[002] mr. lynch

                                    "What in God's name are you wearing?"

                                    Juno glances down at her outfit before she looks over at her mom who remained standing there with that dumb look on her face. "Clothes."

                                   "Says who?" her mom frowns, looking her daughter up and down with genuine dismay.

                                   "The mall. What's the big deal?" Juno rolled her eyes. She really wasn't in the mood for her mom giving her shit today. She was already upset over being home in the first place and she didn't need to hear her mom nagging at her for the one millionth time.

                                   "The big deal is that you look like a -," she began to say, only for Nate to walk inside of the kitchen and cut her off.

                                   "Slut," Nate finishes for her.

                                   "At least I didn't get bullied by the new girl at the party last night. I heard she pulled out a knife and made you cry," Juno's quick to retort.

                                   "How'd you even hear about that?" Nate frowned.

                                   "News travels fast and I... basically saw the video on Insta. I kinda want to meet her now. She's my hero," Juno answers with a smug little grin.

                                   "Nate, don't call your sister names. And Juniper, please wear a jacket at least," her mom warned.

                                   Juno rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

                                   "Are you going to go to school with Nate?" her mom asks next.

                                   "I'm getting a ride with Victoria," Juno responds, watching the way her mom almost crumples with disappointment. Nate scowled at the mention of Victoria's name.

                                   "I thought your father and I told you to stop hanging out with her," she frowned.

                                   "You can't make me. Besides, Dad's hardly ever here so his word doesn't mean shit," Juno retorts as she folds her arms across her chest.

                                  "Juniper -," her mom began.

                                  "What? It's true, Mom. Have you ever wondered where he's been all this time? It's obviously not here since he's barely home," Juno snapped.

                                  "Stop it," Nate remarked.

                                  Juno glares at Nate who glares right back at her. It'd be through Nate that she'd learn her father's secret. Not only was he cheating on Mom, but he'd do so with men and even trans people. He kept tapes of it, watching it whenever he was alone for some fucked up reason. Nate had made Juno watch one and she hadn't been able to look at her dad since. She and Nate were burdened with his secret, resenting the man they were forced to call Dad even more because of it. And Juno resented Nate for even showing her in the first place which only drove a wedge further between the already distant siblings.

                                  The sound of car honks is enough to make Juno finally look away, grabbing the closest granola bar she could get her hands on before leaving. "See you all later!"

                                  Not waiting for a response, Juno rushes outside and climbs into Victoria's car. Technically it was Colin's, but the piece of shit was usually so drunk that he hardly ever noticed it was gone. Victoria smiles when she sees Juno, the two driving towards East Highland High shortly after Juno gets inside.

                                 "What's with the face?" Victoria says, immediately noticing that Juno's mood was off.

                                 "What face?" Juno looks at her best friend, trying her best to act normal. But Victoria pretty much knew the girl like the back of her hand at this point.

                                 "You look pissed. Was Nate being a piece of shit again?" Victoria asked. She didn't care for Nate, seeing as he was an asshole and a grade A creep. He had tried to get Victoria to sleep with him two years before, but she rejected him, earning a place on his shit list.

                                 In Nate's eyes, Victoria was too much of a slut to say no to him. And the fact that even she had rejected him just set him off. Now, Victoria may have had low standards, but they weren't that damn low.

                                 "No. I mean, yeah, but he's always like that. It's my mom and her hypocrisy. I can't fucking wait until I leave them all behind," Juno admits with a sigh.

                                  "Let's not focus on that. Instead... we can blast music and dance," Victoria offered.

                                  "Alright, fine," Juno agrees with a smile.

                                  In the meantime, Joshua Lynch was desperately trying to hold himself together.

                                  The history teacher was known around East Highland High as being quiet, keeping to himself, but still managing to be fairly cool. He didn't give homework, but only because he didn't need any more shit to grade. And he was one of the younger teachers there, making the other students develop a crush on him from time to time.

                                But while Josh enjoyed his job a lot, he had a good life at home to balance it all out. Once upon a time, he was happily married to Rachel Lynch and everything was perfect. They didn't have much, but they were happy together. But after ten years, cracks at the foundation of their relationship grew larger and larger until the two were successfully pulled apart. Rachel had fallen out of love with Josh and she felt as though she deserved more, so she was the one to make the first move and leave him with only a note.

                                  The two had been separated for a couple months now, preparing to get a divorce. And Josh was left completely blindsided.

                                 Life had become bleak for the teacher who had spent the entire summer inside the house, drinking nothing but beer and taking care of his two dogs. He had never been much of an outgoing person in the first place and now that Rachel was gone, there was no real reason for him to be going out. He had sunken deep into a depression, seeing no other way out.

                                 But with no one to talk to, Josh was forced to bottle it up inside and try to keep going about his day.

                                The first day of school was always the most stressful one with Josh trying to associate new names with even newer faces. It was overwhelming but at the same time, a welcomed distraction from his bleak existence. In the classroom, he could still pretend to be someone he wasn't. Happy and carefree, unlike the real Joshua Lynch who perhaps cared too much.

                                Besides, he figured that today would be an ordinary first day just like all of the others. He couldn't have been more wrong.

