Read Online Stirred Up by Isabel Morin - Free Book Online Page A

still have to hit the required stuff, too.”
    “I agree with the last part, but I thought
today’s class went great,” he said, surprised at her take on
it.
    “Neil fell asleep and half of them didn’t
even read the story.”
    “But half of them
did
read it, and
for that class, that’s pretty good.”
    “So it wasn’t a disaster?”
    “Of course not.”
    “But you’d tell me if it was?”
    “Hell, yes. I’m not here to make you feel
good. I’m trying to help you be a better teacher. But as I’m sure
you know, it’s not like in the movies. Sometimes you reach them and
often you don’t. I also think we sometimes reach them without
knowing it.”
    She looked thoughtful.
    “That helps, thank you. But I still want to
do better.”
    “The threat of a pop quiz at any given time
motivates them to do the assigned reading. You might want to try
that. But the way you led them through the discussion was spot
on.”
    She smiled then, one of her killer, full-on
smiles that just about stopped his heart and short-circuited his
brain.
    Picking up her glass of wine she held it
aloft.
    “To keeping them awake,” she said grinning at
him.
    He raised his glass, tapping hers gently as a
foolish grin spread across his face.
    “To keeping them awake,” he repeated,
laughing along with her.
    They pulled out their planners and went
through the next week’s classes, but eventually they moved on to
books and movies and embarrassing high school moments. Jason was so
lost in listening to her, watching her animated expressions, that
he completely lost track of time. It wasn’t until Brad appeared
that he realized how long they’d been sitting there.
    “Hey, man. What’s up?”
    Jason looked up at his friend, his stomach
sinking. Not only would he gladly have cancelled the plans he’d
made with Brad to hang with Cheryl, he really didn’t want to deal
with the inevitable ragging from Brad about her.
    “Cheryl, this is Brad. Brad, Cheryl.”
    “Hi there,” Cheryl said, sticking her hand
out for Brad to shake.
    Brad, utter cheeseball that he was, kissed
the back of her hand. For a brief, blazing second, Jason felt like
decking him.
    Cheryl raised an amused eyebrow.
    “I’d better get going,” she said, turning to
Jason. “Thanks for the help. I appreciate the pep talk.”
    “Why the rush?” Brad asked. “I don’t bite.
Stay and have a drink with us.”
    Cheryl looked at Brad with a gleam in her
eye, as if she had his number already.
    “Thanks, but I actually have somewhere to be
at six,” she said, getting up. “You guys have a good night.”
    Picking up her bag she turned and walked
away, her exit drawing the attention of every man in the place.
    “Okay, spill it,” Brad said, turning to
him.
    “There’s nothing to spill. She’s in the
education program at Nevada State and she’s doing her field hours
in my classroom this semester. End of story.”
    “That’s sounds like the beginning of a story
to me.”
    “Well, it’s not,” Jason said, maybe too
vehemently. But there was no way he was going into any detail with
Brad. He wasn’t that kind of friend. “We had more work to do and
decided to head to the coffee shop, but it was packed.”
    “They didn’t make them that way when I was in
school, I’ll tell you that.”
    Jason said nothing, hoping his silence would
communicate his lack of interest in the subject.
    “Since nothing’s going on between you, how
about you give me her number?”
    Jason looked at him.
    “Whoa, never mind,” Brad said, throwing his
hands in the air as if surrendering. “Forget I said anything.”
    Pissed now but trying not to show it, Jason
turned his attention to the list of beers on draft. He had no right
to be this angry, and he shouldn’t let Brad get to him. But no way
was he ever letting him near Cheryl.
    Hopefully this would be the end of it. Brad
could be a decent enough guy, but he was also the type to latch
onto an idea and harass you about it until you wanted