Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 52643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
“I guess there was a last-minute adjustment then.” I hold up my packet, showing him the proof.
He stares at it, giving away nothing with his expression.
“I haven’t had the chance to put anything together for the group yet,” he admits. “I’ll let you know after class this week.”
“Okay, well…” I look into his eyes. “I truly hope the way we met won’t influence what you think about me.”
“I don’t think about you at all, Miss Edwards. You haven’t crossed my mind once.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then get more specific.” He lowers his voice. “From what I’m just now recalling, you’re quite good at that.”
I suck in a slow, unsteady breath as he stares at me.
For a moment, it feels like we’re the only two people in this room, like we’re still sitting on that rooftop, falling into perfect topic after perfect topic with one another.
“Do I need to get you some medical attention?” He ruins the moment. “You look like you’re not breathing.”
“What I mean to say is that I’m hoping we can start over on better terms, despite me lying to you that night.”
“If you could take it back, would you?”
“No.” I can’t help being honest. “I’d do it all the same way.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it was nice having someone to talk to for a change. That, and I felt this insane level of attraction that I’ve never felt with anyone else before.”
“Sorry, can’t relate.”
“It almost felt like we were close friends.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.” He nods. “Do you know what a ‘friend’ would do at this very moment?”
“Tell you that ‘You are who you choose to be’ isn’t your quote and you need to stop attributing it to yourself?”
“It’s mine if I wrote it.”
“You literally ripped it from The Iron Giant movie.”
“Ted Hughes said it long before that film.” He pauses. “However, I’ve said something quite similar in my life, so I consider it mine.”
“Spoken like a true plagiarist. Were the words you said to me when we met stolen, too?”
“Okay.” He steps back. “It’s time for you to stop talking to me, Miss Edwards.”
“If you could take back the night we met, would you?”
He looks me up and down, and his lips part as if he’s about to give me an answer, but he shakes his head and walks away.
LESSON #2
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
But whenever you’re truly tired of trying, hang that shit up. You only live once and you don’t have time to waste.
1
LIAM
Write a contingency plan for dealing with ‘you know who.’
Finish grading the free-write romance essays
Finalize the contingency plan for dealing with ‘you know who’
Stop putting off the damn plan for dealing with ‘you know who’
Istare at today’s ‘To Do’ list and decide to tackle what is clearly the most important thing.
The essays.
It’s been years since I was required to spend my weekends reading, and although I was initially excited to be around “the brightest young minds in the country,” I’m starting to think that something is wrong with me. Maybe I’m remembering the quality of high school papers with rose-tinted glasses and my expectations are too high.
Or, maybe something is wrong with the students.
I pull a few random essays from the pile and skim the topics.
1. Shakespeare’s views on love weren’t his own.
2. The social norms of the Victorian era prohibited women from experiencing a true concept of love.
3. There is no correlation between romance and love, and the following essay will prove this concept.
I groan at the lack of creativity.
Against my better judgment, I flip through the stack in search of Genevieve’s essay. I can’t help skimming a few paragraphs.
I’ll never understand why there’s so much hatred lobbed at the romance genre.
Every fantasy, thriller, and suspense novel has to tie in an element of love to make us care about the characters, and love is the ground on which the most memorable stories are rooted.
Alas, the best love stories are written amid heartbreak and desperation. How else can an author know how to effectively pull a reader’s heartstrings without first getting hers torn apart and sutured together in countless ways?
I’ve been desperate enough to fall for anyone, to get a taste of what that feels like, desperate enough to lie.
“Desperate enough to lie.”
This is where I need to stop reading and email my teacher’s aide. I need to tell her that she’s responsible for grading all the essays written by my mentee group so that I can spare myself any additional time with this woman.
Well, teenager.
Student.
Shit.
The personification of a bridge in her next paragraph catches my attention, and before I know it, I’ve finished reading her paper.
Only six sentences need corrections, and I have no choice but to give her an A.
Well, no.
She gets an A-minus.
2
LIAM
Monday morning
“Oh my god, I need a break!” Miss Shaw stops at a tree, bending over to catch her breath.