Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mrs. Haun walked into the classroom without waiting for an answer. I saw Ms. Jessome standing quiet and somber in the hallway. She was accompanied by three uniformed officers and Mr. Douglas. I couldn't stop the satisfied smile from blooming and knew Mr. Tinsley and Tina noticed. Who cared? Really. Mr. Tinsley was finally going to be caught and Tina... Well, I was done with all that!

"What's happening?" Tina whispered and tried peering around Gary to see the front of the room. She sat back with a huff and turned sideways in her seat to face me. "Aly? What's going on?"

"Shh." I put my finger to my lips. "I'm enjoying the view. You know, I really can see better from here." I folded my hands on the top of my desk, looking so innocent—prim and proper, my mom liked to say—it was obviously fake. Without saying a word, I watched. If eyes could dance, I'd be drunk with joy. It felt so good to be here and see this, to watch as justice was meted out. The voice was wrong—I could think with my heart; it guided my head.

Mrs. Haun whispered something to Mr. Tinsley and he went to gather his things.

"That won't be necessary," she said.

He looked back to Mrs. Haun with alarm and then gazed out to the hallway. "These are my—"

"Not right now, Mr. Tinsley," she told him and pursed her lips.

He looked up at her, scratched the nape of his neck, and then stood erect. He looked over at me, and then Tina, with clouds in his eyes. It was the only visible sign that he was the slightest concerned—more like scared right out of his tighty-whities. Who knew what else they would find if they started looking deeper?

How many girls had there been?

We all watched as he walked out of the room and closed the door as if that would seal off the gossip and embarrassment of being hauled away from his job—his precious girls—by the authorities. Would it be wrong to haul ass around the room and shout in a much-deserved victory lap? That's what I felt like doing. If it wouldn't raise more questions—like if I was sane? —I would.

"Do you know what's going on?" Tina looked at me, but I remained silent. The more ignorant she remained, the less she'd be blamed during the fallout.

"Class is cancelled for today," Mrs. Haun advised from the front of the room. "Please gather your things and find something to do until your next class."

The silence lasted for a moment.

She clapped her hands in front of her. "Come on, let's go! Library or quad, people. I will be checking to make sure each of you is recorded present in your next class."

Chatter erupted as everyone began filing out of the classroom. The remaining officer entered with his hand hovering over his holstered weapon like a student would try to disarm him. He had to fight against the mass exodus of students to reach the front far-left of the classroom and then began to sort through Mr. Tinsley's desk and the belongings he had kept in his bag. I saw a package of photographs emerge from the side pocket of his bag and felt justified, and more than slightly 'eeked' out, to see the silhouette of the female kind.

Please don't have one of Tina.

I held my breath for a moment and then let it whoosh out between my teeth, pushing the thought out of mind as I looked for something to distract me. I'd set this up in a way that kept me out of the equation and it defeated the purpose if I was to keep fretting about the consequences. Let it go, Aly.

"David," I called out as he walked beside my desk, touching his arm to stall him.

Suzie stepped around him as she passed, but her gaze never wavered from mine. What was her deal? I shook my head and smiled up at David.

"Tina and I are going to head to the library," I said quickly, keeping the grin firmly in place and hoped it didn't look forced. "Do you want to come?"

"We are?" Tina gawked at me with wide eyes.

"Yep. We are. Would you like to come with us, David?" I stared at him, one heartbeat away from batting my eyelashes as Tina stared at me with surprise.

David smiled. "I was going to the library anyway." He shrugged, pulling his bag higher as his gaze shifted between Tina and I. "Might as well enjoy some company."

"Why were you going there?" Tina stood and watched him.

After everything, he was the guy you are questioning on intentions? I rolled my eyes at her. Whatever.

"It's the only other room of the school I've been to," he said. "Assuming that we aren't counting the office, of course."

"We don't," I said, and took the lead as we filed out of the classroom into the corridor.

It was nearly empty now as the students from Mr. Tinsley's class scurried off to somewhere else on the off chance that Mrs. Haun revoked the free period we'd been granted. Once again, I found Suzie trying to catch my eye from her stance at the center of her circle of friends as we passed. What? Did she want to talk? Use your mouth, woman! After a year of being ignored, I wasn't going to be the idiot initiating that conversation. I would wait her out and let her come to me.  She'd never been a patient girl.

"So, what was with that teacher?" David asked, seeming oblivious to my internal tirade against Suzie. "Can I expect that in every class?"

I shifted my gaze to him and almost tripped over my own feet as his question caught me off guard, but David reached out and caught me before I wound up face-planting on the hallway floor. I should have felt embarrassed, but all I could think was that his arms were just as yummy as I had imagined they would be. That thought was followed by the disappointment I felt when he released me.

"Yeah, Aly, what just happened?" Tina demanded.

It took me a moment to realize she was asking about the class and not my reaction to David. Too bad—one was definitely more interesting than the other.

"How should I know?" I stared at the floor and concentrated on walking without falling. "He's a pig. Somebody probably ratted him out to Mrs. Haun for making us watch porn. Really, David, you're lucky you didn't show up a couple weeks ago."

"I thought guys like that kind of thing?" Tina scoffed, and I didn't understand the sudden animosity that seemed to be underlying her tone. "I bet David is sad to have missed it."

"I don't think we like it during class," he corrected, placing the hand that wasn't holding his bag's strap at his shoulder open-palmed against his chest. "I wouldn't."

"You're weird." I laughed but stopped when I noticed that Tina had fallen behind. Looking back, I saw she had come to a complete stop, standing still as she stared at us with surprise and suspicion. "What's up? Aren't you coming?"

"No, uh, I need to run to my locker." She looked at me, then the floor, not holding my gaze.

"We'll go with you." I took a step in her direction and she took another one away, looking like she was ready to bolt.

Tina looked up, though not at me. "No, I'll just meet you for lunch, okay?"

"You're sure?" I narrowed my eyes, though she wouldn't meet my gaze.

Tina glanced behind her to study the empty air as though there were free samples of her favorite perfume being exhibited that David and I couldn't see. For a moment, we didn't exist. Then she turned back and nodded, pursing her lips, but still didn't meet my gaze.

For a few seconds, I watched her, trying to discern what she was thinking. It wasn't possible, though. Deciding to let her have some time alone to deal with what she wasn't willing to talk about, I shrugged.

Smiling, I hooked my arm through David's, ignoring the zing of electricity that ran up to my shoulder, and said, "Guess it's just us then."

He tore his gaze away from Tina, which under any other circumstance I would question for its intensity, and then looked down to me. I felt almost like I was a distraction until he smiled, a twinkle lighting his eyes. "I guess I'll have to make do."