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He looked at me like I was crazy. “You know, the one who did slapshots with eggs in the Columbus rookie’s apartment? It was on SportsCenter. Josie-Bosie on Tiktok,” he clarified. “She deleted her account after the whole thing, but you can still see it if you look it up.”
“Ohhh shit,” I breathed out. Now I remembered, but even when I first watched that video, I thought she looked familiar. And I specifically remember being floored that someone fumbled the bag with her. Like, someone actually cheated onher?What a fucking loser.
“Wonder how many times she gets recognized because of that.” He chuckled under his breath. “She prolly dyed her hair because of it.”
Now my chest tightened for her. The whole world knew she’d been cheated on. That had to suck. Even though most people in the comments had been on her side and that Garrett guys’ name had been drug through the mud– college frats and sororities all over the country displayed banners that read: “Good morning to everyone except Garrett” – but still… That must’ve been hard as shit to go through.
The other thing I remembered from that video– her hockey skills were pretty impressive.
But she was more impressive here at the school.
She was very motherly with the kids, greeting each and every one of them like they all mattered to her. I couldn’t see her ripping into anyone, making them feel like an absolute dumbass in front of everyone. I couldn’t see her spraying anyone with water like they were a misbehaving puppy. I flinched just thinking of the memory.
“Dude, a tip,” Campbell whispered, “quit staring.”
“I can’t,” I mumbled distractedly… then felt my face flame red when I realized I actually said that aloud.
Campbell held a hand to his face to cover up his need to cackle.
As soon as everyone was seated, she walked to the front of the class like it was so natural for her, and she addressed the little ones. “Okay class, we have some members of the Crewmen here today. Let’s give them a round of applause for coming!”
They all clapped, and a couple of the boys whooped excitedly.
“Let’scalmlygo to the reading nook to hear them read a couple stories for us, okay?” She clapped her hands together and they all hopped out of their seats and obediently walked to the rug to sit down. A couple little girls hung back, wanting to sit closer to her. I couldn’t blame them. I’d want to sit next to her too.
Miss Josie looked at me expectantly then and gave me a nod.
Shit. Nerves crashed into my body.
“Uh,” my voice cracked slightly, and the guys behind me snickered. Thankfully, Griff cut them a stern look.
“Okay, so today we’re gonna read,” I looked down at the title and breathed a sigh of relief. I knew the story from the illustrations on the cover alone, “The Polar Express.”
The kids let out cheers.
I turned the page and my body instantly felt hot and sweaty.
You see, I fully know how to read… but sometimes… Sometimes my brain goes too fast, and the words get jumbled up.
I tried to start reading slowly, but for some reason, even though I’ve seen each word like a billion times in my life, they still looked brand new to me, and I caught myself sounding them out. I tried to play it off like I was showing the words to the kids and sounding them out with them, and that kind of helped.
After finally finishing a full page, I looked up. Miss Josie smiled encouragingly at me, and I felt a bit better, I pulled at my collar. Things were going fine. They were going good.
I should’ve known the other shoe was about to drop.
Right as I began the next page, a kid sitting in the front row sneezed, and a big, fat, green snot-rocket landed right on my shiny shoe.
“Oh fuuuck,” I breathed out. The entire class let out a collective gasp. But I was too busy covering my mouth so no one would see me gag. I shook my shoe while hacking my lungs out, trying to dispel the snot. I finally had to rub it on the colorful reading rug.
And that’s when I finally noticed the room was dead silent.
The kids were staring at me like they just saw a ghost.
“What?” I searched around me, confused.
Griff sucked in his top lip and hung his head, the other guys were in states of shock and amusement, the kids were now staring between me and Miss Josie.
“What?” And then it dawned on me. “Oh sh-” I thankfully cut myself off that time.
