Page 14 of Silent Desires

Chapter eight

Max looks at me with wide eyes as he asks, “you know how to do this math?” I bite my lip and look down. He’s caught me answering the questions. I could try to lie, but I’m not sure I want to lie to him anymore. I look back up at him and shrug.

“How did you learn to do that?” he asks, wonder in his voice.

I tap his textbook.

He frowns. “Through a textbook?”

I nod.

“Have you read this whole book?”

I nod again.

“And you understood it all?”

Another nod.

“What else did you read?”

I think for a second, then pull his book closer, flipping to the index. I point to the wordsalgebraandadvanced functions.

“You read all those books in the library here, this week?”

Nod.

“Holy crap, that’s crazy!”

I jerk back at that, my stomach twisting. I don’t want to be seen as crazy.

“No, Sweetheart, I meant that in a good way. A great way, like you’re crazy smart!” He smiles at me.

“Mr. Miller, are you feeling so confident in your calculus skills today that you don’t need to pay attention?” Mrs. Pinkins stands right in front of our desks, surprising me with her closeness. There’s a teasing note in her voice.

“Hey, Mrs. P—I think Mina is like a math genius or something. Give her a hard question!” Max pushes his notebook and pencil toward her.

I’m not sure he’s right, but the thought of solving a hard question excites me. She writes out a question that doesn’t seem too hard and turns the paper toward me. But panic freezes me. I’m not supposed to be able to do this, my mother told me to stick to my coloring books. It’s one thing if Max knows I can do the math, but I feel like I could trust him. Mrs. Pinkins will probably have to let the administration know if I’m actually able to do the curriculum, and I can’t afford for my mother to find out.

I look down at the paper, then push it back to her and go back to coloring the tiger, pretending I don’t understand what they are asking me to do.

“That’s alright, just try to keep your chatting to after class, shall we Mr. Miller?” Mrs. Pinkins says as she turns away from us and heads to the front of the class.

“Yes ma’am,” Max says, sounding disappointed. I hate disappointing him, but I don’t want everyone to know my secret. I feel Max’s eyes on me and it makes my stomach clench. I don’t want him to hate me.

When Mrs. Pinkin writes a harder question on the board, she asks a male student in the front row to go up and write his answer on the board.I watch as he starts to write down a bunch of numbers, clearly working on the answer.

I risk a glance at Max and he raises his eyebrow at me in question. I sigh, before leaning towards him and using my purple pencil crayon to writefifty-sixin his notebook. He looks at me for a second before his eyes move back up to the front. We both watch for a few minutes as the guy continues his equation before finally reaching his answer: fifty-six.

“That’s right, David, good job, you can take your seat,” Mrs. Pinkins tells him and I chance a peek at Max. A smile slowly spreads across his face as he looks at me.

“That’s my girl. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret for now,” Max whispers happily before throwing his arm around me in a side hug. His arm lands right on my injury, and I wince, pulling back as my hand shoots to my arm instinctively to protect it.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. Are you okay?” he asks, his voice full of worry.

Just then, the bell rings, signaling the end of the period and saving me from any sort of explanation. I ignore his question and start packing up my stuff. I sense Max watching me as I pack. He holds out his hand, and I take it. He seems to relax, his shoulders sagging slightly in relief, then pulls me into the hall.

As soon as we exit the class, Jasper is waiting for us. Max passes me off with a quick goodbye as he stares at me with questions in his eyes. I turn away and let Jasper lead me to chemistry. As we walk, Jasper pulls out his phone, reads something, types out a quick reply, and pockets it again. He glances at me, looking me over, but doesn’t say anything until we get to class and sit down.

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