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I’m silent for a moment.
“No, I think I’d be okay with it. I’m not heartless.”
She smiles ruefully.
“Well, it’s a far cry from Millbrook Manor, I’m warning you.”
I laugh.
“I stand forewarned.”
She smiles. Does that mean she’s inviting me to her place sometime? My heart leaps a bit because I’m curious about Kaylee and her life. She’s shy yet charismatic; clearly very smart; and not at all embarrassed about her humble beginnings. It’s so different from the women I’m used to, who like to weave stories about growing up as Daddy’s little girl in a huge mansion.
Then, I decide to change the subject.
“Are you still in school, Kaylee?” I ask.
She nods.
“I am. I’m a senior at Millbrook High, and I’ll be graduating in a few months.”
I stare at her, suddenly taken aback.
“Please tell me you’re eighteen.”
She throws her head back and laughs, the tinkling melody floating in the air.
“I am, Elliot. Don’t worry, I’m legal.”
“Good,” I say, as my heart rate decelerates a bit. “You had me worried for a minute there. Do you have plans for after graduation?”
She blushes again and looks down.
“I don’t know, to be honest.”
She bites her lip and won’t meet my eyes. Clearly, there’s something going on, but I’m not sure how to approach it.
Maybe I need to change tactics. There’s no sense in probing her on uncomfortable topics. I want her to enjoy this meal, and to enjoy her time with me. Instead, I turn back to Millbrook High, which seems like safer territory.
“And how are your classes?”
Kaylee shrugs a little.
“School is fine. I’m not the best student, to be honest. I’ve never been very academic.”
I can understand that. I nod.
“I never was, either. I preferred goofing off with my friends to learning. The classroom was never the right place for me.”
Kaylee nods too, fingering a piece of bread.
“I don’t learn well from reading and writing about things. It never seems to sink in that way. I guess I’m more hands-on, and I need that in order for things to make sense. I guess that’s why my grades are so terrible.”
I nod.
“Yeah, absolutely. Everyone learns differently, and there are a lot of techniques to teaching successfully. I don’t think schools are well-prepared to deal with that, however. This recent pandemic has made it clear that schools aren’t exactly the most versatile institutions.”
She nods her head ruefully.
“No, they certainly aren’t, especially Millbrook High. They weren’t able to get our remote learning classes up for a long time. Regardless, the only class I do well in is Home Economics, and it’s precisely because it’s a hands-on course. We don’t have that anymore, obviously.”
I grin.
“Yeah, it would be pretty hard to translate Home Ec into a web-based course. But I had no idea that schools still offered this type of class. I thought they did away with trying to teach kids how to survive on their own. Now, we just have Baby Einsteins who listen to Mozart.”
Kaylee laughs, the sound tinkling merrily.
“I can’t speak for other schools, but Millbrook High has a Home Ec program. It makes sense though, because Millbrook is considered a vocational school.”
I stare at her for a moment, surprised.
“Is that so?”
She nods.
“Yeah. They teach a lot of trades at our school. There are programs for people who want to be electricians, woodworkers, and even IT specialists. It’s cool to get to test out a bunch of different classes.”
But I’m not letting her off the hook so easily.
“Yes, but how did you get on the vocational track?”
She sighs.
“I guess it probably goes back to when I was a kid. Again, I’ve never really been good at taking tests, so my scores were really low. And when you have a mother like mine, she’s not exactly going to advocate for you. So they put me in the “slow” track in junior high, and when it came time to high school, the counselor advised me to choose to Millbrook. It makes sense. I doubt I’m going to be a rocket scientist after I graduate,” she says ruefully.
I nod slowly.
“Yes, but … well, I’m not sure. I thought most kids were college-bound these days.”
Kaylee shakes her head.
“Not at Millbrook, they’re not. I know the school was named after an illustrious ancestor of yours, but my friends and I … well, we’re not going to be CEOs, let’s just say.”
Hmm, this is food for thought. I genuinely thought all Millennials were focused on college. In fact, I thought Millennials were in a hard-fought, take-no-prisoners competition to get into Harvard, or at least one of the Ivy League schools. Yet, Kaylee seems to have completely different values. Not that that’s a bad thing. When I saw how parents cheated on behalf of their kids in Operation Varsity Blues, I was just as shocked as the rest of the nation.
I turn back to the curvy girl.
