Page 100 of How We Fooled

I head straight to the couches, making sure to avoid even walking by Liza’s old classroom.

As I walk by, a guy I’m on the football team with walks up with his hand out, expecting me to slap it. “My dog, Miss Hernandez is fine. How’d you?—”

My glare cuts his words short, and he’s smart when he just keeps walking, acting like he didn’t just say that.

“What’s up?” Ben says, slapping my hand as I approach.

I just nod my hello and take a seat on the couch.

Maya is quick to hop off of Ben’s lap and sit by my side. “How’s Liza?”

I love that she calls her by her first name and not Miss Hernandez. “She’s as good as she could be, I guess.”

“I’d love to come hang out today after school. Give her some girl time while you’re at practice.”

God, I love Maya and her caring ways.

“I think she’d really like that. I drove to see her this morning because I knew today would be hard on her. I’ll text her to make sure, then give her your number.”

I pull out my phone to do so as the bell rings.

Countdown is officially on. Only a few more months of school, and I’m done.

Liza

When Eli asked if Maya could come hang out, I was a little shocked. Hanging out with my student felt kind of weird, but then I remembered how important she is in his life. How important all of his friends are.

It’s a whole part of his life that I had to stay away from, so I guess it’s time that I do get to know them on more of a personal level. Now that she’s here though, I’m a little nervous. What if we have nothing to talk about? What if we have nothing in common?

I’m in the living room when she pulls up, and to my surprise, Natalie Spencer is sitting in her front seat. She and Dalton are together, so it makes sense that she’s here, but it makes me even more nervous.

As I stand, I take a deep breath and push out all the weirdness that surrounds this. I’m Eli’s girlfriend, and these are the girls who are dating his closest friends. If we end up together, these are the people who will be in our friend group. I need to stop looking at it any differently, especially because I’m not their teacher anymore.

I wait for them to knock on the door and timidly open it up, only to see both of them with huge smiles on their faces and their arms wide open.

“Welcome to our group!” Maya says with a huge, comforting smile.

The three of us hug at the same time, making my nerves lessen slightly. “Here, come in.”

I invite them in, and we all sit on the couches together.

“So”—Maya slaps her knee with excitement—“I can’t tell you how shocked I am that Eli actually has a girlfriend. We knew something was up, but his quiet ass doesn’t tell us anything.”

I laugh, raising my arms with a shrug. “Well, you can see why he didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, but that’s not anything different with Eli. He’s always been super private, even with us,” she says.

I nod. “I can see that about him.”

“I’m just going to rip the Band-Aid off,” Natalie says with a laugh. “How weird was it, being his teacher? I mean, I was in that class, and I never even saw you guys talk!”

I cover my face as I giggle. “So weird!” I move my hands, then raise my eyebrows at Natalie. “But I think you were a little preoccupied with Dalton.”

She rolls her eyes. “Guilty. God, I hated having to sit next to him at first.”

“Now, look at you two,” I state with a smile.

“And look at you two.” Natalie throws my words back at me. “Dating this entire time and keeping it from all of us. I’m actually kind of mad I didn’t know.”

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