Tessa’s POVAs I walked the long halls of the school and toward my locker, I could hear the murmurs of those around me and the onlookers.“Did you see her post this morning? So, depressing.”“I wondered what happened to her to cause such sad blog posts.”“She looks awful.”“I might unfollow her. I can’t be reading that depressing shit.”My stomach clenched as I quickly made my way to my locker where Ruby was waiting for me as she does every morning. She had a concerned look on her face when I approached, which I wasn’t surprised about.“People are talking about your recent post,” she murmured for my ears alone.“So, I’ve heard,” I said, not looking at her.“Tessa, it’s really depressing. You really put shame on men in general,” Ruby said, leaning against the lockers to stare at me more comfortably. “I think you should delete it before—”“Before what?” I asked, snapping a look at her. “Before I offend someone? I’m not deleting anything.”I slammed my locker door shut and started to wal
Tessa’s POVI turned around to see a strange-looking man standing in front of me. He had long blonde hair and a very narrow face with a long nose. He was kind of muscular, but he was also oddly thin. When he smiled, he had a row of yellow teeth and he reeked of beer.His hand was still on my lower back, and he swayed against my backside, grinding against me with the beat of the music.I didn’t think my legs were going to work and I was seeing double of everything. But the Tequilla had taken over my entire brain, and I found myself laughing in his face. Not because I found anything funny, but because I couldn’t help myself.He leaned against the bar and peered into my eyes, wiggling his brows at me, which only made me giggle some more.“So, what do you say, gorgeous? Dance with me?”I wanted to say no and tell him to get lost, but before I could form those words, he was lifting me off the bar stool and practically carrying me to the dance floor. My body remained limp against him as he w
Joseph’s POV“You let a bitch take your find,” one of his friends laughed. “Man, you got weak.”“She had backup,” the guy muttered, sounding annoyed and a little drunk himself, but not completely intoxicated like Tessa was.I gritted my teeth, hiding against the shadows that formed around the alley they were hiding inside.“If she was as hot as you say, I wouldn’t have let anything take that away from me,” his friends said. “Next time, give me a call and I’ll be your backup.”The two laughed, which pissed me off even more. I wasn’t going to let them continue talking about Tessa like this. I made myself known to them, and they both turned to face me with large, startled eyes.“Hey, man. We were having a private conversation,” the one with the longer hair and yellow teeth said. I recognized his voice as the one talking about “his find.”“Yeah, were you eavesdropping or something?” His friend asked.They were both tall and skinny, yet they had muscles as well. I’m sure the two of them co
Tessa’s POVI went into the classroom and Miss Emily leaned against the desk, folding her arms across her chest, staring at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. It’s not that I didn’t like Miss Emily, in my opinion, I found her to be quite nice.From her students, it’s obvious she’s well-liked and good at her job, much like Joseph.But it was the fact that she obviously had a thing for Joseph that bothered me about her. I didn’t have her as a teacher, so her pulling me aside to speak with me was odd. I tried my best not to look uncomfortable.“I just wanted to check in with you,” she said simply, giving me a fond smile.I stood frozen in front of her, still feeling the effects of the hangover.“I don’t think I know what you mean,” I said softly, keeping my eyes on hers.“I’ve been noticing you today and you’ve seemed a little off,” she said with a timid frown. “I know I’m not your professor, but I do care for you, Tessa. I’d like to make sure you’re okay.”I was surprised by t
Joseph’s POVI spent most of the day in my office grading papers and working on next week's curriculum. I had the curriculum done for the next several weeks, but my students were already ahead of schedule, so it needed to be revamped.I chose the right students to take this course; most of them are doing rather well. Most of their papers are excellent and grading them came easily to me. But as I went through each paper, I realized there was one missing.Tessa’s. She hadn’t given me her recent assignment before she left class yesterday; she left in such a hurry that I couldn’t even speak with her like I intended to do. She was also very quiet and kept her head down most of the class.I suppose I am the one to blame for that.It was easy to fall behind in this course; it only took a couple of missed assignments, and her grade would drop an entire letter. I’m willing to allow her some extra time to get her assignments done and even provide her with some tools for success, but she has to
Tessa’s POVMy phone rang for the third time, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. I knew it was Ruby again. She had texted me often after school, but I ignored her text messages.I felt completely sick to my stomach after overhearing Joseph’s conversation with Miss Emily. She asked him out to a café on Friday, and he accepted. He didn’t even stop to think about it; he just accepted.I guess I don’t really have a right to be upset over this. But I couldn’t help myself. My heart was so broken and all I wanted to do was sit here in my dark living room and cry.I knew if I didn’t answer Ruby, she would end up coming over and that was something I didn’t want. So, I sighed and reached for my phone on the coffee table in front of me. I frowned at the brightness of my phone, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the lighting, and saw a couple of missed calls from Ruby and a text message from her as well.“I’m worried about you. Please call me.”I sighed again and cleared out the notificatio
Tessa’s POVIt felt like the air had left my entire body. Or as someone punched me in the gut and I tumbled over, gasping for breath that wouldn’t arrive. I found it incredibly difficult to breathe. I knew if I remained where I was, gasping and panting, he would turn and see me standing there.I couldn’t let him see me.It would only take a minute before the tears spilled from my eyes. I felt the in the back of my eyes threatening to betray me. I bit onto my bottom lip until I tasted the metallic blood and as soon as the blood left my lips, I saw Joseph’s body tense.Crap. He could smell it. Before he pulled away from Emily and turned in my direction, I was already running down the stairs. The tears came quickly and once they started, they wouldn’t.I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the rest of today in one piece without falling apart completely. I held my mouth with my hands, trying to keep the sobs from being too loud, but they, along with my tears, wouldn’t stop.I con
Third Person POVIt was obvious to Emily that something bad happened between Tessa and Joseph. It seemed as if Tessa was going to great lengths to avoid him. She even seemed a bit depressed and closed off. Emily didn’t have Tessa as a student, but she knew Tessa well from observing her to know when something was off.Regardless, she had come to know Joseph rather well and he also seemed off. She was never certain what was going on between the two of them, but she knew whatever it was, it had to be over.They were very careful to hide their relationship in front of others though. But somehow, Emily knew the truth. She knew they were hiding a secret relationship, and that Tessa was the reason why Joseph declined Emily’s advances.But now that Tessa seemed to be out of the picture, Emily found this to be the perfect opportunity to try again. Especially now that Joseph seemed to be struggling emotionally.She had already convinced him to go with her to the new coffee shop on Friday, now s