I Thought I Was Bad

We arrived at our next class, just shy of getting a demerit for tardiness. Miri stuck her foot in the door right as the teacher was swinging it shut. She pushed back on the door and slid inside the room. I followed, and copied Miri’s contrite expression.

“Well, hello, girls,” Knowles said. “Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?” He peered down at me from across the vast expanse of his barrel chest and broad stomach.

“Sorry, Mr. Knowles,” Miri said, for which I was grateful because I’d suddenly found myself completely void of words.

The boy sat at the back of the room. The one with the soft curls and honey voice. The one who had bumped into me and thrown everything I thought I knew about myself upside down.