by Bria Berg
The substitute stood and addressed the class. “Good morning everyone,” she said in a voice much too cheery for a high school teacher. “Mr. Evans has gone on an extended leave, so I will be your teacher for the remainder of the year. My name is Miss Kelly.”
The door opened and closed while Tessa was digging though her bag for her textbook. A chair scraped the floor from the single desk kitty corner behind her. Miss Kelly paused in her speaking. When she spoke again it sounded a little flustered so Tessa looked up at her.
“Will you be joining us today Mister...?” she asked staring behind Tessa.
Tessa followed her gaze, realizing that every single girl in the room was staring at the same spot. When she turned her breath caught in her chest. Milo was sitting behind her in slacks and a button down white collar shirt and blue tie looking completely out of place sitting in a plain school desk. He caught her eye and smiled before turning his attention to Miss Kelly.
“Ricks, Milo Ricks, and yes, I’ll be observing the class occasionally over the next month,” he informed.
Several girls giggled casting Milo flirtatious looks while Tessa couldn’t take her own eyes of him. What the heck was he doing here, in her classroom?
Miss Kelly cleared her throat. “Alright then, because I got called in at the last minute I didn’t have time to prepare a lesson so I thought you all could just quiz your lab partners today.”
The class took it as a free period, which basically it was and began talking excitedly, the boys talked about Miss Kelly, while the girls talked about Milo. Tessa wanted so badly to turn around and get some answers as to why the man who had saved her life was now sitting in her classroom but if she did it would surely only draw attention from the gawkers practically drooling over him.
“Ok I’m so sick of the silence. I forgive you,” Nicole huffed.
“You. Forgive. Me?” Tessa asked as she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Yeah you know, for Friday when you were being all snobby. I realized why you were acting that way, and I forgive you.”
Tessa took a deep breath. “Why do you think I was acting like that?”
“Well obviously you’re jealous.”
Tessa laughed, about to respond and defend herself to Nicole when movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention.
“Hey Tessa, nice to see you again,” Milo smiled.
She was mortified he had undoubtedly heard the whole exchange and felt her cheeks burn red. “Hi Milo, or I should probably call you Mr. Ricks, right?”
“Milo is fine. In fact please don’t ever call me Mr. Ricks again.”
That got Tessa to smile, really smile and he felt warmer somehow. When she smiled like that, her eyes sparkled, but there was a hint of mischief in there as well like she was scheming at the same time. She looked a lot better compared when he dropped her off at her house two days ago. She had her hair parted to cover most of the healing gash on her head, and the scratches that had been so prominent on her cheeks were barely visible anymore. She wore a purple hoodie and jeans, and her long blonde hair was pulled back in a loose braid with a few strands out around her face that he had a desire to tuck behind her ear.
Miss Kelly’s voice rang in the air ending their short conversation. “I forgot to call roll!”
She began calling the names out in alphabetical order, but Tessa couldn’t concentrate. Milo was still standing right next to her, his clean, musky sweet scent was flooding her senses.
“Baby Grant?” Miss Kelly called.
Crap. Tessa closed her eyes in a grimace wishing she could crawl under the table and disappear. Chortles sounded from all sides as if this was news to everyone and Tessa didn’t go through this every time there was a substitute.
“It’s just Tessa,” she muttered not daring to look at anyone, especially the man standing next to her.
Yet again, her mother had found some way to ruin her day. When Sandra was pregnant with Tessa, she had been obsessed with the movie “Dirty Dancing” so when she was born, Sandra insisted that her name be Baby. Tessa’s father had conceded, but he chose Tessa for her middle name. There’s at least one thing she could thank him for. Ever since she could remember she’s gone by Tessa, but at every opportunity Sandra gets, she says, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” whether it’s relevant to the situation or not, thinking she’s oh so clever.
Miss Kelly looked as if she was trying not to smile at Tessa’s expense and quickly moved on to the next person. Tessa sank further in her chair, but that didn’t stop some of the boys from making comments about her first name. A couple rows ahead of her, a group of boys kept laughing and passing glances towards Tessa. The one named Eric, must have been the lucky guy to accept some sort of dare because he strolled over and leaned against Tessa’s desk.
“Hey Baby, what do you say me and you go in the corner together and do some dirty dancing of our own?”
“No!” Tessa said in humiliation. “And don’t call me Baby!”
“Oh come on Baby,” he said leaning down slightly.
Tessa felt like she was about to cry. Why hadn’t she changed her name legally the second she turned eighteen?
“She said no,” Milo said placing a hand on Eric’s shoulder. He made sure he was firm, but not so much as to hurt the senseless boy. He should have stayed out of it, it was just high school drama but he saw the look that had come over Tessa’s face— he couldn’t not do anything.
Eric’s eyes widened slightly, but he decided not to push the issue with a seemingly voice of authority as a witness. Milo watched as he walked back to his laughing friends, punching one in the shoulder. He turned back to Tessa, who had her head down on her desk.
“Tessa—” he began but was cut off by Miss Kelly who had finished reading the role and had made her way to the back where he stood.
She smiled and batted her eyelashes expertly. “So Milo, you look a little young to be on the Board of Directors,” she observed.
