The Boy Who Has No Belief - Victoria Quinn Page 0,47

on her face.

When we stepped out of the classroom, Derek was farther down the hallway, like he needed some space to cool off after he’d just chewed out a seventh-grade math teacher.

The door shut behind us, and Lizzie exploded. “Oh my god, Derek is the man! Did you see the look on Mr. Franklin’s face? He looked like he wanted to shit himself in that stupid chair. God, I wish I had recorded that on my phone. Derek ripped him to pieces! That was seriously the most badass thing I’d ever seen.”

I didn’t berate her for the cussing because I knew she was fired up, getting her revenge on someone who assumed she had no integrity. I let her have this, let her feel good about herself after Derek had just complimented her left and right…and made her believe in herself again.

Derek waited for us on the sidewalk near Ronnie’s SUV. He stood with his hands in his pockets, looking down the sidewalk and through the buildings to the city beyond. A fall breeze gently pulled at his sweater. The change of scenery subdued him slightly, but he still had that irritated look in his eyes, like he was still furious over the shit that had just hit the fan.

I approached him, my arm around Lizzie.

He took a while before he turned to look at us, as if he didn’t know what my reaction would be. He did just make a huge scene when he wasn’t even Lizzie’s parent.

Lizzie smiled at him. “Mom said we can go eat. You want to come with us?”

Derek stared at her for a few seconds, surprised by the invitation.

“I usually let Lizzie pick, but since you’re the hero of the afternoon, you choose.” I wasn’t worried that Derek would be scared, not when he’d already shown his affection for my daughter by exploding in the classroom. Maybe he was protective of all students and education in general, but he’d said a lot of wonderful things about my daughter and inspired her to care about school again, and that made me hum with life. The quickest way to a woman’s heart was through her kids.

“Yeah,” Lizzie said. “Mr. Franklin looked like he wanted to cry.” She snickered at the memory.

Derek continued to stare at her. “I lost my temper back there… I’m sorry about that.”

“Sorry?” Lizzie asked incredulously. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. He’s the worst teacher ever. On the first day of class, he made this stupid speech…” She deepened her voice to sound like an old man and waved her finger around. “I fail half my students every year, so if you don’t want to be in the bad half, I suggest you work hard.” She rolled her eyes, and her voice returned to normal. “He’s on a power trip.”

Derek didn’t smile at her impression. “Now I don’t feel so bad…”

“Don’t!” Lizzie said. “He sucks. So, where do you want to go?”

Derek turned his gaze to me, silently asking me if this was really okay or if he should make an excuse to get out of it.

I gave him a nod.

He turned back to her. “What about pizza?”

“Ooh, good choice,” Lizzie said. “Let’s go.”

It was too early for dinner, so the pizzeria was pretty quiet. The three of us sat at a table, Lizzie and me sitting side by side, while Derek sat across from Lizzie. He was tense and quiet, like he was stressed by the situation since there were no textbooks or worksheets between them. His eyes wandered around the restaurant most of the time, not looking at me like he usually would because it might be obvious to Lizzie that he was more than just my boss.

Lizzie drank her soda from the straw. “Did you really mean everything you said?”

Derek’s eyes shifted back to her. “I always mean what I say.”

“I meant about me, to Mr. Franklin. You think I can get an A?”

“Absolutely.” His eyes softened like the question was ridiculous. His stiff posture changed, and his arms moved to the surface of the table, getting a little closer to her. “When I saw your answers on your worksheet, I wasn’t necessarily surprised, just proud. I don’t know who told you that you’re incapable of doing anything you want, but they’re wrong. You can do anything you put your mind to.”

“Even build rockets…?” Lizzie was showing a different side to her that I’d never seen before. She had this attitude of indifference, like she didn’t care