The Boy Who Has No Belief - Victoria Quinn Page 0,48

about anything, especially schoolwork, but now, she was vulnerable, showing that she did care about her grades and education. She never did before because she just assumed she would never excel at it.

“Of course. Do you want to build rockets?”

She shrugged. “Maybe… I don’t know. I like the option, though.”

“Every single option is on the table, Lizzie. You’re starting high school soon, so those will be the four years in which you need to prove yourself the most.”

“And you can help me with that?”

Derek didn’t hesitate. “Of course I can.”

It was hard to sit there and act like my dream wasn’t coming true, that Derek was bonding with my daughter, and more importantly, my daughter was bonding with him.

“Where did you go to school?” Lizzie asked.

“High school?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Holden.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of that high school.”

“It’s a private school,” Derek explained.

“Ooh.” She nodded slowly. “Got it. Where did you go to college?”

“I went to Harvard for my undergraduate degree in physics and engineering, and then I got my doctorates at Stanford.”

Lizzie stilled at that revelation, her eyes wide. “Whoa…”

Derek took a drink of his water then looked away, as if he was uncomfortable with the praise. He was so humble it was ridiculous. He went out of his way to hide his accomplishments rather than flaunt them…unlike most people.

“I wish I could go to places like that,” she whispered.

“Who says you can’t?” Derek countered.

She shrugged. “You’ve got to be a genius to go to those schools. And you’ve got to be rich.”

I would normally join the conversation, but I thought it was better to stay quiet and let the two of them talk.

“You’re incorrect on both,” Derek said. “Admissions cares more about uniqueness and dedication to community, what sets you apart from other people. It’s not just about grades. And in terms of financing, there’re always scholarships, and if you graduate from those kinds of institutions, you’ll be able to pay back student loans easily, so I wouldn’t worry too much about financing.”

“Did you get scholarships?” Lizzie asked.

He nodded. “I did. And as a graduate student, your tuition is often free, and you even get a stipend—depending on what you’re studying.”

“Whoa, I didn’t know that.” Lizzie was fascinated by Derek. I hadn’t anticipated her being so inspired by him.

“Your mother has a graduate degree also,” Derek said.

“Yeah, but it’s not in rocket science,” Lizzie said with a laugh.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quickly. “She has an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree. Very few people have advanced degrees like that. Your mom is a successful professional who can support a family on a single income in Manhattan. That’s pretty impressive.”

I smiled at his compliment.

Lizzie turned to me. “I never thought about it that way before.”

I gave her a nudge in the side. “So maybe you should be a little nicer to me.”

She scrunched up her nose. “That’s just unnatural.”

I chuckled because I knew she was joking.

They brought out the pizza, and Derek let us go first before he grabbed a slice and put it on his plate.

Lizzie blurted out her next question. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Derek stilled in mid-bite, covering up his hesitation quickly as if nothing had happened. He took his time chewing like he was stalling for an answer.

“Lizzie,” I said. “That was rude. Don’t ask personal questions.”

“I was just curious.” She picked up her pizza and took a big bite.

Derek never answered the question, probably because he didn’t want to lie, but also because he didn’t want to say yes and have her ask him more questions, which would force him to lie. It was better not to say anything at all. “Are your other teachers like Mr. Franklin?”

“Um, a couple.” She shrugged as she kept eating. “But my English teacher is cool. Some of the other teachers are stuffy and sometimes just like whatever, but none of them are nearly as bad as Mr. Franklin. I feel like all he wants to do is fail us. He just teaches on the whiteboard and hands out worksheets. He doesn’t take questions. He’s…weird. People in my class say he’s tenured so he doesn’t care.”

Derek gave a slight nod like that didn’t surprise him. “The tenure idea was established to protect teachers. It’s a good idea. Educators are the people forming new adults to go out into the world. But some people take advantage of that system and basically stop doing their jobs because they know they can’t get fired. Even if a teacher