Page 27 of One More Chapter
I huff.I already knew that.
“Excuse me. You’re supposed to be onmyside.”
“Iamon your side. I just wanted to remind you to play nice.”
Juliet tilts her head, and before I can detail exactly how much Idon’twant to play nice, Lucy enters, asking, “Who are we playing nice with?”
“Playing nice? Does Pen have a date?! Oh, give me the details!”
Aaron is never far from her these days. Not with a wedding to plan.
“I thought Penelope gave up on dating. Is it one of the new teachers?” Sam asks, not far behind them.
“Penelope, if you’re going to date one of the Meadow Ridge staff, you’ll have to fill out a document with HR.”
Oh. Great. My boss is here now, too. Never mind the fact that he’s banging my friend Claire, who is theonlyabsent one of the bunch. She might be the only voice of reason, and of course, she’s not here.
“For the love of— would you all shutup?”
I tilt my head back in agony, rubbing my temples.
“Sorry, babe. Tell us about how he ruined your classroom aesthetic.”
“He hung a Captain America bar sign on the wall.”
“Oh,sweet!Sam, you wanna go look?!”
Aaron and Sam duck out, which is maybe for the better, because Nathan leaves behind them, obviously not wanting to be the only man in the room full of a bunch of women gossiping about another employee. He knows where to draw the line.
I collapse into the closest student desk, which Juliet already has arranged in perfectly straight rows. I’m jealous.
“He hung up his superhero crap already. I’d say it’s like moving in with a roommate you don’t vibe with, but I have it at home too.”
“He hung up superhero posters at home?” Lucy asks.
“Worse. He decorated his bathroom with them.”
I’ll let them see the Iron Man soap dispenser for themselves.
“How has living with him been?” Juliet asks, wiping all joking aside. “I’m sorry for this whole situation, Pen.”
“I am too.” I roll my eyes, but settle with my hand in my chin, blowing out a breath. “It’s… I mean, aside from the fact that he wakes up at the crack of dawn, it’sfine…”
I say nothing about his presence that’s all over my house. The smell of his cologne on the throw pillows, and the way his shoes lay beside mine by the back door. The way his truck looks beside my Escalade in the driveway, and his snacks next to mine—now in labeled buckets, after the pizza incident.
It’s breaking my heart, actually. Thanks for asking.
“So you two clearly haven’t killed each other yet,” Lucy says.
“Yetbeing the operative word. If he hadn’t gotten a new alarm clock after the first weekend, we would be down a teacher.” My eyes widen in contempt before I stand. I’ve got to dispel some of this buzzing energy.
“Where isyourMeadow Ridge buddy?” I ask, glancing around the classroom that has almost no new touches, aside from the extra teacher table and chair, adorned with a pencil cup, laptop, and coat over the back of the chair.
Juliet winces. “He is, uh… Retiring after this year, and basically said I can run my class as normal.” She shrugs. “Sorry, Pen.”
“You lucky bitch.” I scrunch my nose at her, and she shrugs again with wide, not so sorry eyes.
“If it makes you feel any better, Sam said that his partner teacher from Meadow Ridge is already a piece of work.”