The Teacher Next-Door

Chapter Four

"Bye, Mom! Love you!" I called up the stairs, busting outside with my coffee and Michael Kors bag in both hands.

"Love you!" She replied as I closed the door.

I was running a bit late this morning, so I basically sprinted to my BMW. I placed my coffee on the pavement and dug the keys out of my bag, slightly panicking when I couldn't find them. It took me a painful minute to realize that the keys were patiently sitting in my hand the entire time.

"Dumb ass," I mumbled, bending down to collect my coffee from the ground.

I unlocked the door, climbed in my seat, started the engine, and took off at an illegal speed. If Mom was watching how quickly I backed out of the driveway, she probably would have slapped me.

After blasting three Ariana Grande songs, I had arrived (barely) on time. I parked next to Michelle's Ford pickup truck and leaned forward to see if she was still in her truck; she was. She had a Starbucks in her hand and was looking down at her phone. I laughed as I texted her a very intellectual message to get her attention.

Look to your left bitch xp

As soon as I hit send, Michelle's head turned and I could see that she was laughing. We both got out of our cars and greeted each other, obviously not caring that we were going to be late to our first classes.

"Thanks for that heartfelt message, Mary."

I smiled as we walked through the parking lot together. "It's my pleasure."

"Baby! What are ya doing?" Dennel yelled from the front of the building, Ross standing next to him. "Hurry the hell up!"

Before she could respond, they sprinted into the building. We both exchanged confused looks with each other before following after them and getting our late asses on campus.

Michelle and I parted ways when I had arrived at the English hallway. With a minute left to spare, I booked it to Professor Jackson's classroom. He was standing outside of the door and instantly lit up when he saw me running towards him.

"Woah, slow down. You're gonna make it." He laughed.

I smiled and shook my head as I walked past him and into the room.

Claire was sitting up with an amazing, perky posture and staring at me as I sat down beside her. Her blonde hair was tied up into a perfect messy bun and she was wearing a green Brandy Melville dress.

"Hey," I whispered, since Professor Jackson was taking attendance and hated when we would talk during it. "You look gorgeous!"

"Yeah, I know... so what did you do this weekend? You barely responded to my texts." She frowned.

The way she asked didn't seem genuine... more like she wanted to know what I was doing without her.

"Um, I just chilled. How about you?"

Professor Jackson lifted his face from his computer. "Do I hear talking?"

Claire waited for him to look away before she responded. "Other than being with my amazing boyfriend, I waited for you to respond but I guess you had better friends, right? Like Ross?"

I rolled my eyes at her comment about Ross. "Seriously, Claire? I really don't want to fight with you this early in the morning."

"Okay, then don't." She snapped, turning away from me and saying something to Olivia.

What the hell was her problem? And how did she know I was with my friends this weekend?

I shook my head as I pulled out my English notebook, knowing that Professor Jackson was most likely going to tell us to take notes. After I opened my notebook, I glanced over at Claire and noticed her practically devouring him with her eyes. The way she looked at him made me feel sick.