Colin remained standing by the doorway. “This is supposed to be our private time.”
Sandrine said, “Perhaps I should go.”
“No.” Arnold’s voice hardened. “Dr. Powers has guided your education and your life here for almost a year. She is taking time from an extremely busy day to help me with an important issue related to your future. Now close the door and come sit down.”
Resigned, Colin walked over and seated himself across from them.
Arnold’s office was shaped for conferences like this. His desk was actually pushed over against the side wall. The center of the room was dominated by a small oval table, just large enough for five chairs to fit around it: Arnold’s office chair and four others. Two of these chairs were now pressed against the wall by the door. The chair where Colin sat still felt warm from the girl.
Sandrine asked, “The word that Kimmie used when she saw you …”
“Superfreak,” Arnold said. He appeared to share Colin’s surprise that the school director did not know. “They use that a lot.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
Colin replied, “Almost everybody.”
Arnold said, “It’s how the other students refer to those living in Sojourn House.”
Sandrine’s cheeks flamed red. “Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“There’s nothing anyone can do about it.” Arnold’s irritation was evaporating. He looked more weary than anything. Almost resigned. “Anything we say would only make matters worse.”
Sandrine drew a file from her purse and slapped it down on the table. “They’d better not use that in my presence.”
Colin remembered other times when a sudden shift in his world’s axis had come because strangers had declared themselves to be on his side. He found himself relaxing as Sandrine opened the file and said, “I’ve been speaking with Dr. Braxos about you.”
Braxos was head of the math department. He wore rimless reading glasses, grey wool ties and jackets that looked scratchy. “He doesn’t like me.”
Sandrine actually smiled. “Dr. Braxos doesn’t like a lot of people.”
Arnold said, “Braxos probably feels threatened.”
“There is no ‘probably’ about it.” Sandrine turned the page. “An eleven-year-old who knows more about math than he does? The man would be happy to see a knife sticking out of Colin’s back.”
“That might be taking things a bit far.”
Colin watched the two adults, talking back and forth about his own personal nemesis on the faculty. Like he was one of them. “Braxos came here to teach gifted kids.”
“There are gifted, and then there are gifted.” Sandrine lifted her purse and fished around. “Where are my glasses?”
“Jacket pocket.” When Arnold reached over and retrieved them, Colin had the sudden impression that these two were more than simply colleagues. There was a casual intimacy to the gesture. “Here.”
“Thank you.” To Colin, “You know perfectly well weaccept a number of students because of who their families are. ‘Gifted’ is a term that has to be flexible, as far as the school is concerned. It’s the only way we survive as an institution.”
Colin felt the last bit of tension ease away. “That makes sense.”
“Of course it does. The simple fact is, Braxos is a dinosaur. But he is a dinosaur with tenure. Do you understand what that means?”
“You can’t fire him.”
“I suppose we could. Given a valid enough reason.” She bent over the file and mused quietly, “If, say, he ran off for a dirty weekend with a certain student we certainly won’t name. And if we could catch them red-handed.”
“And I think we’ve taken that matter just about as far as we legally can in this student’s presence.” Arnold smiled at her as he spoke.
Colin sensed it was at least partly an act. A subterfuge meant to put him at ease. “I asked him if I could study something new. He said not yet. I don’t want to wait.”
Sandrine lifted her gaze. “So that’s what it was.”
