Page 19 of More For Me

Bodhi

My lunch break is almost over, but I can’t seem to stop staring at my phone in horror. When I hadn’t heard anything from the Ransomes about their asinine plan I figured they’d abandoned it. They were all drinking that night—I would put money on Fox not even remembering the conversation.

But no. Just when I let my guard down and started to feel relieved, I get a message in the Team Bodhi group thread.

Santana:Phase 1 off to a good start.

Will:Good job, team.

River:Nice. How did she respond?

Vega:She blushed!!!!!!

Presley:That many exclamation points are never necessary, Vega.

Vega:Shut up.

Presley:You shut up.

Will:Stop arguing. Let’s stay on target here. What’s the next step?

I finally manage to pull myself out of the haze of frozen horror to type out my own message.

Bodhi:What the hell did you guys do? I thought we were forgetting all of this.

River:Oh dear sweet innocent Bodhi. We’re just getting started.

Of course the lunch bell sounds at exactly that moment, which means I have approximately thirty seconds until two dozen rowdy sixth graders walk through my door, all hyped up on sugar and lunchroom gossip.

Bodhi:Whatever you’re planning, can we please just not? Seriously. I don’t need help with this.

Rose:We love you, Bodhi. And we love Everly. We just want you to be happy.

Bodhi:Aren’t you on your honeymoon???

Leo:Honeymoon or not, we still have your back, buddy.

“I cannot fucking believe this,” I mutter. My best friend is supposed to be sitting on a beach in Hawaii, drinking mai tais and being in love and shit. Not participating in whatever disaster is currently unfolding on my phone.

“Ooh, Mr. Lakra is cussing,” Annabelle crows and I look up to see my students filing in.

“Was not,” I shoot back. “Maybe I should send you to the nurse to get your hearing checked.”

She gives me a smug little smirk and I just know that kid is going to try to use this to get an extra few minutes of free time at the end of class.

“Everyone come in and get settled,” I call. “Phones away. Send your last texts. Post your last tweets. Tik your last toks. We have work to do.”

I should take my own advice but I can’t help but glance down at my screen, which is lit up with new messages. I catch sight of a few scattered words, all of them more than enough to get my blood pressure skyrocketing all over again. These people are going to give me a heart attack.

“Hey, Mr. Lakra,” Addison calls from the front row. “Guess what I watched this weekend?”

“I’m certain it was something educational and wholesome.”

The kids all laugh and Addison grins. “Nope. Well, I did learn a lot. About certainteachers.”

I hold out my arms. “All right, let’s get it out of our system. Who else watched the marathon this weekend?”

More than half the hands shoot up.