“So?”
Claire erased the image from her mind. “There is nothing to tell.” And as she said the words, the image of Cooper popped up in her head. His eyes lingering on her lips.
“Are you certain?” It was Gwen’s turn to give the look. But hers said something entirely different from her husband’s. Gwen’s look meant You’re not telling me everything, and I’ll just be quiet until you do.
Only this time, Claire wasn’t falling for it. “When is Neil going to let Emma date?”
One question, and Claire’s love life was cleared from the conversation.
By the time they were finished with lunch and took a short walk through a few shops, Claire left Beverly Hills feeling refueled. There wasn’t a day that went by that she wasn’t grateful that she met Sasha and AJ, and in turn Neil and his family.
She pulled into her driveway and was reminded that Jax wouldn’t be home. Her next thought was to call Cooper, maybe grab some takeout.
Then she remembered the lip stare.
Instead of takeout, she settled on a pasta dish she shoved in the microwave and a glass of red. With that, she settled in front of the TV and clicked through the streaming services looking for something to binge-watch.
CHAPTER TEN
“Porter? A word, please.”
Claire held back as the rest of her homeroom filed out the door.
Mr. Eastman waited until they were alone. “You’ve been with us for almost two weeks.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I understand you’ve been sent to Mr. Green’s office at least twice for using profanity.”
“Yeah, so?” Her tone alone would have gotten her in serious trouble in her high school.
He held her gaze. “I also understand that your teachers all think there’s a lot of intelligence under that attitude you carry around.”
“A lot of smart people cuss.”
Eastman didn’t miss a beat. “In fact, the only staff on campus that don’t have an issue with this attitude seem to be your coaches.”
Claire shrugged. “That’s because they want something out of me.”
He paused, took a breath. “Maybe. But if you want to continue running track, you’re going to have to leave the profanity off campus.”
Claire blinked a few times and put a mental checkmark next to Eastman’s name as a possible good guy. She doubted teachers correcting her desire to cuss would be the same ones pulling kids into the sex trade. But was he the mole? “I’m going to be late for Shakespeare. We both know how much I’ll be using iambic pentameter in my future. So if you don’t mind . . .”
Eastman cracked a smile and nodded toward the door.
As Claire made her way out of his classroom, she texted Cooper. Find a reason to get Eastman out of his classroom after the last bell and before track.
Cooper’s reply was a check.
In fact, all of Cooper’s responses were just like that. One word. One graphic. One something.
It had been four days since the lip stare, and it didn’t appear either one of them was going to bring it up.
And as Claire dragged her feet in the halls of a high school, ignoring a boy suddenly felt very adolescent. They needed to talk, and not about work.
As she pulled her phone out to tell him just that, the bell rang, reminding her she was late. Students rushed past as she opened the classroom door.
Her teacher stared her down and pointed to her watch.
“Yell at Mr. Eastman. He kept me late.”
“Don’t think I won’t check on that.”
Claire plopped down in her chair. “You do that.”
Claire waited outside Mr. Eastman’s classroom door, in the shadows of one of the other buildings. With her backpack flung over one shoulder, she appeared to anyone watching like someone texting on her phone.
Movement out of the corner of her eye showed Eastman closing his classroom door behind him. He walked away from where she stood, and toward the field. She waited until Cooper sent a signal, and when he did she slid out a couple of tools as she angled to the door. It took less than ten seconds to pick the flimsy lock and push her way inside.
Behind his desk, she woke his computer and went straight to work. Thanks to some coaching from Sasha, Claire had learned a few tricks about hacking into the school’s intranet. Through a back door, she linked Eastman’s information to Cooper’s classroom. Thankfully, the computers weren’t ancient, and accessing audio without letting the person staring at the screen know they were being heard took less than ten minutes.
Still, the clock on the wall told her every minute she was in there was a minute closer to being caught.
With that work done, she did a quick look through Eastman’s desk. She wasn’t sure what she would find, but rifled through it anyway.
When she found the bottom drawer locked, she considered picking it as well.
The time told her she was pressing her luck.
Careful to put everything back the way it was before she came in, she opened the door, looked twice, and left.
Cooper glanced at the time after he texted Claire that Mr. Eastman was on the field.
Eastman couldn’t have been much older than him. He wore slacks and one of the high school shirts that had the mascot logo on one side, and “Auburn Pride” written on the other. One of the students pointed Cooper’s way, directing the other man.
“Cooper Mitchel?” he asked when he approached.
Cooper smiled, extended a hand. “Mr. Eastman.”
“It’s Leo.”
Cooper indicated another spot on the field. One, so no one could hear their conversation, and two, so he could see when Claire walked onto the field.
“I’m glad you messaged me,” Leo said as they walked. “I was about to do the same to you.”
“Really? About Claire Porter?” Cooper’s message to Leo was to discuss Claire.
Leo offered a single nod. “She’s a bright girl.”
If only you knew how bright. “And pretty fast on her feet, too.”
“So I heard. Does she have an attitude out here?”
Cooper shook his head. “Nothing that I’ve seen. I was surprised when Mr. Green told me she’s spent time in his office.”
“My homeroom is full of kids with chips on their shoulders. I don’t buy into a lot of their drama, but when I see someone with potential acting out, I try and learn what makes them happy and use it to help them focus.”
“And you think that’s track?”
“I’m asking you.”
“The kids seem to like her, she doesn’t have that chip out here,” Cooper said.
Leo looked around them. “I’m hoping we can work together and keep her focused. I’d hate to see her attitude keep her from competing. I told her that today.”
Cooper tried to act surprised. “I’ll certainly talk to her, see if there’s something causing her anger that we can mitigate.”
Leo nodded a few times. “So was there something you wanted to talk with me about?”
“You covered most of it. I’ve reached out to a couple of her teachers when Green told me she needed to shape up.” Then, because Cooper needed to stall, he asked, “Is there a behavior you’ve noticed with her?”