EMMA’s POV :

The next day at school, I was avoiding Mr. Hayes at all costs. It was the right thing to do. I just needed to get him out of my system so I could function normally again. A Mr. Hayes detox, I called it.

I was doing well since Mr. Hayes mostly stayed in his art studio and I didn’t have that class today. I chose to focus my energies on my friends and studies instead. Tiff, Carrie, Mark, and I were having lunch in the quad. It was still September, so the weather was warm and nice.

Mark was telling us gossips he heard from the teachers’...