CHAPTER 2: TOO MUCH EMBARRASSMENT

Via

Last night, I got the news from my cheer coach that my spot is safe and that I should wear my uniform today.

Relieved, I get dressed in my cheerleading outfit, making sure everything looks perfect. I grab my pom-poms and head downstairs to find the house empty. I realize I forgot to tell Kol I need a ride.

"Way too early for this," I grumble, finishing my breakfast and leaving the bowl in the sink. 

As I start walking to school, I hear someone call my name. Gosh, it's him!

"Good morning, Mr. Montgomery," I say, trying to sound cheerful.

"Heading to school?" he asks. I nod. "Need a ride? I can drop you off."

"Really?" I ask with a big smile.

"Yes. I'm going that way anyway. No trouble at all," he says.

I immediately hop in, putting my backpack on the floor and holding my phone and keys in my lap.

We're mostly quiet, lost in our own thoughts. Eventually, he breaks the silence. "So, I heard from Justin that you two are together?" he asks, his eyes focused on the road, not even glancing at me.

"Um, yeah… But it's just a fling kind of setup," I reply, trying to avoid any misunderstanding.

"I see," he mumbles, then continues driving in awkward silence.

Why do I feel there's something fishy about him?

I was lost in my thoughts when I suddenly saw Kol near a restaurant just a block from school. "Hey, can you drop me off here? My friend is right there," I quickly say, pointing out the window.

"Are you sure? We’re almost at your school," he asks.

"Nope, all good, Mr. Montgomery. Thanks for the ride," I replied politely.

He nods and smoothly pulls into the restaurant's parking area. I gather my things and step out of the car. "Thanks a bunch, Mr. Montgomery. Have a great day, wherever you're off to next." I walk away from his car, heading straight for Kol. "Kol!" I shout to catch his attention.

Kol, my incredibly attractive bisexual best friend, is a key player on our renowned football team. He has been harboring feelings for my charming yet sometimes clueless brother for quite some time.

"Hey, V!?" He turns around fast. "Is that Mr. Montgomery? Justin’s dad??" he asks, looking confused.

“Y-yeah… I will explain it to you later but listen, Kol, I really need to go. I've to meet my coach."

"I'll walk with you. Same direction," he says, proudly flaunting his number 13 jersey. “Anyway, what happened last time? You looked pretty bothered after Mr. Beaumont's class.”

“Well, I just can’t stand that man. He's the reason I had to redo senior year. But all I got from his class last year was how to hand in assignments at 11:59 p.m.” I sarcastically say, and we both laugh.

"Really, Ms. Hawthorne?" says the person behind us. I instantly feel cold and slowly turn around.

FUCK! IT’S MR. BEAUMONT!

"Ugh… Sir! Go-good morning, Mr. Beaumont…" I say, trying to smile while sweat slowly forms on my forehead.

"Cross our hearts, sir. We are not talking about you," Kol says foolishly.

Mr. Beaumont just smirks and looks at me blankly. "If all you’ve learned from my class was how to hand in assignments at 11:59 p.m., you really deserve to retake my class, Ms. Hawthorne," he says before leaving us speechless.

I can only stare at Mr. Beaumont as he slowly walks into the school. I snap back to reality when Kol suddenly smacks my hand, “V, you’re so late.”

Hastily, I make my way to the girls' changing room, shoving my belongings into a locker. Stephanie catches sight of my tardiness and remarks, "You're later than usual." I simply nod, hastily changing into a white shirt and black shorts. We gather on the floor to stretch.

Coach interrupts our routine, addressing us, "Hey, everyone! Since we only have seniors here, I want to ask you all something important." We assembled in front of her. "As you can see, Via is here for another year. So, do you want her to stay as captain, or do you want to choose a new one?"

Stephanie speaks up, "Coach, you and Via led us to cheer nationals. We definitely want Via to stay as captain." The whole team echoes her sentiment with enthusiasm.

Coach gestures for me to stand beside her, announcing, "Well, that settles it. Via will be your captain for another school year." The team erupts in cheers of approval.

As the coach rambled on about something, I caught sight of a guy, probably an admin, barking orders nearby. I did a double-take. He stood as tall as my neighbor Alex, looking solid.

When he glanced my way, I froze. Man, he was good-looking, with those piercing blue eyes and jet-black hair.

He’d be even better if he wasn’t so busy bossing everyone around.

He strolled over, and the whole cheer squad went quiet. "Who's the cheer captain?" he asked.

I hesitated, then stepped forward. "That'd be me," I said.

"Good. Now, get your team in line, cheer captain. Just 'cause you're the university’s cheerleaders doesn’t mean you can trash the place. You all got detention coming. Got it?" he ordered.

"Why should we listen to you?" I shot back, feeling a mix of annoyance and confusion. "And who even are you to be laying down the law?"

I couldn’t help but wonder who this guy thought he was.

"I'm the new dean of this university. That's who I am," he said, his tone calm yet firm, leaving me taken aback.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realize—" I started to apologize, but he simply turned and walked away. Coach came over to talk to me, but I was too consumed by my own embarrassment to listen.

...

As I made my way down the hallway, I collided with Kol. "V! What's your next class and who's your professor?" he asked.

I fumble for my phone and pull up my schedule. "Precalculus with..." I pause, scanning the professor's name, and raise an eyebrow. "Um, it says 'Unfulfilled'," I tell Kol, handing him my phone to confirm.

"Oh, I know him. Room 318, right?" Kol asks, and I nod. "My friend's got him for third period. Says he's real laid-back. Hands out Sudoku puzzles and lets everyone use their phones and AirPods during class," Kol explains.

