“Get out of my classroom, now.”
I’d had enough. My fists balled into my sides, and my vision blurred at the anger building in my chest like a tidal wave. “Get the hell out.”
She pursed her lips. “Or what? Precious Gilly won’t hit me. She doesn’t have the guts. You need to find me money, or I’ll ruin everything you’ve worked to hide.”
“I don’t have it,” I said through clenched teeth.
“But you know where you can get it,” she said, the fury making her eyes go dark.
I took a step toward her as Christopher walked into my room, and it sickened me to see Samantha morph into her charming, bullshit personality. This was the woman who tricked Fritz into loving her, the woman who befriended me and who I thought would potentially be my sister-in-law.
“Hey, Mr. Callahan, are you here to walk me to my car like you promised?” She batted her eyelashes and walked by me as she strutted to him. He remained stiff and expressionless as he looked from her to me, but whatever concern he had in his eyes died when she placed a hand on his arm. “Come on, handsome. Ms. Carter needs to send some emails to people.”
“Right,” he said, looking at me a beat or two longer, but I shielded my face.
Tears threatened to spill over, and I refused to show either of them more of a weakness. I forced a smile, and Christopher frowned at me. He opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn’t in the mood for him, for Samantha, foranything.
I held up my hand. “I don’t care. Get out. Both of you.”
He slammed his lips together and retreated into the hallway, leaving me in my room alone with the only sound coming from my rapid heartbeat.
Samantha was back, and she wanted more money.
I had to get the hell out of this place. My one home, where no one knew about my wealth, was tainted by her, and the dread in my stomach grew as the truth settled on me. She would expose me and return to Fritz if I didn’t get her money. If people found out mygrantswere a cover and knew what I had in investments and bonds, they would treat me differently, but I could probably handle it.
Fritz, though…if he found out what I’d done, he wouldn’t talk to me ever again. He was my best friend in the world, and the thought of hurting him sent another wave of hysteria through me. My sob escaped quickly and aggressively, and I covered my mouth with my hand as I shoved my stuff into my bag.
I refused to break down in school, but it seemed to be too late. I plopped into my chair and held my hands over my stomach, taking deep breaths to settle down, and after five minutes of it, I succeeded. My eye makeup was a mess, and I wasn’t sure I could eat anything for a week, but I was calm enough to walk to my car.
With one more sniff and a quick use of a tissue, I got up with my keys in my hand and walked out my door. The last person I expected to see was Christopher in the hallway, alone.
He was stopped right in the middle, bending his head to look at his phone in his hands, but when my shoe squeaked on the tile, he snapped his gaze to me. “Gilly,” he said, his brows scrunching together as he blinked a few times. “Were youcrying?”
“Stay away from her.” I walked faster than normal and looked at the ground. Only twenty steps until I would be at the double doors. Nineteen, eighteen…
His footsteps got closer to me. “Hey, wait.”
“What?” I snapped. I was done. Emotionally and physically. “What do you want, Christopher? Do you actually care why I’m crying because let’s not pretend you do, okay? You should bethrilledI’m upset.
His face paled, and he looked like I’d slapped him. I didn’t care what his response was. I had bigger things to worry about than my teaching buddy who didn’t remember me from a one-night stand and who hated me. I continued my path to my car and got in, wishing more than anything I could erase the last hour.
The first full week of school was my favorite time of year, and now, Samantha had ruined that for me.
Chapter Six
My competitive drivedidn’t seem to dull despite the fact my personal and professional life were a hot mess. The SPIRIT day wasfavorite character,and it was so hard to not buy a Ms. Frizzle outfit. I would’ve rocked an orange wig and crazy colored dress, but instead, I pushed myself to be more creative.Take that, Christopher Callahan.
I totally pulled off a green striped rugby shirt—courtesy of my dad—and khakis Fritz lent me, but little notebooks were my weakness, and a student had given me aBlue’s Clues’ dog to set on my shelf last year. My favorite character outfit was pretty good. I felt confident in my Steve impression. I had my handy-dandy notebook ready to go as I stood outside my classroom door to welcome the kiddos on day two. Across the hall, Maggie dressed like Minnie Mouse and looked adorable. I waved and flashed her my biggest smile.
Christopher intercepted the grin and raised his brows at me, so I turned that grin upside down, fast. Heat flooded my veins knowing he saw my tearstained, red-rimmed eyes yesterday, but I was better today—okay, better-ish. I scanned his outfit and had to choke back a laugh. The man was dressed in head-to-toe cowboy gear. Boots, jeans, the star things that spun on the boots, yellow plaid shirt with a vest, a bolo, and a hat. There was a huge yellow star cut out and written on it was WOODY.
“Not a dime, huh?” I said, my voice almost on the edge of flirting.Where did that come from?
“I owned this.” He stopped walking and lifted up his boot to show the ANDY written on the bottom. “It was important to show you that detail.”
“Why would you own an adult-sized Woody costume?”
“For…reasons,” he said, smirking at me.
