"You okay?"

Fran looked up from her sketch pad, smiling. "Yep. For the fifth time, I'm good."

"Hey," I said, shooting her a warning glance, "I've gotta make sure."

She smiled, averting her attention back to her drawing. I looked down at my phone and scrolled through my Instagram feed.

"What are you drawing?" I asked, keeping my eyes glued to my phone.

"Dad," she softly answered.

Dad turned around, smiling. "For real?"

She giggled and slammed her sketchbook shut as he ran towards her. "You can't see until it's done."

"You have to show me when it's done," he said, "I'm curious as to what I look like from the eyes of an artist."

"The greatest work of art of all time," Mom answered, smiling up at him.

"Well, I'm afraid that's you, mi amor."

I looked back at Fran, mimicking throwing up. She giggled and I looked back down at my phone, smiling.

My eyes went round at the first recommended account to follow.

Blair Thompson.

Without hesitation, I clicked on her profile. Public, and not teacher-esque, whatsoever.

I scrolled through her posts, my jaw seeming to drop a little more with each picture. I hope her students don't follow her.

I leaned back against the arm of the couch, chewing on my lip as I continued to scroll through her posts. What teacher posts pictures of her in booty shorts lying on the couch holding a glass of whiskey?

I let out a sigh, making sure no one's attention was directly focused on me and what I was doing. I stopped on one post, grimacing.

Her husband.

"That's fucking disgusting," I loudly said, making my eyes go wide.

"Language," Mom said, looking back at me.

"What is?" Dad asked, his chin in his palm.

"N-nothing," I said, "just this post. I don't know why people post shit like that."

Mom shot me a warning glance, her eyes wide.

"Sorry."

I angrily stood up, throwing my phone down on the couch. "Anyone want anything?"

"No, thank you," everyone declined, making me walk into the kitchen.

I braced my palms against the counter, letting out an angry puff of air.

"Stupid husband," I muttered, opening the fridge. I grabbed a protein shake and walked into the living room, falling into the couch.

"Why are you huffing and puffing, Hero?" Mom chuckled, pausing the TV.

"Hand's hurting."

Fran looked over at me, biting down on her lip.

I grabbed my phone, opening Instagram again. I continued to scroll through to try to find anything more of her and her husband.

Only one post together? Interesting.

"Mom, do you have Instagram?"

She looked back at me. "Uh, when I was nineteen. Why?"

"Just wondering," I said, "if you did now, would you post Dad?"

"Of course," she said, "I'd be showing that prize off every chance I got. When I did post, it was pictures of your dad and I."

He smiled over at her, puckering out his lips.

"Do you think if someone doesn't post their significant other, then it means that they, you know, aren't in love?" I asked, opening my protein shake.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "I think some people prefer to keep things private, and others really don't care."

"Well, thanks for the answer I wasn't looking for."

She laughed, nodding. "You're ever so welcome, my love."

~*~

"You know, I have spots open for the cheer team."

I let out a laugh, nodding as I clutched my books close to my chest. "Yeah, okay."

"What?" She asked, shrugging, "you'd totally look cute in the uniform, and I bet you could pick up the cheers in no time."

"Josie, I'm as coordinated as a baby giraffe."

She sucked in a breath, scrunching up her nose.

"And you know it," I said, laughing as I closed my locker.

She laughed, shrugging. "It was worth a shot."

I stopped in front of my classroom, smiling up at her. "See you after school."

"Yep," she said, blowing me a kiss.

I walked into my class and smiled at the substitute teacher. "Hi."

The old lady lowered her glasses and smiled. "Hi. You are?"

"Francesca," I said, "Francesca King."

"Wonderful," she said, marking my name off on the attendance sheet.

I walked back to my table, placing my books down as I sat. I noticed the table full of jocks staring at me, making me look at them for a few seconds before lowering my eyes.

I let out a sigh, beginning to tap my foot. I hated it, but every time I got anything close to male attention, anxiety came along with it.

I heard a clearing of a throat, making me look up.

Holy shit. This is not happening.

"Hey, are you Frannie?"

My jaw seemed to unhinge. Are you joking?

Brian Baker chuckled, shaking his head. "H-Hero calls you that."

"Yeah, I kn-know," I said, looking up at him.

"He thinks the world of you, you know," he said, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Hmm," I muttered, considering that was all I could get out. I'd never expected to have Brian Baker's attention.

"I'm Brian," he humbly introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Y-yeah, I know," I softly said, grabbing his hand.

He tilted his head over, grinning.

"We've been in this class together for, you know, a few weeks now," I said, shaking his hand.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "I just thought I'd, you know, actually introduce myself."

I smiled, unable to form words anymore.

"Could I maybe sit at your table?" He asked, nodding down at the empty seat.

"Y-you don't want to sit with your friends?" I asked, attempting to rest my chin in my palm, but knocking my entire stack of books off of my table in the process.

"Oh, shit," he softly said, looking down at the books. I jolted up from my chair, shaking my head.

"I-I'm so sorry, I'm such a cl-"

We bumped heads, making both of us pull away from each other with our palms on our heads. I looked up at him, my mouth agape.

Not only had I pushed about fifteen pounds of books onto his feet, but now, I'd possibly given him a knot on his gorgeous face.

