“I should take this.” I get up from the table and hurry to the other room.
Cateline bypasses pleasantries. “I see your reviews of your pupil are coming in positively. I’m happy to hear it. Because we’ve been short-staffed, I’m out of the country with a pupil of my own, but some visuals have come to my attention. It appears you and Declan Printz are very, um, comfortable with each other.”
“What do you mean?” We’ve kissed enough in the last week, but it’s been in private, not something to be splashed in the tabloids.
“There is a photograph of him holding your hand. Like he was leading you toward a boat.”
“Oh, that. Um, I’m not a big fan of maritime pursuits and considering, um, I have to chaperone him...” I hate the lie, but don’t want him to get in trouble.
Cateline clicks her tongue. “I see. Please remember that you are his teacher. He is your student. The relationship begins and ends there.” She hesitates. “We have a reputation to uphold at Blancbourg.”
“Of course. My apologies if that looked like anything more than it was?—”
“Glad you understand,” Cateline says, finishing.
Without returning to the kitchen, I say goodbye and go to my room. I can’t risk Declan and me being seen together in the media because of what it could do to him and his team. He said his coach told them women were off-limits during their etiquette training, meaning no dating. They’re attending Blancbourg to reform their lives. Not only that, but I don’t want to lose my job. Now that my parents know, we’ll have people tailing us, trying to get a prime shot.
But the biggest reason we can only be friends is that eventually, everyone leaves me.
Left-y indeed.
Declan will find someone more dazzling, just like Sly the Single Guy did.
Before a pair of tears break loose from the corners of my eyes, a light rapping sounds on my door.
“Maggie-roo, can we talk?”
I squish up my eyes and turn the doorknob.
Declan leans on the doorframe, arms crossed, brown eyes soft. “You okay?”
“Are we just into this because it’s against the rules?”
“What’s this?” he asks like he wants me to spell it out.
I gesture between us.
“When have you ever broken the rules?” he asks.
“I can think of a few times. Your ice cream distribution scheme? The pumpkin picking spree? And let’s not forget when we snuck into Gillette Stadium.”
“Tickets were sold out. I had an in.” He winks.
Declan Printz’s winks would decimate a weaker woman. Then again, they’ve never been directed at me in this way.
“You were my accomplice. See, you’ve broken every rule ever made.”
“Am I just a rule to break?” I regret asking the question as soon as it’s out of my mouth, but we shouldn’t blur the line between friendship and whatever this -ship is.
Like a boat leaving port, I have to put distance between us.
31
MAGGIE
The next morning is cloudy and the sky threatens to crack open any moment with rain. Overnight, I came up with a plan and send out some emails right away.
When I get downstairs, Declan is on the phone and quickly hangs up. “Good morning, Maggie McNugget,” he says.
