Page 21 of Novice Girlfriend

“We’ll handle that, Bevin,” Mr. Reid said firmly.

“Yes, but I want…”

Winter seemed to realize something and coughed. “You want to put the councilmen in their place again? Seriously?”

I sighed when people stared at me like I’d grown another head.

“Let her get the idea out,” Wyatt defended. “She doesn’t have stupid ideas, just ones that need to be tweaked with the way things work.”

I gave him a grateful look and focused on him. “It was something you said actually that made me think of this. When… That one councilman said he wanted to see my daily schedule and prioritize it since I was too young and wouldn’t know what would actually be important.”

“We will be discussing that later, Wyatt,” Mr. Oliveria bit out.

I was glad for that but continued. “You deflected saying he was coming in late on the third act and didn’t have the time to get caught up, or if he did, then why was his calendar so open? That’s what I want to point out. Sort of?”

“You want to challenge how much they keep pushing on you and show they’re not doing much of anything?” Link asked, staring at me like he couldn’t believe the balls on me.

“Yes.” I bounced it around. “And magically. You guys are always talking about being able to tell how much high-level magic I put out and—”

“That will just make them use us both again,” Link argued, his voice wary.

“No, she doesn’t mean like that,” Wyatt chuckled as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his wide chest. “You’re a distance runner. You mean like a pedometer. You want them to see basically how many steps you’re walking a week while they sit on their asses.”

I probably had hearts floating around me with the grateful look I gave him. He fully understood where my head was. “Once you all saw the schedule and realized it wasn’t me being young learning to juggle, but you were overstuffing me—” I ignored how many people winced, and Tracey snickered. “Everyone here immediately added fun. More breaks.”

“But they want to cut that out or say you’re smart so you don’t need as much study time,” Wyatt countered. He cleared his throat. “Or a spa night with Winter.”

I glanced away. “That wasn’t actually meant for everyone to see and like…” I didn’t feel bad when the Reids flinched.

“I apologize,” Mrs. Reid accepted. “I sent a screenshot to Mark with where I was inserting myself and checking with our lives.”

“And I didn’t realize I’d synced something… Something, and it ended up projecting in a meeting that others could access,” Mr. Reid added, clearing his throat.

“It’s not like your son owns a security company or anything, Dad,” Taylor drawled. “New rule. Neither of you are in charge of your device settings or updating them. Seriously.” He held up his hand when they both opened their mouths. “I don’t do things all of the time because they could hurt your reputation. This just hurt mine. All of those fools will mention that.”

“That’s fair,” Mrs. Reid accepted, probably knowing full well what Taylor was really doing.

“I think it’s a risk but one worth taking,” Mr. Oliveria said, getting us back on track. “And something I can work into the other project we were discussing.”

“Thank you,” I accepted. The “other project” was figuring out a way for him to warn me when I was essentially about to explode. I wasn’t sure that was the best way to put it, but basically so I didn’t race off like I did on Link before and hurt myself.

We discussed options for a bit, and the adults promised to come up with something and fast. It didn’t have to be perfect, just a rough idea to shut others up… And hopefully make them step up.

It was embarrassing, but Wyatt, Tracey, and Mrs. Reid told the others about what I’d done at the factory. Mrs. Reid had brought up the blankets and helping me, but even for the security part and changing memories, the others needed to know.

Winter said he wanted to look over Grandfather’s journals and books about the seed of magical life stuff and thought that would turn my magic solar as a long-term goal. And for some reason, he stared at Mrs. Oliveria in a way that made people raise their eyebrows.

“You are talented,” she chuckled. “Yes, it was my family’s original recipe that helped Bevin, and you understand my family has a history of being powerful.”

“Most here are and want to do more but…” He shot a look at Wyatt.

“He’s gifted at reading people,” Wyatt explained. “He saw something that made him focus on you. I’m not sure why this is an issue or you’re hesitating.”

Winter rolled his eyes at Wyatt. “She’s basically Bev’s aunt. I’m an idiot, not really a fucking moron.”

I wasn’t the only one who chuckled at that but then looked at Mrs. Oliveria. “You want to have a role in helping? Be cool like Tracey and Mrs. Reid?” I gave a half shrug when several people winced. “People lay out my feelings and issues all the time. Why should that be embarrassing?”

“You’re right and it shouldn’t be,” she accepted. “Yes, I want to be seen as more than a councilman’s wife or the mother of my kids like you were saying about Laura. I can’t help you with the treats anymore, and Clare is much better at renovations than I am. But this I can help with. I knew Henry better than anyone here. I knew more about—I want this mission.”