Sincerely, Addison [XO, Kitty]

Chapter 7 - Laughingstock of the School

Not even a greeting when I walked into his classroom the next day. He even looked at me, too, but then went back to writing something on the whiteboard.

That hurt.

I went and sat next to Becca, and she gave me a sympathetic look. She knew all that went down over the holiday, and she told me to stay strong. Alex was just being a teacher. I had to argue that when we first got to know each other, he told me to call him by his first name since it was weird that people not that much younger than him were being all proper and calling him by his last name. And here he was, calling me by mine!

Yeah, he wasn't a fan of me at the moment, no matter what Becca or Min Ho said.

Hannah. Had she messaged me back? I pulled out my phone and went to her messages. She sent me a new one—a response to the essay I sent her about what happened over the holiday. She was basically telling me the same thing as everyone else. I messaged her back. I still had a couple of minutes until class started.

Hannah,

You're saying the same thing my friends have been telling me, but I still think that Alex is going to permanently be cold to me. I think what Professor Lee told him really got to him, so he's trying to prove that he's my teacher and nothing else. It really hurts. He's been acting cold to me for two days now, not even all that friendly. I don't think I can take any more of this.

"Please put your phone away, Miss Fletcher," Alex said as he walked by Becca's and my table. "Class is going to start soon."

It was my last name, but him calling me by it... yes, it hurt. How long would this last?

I have to go. Alex just told me to put my phone away, when before, he only said it's not a good idea to use it in class.

Please tell me everything will be alright in the end. And, no, I'm not going to accept Min Ho, no matter how adorable his puppy eyes are.

Sincerely, Addison

I put my phone away as the bell rang, and Alex stood in front of the classroom. "Welcome, everyone. Now, before we get on to today's activities, I want to ask all of you to take your phones out and put them on the table in front of you."

We all were clearly confused as to why he was doing this since he told me to put my phone away.

"Okay," he continued, "now, I want you to switch your phones with the person sitting next to you. That will prevent you from using them during class time."

"Wait, what?" someone asked. "Professor Finnerty..."

"We are here to learn and do school work, and that cannot be done when you are texting or watching TikTok during class time. Now, switch-a-roo."

People complained about this, but we did what we were told. Becca muttered to me, "Wow, I think you were right, Addison. He's turning into Professor Lee. And to think, he was a favorite among the students. Maybe not so much anymore."

He ran out of the dinner because of me, and Professor Lee warned him concerning me, so I couldn't help but think that this change in him was because of me, too.

The class went on, and about halfway through it, phones dinged and made other notification sounds. People pulled out their table partner's phone and looked to see what was going on.

"No, no, phones away," Alex ordered.

"Oh my word, Addison Fletcher!" one guy hollered in a British accent, but it wasn't Min Ho. "What a drippy poem!"

"Wait, what?" I demanded. "Gimme my phone, Becca."

Alex was trying to stop the excited frensy, but to no avail. I opened the message that apparently everyone received and saw my poem as the message, the one I wrote in detention... the poem that Min Ho was making fun of me for and I dropped when he kissed me. It was written out, straight from my paper that I mistakenly wrote my name on.