Page 110 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

“Not only have you put our school in a bad position with the parents–because they will find out about this–but you didn’t stop to think about how this–” Rutton pointed at the screen “–would affect Kira.”

At the mention of her name, my chest tightened. She was right. I might not have cared about what the parents thought of me, but I cared about our students. I cared about Kira. And if the parents found out about this, it meant she would too.

A brief knock interrupted us, and Miles opened the door.

He glanced nervously around at our drained, frustrated faces, then said, “Principal Rutton, there’s a problem in the amphitheater. Miss Gem needs you.”

Chapter 44

Theo

“Kira, how did you get that picture?”

I stood in the hallway, facing my daughter.

She turned the screen back to herself and stared at it like she couldn’t believe it was there.

“Amber sent it to the class.”

And that was when I heard it–hooting, catcalls, and laughter coming from the amphitheater. Miss Gem’s voice rose above it all, trying to calm her class, but she was failing.

“Why did you kiss Miss Walker?”

The disbelief in her tone was enough to get me to say, “Come with me. We can talk about this in my office. You can take the day off.”

Or maybe the week. Based on the sounds coming from her classroom, things were about to get bad for my daughter. My stomach roiled at the thought of it.

“Just tell me now, Dad. Tell me why you kissed her.”

I ran my hand through my hair. This day.

“I didn’t think anyone would see us.”

“So you kissed her?” Her voice climbed higher. “How did that even happen?”

“Kira, this isn’t the right place to talk about something like this.”

“Oh, but a bookstore is the perfect place to kiss my teacher,” she mocked, folding her arms and rolling her eyes.

“Hey. I know this is a shock for you, but we don’t speak to each other like that. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

She hiked a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the classroom behind her. “You really thought this wouldn’t hurt me? Are you kidding, Dad?”

“We didn’t think anyone would find out.”

“You don’t even like her.” She waved her hand at the door. “You made this happen, and you don’t even like her.”

I gripped her shoulder and made her look at me.

“Kira, I love her.”

It was the first time I’d said it out loud, but as soon as the word left my lips, I knew it was true.

But it didn’t stop Kira from shrugging away, snorting as she said, “Yeah, sure. Now you ‘love’ her.”

“I didn’t want to, but I do. This wasn’t something I could control.”

She narrowed her eyes and said, “Right. Because if you could control it, you would’ve fallen for Mom instead,” and it felt like my daughter had stabbed me in the gut.