“Spit it out.”
“Fine.” He turns to face me, blocking me from view of the rest of the group. “I was wondering if you want to get coffee with me in the morning.”
“Pah.”
“What?”
“You’re hilarious. You got me good. Coffee—yeah, right. Would you have laced my drink with poison? Had the barista double-dose me with four espresso shots so I’d be jittery the rest of the day?”
“I’m being serious.”
For an instant, I think I see an expression on Noah’s face I’ve never seen before: earnestness.
It quite simply takes my breath away.
Spiteful Noah I can handle. Aggressive, cunning, rude Noah? Sure.
But not this.
His brown eyes are puppy-dog sweet.
My eyebrows furrow and I take a step closer, poking my finger into his chest. “Tell me what you’re doing.”
“I want to have coffee with you.”
His expression doesn’t crack.
Wow. He must have practiced this in front of the mirror earlier.
Or…gulp…he’s being honest.
My heart beats double time. My soft nougaty center cannot handle the possibility that Noah has real human feelings. That deep down, he might be just like the rest of us.
“I can’t tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Lorenzo asked me to get breakfast with him.”
And in that instant, Noah’s eyes spark with achievement.
He’s accomplished his goal and we both know it.
I roll my eyes. “You’re the worst.”
He shrugs, unperturbed. “I just wanted to see if you were going to adhere to the ground rules, and clearly, you aren’t.”
“Go to hell.”
He stretches his hand out for me to take. “Gladly, if only you’ll come with me.”
I wish I could strangle him right here and now, just have it out and be done. As the Italian police carted me away, I’d scream that it was worth it, that I’d do it again if I had the chance.
I shove past him and scoot closer to the group so I can listen to the tail end of Lorenzo’s discussion about the Marcus Aurelius Column. He opens it up to a question-and-answer session, and my students don’t let the opportunity pass them by.
In a studious, no-nonsense tone, Zach asks, “Mr. Ricci, yes, I was wondering if you knew offhand how long the column’s shaft is.”
“On that same note,” Isaiah continues, sounding just as serious, “I was wondering about the girth of the column.”
Chapter Six
I have no idea how Lindale Middle School got an in with this swanky study abroad program. There’s no way that chocolate bar fundraiser is covering the full cost of this trip, but I’m not complaining. Along with all the other amenities, we have the option to eat in the dining hall for all three meals a day. For free! And it’s good food! At this very moment, I have not one, but two little slices of tiramisu I stole from dinner, and I’m eating them while I FaceTime my friend Kristen.
The screen is completely black. Her smiling face would be in its allotted rectangle, but she’s hiding in her closet with the lights off. A necessary sacrifice.
“How is it so far?” she asks, a wrapper crinkling in the background.
“Fine, mostly. Hey, I thought you finished all your candy back in April?”
“Yeah, I thought I did too, but I found a Snickers tangled in one of my thongs yesterday. Lucky me.”
Kristen pilfered some of the kids’ Halloween candy last year and hid it in her underwear drawer. Whenever she gets desperate, say, if the kids are being particularly grouchy, or if she’s about to start her period, or if it’s any day ending in Y, she dips into her stash.
“Are the middle schoolers behaving?”
“Yes. It’s not them giving me a headache.” I dig my fork aggressively into my tiramisu, using it as a makeshift stress ball.
“Noah?” she guesses immediately.
“He’s worse than ever.”
“Well at least all that evil is encased in a hot bod.”
“Kristen.”
“Oh, don’t try to deny it. I saw him, remember?”
She did. Two months ago, she brought me lunch up at the school. When she walked into my classroom, her eyes were as round as saucers.
She didn’t have to say a word.
“Noah?” I asked, annoyed by her reaction.
She nodded dumbly, her jaw still slack from shock.
I hustled toward her and pulled her all the way in, quickly shutting the door behind us. “Did you say anything to him?”