"I'm a high school teacher," he said with a slight laugh. "The struggle is real."
He'd been waiting for her immediate reaction -- he knew she was John's friend, was more than that, and given John's tendency to warn people about him? It seemed prudent to see how it went those first couple minutes. But since Jo had neither run from him nor come after him, he figured he could relax insofar as it meant be reasonably sure he'd live.
"It's nice to meet you, by the way," he said, looking at her. He knew full well that he didn't actually need to introduce himself.