Page 12 of Fall Fake-Out

He puts his finger to his mouth like he’s shushing himself. “Ignore me.”

As if that were possible.

He’s in a gray fitted t-shirt, a backward baseball cap, and gym shorts again. Way too casual for the principal but perfectly styled for what I’m attracted to.

His body twists as he funnels his way down one of the rows of desks to an empty seat in the back. “I’m just here to observe.”

That’s the last thing I need.

He gestures for me to continue as normal.

I smile at the students, soldiering on. “My name is Ms. Langford, and I’m your new English teacher. I grew up in Autumn Ridge, graduated from this very high school, then moved away for college, and now I’m back.”

“Langford?” The popular girl from earlier raises one skeptical brow. “As in Landrie Langford?”

“Dude, she’s so hot,” a boy in the back mutters, and every other boy in the class nods.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Landrie’s small-town fame extends to teenagers.

“Yes,” I confirm with a smile.

“I cannot wait for her wedding!” a new girl gushes to her friend next to her. “I heard her wedding dress cost twenty thousand dollars.”

Before I can refute that, the popular girl says with disgust, “What are you? Like, Landrie’s mom?”

There’s a burst of laughter from the back.

From Wade.

I shoot him a glare, and he does his best to pretend like it was all a cough. But I know the truth.

My eyes dart to the teenager. “No, Landrie is my little sister.”

Everyone seems content with that answer and lets me move on. After taking roll, I introduce the class rules, grading system, and homework expectations, noticing the look of boredom on each of their faces.

But this isn’t my first rodeo. So I lift my chin and my enthusiasm and steamroll forward with my awesome lesson plan.

“The theme for the month is deception. Does everyone know what deception means?” Blank faces stare back at me, so I take that as a no. “Deception is the act of intentionally misleading someone by hiding, distorting, or withholding the truth to create a false belief.” I hold up a copy of The Great Gatsby. “We’ll be reading this story all month. Have any of you ever read this book?”

“Isn’t it a movie?” a boy asks.

“Isn’t that where the meme of Leonardo DiCaprio holding up his champagne glass comes from?” a girl I thought was half asleep says.

“Several movie adaptations have been made from the book. Have any of you seen the movie The Great Gatsby?”

“I’ve seen an edit on TikTok to Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Young and Beautiful,’” the popular girl, Ashtyn, whose name I learned from taking roll, says.

“I’ve seen that too!” her friend, Clara, chimes in.

I smile, feeling like I’m gaining some momentum. “Did you like the edit of the movie?”

Ashtyn lifts her shoulder, faking indifference. “I guess it looked like they were at a cool party.”

“Yes, there are a lot of cool parties in this book. But you’re going to see it’s all just an elaborate facade based on deception.”

“For what?” Ryker asks. I remember his name because he seems like the type of student I’ll get along with—the kind every other teacher hates.

“You tell me.”