Page 13 of Waiting for Friday Night

“It’s no big deal. I still got to sit with you today.” He smiled as he spoke the words and Halle returned the gesture.

Gregory was so nice and sweet. Even though they hadn’t kissed, she had a feeling when they did it would be amazing. Usually, she wasn’t overly eager to rush the physical side of a relationship, but she liked spending time with him and talking to him. His ability to have an conversation about literature had only stoked a fire beneath her long ignored libido. She wasn’t typically one to lose herself in daydreams of fairytales. Losing her parents taught her that life could be heartbreaking, but for the first time in a long time, she felt hopeful. She’d wanted more than one child, but after having Shania right before graduating college, she’d realized being a single parent was a lot of work. If things worked out with Gregory, her dreams of having more children wouldn’t be too late to realize.

“I guess we should find our groups,” she said.

They got up and made their way to the tables around the room with the various colors. Halle walked up to the orange table at the same time Quinton walked up holding an orange square. He was dressed like he did for football practice, in a pair of fitted joggers and a Peachtree Cove High School athletic shirt. The aviator glasses he liked were folded into the collar of his shirt. Of course, she’d end up in a group with him.

“Orange, huh?” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. She was able to work with anyone in a group. Even guys who insisted she was not their type.

He nodded. “Yep.” He sounded just as enthusiastic about being in a group with her as she did.

“Guess we’ll see how many others join our group.”

“Yep,” he agreed.

Halle fought not to roll her eyes. Was he only capable of one-word responses? They looked around and waited for others to come over. The crowd split up and people joined the other tables. No one else came to the orange table. Halle crossed her arms. There had to be someone else joining them.

Dr. Watts headed their way. He grinned and held out his arms. “We only had two orange tabs. We tried to break everyone up into groups of five but didn’t have enough. Instead of making an uneven group we decided to just have one group of two.”

“Wouldn’t we need more people in our group for the exercise?” Halle asked.

Dr. Watts shook his head. “Not at all. In fact, this exercise is about brainstorming ways to handle the biggest challenges you see in the upcoming year. We’re looking for ideas of ways the school and the district can support overcoming those obstacles. You two work together on that and then you can report back out to the larger group. Sound good?”

Quinton grunted then nodded. Dr. Watts beamed before looking at Halle. If Halle was anything she was a team player. She nodded and smiled.

“Great! I’ll let you two get to it.” Dr. Watts turned and walked away.

Halle glanced around the room at the various tables. Gregory was on the other side of the room. The one lone man at a table full of women. She sighed. Why couldn’t he have picked the other orange square?

“Are you two dating?”

Halle blinked and focused on Quinton. “Huh?”

He raised a brow and then nodded in the direction of Gregory. “You and the English teacher. Are you two dating?”

Halle lifted her chin. “That’s none of your business.”

Quinton pulled a chair out and sat down at the table. “According to the teachers in the middle school you two are hooking up.”

Halle gasped before sliding out the chair next to him and plopping down into the seat. “We’re not hooking up.”

“I just thought you should know. That’s what they’re saying.”

She crossed her arms on the table. “And you care about the gossip.”

He held up a hand. “I don’t care what you do.”

“Then why ask if we’re dating?”

He shrugged and then slid the papers with the instructions for the exercise over to him. “Forget I asked.” He scanned the first page and started reading. “Think about the upcoming school year and list what may prove challenging with the upcoming changes.”

Halle’s eyes narrowed on him. “We’re not dating.”

“Okay,” Quinton said before continuing to read. “Identify ways to overcome the challenges.”

“Not yet anyway.”

Quinton stopped reading. He lowered the paper to the table. “So, you want to date him?”

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