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I leaned back in my chair to get a better view of what was happening.

“You can pick it up at the end of the day.” Mr. Halifax was about to slide the phone into his pocket when he must have finally looked down at the screen. The phone fell out of his hand and landed on the floor. He cursed under his breath and grabbed it.

Sophie was smiling so hard.

He quickly shoved it into his pocket, this time without looking at it.

“Oh darn,” Sophie said. “I forgot to set a passcode on my phone. I hope you don’t look at any of my photos from this weekend. That would be like...totally embarrassing for me. And such a violation of my privacy since I’m barely wearing anything in my photos.”

Mr. Halifax ignored her and slammed her quiz down on her desk.

He walked away without acknowledging her comment.

The bell rang and Sophie grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. I held my quiz tight to my chest. Seriously...why had Mr. Halifax given me an A?

“I can’t even believe it,” Sophie said. “He told me to meet up with him after school!”

“Did he?”

“Yes! Why else would he have taken my phone if he didn’t want a moment alone with me after all the students are gone?”

“He didn’t say come alone...”

“And I think he got hard when he saw my picture. Did you notice when he bent over?”

“Ew. Soph. Stop. He’s our teacher. And I didn’t see a boner through his khakis.”

“Since you’re an expert now.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “God, I can’t believe this is actually about to happen. Do you think he’ll take me on his desk or against the chalkboard? Or in his car? Oh the forbiddeness of it all!”

“Nothing is about to happen. How about you let me go pick up your phone after school?”

“Why?”

“So you don’t get expelled, Soph.” And I needed to ask him about this grade...

“Mr. Halifax would never report me. He’s in love with me.”

“Look, I’m not saying that he’s not. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. But that doesn’t mean you should act on it now.”

“That’s not what your mom would say, am I right?” She lifted her hand for a high five.

I laughed and high fived her. “Whatever.”

“So how did you do on your quiz? I purposely got one question wrong so Mr. Halifax could reprimand me when we hook up. But a 94 is still an A.”

“I...um...did okay.”

“What did you get?”

I shrugged. “Just the usual.”

Sophie made a face. “Another C? I’m sorry.”

“That’s not my usual grade. It’s just been a rough year for calc.”

“So you didn’t get a C?”

“No, I got an A too.”