My brows shot high, my smirk immediate. “Is that so?”
Alec rolled his eyes and shot me the finger. “I’ll just go grab a coffee and will see you in a few.”
I watched him go, my thoughts turning to Nick Smith.
A lot had changed since high school.
If the arsehat of a boy had grown to a man who still couldn’t handle knowing anal sex was hot as fuck, then I’d happily remind him those were his issues, and he needed to get over himself.
My life didn’t have room for bullies or prejudiced pricks. I was prepared to step up and let him and anyone else know that, should I need to.
* * *
As soon asNick entered the meeting, I tracked his movement. The years had been good to him. Back in the day, he’d been the whole package—good-looking, on the footie and swim teams, got good grades. It was a pity all of that had been wrapped in bigoted beliefs.
He’d also been arrogant as hell.
He took a seat next to Loraine, the head of the maths department, and chuckled about something she said. My view was broken by the return of Alec.
“Cheers, mate.” He angled towards the empty chair by my side.
“No worries.”
“You spoke to the dude yet?”
“Nope.”
“Huh, well, let me know how that goes.”
I didn’t respond. I simply rolled my eyes at Alec’s reaction to me not being keen on the new addition to our school.
“The bloke’s married.”
I shrugged, not at all surprised. There had always been a girl on his arm, a pretty girl who he was dating.
“If someone married him, he can’t be that bad, right?”
I snorted in response, and Alec chuckled. We both knew he was full of shit. Over the years, we’d met plenty of staff who were dickheadsandmarried.
Our laughter eased off once Jacob, the principal, led the welcome meeting. Immediately I opened the book on my lap and blocked Jacob out. There was nothing wrong with the guy, but I knew he’d be saying the same old thing—talking about goals and ethos and the wonders of the pedagogy.
It was times like these I was pleased I’d opted to restream my time at uni into that of library studies. I’d taken a couple of education modules, my plan to teach English. Still, after my first placement of observation, I'd soon discovered that teaching wasn’t, nor could ever be, my passion.
While I liked running some sessions with the students, being in front of the class with thirty kids while inspiring and keeping them in line was not my destiny. Instead, as a school librarian, I had a heap more interaction with the staff, which I enjoyed, while I also had much more filtered time supporting the kids with their studies.
It was a win-win as far as I was concerned.
A nudge at my side had me looking up. I shifted my attention from my book, frowning at Alec. His wide eyes, complete with rapid eye movements, had me moving my focus to the front of the room. Jacob’s eyes were on me, a smile on his face.
I grinned back and gave a head bob as though I knew what the hell he’d said to me.
He quirked one of his brows. “In the library at eleven, correct?”
“Yep, I’ll be here.” My smile remained fixed, more than aware of the few grins cast my way that I’d been caught not listening and with my head stuck in a book.
It wasn’t the first time, and honestly, I figured it was sort of expected from me by now.
“Great. In that case, let’s break for morning tea. I’ll meet with the senior management team at eleven and new staff at two. Have a good day, everyone, and don’t forget the training tomorrow starts at nine sharp.”
