once I got situated on the small pink thing—one that my butt barely fit on—I dug my heels into the floor to keep the wheels from wiggling.

“You look like a third grader on that thing.”

“Yeah, well, at least I’m a third grader who’s not going to catch a disease.” I refused to look at Connor, sure my cheeks were burning. “You know, you shouldn’t leave notes in my locker anymore. Alex found your note today.”

“Did he figure out it was me?”

He probably would’ve, if I hadn’t lied my butt off. “No, but—”

“If I can’t grab your arm, at least let me write the notes.” He sat back against the wall with a little sigh. “I like being all secretive. It feels like we’re in an action movie.”

“More like a horror movie.” I could barely suppress my groan. “Give me your notebook.”

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