Moira sat at her desk in Mr. Green's empty classroom, working on edits to her last term paper for English Lit. That is, the report was displayed on her screen, and occasionally, a phrase penetrated her brain, but her thoughts were a few miles away at Oxford University where Mr. Green was defending his thesis.
It was silly to be worried, she chided herself. The thesis was solid, and Mr. Green knew the material from every direction. He would not fail. Her fingers tapped the screen, bringing up his message from yesterday for the tenth time in the last hour.
Got the job. I start on Thursday.
A job with the Sun Consortium had been Mr. Green's immediate goal for both this summer and for graduate school. She stared at the message, picking at a ragged fingernail. Would the new job allow him to work on his doctorate? Surely, it would. He wouldn't give up on that.
She glanced at the time in the corner of her screen. What was taking so long? He knew she'd be on tenterhooks waiting to hear. If he wasn't coming straight to Strickert, wouldn't he send her a message? Her lips twitched in amusement. If he was out celebrating with friends, she'd kill him. He could celebrate after letting her know the results.
She'd made it through an entire page of her report when footsteps hurried down the hall. She froze in her seat and stared at the door, rewarded when Mr. Green appeared with a huge grin, and flung his backpack from his shoulders.
“Success!” he said, arms spread wide. Moira couldn't stop herself—she rose and threw her arms around his neck with a happy squeal. He gave her a brief squeeze, but let her go at once, holding her away with his hands on her shoulders before turning to retreat behind his desk.
“I can't stay long,” he said as he sat. He propped his chin on folded hands to gaze at her. The grin had not left his face. “Some friends are holding a table at the Pots and Pans. We're all buying each other dinner in honor of our new degrees.”
She sat at her desk again. Since their discussion two months ago, they had taken to holding conversations with the length of the classroom between them. If they stayed any closer, they always found excuses to touch each other.
“I'm glad you came by to tell me first,” she said. “You would have been in terrible trouble if you'd made me wait much longer.”
He laughed. “I would never have done that. This is your degree too, you know. You've been the best assistant anyone could hope for. And I have a surprise for you.” His face held a quiet, pleased look as he watched her, as if he didn't want to miss the moment when she saw his gift.
“Me?” Moira flushed with embarrassment. “You're the one graduating. I have something for you.” Afraid to look at him because she might start crying, or worse, giggling with excitement, she reached into her desk and pulled out a box, wrapped in silver mesh paper. She'd bartered with Grace for everything.
She placed the box in front of him, not daring to look at him until she saw his hands reach for it. His smile had turned soft as he gazed at it, and she trembled when he looked up at her.
He touched her hand. “Thank you.”
She forced herself to be casual as she turned and retreated back to her desk. “You have to open it before you thank me.” Her voice faltered, but she went on, “I wanted to get you something really nice, but I'm afraid I couldn't manage that. I do hope you like it.”
“How could I not?” he said as he pulled the ribbon. “I'm already touched beyond words.” The wrapping lay on the desk with the box waiting in the middle. Moira held her breath as he lifted the lid and rustled aside the paper, but his expression filled her with relief. His eyes were large and round with astonishment, the pleasure obvious in his gaze as he lifted the book from the box.
“A printed book!” he said in wonder. “The Eddies of Time in Multiple Dimensions by Samuel Altair. This is amazing.” He opened it and read the inscription she'd agonized over for thirty minutes. To Mr. Green, Congratulations and Good Luck with the next step! It was a phrase which came nowhere near expressing the pride and love simmering within her. He would understand it wasn't safe for her to write anything more personal. He looked up at her. “I’ve never heard of this author. However did you find it?”
She leaned back in her chair, trying to appear relaxed. “Grace mentioned she saw it in a re-use shop in town. I asked her to pick it up for me.” This was the truth, although Grace thought the book was for Moira. She was afraid he wouldn't accept it if he knew it was supposed to be hers.
His eyes returned to the book as he flipped pages. “This is marvelous. A true collectible. I'll treasure it always. Thank you, Miss Sherman. Truly.”
Moira hugged herself to keep her giddiness in check. She owed him so much. His pleasure in the gift went a long way toward fulfilling her desire.
He set the book down, fixing her with a teasing smile. “As it happens, I got you something to read, too. It's on your Pad. I sent you a link.”
She felt her face heat up, and she ducked her head as she called up his message. When the link opened, she stared at it without comprehension for a moment, then read the title in a voice gone dull with shock. “The State of Neutrinos in Five Dimensions by Andrew Green and Moira Sherman, under the advisement of Frederick Colson, Department of Physics, Oxford University, England.”
She looked up at him, finding it difficult to make any more sound come out of her stiff lips. “You can't ... you can't ... .”
“Fred can.” Mr. Green leaned back in his seat. Moira blinked once before remembering that “Fred” was Dr. Colson, Mr. Green's thesis advisor. Mr. Green pointed a finger at her, his whole face alight with joy. “It's to be published in Science, the August issue. I tweaked it a bit, but it's essentially the same paper you wrote for the science fair last year. I promise you, that's the first of many scientific papers to be written by the team of Green and Sherman.”
It took two tries before she got air into her lungs. “A paper,” she murmured, touching the screen in wonder. “A real scientific paper.”
He laughed. “You'll get tired of them soon enough.”
She laughed too, but the desire to kiss him instead made it sound rather forced. She wasn't thinking of just a friendly peck, either. Her face got even hotter. She covered it with her hands, hoping he'd put it down to happiness, then made herself stand. “I've got to meet my study group,” she said, using all her bravery to face him. “Your friends are waiting for you. Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Yes.” He stood as well, packing his gift into its box. His voice was hesitant, and she knew he wanted to ask about her plans, a topic she refused to discuss. “I've got to file the final grades in the morning,” he said. “I'm to report to Sun in the afternoon, for orientation and to meet my supervisor. How many tests do you have left?”
“Two. Somehow I managed to get into the last roster, so I won't finish until about four tomorrow.”
“Bad luck,” he said with a small laugh. She laughed too, but when their eyes met, his laughter disappeared. “At least tell me you've got everything prepared. Tell me you'll be all right.”
Her chest rose with the effort it took to breathe as she stared at him. Her nod was slight. “As much as I know to do, I've done,” she said.
He nodded, shifting his gaze to the gift she'd given him, crumpling the ribbon in his hand. “I've been working on something ...” he glanced up at her, his face filled with hope and doubt all at once. “I understand your reasons for not wanting me involved. But I've been working on a way to alter your chip, hopefully to give you a false ID. It's just surface of course. They can still check your DNA. But it will get you past a cursory checkpoint. I'll have it here by about seven tomorrow night. Will you wait to get it?”
She smiled to cover her raging emotions. “Is there any nefarious thing you don't know how to do?”
He shrugged, laughing a little, but his gaze remained on her, the strangled ribbon in his hand betraying his tension. “Will you wait?”
“Yes, of course,” she said. Then before he said anything else, and before she gave in and threw herself at him, begging him to run away with her, she slung her backpack on her shoulder, hugged her Pad to her chest, and fled the room.