"Well, that sounds good. Here's hoping my last class is a walk in the park," I say, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. Kol chuckles as we amble down the hall together.

"Good luck. I gotta run to the second building for my class before I'm marked late," Kol says, giving my head a playful pat. We split ways, and I carry on.

Then, out of the blue, I hear my name. I turn to see Justin materialize, slinging his arm around me. His crew trails behind, and I can't help but feel a bit uneasy.

"Where you headed next?" Justin asks, pulling me closer. I try to pull away, but his grip tightens, and I stumble into him. He leans down, planting a kiss on my forehead. "Lucky me, we've got the same class," he says with a smirk.

"Oh, really? Cool," I say, masking my irritation. "By the way, your dad gave me a lift this morning."

"Huh, really? He's been ghosting me all day. No clue what's up," Justin says as we climb the main staircase together. The bell's clamor pushes us forward. Justin holds the door open for me, a rare gesture.

I step inside, bracing for a scolding from the teacher for being late. But to my surprise, the desk at the front is empty. Justin follows me in, and we settle into seats midway down the left side. He starts chatting with some guys behind us, most of them senior football players.

"Hey there, class! Apologies for being a few seconds late, I'm still adjusting to the schedule," the professor announces, and I recognize the voice immediately.

It couldn't be true!

"He said he'd give me a ride 'cause we were going the same way, not to the same spot!

"I’m Mr. Montgomery, your Pre Calculus prof for the year," Mr. Montgomery announces, organizing papers at his desk. Justin's still deep in chat with his buddies, clueless that his step-dad is right in front of him.

I nudge his shoulder, but he doesn't respond. Another try, and he finally turns. "What's up?" he asks, and I nod toward the front, where Mr. Montgomery is standing next to the board.

"No. Freaking. Way," Justin blurts out, doing a double-take.

"In front of you, you got a packet of sudoku puzzles. Whole class to finish 'em, so no rush," Mr. Montgomery tells us, catching my eye. Then he spots Justin beside me, clears his throat, and proceeds to explain the assignment in front of us. 

I try to get Justin to focus, but he's glued to his step-dad. "Get to work. and once you're finished, then you can talk to him," I whisper, pointing at his paper.

"Fine," Justin grumbles, flipping to the first sudoku. I nod, diving into mine.

After about twenty minutes, Justin tosses his pencil in his bag and stands up, paper in hand. He heads straight for Mr. Montgomery's desk and drops the packet down.

I can't catch their conversation from my seat far away. Suddenly, Justin bolts out of the room. Mr. Montgomery sighs and gets up. "You got 10 more minutes for the task," he announces, settling back down. Our eyes meet briefly, but I quickly glance away, focusing on my work.

The bell rings, wrapping up the class. "Ugh! I didn't finish," I grumble to myself. Everyone hustles out, grabbing their stuff. I gather mine, inching toward Mr. Montgomery's desk.

"Mr. Montgomery, any chance I could get some extra time on this? Didn't quite wrap it up," I ask. He gets up and strolls over.

"Well, sorry, Via. Can't really extend it at home. But you can hang back now and wrap it while I tackle grading," he offers, leaning against his desk. "If you're up for it," he adds, with a hint of a smirk.

Why does he look so hot with that kind of uniform? It’s like he’s tempting me to kiss him—Uh uh! NO WAY! What am I even thinking?! This isn’t right. He’s Justin’s stepdad and now he’s our professor. It’s even more wrong to have all these dirty thoughts about him.

"Yeah, definitely. Gotta pass everything this year. No way I'm doing senior year again, or I'll end up in adult school," I say, settling back in to work on the packets.

Time drags on, and I finally reach the last couple of pages. I glance up to see Mr. Montgomery busy on his phone.

Then, Mr. Everhart and Mr. Beaumont stroll in.

Just my luck.

"Hey, Alexander, how's it going? First day treating you okay?" Mr. Everhart asks, and I rush to finish the math on the second-to-last page.

Are they all friends?! Shit! Need to get out of here fast.

"Not bad, kept it light today. Nothing too tough," I hear Mr. Montgomery replied.

Finally, I hit the last page. Thank the stars, anything to get out of here.

"You know, some of these kids, I swear," Mr. Everhart says, and I manage to fill in half the 12x12 Sudoku puzzle. "Ran into this cheerleader backstage at the assembly. She's got a real temper."

Did he just mention my temper?

Nah, I'm probably just imagining things. Maybe he's talking about someone else.

"And speaking of problems, had this student last year straight-up tell me all they learned was how to turn in assignments at 11:59," Mr. Beaumont chuckles. "Kids these days, I tell you. Unbelievable."

Yeah, that one's definitely about me.

"You know what's really something? Seniors redoing senior year. Can you believe it? Who flunks senior year?" 

I finish the crossword puzzle and quietly start packing up.

"Well, sounds like you guys had a rough start. What was her name, by the way? I'll keep an eye out," Mr. Montgomery offers.

"Via Rosalind Hawthorne," Mr. Beaumont and Mr. Everhart blurt out simultaneously, and I mentally smack my forehead.

Mr. Beaumont and Mr. Everhart exchange looks as I quietly sling on my backpack.

"You mean that Via Rosalind Hawthorne?" Mr. Montgomery points straight at me, and I can feel my face heating up with embarrassment.

Definitely up there among the most embarrassing moments.

Mr. Beaumont and Mr. Everhart both shift their gaze away from me.

Scratch that. This is easily in the top five most embarrassing moments.

I clear my throat, walking up to Mr. Montgomery's desk. "Thanks for the extra time, Mr. Montgomery," I mumble, dropping the papers on his desk before making a hasty exit. The embarrassment level right now is through the roof.