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At the corner, I peeked over my shoulder and got a glimpse of him standing beside his door, hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders slumped.
My heart ached. I ignored that, too.
I wasn’t his girlfriend, nagging him into doing things he didn’t want to do. I wasn’t his conscience. Or his mother. If he didn’t want to help out with the youth, that was fine. No one was making him.
I stormed through my classroom door.
The two students working on projects glanced up guiltily.
“What’s going on?” I stopped, popped my hands on my hips, and looked between them.
Aidan cleared his throat. “Um. Lucy was having trouble compiling so I offered to take a look. Since you weren’t here.”
I shifted my gaze to Lucy. “Is that right?”
She hunched her shoulders. “Basically.”
“Are you doing it for her, Aidan?”
His cheeks flamed red. “No. No, ma’am. Miss Jones, I wouldn’t do that even when she asked.”
Lucy hissed at him.
“I mean if. If she asked. I was just—”
“Out. Both of you.” I held out my hand. “Give me your thumb drives.”
“Oh, but Miss Jones, I’m not done.” Lucy’s eyes filled. “It doesn’t compile and I hadn’t even finished the whole program yet.”
“Maybe you’ll think twice about cheating in the future.” I sighed. “You know this will hurt your grade, too. Right, Aidan?”
“Yes, Miss Jones.” He opened his mouth as if he was going to add more, then snapped it shut. His shoulders fell.
I felt a little stir of pity. “I understand that you wanted to help. But there are right ways and wrong ways to do that.”
Aidan nodded once, dropped his thumb drive in my hand, and took off, his backpack slung over one shoulder.
“This isn’t fair.” Lucy scowled at me; her thumb drive clenched in her fist. “You said I could have extra time.”
“Extra time, yes. Extra help from someone who isn’t me? No.”
Tears dripped down Lucy’s cheeks. “I have to get a good grade on this or my dad’s going to think I can’t program. And then he won’t pay for college because I won’t be able to major in computer science.”
“Do you even want to major in computer science?” I never would have pegged Lucy as someone who would choose computers as a major, let alone a career.
“No.” She sniffled. “But it’s the only way Dad will pay. Mom says to go along with it, and I can double-major in something that I actually want to do.”
I took a deep breath. “Come into my office, Lucy.”
Her eyes widened.
I gestured toward my office then started in that direction. She could either come or not. But if she left without giving me her thumb drive, she was going to have bigger problems than she already did.
I settled behind my desk, pleased to see Lucy standing in the doorway. “Come on in. Have a seat.”
Lucy swallowed and perched on the edge of a chair.
“Can I ask why you haven’t told your father you don’t like computer science?”
