Tenure

26. Kiernan

26

Kiernan

Baby.

Fuck. Me. The man is full of surprises.

I’d called him on a whim between classes, tired of checking my phone for a text that clearly wasn’t coming. I hadn’t expected him to answer. And I definitely hadn’t expected him to call me baby.

SJ is staring at me as I walk into English, the only class we have together. I avoid eye contact as I take a seat and pull out my stuff.

“Nice hoodie,” she says.

“Shut up.”

“Did you finally french kiss a boy, Kiernan?” she mocks.

“I’ve kissed a fucking boy before, you asshole.” But I’m blushing, because apart from Connor that one time, and the gross kiss with Graham at the party on Wednesday night, I actually haven’t. Not really. Not properly, now that I know what properly feels like.

“Kiernan . . . did you more than french kiss a boy?!”

I say nothing, letting my hair fall like a dark curtain between us. She pinches the back of my arm, and I yelp as the teacher walks in, waving his hand for everyone to hush.

“What did you do?” she hisses at me.

“Nothing,” I whisper.

“You’re lying. Why are you lying?”

“Sarah-Jean!” Mr. Moore snaps. “Care to share with the class?”

SJ shuts her mouth and grits her teeth. I know I’m in for an inquisition as soon as she’s able, so I tap out a quick message.

My friend is asking questions. I don’t know what to tell her

I bite my lip, worried he’ll be pissed, but not sure what else to do.

Tell her you got fucked so hard you passed out

I narrow my eyes.

You mean choked out? And I can't tell her that. She'll ask who

Lie

She knows me too well. Won’t work

I wait, anxiously nibbling at my cuticle, feeling slightly nauseous.

If you trust her, just tell her the truth

My eyebrows hit the roof. I am fucking floored.

I do trust her. But aren’t you worried about this?

Yes

So, why are you okay with me telling her about you?

Because you just lost your virginity, and I’m assuming you’d like to talk someone about it

I blink, literally shocked. Of all the fucking things I expected him to say, this isn’t it.

I’ll tell her I got into some trouble at a party, and you took me home. She’ll prob get distracted by the groping anyway, she’s a bit protective

He is slow to respond, this time.

You can talk to me about that too. If you need to

No, sir. I might have been seeing seven of you, but I know what ‘murder’ looks like

Say that again

That you looked like you were going to kill a man for me?

Sir

I freeze, my stomach clenching deliciously at the opportunity to piss him off, and try not to shift in my seat too much.

Fuck you, JAMES

I smirk, picturing his face, but then I panic as my phone starts to vibrate in my hand. SJ looks over her shoulder and her mouth drops open as she sees Professor J on my screen.

“Oh my GOD,” she hisses at me. “Are you SERIOUS?”

“Not now,” I mumble, declining his call, my face hot.

It starts to ring again.

SJ covers her mouth, eyes wide, and stares at the ringing phone.

I decline again and feel legitimate panic flooding my body. He’s going to be raging fucking mad about this. Shit.

It vibrates once, and I close one eye like I’m watching a horror movie, looking down at the text.

You have 3 minutes to get somewhere private. And you WILL pick up the fucking phone, Kiernan

I’m in class!

Tick tock. 2 minutes left

I gulp, SJ openly reading his message over my shoulder, even her cheeks going pink. I stick my hand up in the air.

“Kiernan?”

“I need to go to the washroom.”

He waves his hand and continues talking, and I avoid eye contact with SJ as I quickly get up and beeline for the door.

What is he going to make me do . . .

I’m in deep fucking shit.