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Scarlett laughed. “Fair.” She stared at me. “So you and Mr. Halifax. I can’t believe it really happened.”

“I know. Finally.” It really did feel like a Christmas miracle. And now that I knew Scarlett wasn’t upset, it was easy to feel the Christmas vibes in the air. Maybe I’d been overreacting. Everyone was walking around chatting and being merry enough. The smell of delicious monkey bread was even coming from the kitchen.

My dad walked up to Aunt Penny. “I have a gift for you.” He pointed to the box covering his dick.

Aunt Penny laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

Maybe he’d still hit five each after all.

Jacob plopped down on the couch next to me. “How are you guys holding up?”

“Fine,” Scarlett said. “But where the heck were you on Tuesday night? You just disappeared before all hell broke loose.”

“I was there. I was just hiding in that dark jungle room.”

I laughed. “I knew it. With Girl #5?”

He just shrugged in response. He was so guilty. He turned to me. “So, is it true? Did you actually sleep with Mr. Halifax?”

I nodded. “Jacob, it was so amazing. Like every one of my dreams come true.”

He smiled. “I’m happy for you, Soph.”

“I’m happy for me too. Can I borrow your phone?”

“Why?” he asked.

“I want to text Mr. Halifax, but I left my last burner phone at home.”

Jacob shook his head. “I don’t want Mr. Halifax sexting me.”

I laughed. “Fair. And maybe it’s a bad idea anyway. I don’t want to seem too needy, you know? I’ll wait to see him again in person. God, how is this my life?” I fell backward into the plush pillows of the couch and smiled up at the Christmas garland draped around the room.

Scarlett laughed and leaned back into the pillows too.

For the first time ever, I was actually excited for Christmas break to end.

Chapter 18 – I’ve Ruined His Life

Monday – 2 Weeks Later

Normally the way to show off that you were dating someone new was to show up to school in their varsity jacket.

But this wasn’t a normal relationship.

Mr. Halifax and I had to keep this a secret.

And I was so excited to sneak around with him. Scarlett knew of a bunch of good places to hook up because of her kiss thief situation. I was really looking forward to Mr. Halifax pulling me into the janitor’s closet and having his way with me. And maybe once school was out for the day we could do it on his desk this time.

I dropped my calculus book when I went to pull it out of my locker.

Scarlett picked it up. “Are you okay? You seem very distracted.”

“I’m just excited. I can barely stay still.” The anticipation of seeing Mr. Halifax in class now that we’d crossed the line was too much. Everything was different. And yet...to everyone watching it had to remain entirely the same. This was going to be so much fun. But also hard. Now that I’d touched him, it was going to be even harder to keep my hands to myself.

I wondered if he’d still call me out in class like always. I smiled. He better. I loved when he said, “Miss Hunter and Miss Hunter are you planning on speaking during my whole class?” It was one of my favorite routines. Since he always fucked me with his eyes when he said it.

Axel walked over and gave Scarlett a kiss.