Page 117 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

“Just… take your time with Kira. I don’t want to end up being something you regret.”

“Never.” And he sounded so sure that I had to resist every romance-heroine, main-character urge to bolt from this couch and run to him as he said, “The way I feel about you–I could never regret this.”

South Bronx Classical

Tuesday morning

Want to know what regret looked like?

It looked like Kira.

She was a lost baby deer, all fawn-like and willowy, clutching her notebook to her chest as she ignored the snickering around her.

And it only got worse. Her sad baby blues widened when she spotted me in the hallway.

“Ah, shit,” I muttered under my breath. I tried to give her a smile.

She lowered her eyes instantly, and I didn’t know what got into me, but no. Nope. I was not okay with letting her hate me.

So instead of walking by her like I should have, I went to her, holding her gaze as I asked, “Kira, can I see you in my staffroom, please?”

The students around us dropped their voices in a synchronized, “Oooooo,” and I frowned at them as I led her down the corridor.

Once the door was shut, I turned to face her, and I didn’t know what I expected to see, but the look on her face surprised me anyway.

She was angry.

“What do you want?” she snapped.

Well. The resemblance she shared with her father was pretty obvious now.

“I want to talk to you about yesterday.”

She rolled her eyes. “My dad told me everything. We don’t need to talk.”

“Yes, we do. Because you’re mad at me, and I’m not okay with that.”

“Well, too fucking bad, Miss Walker.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Calling me ‘Miss Walker’ weakens the swearing a bit, don’t you think, love?”

“I don’t care.” She slapped her arms by her sides. “You should’ve left my dad alone.”

I frowned. I wasn’t sure how to move on from here.

If I thought I felt guilty after what happened to Lilly, I felt even worse after seeing Kira like this. She was so upset that talking to her felt like handling a time bomb.

“I know this isn’t easy on you, and I’m sorry it happened–”

She threw her arm out, pointing at the door. “Do you know what they’re saying about me? It’s been one day, and they’re already saying I only got into the program because you wanted to—to… fuck my dad.”

Saying this out loud seemed to make her feel sick.

“Kira, you know none of that is true. You earned your spot before I met you. And you saw how your dad reacted when he realized I was your teacher.”

“He yelled at you. He wanted you gone.”

Well, that was true.