Page 29 of Guys Can't Write Romance
Daisy looked up to find Cindy staring at her with wide, curious eyes.
“What does ‘B-A-N-N-E-D’ mean?” Cindy asked, sounding out each letter.
“What do you mean?” Daisy asked.
“It’s on this picture of you and a man,” Cindy said, holding up her phone.
Daisy rose from her desk and headed down the row to Cindy, noticing several other students staring at their phones. They all looked up at her as Cindy handed her the phone and Daisy looked at the screen. Sure enough, there was her infamous flyer in all its glory.
Daisy walked back to her desk and took a deep breath. “Okay, class. Who wants cookies?”
Hands shot up around the room, along with a chorus of ‘me’s’ and ‘I do’s.’
“Good, then. Cookies for everyone who puts their phone away and doesn’t show that picture to anyone.”
“Not even the other teachers?” asked Tommy Miller.
“Especially not the other teachers,” said Daisy.
As Daisy listened to the shuffle of desks and unzipping of backpacks letting her know the kids were taking her up on the bribe, she spotted Principal Warren walking past her classroom door. He caught her eye, looked pointedly at his phone, then gave her a knowing smile before continuing down the hallway.
Daisy slumped onto her chair and ground her teeth. This was all Chad’s fault. The man was a nuisance, a walking disaster zone who’d managed to get her banned from a public library and turned into a social media spectacle.
He was going to die a slow, painful death.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Daisy stood outside Chad’s apartment, pounding on the door. Just as she was about to unleash another barrage of knocks, the door opened and Rhino stood there, protein drink in one hand and cell phone in the other.
“Where is he?” Daisy growled.
Rhino looked down at the phone, then back at her. “You mean your co-conspirator?” he said, turning the phone to face her soshe could see the screen. And of course, it was the ‘BANNED’ flyer, now with 95,689 likes and 21,578 shares.
“I mean, your soon-to-be-deceased roommate,” she frowned.
“He’s not here.”
Daisy did a double-take. “What do you mean he’s not here?”
“He’s on a date with some chick he met at the volleyball tournament. I think her name’s Tammy, or Cindy, or... Vicky? Yeah, Vicky. They all blend together after a while.”
Smoke was practically pouring from Daisy’s ears. “He’s on a date? We’re supposed to be working on our novels tonight. And then I was going to kill him.”
Rhino’s eyes widened. “Oh, uhm... did I say date? I meant to say, he got a flat on his way home.”
Daisy’s face reddened as her temper boiled. “You. Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To my apartment,” she hollered back as she raced off. “Don’t move.”
“If it helps, she’s really hot.”
“It doesn’t!”
Rhino was still standing in the doorway when Daisy returned twenty minutes later. She brought with her a tote bag loaded with a pink lacy bra, cardigan, scarf, yoga pants, and a bottle of perfume.
“What’s all this?” Rhino said, stepping aside to let her in.