Tessa felt an anger surge through her. Why was Miss Kelly talking to him? Because she is young, and he is young and they are both beautiful people, duh. She tried not to listen to the conversation, but it was happening right next to her desk so it was kind of hard not to hear it.
“You look a little young to be a teacher Miss Kelly,” he countered a little too coquettish for Tessa’s liking.
Miss Kelly’s smile deepened and she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Well technically I’m not a teacher, just a substitute, and please, call me Allison,” she finished by subtly gripping his arm.
Tessa felt a sting in her hands and looked down to see them so tightly fisted they were white. She couldn’t listen to this anymore although there was no reason to be jealous, and Allison and Milo were both in their prime dating years, there was nothing wrong with them flirting. She angled her body toward Nicole, who gave her an exasperated look, clearly waiting for Tessa to apologize. Anything was better than listening to the previous conversation so Tessa decided to oblige.
“Look I’m sorry Nicole, for Friday. Maybe you’re right and I was a little jealous because I never get asked out on dates,” Tessa lied through her teeth, but the lie appeased Nicole, and she dove into another complaint about her parents, to which Tessa focused wholeheartedly, ensuring all other conversations around her were drowned out.
Chapter 10
When the bell rang Tessa jumped out of her chair and sprinted for homeroom. She didn’t want to talk to or see Milo, which was rather childish, but she couldn’t seem to reign in the little green jealousy monster perched on her shoulder. It shouldn’t be there in the first place, but she reasoned she had a bit of a knight in shining armor thing going on with him since he had saved her life.
Milo swore under his breath when he saw Tessa jet out of the room; he was meant to follow her to her next class. None of the brothers had been able to find her earlier, and he was just about to drive to her house when he spotted her in the hallway and followed. Miss Kelly—Allison had k
ept his attention focused on her when what he really wanted to do was talk to Tessa. He kept trying to throw out indications to the substitute without seeming rude or overly eager to talk to a student, but the lady wouldn’t take the hint. Normally, he wouldn’t have hesitated to having a young, beautiful, interested, woman take up his time, but throughout the whole conversation he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Tessa. What was this girl doing to him?
Sam had been waiting outside of the chemistry classroom since Milo had sent him a text when he first found Tessa, and Sam needed to get a good look at her, so he knew who to look after. Milo’s description of her, blonde, athletic, pretty—matched more than a few high school girls he’d seen so far. He had peeked in through the narrow door window and spotted her. Milo wasn’t kidding, she was pretty, beautiful in fact even though he could tell she didn’t have much makeup on, and her clothes were simple, especially compared to what he had seen on other girls throughout the halls. Milo was standing right by her, talking to some woman, the teacher from the looks of it. The bell rang and Tessa was out the door breezing past him almost instantly. He glanced back at Milo, who was still talking to the teacher, before turning to follow Tessa.
Slipping into the classroom after Tessa, Sam moved to the back where a few empty chairs sat against the wall before sending Milo a quick text. Tessa was just feet away in front of him. He studied her as she sat quietly, eyes downcast; not speaking to anyone like the rest of the class was doing quite loudly. Was she so shy or was there something more to the way she held herself?
The teacher stood looking at Sam and introduced himself as Mr. Chandler then waited for the visitor to do the same. Sam cleared his throat earning him the attention of the room. “I’m Sam. I’m just here to observe over the next month.” He glanced at Tessa who gaped at him with her mouth slightly open and suspicion lining her features.
He turned back to Mr. Chandler who looked as if he was being put out by his presence. “This is homeroom, and I usually just let the kids catch up on their homework and such…” he said with an air of uncertainty.
“Perfect. I’m not here to critique in any way, just merely observe. I would rather you do everything you normally do as if I wasn’t here at all.”
Mr. Chandler appeared to be somewhat pacified by that, and proceeded to tell the class to do just that. Some of the kids pulled out homework, while others formed small groups and began talking happily amongst themselves. Sam flicked his eyes to Tessa again. She was still looking at him, eyes knitted together in thought. She quickly looked away, her cheeks reddening at being caught staring. The brothers had decided not to tell Tessa they were following her until they knew for certain who and what she was. He stood, intending to talk to her, when a boy beat him to it. He hung back, but could easily hear the conversation.
“Hey Tessa, I heard your real name made an appearance today. Baby is the perfect name for someone of your profession if I do say so myself,” the boy smirked down at her.
Sam noticed the group of kids the boy had come from was watching the interaction with leers of their own. He didn’t know what to make of it.
Tessa stiffened and glared. “What do you want Austin?”
Austin shrugged casually, “You weren’t in first period, and I was worried is all. Did you have to get the morning after pill or something?”
Sam’s own posture became rigid at that. What was this kid talking about? From what he had heard of Tessa from Milo, and seen of her thus far, she didn’t seem like the type of girl to sleep around. He knew that type, and it was fairly easy to spot, but Tessa didn’t fit the bill.
Tessa sighed, “Don’t you ever get bored of this?” she motioned between them.
“Nah, how could I when it’s so easy to picture you—“
“Shut up,” Tessa growled sounding close to tears.
