Page 8 of Good Girl

Samuel was home.

Samuel Merrick was another teacher at Brown. He led a class on Ethics and Morals and had been one of my closest friends since I'd started working here. My actual home was outside the city, and Samuel had been kind enough to let me crash a few nights in his apartment during my first year. Those few nights had turned into permanent apartment sharing during term time, and I was forever grateful.

“Derek!” yelled a voice from outside my door. Ah, Matt was here too.

“Pizza!” yelled Samuel.

Matt was Samuel’s best friend, and by extension, mine too. You couldn’t get far with Samuel without meeting Matt, and the two of them had had my back from the moment we had become fast friends. Something I had never been more grateful for than in these past few months.

“In a sec,” I called back. With a last glance in the mirror, I headed out into the apartment and crossed through the lounge area to the kitchen. Samuel was half draped over the counter with a pizza slice dripping from one hand and his phone in the other. Matt, forever dressed in his bike leathers, was by the sink downing a large glass of water like he’d just spent three days lost in the desert.

“Good night?” I asked as I settled on one of the stools.

“So good,” Samuel groaned. “Too many shots and not enough girls, though.”

“The curse,” Matt muttered after swallowing water. “There’s never hot women when you go looking for them.”

I smiled to myself as Charlotte popped into my mind.

“How was your first day back?” Samuel’s green eyes narrowed at me and he wrinkled that slightly crooked nose of his. “Any trouble?”

“No,” I confirmed.

Matt, satisfied with his hydration, dropped into the stool next to me with such force that the wood creaked. “It was a pretty smooth day, actually, and I didn’t see thatcunt, so all in all, it was good.”

“I have him in one of my classes.” Samuel scoffed and took a large bite of his slice. “Little prick swans about like he owns the place.”

“His parents are rich, and they’re donors,” Matt said, reaching for his own slice of pizza. He paused, beginning to pick the mushrooms off with a curl of disgust on his lip. “That’s the only reason your investigation took so long.”

“I’m still surprised they didn’t fire me,” I admitted, snagging my own slice before Samuel could demolish the whole pizza.

“Keeping alcohol in your desk was never the wisest decision,” Matt agreed with a chuckle.

“What can I say, I never make wise decisions,” I replied.

“It’s like I said,” Samuel began, using the remains of his pizza crust to point at me. “You’re too good at what you do to be let go over lies like that from that fucking asshole. They just had to make the investigation look good, that’s all.”

“Sure.” I nodded between bites. “And I’m grateful that you both had my back and provided character statements. I’llforeverbe grateful for that.”

“Anytime,” they chanted in unison around stringy cheese and sauce.

“I just wish there was more of a...” I trailed off as the words escaped me, and I waved my free hand through the air. “Y’know, just some way I could rub it in his face that he lost since punching him would be illegal.”

“Punching a student is definitely illegal,” Matt agreed.

“Your being in school has to be a big enough fuck you, though,” Samuel added. “I mean, he went to all that trouble to try and blackmail you into better grades, then when that failed heliedto try and get you fired so he could get better grades, and nowthathas failed. He’s out of options.”

“Your presence is like aha-ha, fuck the rich kidsbanner.” Matt grinned, and he leaned into me, nudging me with his shoulder.

“Every kid there is a rich kid,” I pointed out, laughing.

“I mean, okay, sure.” Matt groaned. “The richassholekids.”

“Every kid is an asshole,” Samuel grumbled.

“Not all of them,” I replied.

Both Samuel and Matt paused their eating to look at me.

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