Hissy Fit (Southern Gentleman 1)

Of course, it had to be Raleigh that broke that silence.

“I once walked in on my parents doing it on the kitchen table,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t eat there for a year.”

There was silence for a few long seconds, and then I started to crack up.

“Oh, God,” my mother wheezed. “At least we keep it to our bedroom. But, just sayin’, it’ll teach y’all to knock or announce yourselves before you walk into our house.”

“I texted,” Cady said in outrage. “I mean, what more did you want me to do? Have one of those criers from the old days announce my presence before I arrive?”

My pop snorted. “How about we just change the subject, and we act like it never happened?” he suggested.

“But it did happen,” Raleigh offered helpfully. “I don’t mind, though. It’s a natural thing. It wasn’t like y’all were doing anything illegal.”

I groaned and leaned my head against the back of my chair. “Is there a reason we’re still talking about this? I don’t feel like this is something that we should continue to talk about over my favorite dinner.”

“It is his favorite dinner,” my mom amended. “We can talk about this after dinner, during dessert if you’re more comfortable.”

“How about never?” Cady suggested.

“You do know, right, that your father and I had sex, which then turned into conceiving you,” my mother teased, enjoying the fact that she could embarrass her adult children, just like she enjoyed it when we were younger. “There’s this thing called conception, it starts by…”

“La-la-la-la-la,” Cady yelled loudly. “I’m not listening.”

“What’s sex, Grandma?” Moira asked suddenly, appearing at our sides with a Gatorade and handing it to her father, who twisted it open without a second’s thought. “I want to have sex!”

That was when the entire table exploded, while Raleigh watched on in fascination.Chapter 14333. I’m only half evil.

-Text from Raleigh to Camryn

Raleigh

“Ms. Crusie?” the office called over the speaker in my classroom. “Do you have a moment to come into my office and speak with me?”

I looked up in horror at the speaker and then looked at the students that were huddling in my classroom to escape the rain outside where they would normally be having their lunch period.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said to the old office lady, Mrs. Johns. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

It just so happened that not only was I forced to take the senior sex-ed class, I was also forced to take the classroom that was as far away from civilization, as well as the office, as it could be.

Not that I was complaining.

I loved the classroom…mostly.

But, every once in a while, a few doubts and fears would creep in, and I’d be left thinking that nobody would hear us—or me—if we screamed.

“Awww, man!” Johnson whined. “I’m only half done with my math homework for Uncle Ezra’s class.”

I stood up and gathered my keys. “I’ll allow y’all to stay in here on two conditions.”

Morgan, who’d been helping Johnson, looked up. “And what’s that?”

“Y’all don’t trash my crap, and y’all don’t try to pry open the desk drawers to get a peek at your test.”

It was Mackie’s snort of derision that almost had me reaching into the desk and withdrawing the tests. Morgan and Johnson were okay. Mackie? Not so much.

Luckily, and unluckily as I saw it, the classroom we were in was also the same classroom that I taught sex-ed in, meaning that the students had gathered there to study during lunch. I didn’t mind. I was beginning to really enjoy that particular group of kids, sans a few bad apples.

I also couldn’t wait to hand over the tests.

I’d changed them up a little from the norm, and I had a feeling that today’s test wouldn’t be as easy as the last two had been.

Apparently, someone was handing out the answers, and not one single person had made below a ninety the entire semester.

Though this was an easy class, it wasn’t the type of class that would have every single student passing every single test with flying colors.

Life just didn’t work like that.

I’d expected at least one B, because I hadn’t made the test easy, but they were all doing well.

Sure, some of them I’d expect to actually read the material and study, like Johnson and Morgan.

However, Mackie making a ninety-nine when he refused to do any of his homework, or even open a book, left something inside of me suspicious of his actions.

“Yes, ma’am,” Johnson drawled. “We’ll be good. Pinky promise.”

He held up his pinky, and jokingly I walked over to him and took the pinky with mine.

Afterward, I walked out of the class and toward the office, feeling dread replace my calm before I’d even made it halfway.

It didn’t help that I saw Ezra coming out of the principal’s office just as I was arriving.

It also scared me when he wouldn’t look at me as he passed.