Page 35 of Learning Little Lizzie

“Of course you do,” she said with a laugh, waving her pizza around. “Ask away.”

“When I asked you about your homework, you said ‘I tried’. Will you tell me what happened?”

It was like watching someone flip a switch. Her face crumpled and she set her pizza down again. Perfect white teeth nibbled at her bottom lip. “If I tell you, will you promise not to be mad?”

“I can’t promise that. But I can promise to listen and keep an open mind.”

“I guess that’ll have to be good enough.” She sighed, and the sound was so sad he nearly jumped out of his chair to scoop her up and cuddle her on his lap. “I get distracted easily.”

“I may have heard a rumor about that.”

“Teachers are the biggest gossips, I swear,” she grumbled. “Well, I got to the library and realized I had my math textbook but not my notebook or my workbook, even though I swear I had both of them in there last night, and I don’t remember taking them out. So I had to text the group chat to see if anyone could give me the assignment. Which was a whole thing because I kept getting distracted by the chat, but I eventually did actually start the homework.”

“Good job. I’m proud of you for not just giving up at the first bump in the road.”

“Yeah?” The barest hint of a smile flashed, then faded just as quickly. “I did give up, though. I tried the problems, I really did. But I didn’t have my notes from class and I couldn’t figure anything out.”

“I want you to look at me, little girl.”

He waited for her to raise her gaze to his, then put as much conviction as he could into his tone. “I will never, ever be upset with you for trying. Even if you try and it’s too hard, or you need help, I will always be proud of you for at least giving it a go. You never have to be afraid to tell me that you struggled with something. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. Finish your pizza and we’ll go over your math problems together.”

Sighing dramatically, she picked up her half-eaten slice. “I was worried you might say that.”

CHAPTER 13

She only earned a handful of mild punishments during her first week with Samuel, a fact nobody was more surprised by than Eliza. It was rare a spanking made such an impact on her that she was compelled to be on her best behavior for more than a day or so afterward.

Well, perhaps not her best behavior. She still struggled with some of her tasks, like getting out the door on time in the mornings and remembering to do all her chores around the apartment. But she was slowly accumulating those Good Girl stars, and she was surprised to find how much she looked forward to their evening recaps of her behavior.

But as the days went on, she found herself feeling more and more restless. It wasn’t like she wanted to be in trouble, not really, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed something, and that the “something” she needed was probably a good hard spanking.

Dammit.

“Psst. Eliza,” Harmony whispered from behind her as they waited for Professor Eaton to begin their first class of the day. “Is Professor Eaton really your Daddy?”

Twisting around in her seat, Eliza glared at her. “Where did you hear that?”

“I overheard my Daddy talking to someone about how much better you were doing now that you had a Daddy to keep you in line.”

Ugh. She should have realized it was only a matter of time before her secret got out. Everyone knew she’d been assigned a guardian, but Kylie was the only one she’d told about the whole “Daddy” business and she knew once something went in the Kylie vault even the CIA couldn’t pry that information out of her. “That’s not really any of your business, Harmony.”

Worry had Harmony’s brows drawing together. “But you’re not a Little. Have you told him you’re not a Little?”

Obviously Harmony wasn’t going to let go of this particular bone any time soon. “Yes. I have. But it’s… complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

Before she could answer, Professor Eaton’s voice rang out from the front of the classroom. “Good morning, class.”

Not wanting to get in trouble with her guardian in front of everyone and give the rumor mill even more fuel, Eliza turned back around to the front. “Good morning, Professor,” she parroted back along with the rest of the class.

“Books open to page 203. We’re going to review the homework assignment from Monday, and then we’ll move on to today’s lesson.”

“Psst.” Harmony tapped on Eliza’s shoulder as Professor Eaton wrote the first problem out on the white board at the front of the class. “How is it complicated?”

---