Chapter Text
Powder couldn’t have been more relieved when she made it to third period. Mr. Talis wasn’t waiting in the doorway to greet her on her way in.
There was no shot he’d miss today if it wasn’t for something serious. They had that test she didn’t study for.
“Is that everyone?” The sub asked from the back of the room.
He was leaning on the desk with the sleeves of his black button up rolled up to his elbows. His long white locks were tied into a bun. Something she found disgusting when any other guy did it, but he pulled it off.
“It’s a small class.” She explained.
He nodded and walked up to the front of the room, walking right past Powder’s desk on the way.
Damn. She thought to herself. Why can’t I find a guy with an ass like that?
“I’m Mr. Cortez.” He wrote his name quickly on the board, letting Powder get a better look at his body. “Mr. Talis wanted me to let you know the test will be pushed back. He wrote ‘I am not dying. You’ve got one class to study. If I am not back by then, I will find an appropriate substitute to proctor your exam’. And He has left me no other instructions.”
Mr. Cortez seemed more suited to be a model or a pornstar than a substitute. He looked young- like, really young- and fit. There was no shot this guy was more than twenty four.
“Dina?”
That voice. Holy shit.
“Zack?”
Having a hot teacher would be nice. She’d definitely listen to whatever he said.
“Powder?”
That scrawny old guy would never be able to get her attention the way this guy was. Her and Viktor were chill now, but they had to warm up to each other the first few months.
There was a 50% chance that Viktor was taking time off just to get a break from her.
“Powder?” Mr. Cortez leaned against the wall and looked up from his attendance sheet, already knowing who she was. “Powder… Harlow.”
Powder tuned back in once she saw everyone looking at her.
“Here.” She cleared her throat and curled into herself, getting straight to work.
Normally she liked the small class size. There were only fourteen other kids in the class and most of them ditched now that they were eighteen. But she was now realizing it made it impossible to hide from the guy she was just ogling.
She would have ditched if Mylo hadn’t taken the car to go to his stupid community College class.
“Could I talk to you for a second?” Mr. Cortez asked while passing Powder’s desk.
She almost didn’t hear him.
Class had just started. How could she have possibly messed up that badly?
“Viktor said to ask you if I needed help.”
“He did?”
“Yeah. He’s mentioned you before, actually.”
“You know him?”
“Eh… his husband was my professor all four years.”
“You went to Piltover University?”
Viktor constantly mentioned things about his husband. She didn’t think it was that weird to know where her teacher’s husband worked.
His face already told her she had said too much. She cleared her throat and leaned over the desk.
“The computer won’t let you sign in?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Powder instinctively got on her knees and crawled under the desk. He rolled the chair far away from her, almost hitting the wall.
The carpet was digging into her knees, making her second guess wearing something so short. Her legs were gonna be red by the time she fixed this.
“The school puts a lock on them so only one account can log in.” She told him. “You’d have to wipe the entire computer to reset it.”
He watched her messing with stuff under the desk.
Luckily she was wearing a tight top. Not that he wanted to see anything. He wasn't trying to. But if the backless top she had on were any baggier he’d be getting a full view.
“So, what are you doing?”
Powder scoffed.
“I’m not telling you anything.” She rolled onto her back and slid out. “The last thing I need is you telling anyone I can do this.”
“I’m here for one day.” He said, eyeing her curves as she started messing with the computer. “What if this happens in another school?”
“Then you’ll have to call me.” Powder shrugged and walked away.
She wasn’t able to look at him again until the very end of class. It hadn’t dawned on her until then that she had to wait for Mylo to pick her up.
He took the car every Tuesday because of his community college class. Normally, that just meant she’d stay in Viktor’s class until her brother came to pick her up, but today? Would Mr. Cortez even stay during the free period?
She debated packing up all her work and waiting outside in the parking lot, but all her stuff was sprawled out across her desk. It was too much effort to cram it all into her bag just to pull it out later to finish her notes.
Everyone was slowly packing up and making their way out. They were all seniors who had figured out a long time ago that Mr. Talis couldn’t be bothered to chase them down, so they basically just left any time they wanted throughout the last twenty minutes of class.
There was only one other person left by the time she was willing to face the substitute.
He was invested in something on his computer. He had a pen in his long, thick fingers, occasionally writing something down. If he was doing something important, she wouldn’t want to bother him.
Powder watched him absentmindedly put his pen to his lips and stare at the screen.
Why do none of the guys here look this good? She pouted and turned back around.
“I’m-“ She cut herself off.
He clearly heard her though. His head turned her way like he wasn’t sure what the sound was.
Viktor had already warned him about Powder in his lesson plans.
‘Powder is a remarkable student, she’ll need no help with her work, but keep an eye on her. Do not leave her unattended around my things.’ And he was fine with staying late. He was, however, a little worried about being alone with a student who had caused enough trouble to warrant a warning when he was supposed to be there for one day.
“I’ll be here til four.”
“Oh, I’ll only be here for a little longer, don’t worry.”
Mr. Cortez sighed and relaxed a bit.
“What? You got a date or something?” She said, almost muttering.
He froze up and cleared his throat.
Powder frantically texted Mylo, begging for him to hurry up and get here before she said anything else stupid.
She was just worried about prom in a few weeks. It was her last chance to go to a dance with a date, and she was apparently a lot more desperate than she realized.
It was worse knowing when dinner came around, Vander would ask about it again.
This was the stupidest problem to be worrying about so close to finals. She’d be out of this shitty town soon anyway. All she had to do was make it through the next couple months and she’d have enough money in scholarships to afford all four years in an out of state school.
None of her siblings got that chance and she wasn’t about to waste it worrying about a dance she wouldn’t even enjoy if she had someone to go with.
Her phone buzzed and she almost ran out of the room without checking to see who it was.
‘i’m here’
She audibly sighed and threw everything she could into her bag. Mr. Cortez barely got the chance to look up from his desk before she was out of the room.
He swore she ran so fast there was a dust cloud behind her.
She climbed into the passenger seat with her backpack falling off her shoulder and her laptop in her hands, completely out of breath.