Kyle, whose hands are not down his pants because he was busy jumping and cheering for his friend, runs up to the front of the class.
Sean comes up to our little trio and asks if he can go get some water.
“Of course, Sean,” I tell him. “Go to the bathroom if you need, too. Mop yourself off. You worked really hard today.”
“We’re proud of you,” Elias agrees.
Sean beams at us and walks out of the gym.
Ms. Thomas narrows her eyes at me. “It’s not a best practice to just let students use the bathroom or get water whenever they want, Ms. Robert.”
I narrow my eyes back at her. “It’s Ms. Roberts, actually,” I tell her. “And I’m legally mandated to allow him access to water whenever he asks. It’s on his 504 plan. He has diabetes.”
I see Elias grinning from the corner of my eye.
She huffs. She turns back to Elias. “This looks like a very engaging lesson, Mr. Miller,” she says, with a new smile on her face. “I knew I was right about you.”
“Actually, Principal Thomas, this entire unit was Ms. Roberts’s idea. We have her to thank entirely,” he smirks.
I join him on his smirk team.
She decides to change her entire tune. “Is this DOE-approved curriculum?” she asks us.
“No, we developed it on our own. But you just said yourself, it’s engaging. They’re going through all the sports of the Olympics. Everyone has a chance to be physically active.” I don’t say anything about how it connects to the Olympics unit I’m doing in my classroom. That’s definitely not Courtney Thomas approved curriculum, with her Wise Words of Wonder, or whatever. I don’t know where Lina is in that fight, though, so I won’t bring it up.
She hums, not liking this answer.
Elias decides to jump in, because we are a Team with a capital T, and he knows what his role is in this battle. He steps a little closer to her, giving her that secret soft smile that belongs to me.
I roll my eyes.
“Isn’t this so much better than just throwing a bunch of basketballs in the middle of the gym? Isn’t this much better than a free for all?” Elias all but purrs towards her, his green eyes sparkling and looking at her like she’s the most important person on the planet.
I gag. I’m grateful, but I gag.
“I suppose,” she murmurs. “Please email me the unit plan. I’d like to take a look.” She nods at him, ignores me, and walks out of the gym on her four inch high heels.
Elias explodes with laughter once he sees my face. His hand twitches, his fingers rubbing together, as if he wants to tug on my hair. “Ms.Robert, it looks like you might want to join us in our cool down?—”
“Class 301, line up,” I bark. I turn around so my back is to them. “Fuck you, Mr. Miller,” I mouth silently toward him.
My class files out of the gym.
“That Dimple is mine,” I growl at him once they’re out of earshot.
He gives it to me and tugs on my hair.
TWENTY-TWO
Elias
We haven’t sleptin separate beds all week, again, somehow.
Somehow.
Somehow, I tell myself, as if I don’t tuck her side of the sheet under the mattress before we fall asleep in whatever bed we happen to be in, knowing that she likes her feet covered, and I need my feet free.
It’s not something we ever discuss. Like, you probably shouldn’t sleep over with a newly minted friends-with-benefits friend every single night of the week. Maybe for a lifelong-sex-friends situation, but that’s not what this is. We were very clear about that.