                                When his fifth period rolled around, Josh was ready to keep things going as usual. But as he sat down at his desk and watched the next round of students pour in, his eyes landed on one in particular. She was petite, long brown hair flowing past her shoulders. She dressed to capture attention, seeing as she definitely had his. It was like she was asking for it and Josh couldn't resist. She was beautiful, carrying a spark about her that Josh couldn't ignore. He feels like a moth to a flame, almost forgetting that he was in a classroom. 

                               And that the girl he was admiring happened to be his very own student.

                               "Excuse me," a voice interrupts his train of thought, causing Josh to look up and see a male student now standing in front of him.

                                "Huh?" Josh blinks.

                               "This is History, right?" the student asks, wiping his glasses after.

                               "Yeah," Josh nods.

                               "Excuse me, I was gonna sit here," Victoria declared as she stood in front of a student who was already seated.

                               Juno was sitting next to her, lucky enough to get a seat first. Victoria naturally wanted to sit next to her, so she saw only one option to getting it.

                               "But I was here first," the girl meekly argued.

                               "That's too fucking bad, isn't it? Now move," Victoria states, sending her a warning look.

                               The girl quickly realizes that she didn't want any problems with her and goes to leave, allowing Victoria to sit next to Juno. Juno rests her chin in the palm of her hand, looking straight ahead at Mr. Lynch who was still talking to another student. She couldn't help but stare at him, realizing that he was a lot more handsome than the rumors made him out to be. He was the hottest guy Juno had ever laid eyes on.

                              "Someone's got a staring problem," Victoria teased.

                              "Can you blame me?" Juno giggles. "He's hot. Like... Cillian Murphy level hot."

                              "Shit, I didn't think you had a thing for older guys," Victoria chuckled, glancing over at Mr. Lynch again before she looked back at Juno. 

                              "What can I say? Guys my age are full of shit," Juno shakes her head.

                              She resumes staring at Mr. Lynch, unable to take her eyes off of him. He was handsome in a nerdy, bookworm kind of way. Messy dark curls sat on top of his head like a crown and he had a little stubble, making Juno imagine what it'd be like to run her fingers through his hair. And although he dressed like a middle aged loser, his handsome face was more than enough to save him in Juno's mind.

                             Josh would end up looking over in Juno's direction, the two of them locking eyes with each other for a matter of minutes. But truth be told, it felt like an eternity for the both of them. Juno's heart skips a beat as she sends him a sheepish smile, looking away afterwards to try and hide her blush. Josh looks away too, realizing that he had to snap out of it and remember what he was doing. This was already wildly inappropriate and he couldn't believe he had done that.

                           Was he losing his mind?

                           Josh resumes the class after that, doing his best to not pay attention to the brown haired beauty who had caught his attention. Josh thinks he does a pretty good job at playing it cool, right up until the class was over. Josh was sitting back at his desk when two people approached his desk. One was the girl who had caught his attention before and the second appeared to be her best friend.

                             "Hi, Mr. Lynch," the two girls say at the same time.

                             "Hello...," he trails off, his mind going blank as he tries to remember their names. With all of the names he had to remember for today, it was hard keeping track of them all.

                             "I'm Victoria and that's Juniper. But she goes by Juno," Victoria introduces the both of them.

                             "Hi," Juno waves at him, biting her lip to try and not smile like a giant idiot in front of him. Juno was usually cooler around guys, thanks to Victoria, but she didn't know how to act now that she had a giant schoolgirl crush on her teacher.

                             "Hey. Sorry about that. It's the first day and -," Josh began to say.

                             "It's fine! Uh, I just want you to know that I'm a really big fan of history," Juno quickly assures him.

                             "Are you?"

                             Although Josh tried to make the subject fun, he was well aware of how boring it could be. It wasn't every day you saw teenagers jumping at the chance to learn about dead presidents, old wars, ancient civilizations, etc. So to hear Juno speak so enthusiastically about it was a pleasant surprise.

                             Juno quickly nods. "Yeah. I like learning about the past and stuff. I think history's so cool."

                             "That's great.  Do you plan on becoming a historian when you grow up or...?"

                             Juno chuckles. "No, no, nothing like that. I don't think I'd be able to handle a job like that."

                             "Well, you won't know unless you try. It's best to try and think positively about the future. You never know what might happen."

                              "Thanks for the golden nugget of wisdom, Mr. Lynch."

                              Juno smiles, nodding. "Yeah, thanks."

                              She wasn't used to hearing shit like that back at home. Sure, it may have been a little cheesy and something you'd see on those dumb motivational posters in your guidance counselor's office. But it was comforting. And the fact that her hot teacher was the one encouraging her certainly helped.

                             "Hey, if you ever need any help around the class or anything, we'd be happy to help. Or rather, Juno would be. She really likes helping teachers. She's a real teacher's pet," Victoria smirks.

                             "Ha ha," Juno nudges the girl.

                             "Oh, I appreciate that. I'll get back to you on that one," Josh says before he glances back down at his papers. "You two should probably get to class before the bell."

                             "You're so right, Mr. Lynch! See you tomorrow!" Victoria beams before she rushes out of the classroom, dragging Juno with her.

                             Josh watches the two vibrant, giggling girls leaving his classroom before he takes a deep breath. He wasn't sure what was going on with him. But whatever it was, Josh knew he had to nip it in the bud now before it had the potential to get worse.

( 🚬🪩🎧 )

word count: 2225
notes: we finally get to meet josh who's still very much a loser. just one whose background i changed a little so now he and rachel are divorcing rather than already divorced. i figured it'd make an already messy situation EVEN messier