Austin didn’t look at all like he was about to do just that, so Sam decided now was the time to step in.
“Tessa? Are you alright?” he asked scraping his chair across the floor right next to her and plopping down.
Both Tessa and Austin were equally startled by his sudden interruption; Tessa more so because she couldn’t figure out how he knew her name. Austin didn’t want to harass Tessa with an adult around, no matter that this particular adult didn’t look much older than him so he slid back to his gawking friends who bust into a chorus of giggles as he sat down.
Sam and Tessa both watched Austin a moment before turning towards each other. “How do you know my name?” Tessa asked quietly, her gaze looking at him intently.
Sam’s stomach fluttered, seeing her so close with her hazel eyes boring into his. Milo was right; there was some kind of power humming through this girl, he could feel it, but like Milo said, it was right below the surface. She waited for his answers, her eyes not leaving his.
He cleared his throat. “Milo told me about you.”
Understanding along with skepticism passed over her face. “You are his brother,” she realized.
The corners of his mouth twitched up. “How’d you know?”
Tessa breathed out a chuckle. His eyes were the exact same shade of greenish blue that Milo’s were. His hair was the same chocolate brown though a little longer, and he had the same tall athletic build as his brother, not to mention he was equally gorgeous. It was easy to tell the two were brothers. “You’re eyes,” she decided on since that was the first likeness she noticed.
He grinned before sobering. “Really though, are you alright? Was that kid bothering you?”
The second he asked the question he wished he could take it back. She was obviously utterly mortified that he had been listening to the interaction. “F-fine,” she stuttered. “I’ll be fine.”
He silently cursed himself for making her feel at all uncomfortable. “So the weather has been pretty crazy huh?” he said attempting to steer the conversation in a different direction. Really Sam, the weather? He was feeling ruffled and he couldn’t fathom why.
Her eyebrow rose, but she glanced to the only window in the room, which had the blinds just open enough for streams of sunlight to streak in. “It is nice today, hopefully it stays that way.”
Unlikely since it was the beginning of February and cold winter weather around these parts had been known to go clear through April. Sam nodded and blew out a breath. He had never had such a hard time talking to a girl before, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of what to say. Tessa wasn’t helping at all. She kept her mouth shut, turned to her notebook and began doodling.
Mr. Chandler stood a few minutes later. “I’m supposed to announce that the Sweetheart Dance committee is in need of a ballerina to perform a solo at the dance in a week and a half. They are having several different performances throughout the evening, but the girl who was originally doing the solo hurt her ankle. Since there are several dancers in this class I hope that one of you will take the reins on this one.”
Sam didn’t miss the longing look in Tessa’s eyes when Mr. Chandler stopped his speech. “Do you dance?” he asked softly.
She glanced at him, somewhat surprised he was still sitting next to her, talking to her. “I used to,” she replied and went back to doodling.
“Why don’t you anymore?”
Her hand stopped filling in a line she was making, and Sam saw her countenance shift. “I do, just at home though. I was kicked off the dance team.”
It was obvious this was a difficult subject for her, but Sam couldn’t help but wonder why. What had she done to get kicked off the team? This girl was becoming more and more a mystery to him, and it was easy to understand why Milo was so captivated by her. They passed the remainder of the class mostly in silence, with the occasional question that Sam would ask and Tessa would give a short answer.
When the bell rang, Tessa made her way out the door, with Sam by her side. She didn’t understand why he was taking such an interest in her; she was nobody special. As they walked through the door and out to the hall, she paused because Milo was
standing there, looking right at her and Sam. She looked back and forth between the two brothers. It wasn’t fair that two people from the same family could be so devastatingly handsome.
“Tessa,” Milo nodded.
Tessa nodded back, while still looking between the two brothers. For some reason the air felt thicker and colder and she crossed her arms tightly across her body. They were both just staring at her, as if she was some sort of science project, making her uncomfortable.
“Well I’m going to lunch,” she decided, slipping past them.
Milo and Sam watched her go. “Did you get a good read on her?” Milo asked as she disappeared around the corner.
“I can see why you’re so protective her,” Sam said.
Milo turned to his brother, with a questioning gaze.
“What?” Sam defended. “There’s something about her and there is definitely some sort of power there.”
Milo clenched his fists and his jaw tightened. It didn’t go unnoticed by Sam who ran his hand through his hair and cursed. “You and her?”
Milo sighed, trying to relax. “No, there’s nothing going on between us, but I just can’t get her out of my head, you know?”
Sam leaned back against the wall. “I know what you mean.”
Milo rolled his eyes before changing the direction of the subject. “I remember kids in high school acting like punks, but I seriously wanted to deck some people today.”
Sam was quick to agree. “Yeah what’s up with that? Some guy was being really inappropriate with Tessa. I had to step in.”
“You too?” Milo asked. “The same thing happened with me. There’s obviously something we don’t know that is going on with her.”
“I think we need to tell her,” Sam decided. “She’s not dangerous, that is for certain and I think it would make things a lot easier if we just got it all out in the open. She’s going to start getting suspicious with us always being around, I think she already is.”
Milo rubbed his face tiredly. “I think you you’re right.” On that note they left the hallways to the lunchroom.