e a bomb going off, yanking me out of the wonderful, d

feet as if my body had already decided it wa

ses. Apparently, the world had decided that my life needed a little more anarchy, and what bett

when the only thing I had for breakfast was a

a poor soul waiting to be sacrificed to

to be one of those life-

arn your high school diploma, or fail and end up living in your parents' basemen

ing sure that I never have a good test day.

oke. The first question had me staring at t

character in 'Th

ead the book before. You even pretended to understand it when Mr. Wrigh

at the

ster

P

r Chill

Scarlet

e we really doing this right now? Since w

erary revolution? Does that mean my high school essays are n

so s

minute, wishing the page would sp

existence as I mark Hester Prynne. Because

t of th

ius who truly believed my brain was capable of performing advanced

I had just survived a car crash, but not the

up in the ER questioning everythin

k out of the classroom like they had actually understood the

their phones under their desks. Because that

eat. But as soon as I sat down, I felt it-the weight of his gaze, li

eath the desk, I could literally feel his gaze scorchin

entrated on me that I half-expected him to t

exactly when I was about to transgres

left the classroom! I was the

to be there. Mr. Cristiano Wright-my eve

e kind of aloof model who undoubtedly got paid to l

I trudged out. "Ho

lutely crushed it. I wanted to tell him that

nitely aced it. I'll be sending you an invitation to my Nobe

ke he found my

inkling with something I couldn't quite pla

hat's what I kept telling myself as I walked o

ought my day couldn't

iced it: a piece of paper fluttering near

crumpled-up school project, but then I dis

te. The note that nearl

was instantly recognizable-scrawled in a way that could only

high school deity existed that this

too-perfect handwriting. "We need to

heart? It was either going to explode or fall out

taring at the note like it had jus

ce! His

ns about grades, life choices, and my apparent in

some normal teacher? One who didn't make my heart r

cket, hoping that if I ignored it long enough, it would

I kept telling myself it was just a

re everything changed. And knowing my luck, I was probably

I was already living my own personal soa