I muster all the molecular cohesion I can and say, “I'm in a class.” I glance at the clock on my open laptop. “I'll be done in thirty minutes, if you want to wait.”
“No. I need to talk to you now.”
Okay, this is good. Max being a jerk helps with the molecular cohesion issue.
“I can't talk now. I'm teaching a class.”
He scans the room like he’s only now noticing the presence of other people.
As if the second he saw me, everyone else in the world ceased to exist. Which isn’t sexy at all. Nope. Not at all.
His brow furrows, making his scowl that much fiercer. “This isn't one of your classes. You teach twelve hours of class. Two sections of introduction to modern media and one section of professional communication. Neither of them meets on Thursday at four.”
Before I can muster an appropriate response—not that I even know what that would sound like—Tria asks, “Stalker much?”
I shoot her a “Be respectful”look. She smirks back, giving me a “Is this guy serious?”shrug.
Tria’s attitude is way more likely to get her in trouble than her lack of testing prep.
I turn back to Max. “This is a class I volunteer to teach.” I gesture to the girls. “These are my students.”
“What are you teaching them?”
“Ironically, I teach them things very similar to the skills I'm teaching you. Skills they need to survive at the university.”
He narrows his gaze, his scowl deepening. I try not to find his petulance cute.
“But I still need to talk to you.”
Cute or not, I don’t interrupt this class for anyone. Even people I’ve purposefully baited.
Not that I’ve done this kind of thing with anyone else. Ever.
“Well, I'll be done in thirty minutes,” I say to Max, like I don’t know exactly why he’s here. “I can talk to you then.”
He makes that growly noise in his throat again. I cross my arms over my chest and step closer to glare him down. For a long moment, neither of us budge.
“You can talk to him now,” Faith, ever the peacemaker, says in a bright tone. “Rosa can take over while you talk to this guy.”
The other girls nod. Tria, however, eyes Max with open suspicion. “If this is a guy you want to talk to, that is.”
Tria looks like she can’t imagine anyone wanting to talk to Max.
I should totally do the mature thing and not exacerbate this staring contest with Max. In the interest of modelling mature behavior for the girls.
“Rosa, if you think you're up to it, I certainly trust you to teach the girls about these questions.”
Rosa opens and closes her mouth, clearly uncomfortable being put on the spot this way. But it’ll be good for her, so I pat her on the shoulder as I cross to the door.
Now, to deal with my other student with authority issues.
Max follows me out into the hall. As the door shuts behind him, I cross my arms over my chest and tap my toe, exaggerating the signs of my annoyance. After all, he did say he misses social cues.
“You’re mad at me,” he says after several second of studying me.
“Really? What gave it away?”
“Your body language. You’re—”
