Read Addison Blakely: Confessions of A PK for Free Online Page B

too upset to care. “See you around.” I brushed past her, accidentally bumping my shoulder against hers.
    Or maybe not so accidentally.

    For once I could honestly say I wasn’t in the mood for Shakespeare. But in English class, we were reading various scenes from
Hamlet
, having thankfully finished
Romeo and Juliet
before Austin got any more twisted ideas about love. In his case love was a four-letter word—one that more accurately spelled L-U-S-T.
    “You okay?” Luke whispered across the aisle.
    I gave him a quick nod before pointing at my textbook and holding my finger in front of my mouth. Ms. Hawthorne might have been forgiving once, but I wasn’t one to test a teacher’s limits. I’d had about as much conflict today as I could handle. The memory of Claire’s shock still rang in my head, and I couldn’t help but smile. She’d always tried to get me to be more aggressive. Guess she just didn’t mean toward her.
    “You seem sort of dazed.” Luke obviously didn’t get my hint. Apparently one verbal save from an overly testosteroned football player, and Luke now considered himself my best buddy. I guess there were worse things in life, though—he seemed nice enough. Besides, my list of friends seemed to be shrinking drastically.
    “Just had some drama with a friend before class. You know how high schoolers can be.”
    He snorted back a laugh, and Ms. Hawthorne looked up from her desk. Luke quickly turned the chuckle into a cough, and Austin “helped” by jumping up and pounding him on the back—with much more force than necessary. They exchanged hard glances, and for a minute I wondered if this incident would turn into a full-blown fight.
    Ms. Hawthorne stood behind her desk. “Everything all right back there, boys?”
    I couldn’t help but smile at her choice of the word
boys
instead of
guys
or
men
. She called it as she saw it.
    They offered mumbled replies before Austin returned to his seat.
    “Austin, if someone is coughing, they aren’t choking.” Ms.
    Hawthorne leveled him with a warning gaze as if she knew exactly what he’d been doing, and then she sat back down. “Back to
Hamlet
, everyone. Act five.”
    I fought the urge to look over at Luke, knowing I’d laugh if I did. But Hamlet blurred on the pages before me, and I sneaked a peek at my former rescuer. He shrugged. “We’ll talk later,” he mouthed.
    Austin must have seen him speak to me because he tapped the back of my chair with his foot. Jealous dork. I couldn’t respond without risking Ms. Hawthorne’s attention again, so I ignored the thumping and went back to reading. But
Hamlet
wasn’t exactly a pick-me-up sort of play. Thankfully Claire wasn’t in this class with me, or I had a feeling we’d create our own act 6.
    The bell rang, and I shut my book with a grateful snap. “Addison, if you please?” Ms. Hawthorne gestured me forward to her desk. I groaned, the sound thankfully lost in the shuffle of everyone packing up their books and exiting the room. She needed to see me
again?
At least this time it wasn’t in front of everyone.
    I carried my textbook to the front of the room. “Yes, ma’am?” No small talk today. She was nice enough, but bonding with teachers wasn’t my thing. I wanted the good grades, but a suck-up I was not. I liked earning my way.
    My gaze dropped to the floor. Even if Ms. Hawthorne was wearing really cute black leather boots.
    “I was hoping your parents were coming to the open house next Friday evening.” She looked up at me from her seated position, her hands folded together over her grade book.
    Now what had I done? My mouth dried. “Um—”
    “You’re not in trouble, don’t worry.” Ms. Hawthorne smiled. “I’m just eager to meet them. It’s not often I get a student with your scholarly reputation in my class.”
    Sad that since I didn’t get in regular trouble and enjoyed making As, I was considered an oddity worthy of parental meeting. What’d she want to do? Shake my