Never.
“Oh, Derrick?” she asked. “Yeah, I’ve met Derrick. He’s wild.” She laughed.
Mattie’s heart sped up a beat. “Wild? What do you mean, wild?”
Ivy shrugged. “I don’t know. Whatever people mean when they say ‘wild.’ He goes to lots of parties. He’s always out there, I guess.”
Mattie’s chest got strange and tight, like it did a lot these days. For some reason, he thought that maybe, just maybe, Ivy wasn’t telling him the whole truth. There was something missing here.
“Have you, uh, heard anything about him lately?”
“No.” Ivy kicked at the water again. “Not lately.”
“At all?” Mattie pressed.
Ivy hesitated. “Well, sure. You hear stuff about everyone, right? Especially everyone in Pikesville. I mean, the rumors were crazy.”
Mattie leaned in. “What did you hear?” he asked. He almost didn’t want the answer.
Ivy stood up and brushed her hands off on her shorts. “Um, nothing for a long time. Nothing important, anyway.”
“But—”
Ivy gave him a short smile. “I’ve got to get back. But I’m glad you’re here, Mattie. I think we’re going to be friends.”
And then, before he could say anything else, she was back over the fence, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Kinley
Wednesday, June 10
Kinley had never met a teacher she hadn’t liked.
More important, Kinley had never met a teacher who hadn’t liked her.
And despite the fact that playing bad with Tyler had been kind of fun, and yeah, maybe she’d spent the better part of a night wondering what it would actually be like to kiss a guy for once . . . that wasn’t Kinley. She was going to get along with Dr. Stratford, and he was going to like her.
Which was why she was here early. Again. She stalked through the halls like a soldier on a mission.
She opened the door timidly, and poked her head in. Mr. Stratford was sitting at the desk, a pair of glasses low on his nose, paging through a book with the weird, uneven expression he always wore across his face. A large cup of Starbucks sat beside his hand. Maybe next time she’d bring him coffee. And what was he reading? Maybe she’d check it out so they could have something to talk about. She squinted at the title. Fifty Shades of Grey. Okay. Maybe they wouldn’t be discussing literature.
“Excuse me, Dr. Stratford?”
He looked up, not even trying to hide the book. “Can I help you, Elsie?”
“Um, it’s Kinley?”
Dr. Stratford took off his glasses and massaged his temples, as if calling her by the correct name greatly pained him. “Class doesn’t start for another half hour, Kinley.”
“I know,” Kinley said, forcing herself to be bright. She would not be discouraged. She would win him over. She hugged her notebook to her chest. “I just feel like maybe I got off on the wrong foot with you last class, and I wanted to stop by and personally apologize.”
Dr. Stratford cleared his throat. “Frankly, I didn’t even remember that until you reminded me, but now it’s burned into my mind. I doubt I’ll ever forget it.”
Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. This was not going like Kinley planned.
“Well, um, now that you do remember, I just wanted to see if there was something I could do to make it up? Like, maybe I could do an extra assignment or something. I’m a really hard worker, Dr. Stratford. I’d do anything.”
He turned toward her. “Is that so?” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin.
“Yes, sir.” Kinley let out her breath. Maybe this wasn’t going so badly after all.
“Very well.” Mr. Stratford turned away and pulled a fountain pen from the drawer in the desk, and he scratched across the paper for a minute. He folded the paper neatly into fourths and handed it to her. “Have these done by next week.”
A tiny, whispery part of her told her that next week was the first test. And that he was asking a lot. But that wasn’t something she should say, so she just took the paper. “Thank you so much, Dr. Stratford. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.” She put her palm on her chest. “Seriously, thank you.”
“I’ll see you in class.” He picked the book back up. “I need to prepare, so please come back when class actually is set to begin.”
Kinley eyed the book. “Oh. Okay. Thanks again.”
He fluttered his hand at her. “Go.”
“Yes, sir.” She left and very quietly shut the door behind her, then did a tiny little victory dance outside the door.
She was back. Kinley Phillips was back. As soon as she finished these assignments, she’d be the favorite student. The teacher’s pet. She’d ace the course and do her father proud.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
She whipped around. Mattie Byrne, the boy who had been locked out of the class last time, was standing behind her. Obviously, he’d decided to get to class early this time.
She grinned at him. “Winning.”