Page 3 of Substitute for Love

Opening the tattered substitute binder, all expected items were supposed to be inside. Rolls for each class period. Instructions for emergencies. An illustration of Desert Scorpion’s mascot, a scorpion.Ew, no. Not an unexpected mascot, but still, why?

She flipped more pages and found contact info for the front office. Daily schedule. School motto, or whatever.

Wait a second. What was this? Avery noticed the name at the top of the page:Mr. Spencer? She thought she was subbing for Mrs. Strong. She scanned the pages. These were lesson plans for math!But she was clearly in the literature classroom, wasn’t she?

“Uh, this isn’t Mr. Spencer’s class, is it?” she asked the students, who were mostly chatting with each other. Panic started to build, her breathing quickening. A few students shook their heads. Mostly they didn’t pay attention.

One girl in a pink shirt replied, “Mr. Spencer teaches math down the hall in room 101. This is Mrs. Strong’s class.”

Yes, Avery remembered the name from when she signed up for it on the Substitute App. Plus, “Mrs. Strong” in vinyl letters was prominently displayed at the top of the whiteboard in front of the class, so at least she knew she was in the right place.

Office Lady had definitely handed her the wrong binder. Which wasn’t surprising. Avery imagined a stack of them, all identical, being handed out day after day, attempting to fill the void. How depressing. The sheer monotony made her rethink why she was even here at all.

She glanced at the clock. Six minutes until the bell. Maybe enough time to grab the right binder. But she’d have to decide on what to do first—head to the front office or take a chance and find whoever was subbing in Mr. Spencer’s class?

Avery closed the sub binder and headed toward the front of the class. She held it up. “Looks like I have the wrong substitute binder. I’ll be right back.”

She rushed down the hall, dodging high schoolers. One teacher stood in front of her classroom and said hi as Avery rushed by. Most other teachers were already in theirclassrooms, too busy writing on whiteboards or talking to students to notice.

Arriving at Room 101, Avery opened the door and searched the room. A few students looked up from their phones.

“Are you our sub?” one boy said.

“No,” she said as the door closed behind her. “I’m subbing in another class. Wait, your sub isn’t here yet?” A few students shook their heads and went back to talking to each other.

Great. Avery would have to run to the office now. For a split second she thought about taking off her wedges but imagined how dirty the floor was and decided to take her chances.

She turned and opened the classroom door abruptly to find a tall, dark-haired man standing outside.

Avery gasped. “Oh! You scared me.”

His big blue eyes definitely didn’t scare her. They held each other’s gaze, the cute man standing a few inches above her.

A few students behind her snickered and a few of them whispered. “Oh, he’s thecute sub,” one girl said. “He covered my PE class yesterday.”

For what seemed like an eternity, Avery and the man silently stared at each other. His curly dark brown hair was right on the line between wild and stylish.

“Hi.” The man’s eyes searched Avery’s. “I’m Gabe,” he shook his head. “I mean, Mr. Manwaring. I’m subbing in this class today. I think?” His deep voice was soothing. A few of the girls giggled behind Avery. Her heart beat in her throat.

Nope. Not now, Avery. You’re over men. Plus, you’re at work. Act professional.

“Oh. Yeah. Uh. I think so.” Why couldn’t she talk? “The office gave me your binder by mistake,” she said, holding it up.

He smiled, his dimples showing. A smile like a little mischievous boy. “Oh. Well, thanks for bringing it to me.”

Avery smiled. “Sure.” She waited for him to reciprocate. But he stared at her face, a goofy grin emerging. She narrowed her eyes at him, questioning his motives. “Is that… I mean, maybe you have my sub binder?” She pointed to the binder in Gabe’s hands.

“Oh. Yeah,” he said. “Here.”

They each held out their binders and made the trade with opposite hands, each with an awkwardly professional smile. Avery opened the new-to-her binder to see Mrs. Strong’s lesson plans inside. Thank goodness.

“Hard to believe this has never happened to me before,” Gabe said. “These binders all look alike.”

“Yeah,” she said. She wanted to ask him something, anything. But her mind went blank. His dark blue button-down was tight over his muscular shoulders and arms, though his shirt was slightly coming untucked from his Dockers. Gabe was wearing what looked to be comfortable sneakers with a little dirt on them, like he had recently gone on a hike or had been digging or something.

“Have you subbed before? I don’t remember seeing you,” he said.

She shook her head. “Nope. First day. I’m a bit terrified, to be honest.” What was she saying? And to this cute guy?

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