Page 42 of Gifted

Her purse is already on her shoulder, a sweater swung over her arm as if she’d been waiting for my arrival before leaving. The whole thing only makes this seem more staged. I want to beg her to stay, cling to her legs like a desperate three-year-old, but somehow manage to swallow the alarm. If I’m right, and this is Clausen’s latest move, my only hope rests in my ability to lie. I scour my soul for some of Daniel’s strength.

“Enjoy your lunch,” I force out with a smile.

Her own seems stiff as she waves and disappears from the office. I take my seat while Clausen studies me with a thoughtful look.

“I suppose this comes as a bit of a shock.”

“It does. I got the impression you were too busy to conduct personal counseling sessions with your students.”

“I usually am. Your case interests me, though.”

Right. I hold his gaze and lean back. “I’m flattered, but I can’t possibly have the most interesting ability out of everyone here.”

“You don’t, but it’s not your gift that interests me.”

“Really? I can promise I’m not very interesting.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I happen to disagree.”

Crossing my arms, I try to infuse irritation into my response. “Can we just get to why you’re here? I know it’s not to counsel me about my strained relationship with my mother or my non-existent father. I have no major violence in my past or earth-shattering prospects for the future. I’m not even the first person you’ve come across with this ability, so what is it that could possibly interest you so much?”

I shift nervously beneath his direct gaze, struggling to hold my ground. After a long pause, he says, “I’m interested in your relationship with Daniel Mueller.”

I huff a laugh. “My relationship with Daniel? That’s why you’re here? Because I agreed with him a couple of times in class?”

His expression doesn’t change, the pensive look settling on me with disturbing intent. “I know there’s more to it than that. You’re not the first of our students to show an interest in him, but you are the first he’s noticed in return.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know.”

I blink and fight to maintain my composure.

With another long, probing look, he clasps his hands loosely in front of him. “Look, I’m not trying to be critical. I’m just curious. Daniel is one of our more complicated students, and when we’re presented with a rare clue into his incredible mind we have to explore it. I just want to know what it is about you that makes you so attractive to him.”

“Shouldn’t you be asking him?”

“We did. He didn’t have much to say.”

Oh my god. Daniel’s face at lunch.

My heart stutters through a beat. My lungs strain for too-thick air as I work to reconstruct the hole in my mask. But I fear the damage is already done when Clausen’s stoic expression slips for a second as well. He’s changed the game, and my onlyhope now is to move from stalling to direct lies. I draw in a breath.

“Okay, fine. Yes, I was interested. And yes, I thought for a brief moment that maybe he returned the attraction, but we had a huge fight over his drug use last night, and I realized he’s the lost cause everyone thinks.”

“You had a fight,” he echoes skeptically.

“Yes, ask Ben and Laura. I lied to them about why we were fighting, mainly because I was embarrassed about my feelings. I’m such an idiot.” I look away, and he encourages me to continue. “Maybe it was the vision of the woman, I don’t know, but for some reason I wanted to believe that everyone else is wrong. That maybe he’s the misunderstood antihero we all want to believe in.”

“And now you don’t think he is?” His gentle push is a good sign. The way his shoulders have relaxed.

I stare at my hands, surprised at how easy it is to muster emotion when it comes to Daniel. How much of this present heartache is real? I’m not sure I even know. “He seemed to be improving for a while, and I stupidly believed it was for me. Gosh, it’s so embarrassing.” I cover my face with my hands, relieved at the chance to hide.

“Addiction is a disease, Rebecca.”

He seems to be buying this, and I let out a ragged sigh while lowering my hands to face him again.

“Isn’t there something you can do for him?”

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