Page 10 of Gifted

Chapter Six

~ Poppy ~

Dressed in white flannel pajama covered with pink hearts, I curled up in the corner of the bed with my reader in my hand, reading an eBook. Truly, I hadn’t comprehended a single word.

I was wearing nightclothes, and Noah would come back anytime. We were going to watch a movie. Was that like Netflix and chill? Surely not. He tried so hard to be mostly appropriate with me. I was pretty sure the blankets and pillow he tossed on the floor were for him to sleep.

I hated that. I hated that, because I’d been irresponsible, he planned to sleep on the carpet.

The lock clunked, and the door swung open while I glared at the pile of blankets.

“I should sleep on the floor,” I blurted out.

Noah blew out an amused breath at my greeting. “Not bloody likely. Ready to watch a movie? I’m not sure about streaming, but I have a few saved on my drive.”

And now, I was really interested to know what he had.

“Is that what you’ve been doing when you headed up to your room every night during our trip?” There were some nights when he disappeared super early, leaving us in the hands of the other chaperones. They may have all switched off, each of them doing the same on other nights, but I only noticed with him.

“More or less.”

“More or less?” I echoed.

“I had emails, and I’m still working on next semester’s lesson plans.” He nodded at the reader I’d hugged to my chest when he entered. “And I read. Is reading what you did every night?”

“More or less.” Hey, that response had worked for him.

“More or less?” he teased.

“Yeah.” There was no way I’d tell him that I written about him in my digital journal. Or that I’d turned off the lights and pretended he was there, holding me, touching me. If I revealed that, he might run, go sleep in the snow, or grab another ten drinks at the pub. No, he didn’t need to know how obsessed I was with him.

Other girls at school had unofficially voted Noah as the hottest teacher on campus. Well, duh. There was no need to vote on that. No question. But while they drooled and had requisite teenage crushes to giggle over, I planned what it would be like to be really his, to be his wife and have his children. I wasn’t sure any of my classmates had thought beyond having him smile at them.

They were my age yet so different. I might not be even twenty yet, but I’d stopped being young a long time ago.

“You’re not going to tell me what you do at night?” He sat on the corner of the bed and opened his bag to bring out his laptop.

“It’s not as interesting as lesson plans.”

“Well, I’m sure nothing is as interesting as that. It’s the whole reason I became a teacher,” he teased.

I laughed quietly, mostly just a gust of air and the shaking of my shoulders. “I can’t imagine teaching math or spending all that time thinking about it.”

“Hey, I thought you liked math.”

Hmm…caught. How to explain?

“I like certain things about math.”

“So what is it you plan to do with your life after Canton School. College?”

I shrugged. Noah looked incredulous. “You’re in all advanced classes, part of the school’s illustrious gifted program, and you haven’t considered your future?”

“I’ve considered it,” I answered quietly. “I just don’t know that school is part of it.”

Was it pathetic that I didn’t want to consider going somewhere away from him. Even the prospect of being forced to leave school in a few months sucked.

“Can we just pick a movie?” I asked. Discussing this caused my chest to knot up. Not knowing Noah’s thoughts and feelings bound up all of my emotions.

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