AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At the party, he had to play the smooth card and snap a picture while I was too distracted to care. Now, there’s no game, no agenda, and his honesty is affecting me evenmore.
“And why didn’t you doit?”
A heavy exhale comes down the line, and I can almost feel him next to me. “For the samereason.”
I stare out the window, tracing a streak along thesurface.
“Miss? We’re here,” the cab driver calls from thefront.
We are, though I’d don’t notice the cab pulling up to the curb. I have no idea how long we’ve been sittinghere.
“Sounds like you have to go,” Wessays.
“I kind ofdo.”
I don’t wantto.
“Have a goodweekend.”
“Youtoo.”
I tuck the phone in my bag, pay the cab driver with a big tip, and get out. I stick my hands in the pockets of my coat as I walkhome.
12
Wes
“In conclusion,we’re biologically predisposed to raise children,” the girl argues. “We’ve been doing it for thousands of years, and then we invented the iPhone. Obviously, we’re doing somethingright.”
I grind myteeth.
“Three minutes for rebuttal,” I say, hitting mystopwatch.
I spent part of my Sunday night coming up with debate topics for practiceMonday.
The current topic is whether parents should be required to take parenting classes before havingchildren.
They’re split up pro and con, and I sit in the classroom, watching. What I’ve learned in the first ninety minutes is that nearly every one of my students finds a way to sneak in the iPhone. Even on socialissues.
Beck stands. “Just because a species has survived for thousands of years doesn’t mean it’sbulletproof.”
“We’re not talking about a species, we’re talking about human beings,” the girl retorts, but I hold up a hand. She drops back into herseat.
Beck glances at his notes, and I nod, encouraging. “Some members of the species might do well at fulfilling their evolutionary function. Others don’t. It might be an issue of genotype or phenotype—ways that genome isexpressed.”
“Your point?” the girlsays.
“My point is that most parents are either incompetent or assholes. They can’t run their lives, let aloneyours.”
My eyes shut on an inward groan. Just when I thought we hadsomething.
I pull him aside at the end of practice. “Mr. Byrne, aword.”
“You going to assign me detention?” heasks.
“Wasn’t my plan. Unless it’s what youwant.”
Glancing at the other kids packing up, he lifts one palm, then the other.Maybe.
