Page 78 of Exactly What I Needed
“See you this afternoon!” I waved and rushed out the door.
Chapter 27
Iwas only seven minutes late for class, and luckily, that was my first time ever, so nobody except Elysia noticed. Well, and my students. But I had always been lenient with them being late to first hour, so nobody made a fuss. The lecture today was shorter than usual since I hadn’t spent as much time after school prepping.
Which, of course, was a huge hit with the class. I smiled, letting them have some free time near the end. Most students chose to read, though a few heads hit the desk and took a small nap. I didn’t say anything or disturb them. I was exhausted too, which was entirely by my own choice. Also a choice I would most certainly be making again.
Glancing at my phone, I saw I had a few Picsnap notifications from Asher. Since we weren’t doing anything, I picked it up and leaned back in my chair. He’d sent me pictures of himself and the band at the stadium. First day of rehearsals and sound check for this weekend. It looked like Nova and Ava were there as well.
And of course, Asher was back in his cut-off hoodie. I really loved that damn thing…
Then the bell rang, and first period was over. It didn’t take long for my next class to slowly come filing in, but I was a little distracted—by an email notification that I’d just received.
It was from Izzy, and I quickly clicked on it.
I can’t get over your pictures. So here’s the poster one edited and ready to be printed out. It should size perfectly. The rest of your photos will be done by this weekend and I’ll have the album sent and delivered by Monday next week.
My eyes slid to the photo, and it looked better than my mind had even imagined possible. Asher was going to love it.
Or at least I hoped he would. Bubbles of nerves began jumping in my stomach as I realized that maybe he wouldn’t care for it. He might not be that type of guy, or get a little upset that someone else could potentially see me like that. Kieron had seen this picture. What if he got upset about that?
I closed my eyes and shook my head, frustrated.Dumb idea, Cosi. Dumb, dumb idea.
“Miss Duval?” A voice pierced my thoughts, and my eyes shot up from my phone.
“Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. I need to teach,” I exclaimed and set my phone down on my desk. Pushing back, I stood from the chair and grabbed the remote to the projector.
“Orrrrrr,” Dane interrupted, and I lifted a cautionary brow. “Okay, hear me out first, Miss Duval. Before you shut me down.”
I crossed my arms but didn’t say anything.
“Awesome. What if, because you were clearly distracted by something, we get five minutes of gossip time?” He grinned wickedly. Selena and Caralee suddenly shot out of their seats, squealing with hands raised.
I sighed and tipped my head. “From the sounds of it, something happened that I justhaveto hear,” I teased, and everyone, and I mean every one of my students, fervently nodded. “All right, four minutes. Go!”
Every hand shot in the air, waiting to be called on. I scanned the room and stopped at the redheaded girl in the back corner. “Lacy, what happened that has made everyone so excited?”
She squeaked. “The Dark Banshee was seen with a girl last night.” And the entire class erupted like a volcano in chaotic chatter. Talking over one another, it took me a good minute to rein everyone back in.
“Okay, first. Who’s this Dark Banshee?” I asked, and Selena rolled her eyes.
“And you claim to be a Void fan,” she mocked.
“I like their music, listen to it. But—”
“The four members all have names that their fans like to call them,” Caralee cut me off.
“Oh. Okay, so which one is he?” I asked. I already knew. A rush of emotion swept hot through my skin. Ireallyknew… Sitting on the edge of my desk, I patiently waited.
“The singer. Asher! But the thing is, no one knows who she is. Not a single video of her shows her face. The internet has been going crazy all night and morning, trying to find at least one identifying factor. But even the videos that catch glimpses of her before the fans realized she was theredon’t show anything. She’s got her helmet on and the dark visor down. Oh, we forgot to say that he was out riding his motorcycle last night when a fan saw him,” Megan replied, gushing in excitement.
Selena jumped out of her seat and walked toward me. “Want to see the video? Like, the escape was perfectly executed.”
“Sure.” I feigned disinterest, but boy was I invested.
At least from the sounds of it, no one could tell it was me, which came as a relief. I’d been so wrapped in my bubble that for a moment before all of this, I forgot who he was to everyone else. Honestly, when I was with him, it felt as if he was a mere normal human, and I didn’t think about his celebrity status often enough.
Selena showed me the video on her screen and pressed play.
