Protect My Heart

CHAPTER THREE: EMMA

I TEXTED MAYA AND KATHRYN: Running late. Still cleaning the office. Be there in ten minutes.

It was Saturday night, and I was stuck at work a lot later than usual. My mom had taken me shopping in St. George all day, so I hadn't had a chance to clean the office until six. That would be fine normally, since my neighbor really didn't care what time I cleaned his office building on Saturdays, but today I wanted to hurry. Landon's beginning-of-the-school-year bash was pretty much the only time the whole senior class would hang out. Everybody would be there, since Landon was the student-body president and everyone's friend.

I rushed through my dusting and vacuuming as fast as I could so my friends wouldn't leave without me.

My phone beeped.

Maya: Hurry up before Kathryn loses her nerve to talk to Conner tonight.

A second later, my phone dinged, announcing another message sent to our group.

Kathryn: Feel free to take your time. I'll talk to him next week instead.

I laughed and shook my head as I started grabbing the sacks from the trash bins. Kathryn would take any way out she could. She'd been crushing on Conner for months and had still barely said more than two words to him. Maya was right—we needed to get to that party fast.

I locked the building up. Fifteen minutes later, Maya, Kathryn, and I stood on Landon's front porch, listening to the Chainsmokers blasting from his backyard. As usual, my two best friends were already arguing about Landon's taste in music. They were yin and yang, while I was stuck in the middle, ever the referee.

But the funny thing was, they were dressed almost exactly alike—skinny jeans and black tops.

We waited at the door for a few more minutes before realizing we should probably just go through the gate at the side of the house.

As we were stepping off the porch, Maya grabbed my arm and pointed toward the sidewalk.

"Look! It's Mr. Lund," she squealed.

"What? He's at Landon's party?" I squinted into the fading light.

Mr. Lund was the new psychology teacher this year. He was fresh out of college, and Maya seemed all too aware that he was only five years older than us.

"Of course he's not at the party. He's walking down the sidewalk. Maybe he lives nearby." Maya sounded way too excited that her teacher might live in her neighborhood. She ran a hand through her short brown hair and said, "I need to talk to him for a minute . . . about an assignment he gave us."

"Go ahead." I nodded in his direction, not wanting to be an accomplice to her flirting with a teacher. "Kathryn and I will wait here."

"Yeah, go ahead," Kathryn agreed.

Maya turned to us. "Come on, he has another guy with him who's really cute." She looked at me, pleading with her eyes. "Pretty please."

Kathryn and I glanced at each other. "Fine," I said. "Let the humiliation begin."

"Thanks," Maya said as she hurried us toward the two men.

The girls at school referred to Mr. Lund by his first name, Shane, as they gossiped about him in the girl's locker room before PE. I didn't have any classes with him, so I'd never had the chance to notice whether his eyes were turquoise green or not. Maya had, of course, confirmed that his eyes were the dreamiest color of green she'd ever seen and he smelled even better than he looked. All I noticed was that Mr. Lund was tall, with light hair, and wore clothes that looked way too expensive for his teacher's salary.