Page 20 of More For Me

“Isn’t that show aboutfashion?I don’t watch that girly crap,” Justin scoffs.

Addison turns around to glare at him. “It’s the twenty first century, Justin. We don’t judge things along gender lines anymore.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t mind judging your gender lines.”

God, is there anything funnier than pre-teens trying to flirt? They’re so uniquely bad at it. I bite back a smile so I can give the kid a hard stare. “Totally inappropriate, man. We treat each other with respect in this room.”

He rolls his eyes, but mutters a sorry to Addison. My students are little gremlins sometimes—show me the twelve-year-old who isn’t—but overall, they’re pretty good kids.

“Like I was saying,” Addison says, giving Justin a haughty look before turning back to the front. “Your show was on, like, all day Saturday.”

“It’s definitely not my show.”

“Yeah, but you’re in it,” Diego says.

“You’re famous Mr. L,” Lucas adds.

This is something that I’ve had to go over every year since I got my first full time teaching gig. WhenRansom the Runwaystarted to air, I was still student teaching, and I hadn’t really considered how my occasional appearance was going to impact my job. I’d been shocked when I was asked about it in my very first interview— “we have concerns about how you’ll represent the school while participating in such an unseemly entertainment program.”

That principal had clearly had a huge stick up her ass, and eventually I’d found a slightly less uptight school with a younger administration who weren’t so concerned about my occasional reality show appearance. I do have to be careful about what situations I allow myself to be filmed in, but it hasn’t really been a problem. It’s not like Everly, Fox, and Alex are holding orgies or snorting coke in bathrooms at Hollywood clubs or something. Most of the time when I end up on the show, I’m doing something completely silly.

I’ve learned how to use it to my advantage in the classroom. My kids are invariably interested in the show, which makes me seem interesting by comparison. It’s just a fact of adolescence that kids are going to behave better for people they find interesting. Behind the scenes details are a great thing to hold in my back pocket when I need a reward to get them to behave and focus.

I glance at the clock. “Let’s open our textbooks to—”

“So are you dating Everly Ransome?” Addison asks. “Because it totally seems like you have a crush on her.”

I bite back a groan. Like it isn’t bad enough to be getting this shit from my friends, I have to hear it from a roomful of twelve-year-olds, too.

“That’s just creative editing to get people interested. Now—”

“What was that villa like in Aspen?” Maria presses. “It lookedinsane.”

“Do you always get to do stuff like that, hanging out with rich people?” Diego asks.

“How much do they pay you to be on that show?”

“Not much,” Justin calls, laughing. “Or he wouldn’t be teaching us.”

“I teach you because I care deeply for your pathetic, undeveloped little brains,” I say. “Now open your textbooks or you get more homework.”

I’m basically dreading looking at my phone after the last kid files out of my room, but instead of the group thread from hell, I see the most recent message is from one person.

Everly:I need coffee.

Everly:Bodhi.

Everly:COFFEE, BODHI.

Everly:Yes, I know you’re like a responsible adult with a real job and you’ve spent the last eight hours molding the minds of young people, but this is an emergency. It’s now two whole minutes after your final bell rang. Text me back.

I grin as my fingers move over the screen.

Bodhi:Has anyone ever told you that you have poor impulse control?

She sends back a sting of eye roll emojis and I laugh.

Everly:No, Bodhi. No one has ever said that to me. I have a reputation of being calm and measured at every opportunity.