Substitute Temptation The phone’s shrill buzz cut through the haze of Amber’s mind like a knife. She groaned, sprawled across her tangled bedsheets, her head throbbing from the remnants of last night’s debauchery. Tequila shots, a couple of joints, and a pulsating playlist had carried her through a neon-lit blur of dancing and laughter until dawn. The clock read 6:45 a.m. The caller ID flashed “Maplewood High.” Her heart lurched. Rent was due in a week, and her bank account was a pitiful echo of better days. “Hello?” Her voice rasped, raw as if she’d gargled gravel. The woman on the other end was all business, oblivious to Amber’s state. “Ms. Thompson? We need a substitute for senior English today. Can you be at Maplewood High by 8:00?” Amber’s mind spun, still half-drunk, half-high, and wholly unprepared. At 22, fresh out of college, substitute teaching was her lifeline, a stopgap until she figured out her next move. “Yeah, sure,” she slurred, praying the woman didn’t catch the ...