"I'm so sorry," I said, making him laugh and pull his hand away from his forehead, "are you okay?"

"I've taken much harder hits," he chuckled, "are you okay?"

I nodded, chewing on my lip. "Y-yeah, I'm okay."

He held out his hand, kneeling down to pick up my books. "You stay up there, alright?"

I smiled, watching as he picked the books up and placed them back on the table. I sighed, shooting him an apologetic smile. "Thank you."

He nodded. "So, was the books falling a no on me sitting at your table-"

"No!" I exclaimed, "I didn't- I didn't mean to do that, you-"

His smile cut me off, leaving me, again, speechless.

"I'm pulling your leg, Frannie," he said.

"Right," I softly said.

"Save my spot, okay?" He said, looking back at me as he walked back over to his table.

I sat down, letting out a sigh. Why didn't you just tell him someone sits here? He's probably just going to use you to cheat on tests. Or he's going to be texting his friends mean things about you the entire time.

He placed his duffel bag on the table, smiling. "Alright. Sorry, the jock table gets annoying and noisy. Can't really focus."

"No problem," I said, smiling over at him.

"Did I already say that you're literally Hero's entire world?" He asked, looking over at me.

"Y-you might've mentioned it," I said.

"I didn't really expect you to be this shy," he said, "Hero's the loudest guy I know."

I let out a sigh, looking towards the front of the classroom. "Yeah, tell me about it."

~*~

My Instagram stalking had gone a bit... far.

And now everything was weird.

Every time I saw Mrs. Thompson in the hall, I walked in the other direction. It was just weird, nothing more to it.

I folded my arms over my chest, my eyes fixated on her. I was waiting for the bell to ring, because I just wanted to go ahead and get this class out of the way.

"Bro, what is wrong with you?" Henry asked, closing his locker.

Eros unwrapped his protein bar, keeping his eyes locked on me as he did so. "Yeah. You're being quiet."

"I found Mrs. Thompson's Instagram last night."

Eros snorted, looking down at Josie.

He pulled Josie in front of him and covered her ears. "You jerked off to Mrs. Thompson's Instagram, didn't you?"

Josie scoffed and slapped Eros's hands away. "That's so disrespectful, Eros."

"How is that dis-"

She walked away from us with a grimace, making him lean his head back with a sigh. "Women."

I barely even acknowledged the conversation that was going on around me- I was fixated on Mrs. Thompson. How she was one person at school, and an entirely different person on social media.

"Earth to Hero."

I looked over at Henry, making him lift an eyebrow.

"Did you?" He asked, chuckling.

"N-no," I stuttered out, my eyes going wide when she approached us.

"Hey, Hero, you're strong. Help me with these chairs?"

Eros grabbed my arm and held up my broken hand. "His strength is no longer."

I dropped my hand, chewing on my bottom lip as I lowered my eyes to her hips.

"What happened?" She asked, "and weren't you just on crutches?"

"Trip and fall," I said, looking away from her.

"I think you need to stop tripping and falling," she teased, folding her arms over her chest with a smile.

I laughed a nervous laugh, forcing myself to look elsewhere other than her obvious cleavage. "Y-yeah, tell me about it."

Eros laughed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "I've gotta run. But you heard her, watch out for those trips and falls, you hear me?"

He ran towards his class, leaving Henry and I standing in front of Mrs. Thompson. I looked back down at her, trailing my eyes down her entire body.

"Hey, why don't you guys go on in?" She suggested, "bell's about to ring."

I brushed past her, making Henry catch up to me with a chuckle. "I have never seen you not flirt with Mrs. Thompson."

I nodded, chewing on my lip as I braced my free palm on the table in front of me. She walked into the classroom and I turned away from her, wide eyes as I looked at Henry.

Cordelia walked in, shooting me a disgusted look.

"Take a picture, babe, it'll last longer."

"Go to hell."

Mrs. Thompson turned around, lifting an eyebrow. "Uh?"

I cleared my throat and sat down, shaking my head. "Inside joke."

She walked over to my table, sitting on the edge of it. "Hey, is everything okay?"

I looked up at her, my lips parted. I could barely form words.

"I-y-yeah," I said, nodding, "everything's fine."

"Okay," she said, standing up with a soft smile.

She began to walk over to the board, but turned back around with a confused look on her face.

"C-can I see you in the hallway?"

"Guess I can't decline, can I?" I asked, hesitantly standing up.

She nodded towards the door and I followed her, leaning my head back as I muttered a fuck.

We stepped outside, making me slip my hands in my pockets. "What's up?"

"U-uh, I know this was forever ago," she said, shaking her head, "but for some reason, it crossed my mind last night. That day when I kinda freaked out on you in class?"

I nodded, softly biting down on my lip.

"I wasn't crying because you talked to that girl," she laughed, shaking her head, "I was just dealing with a lot outside of that. A-and it all just kinda fell on top of me. So I'm sorry, if I, you know, gave that impression."

I nodded slowly. "Okay."

She cleared her throat, rubbing the back of her neck. "Okay. I just wanted to clear things up."

I nodded, nodding towards the door. "Can I go back in now?"

The same confused look crossed her face as she nodded. "Y-yeah. Sure."

I walked back inside, realizing that five minutes of pleasure was definitely not worth things being this awkward.

~*~

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