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“Did we seriously just make Jello?” someone complained from behind Jesse.
“It’s a secret potion, Oliver,” Jesse said patiently. “And it’s a great tasting one, too.”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Admit it, Jesse. We made Jello.”
“Are you complaining? Because we could have done a worksheet instead.”
Oliver scowled at him before grabbing his bag and leaving the classroom. Jesse sighed, reaching to put Oliver’s bowl on a cart with the other Jello bowls. They’d go in the staff fridge next door and be ready for consumption the next day.
“Hey.” Raina approached with another bowl. She set it down on the cart.“Mrs. Dixon was telling me how much she loved our project.”
“Nice. ” Jesse held out his hand for a high five.
Raina obliged him. “What do you have now?”
“Free period. Want to hang out?”
“I can’t. I have to find Nicole; we rescheduled tutoring for after English.”
“Did you figure out why Mrs. Dixon wanted you to have the lessons?”
Raina shrugged. “Not quite. ”
“Do you remember what I told you when the unit began, Ms. Cohen?” Their teacher appeared quite suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, making them jump.
Jesse frowned in confusion and Raina explained, “She wanted to try something a little unique that would help me. It wasn’t directly aimed at bringing my grades up.”
Realization dawned for Jesse as he put the pieces together, glancing between his friend and his teacher. “You paired Raina with Nicole so they would learn to get along.”
“I hoped my class would go more smoothly without all the glaring.” A smile tugged at Mrs. Dixon’s lips, softer than Jesse had ever seen. “One of your friends had mentioned that you and Ms. Lawrence were fighting, and I could see the conflict was affecting Raina’s concentration, so I thought my intervention might help. ”
Raina snapped her fingers. “It was Gracie, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, Ms. Adams. She stops by every so often to chat. I believe it’s for the cookies.” Mrs. Dixon laughed.
Jesse wished he knew what was going on in Raina’s head when she nodded. Did she agree with what Mrs. Dixon had done? Did she think it was crossing a line? Personally, Jesse didn’t want his teachers interfering with his friendships, but he knew how much Raina looked up to and respected authority figures. He would never have gone through with the tutoring himself, but maybe Mrs. Dixon’s interference was exactly what she and Nicole had needed.
“The unit’s only half over,” their teacher continued, “so I’d like you and Nicole to meet a few more times. I think you could all benefit from this arrangement.”
Jesse glanced up in surprise. “All? You mean me too?”
Was that a smirk on Mrs. Dixon’s face?
“Think back to the very first line ofRomeo and Juliet, Mr. Ashcroft. And if you can’t, perhaps you should join in on a ‘tutoring’ session.”
ChapterSixteen
“Okay, you were right. This bake sale was a great idea,” Raina declared.
She double-knotted an apron around her waist, leaning over the sink to grab a paper towel. Sure, it had taken a solid half an hour and a couple spray bottles for everyone to wake up before breakfast on a Sunday morning, but once her friends had gathered in the kosher kitchen, Raina felt as if she were on top of the world. Her entire focus was on having fun baking with her friends—well, that and making sure the Ashcrofts didn’t burn the kitchen down.
Jesse grinned, a touch of flour on his nose. “You know we’re not going to make 25k, right?”
“Oh, I know,” Raina agreed, as she began cleaning up the flour Jesse had spilled all over the counter moments before. “But it’s a start, and it’s something.”
Dean coughed from his position by the mixer. “Can you two stop flirting and start helping?”
Raina and Jesse sprang away from each other, even though there was already at least a foot in between the two.
