Page 11 of When October Starts

Chapter Eleven

Juno

“Mom and Dad want me to stay home this week to help with the van. But we can go to the island on the weekend. Saturday and Sunday, deal?” Pixie asked. We were comfortably sitting on the couch in the classroom, waiting for the bell to ring and release us from today’s learning.

“Deal,” I replied, keeping my eyes on Ezra who was talking to Gus. They were discussing something about Gus’ topic.

Last night felt like a dream. No matter how wrong it was, I liked being close to him. I guess for me it wasn’t such a big deal, but his whole job was on the line, and spending time with each other shouldn’t become a habit. I couldn’t get close to him, but I wanted to so damn badly.

“Are you staring at Gus?” Pixie asked with an amused grin, and I blinked to get my eyes off Ezra.

“Uh, yeah. No, I was staring at his tie. It’s…colorful today,” I pointed out.

“I think he’s gay. I mean, he was gushing over Ezra the other day. Very enthusiastic about having him as a teacher.”

I chuckled, knowing that Ezra definitely didn’t play on the same team as Gus. The bell rang, and we packed our stuff to leave school. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Dad is probably already waiting.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I called out as she left the classroom.

“Juno, come to my office, please.” I turned my head to look at Benji, and I nodded, taking one last look at Ezra who was still talking to Gus.

“Coming,” I told Benji, following him upstairs to his office.

“What is it?” I asked, sitting down on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“I wanted to check in on you. How’s videography going?” he asked.

“Good. It’s fun. Probably the most interesting thing I’ve ever picked,” I told him. “But my camera is broken. It got all wet last night during the storm, but I could save the memory card, so that’s good.”

Ezra walked in as I told Benji about my camera, and he looked concerned. “Do you have a second one?” he asked.

“No. I’ll probably just use my phone to take the videos. No big deal,” I said, looking back at Benji because he didn’t make me blush.

“Glad you’re liking what you’re doing. It’s important that you keep that motivation up or else your movie will turn out floppy and boring. And we don’t want that, do we?”

“Of course not,” I said, and Ezra chuckled.

“All right. Then, go home. Both of you,” Benji said, motioning with both hands to leave the room.

I got back up and tried to avoid eye contact with Ezra, but as we left the office and he closed the door behind us, I had to turn around to look at him. “Hi,” I said, feeling like a shy and nervous little girl.

“Hey,” he said with an incredibly handsome smile. “You know, there’s a thrift shop just outside of town. Maybe you can look for a camera there. Shouldn’t be too expensive,” he told me.

“Sounds good. Thanks for the tip.” I smiled back at him, and before us standing there turned into an awkward silence, he pushed his hands into his pockets and leaned in closer.

“If you want, we can go there together. We can take my car,” he said in a low voice, and I was surprised by his suggestion.

“Right now?”

He nodded while he kept his eyes on mine. “Wait next to the park. I’ll pick you up there,” he told me.

“Okay.” I studied his face for a while, then left to go downstairs and walk down the street to the park. We were about to break another rule, but I didn’t care. I wanted him close, and sitting in his classroom all day without really talking to him was not enough for me.

I waited on the sidewalk for his car to pull up. I knew he drove a black car, but there were lots of those on the streets. Finally, a car slowed down in front of me, and the passenger seat door opened.

“Get in,” Ezra told me after opening the door from the inside, and I quickly climbed in.

“Did you tell your moms you’re not coming home right after school?” he asked.

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