The Boy Who Has No Faith (Soulless 5)

The bookshelves were put in place and then the desk, along with the nice chair I got him.

After the movers left, I got to work putting everything back in order. I dusted off his textbooks and put them back on the bookshelf, and I returned his things to the drawers in his desk. Now that his papers had been filed, there wasn’t much on his desk at all, just the bare essentials.

Once everything was organized, the office felt so spacious. It wasn’t cluttered with dust and garbage. He could be in a small room overrun with chaos, and it wouldn’t bother him in the least. His mind was so focused that all the details around him didn’t matter, even though they would drive someone else crazy.

Like me.

Derek stepped into the office. Once he noticed the changes, he halted to take it all in, looking at the couches and rug even though those had been there for a while. When he raised his arm to rub the back of his neck, his shirt lifted slightly, giving a peek of the vein that ran into his jeans. “It looks like a completely different room.”

“Do you like it?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

I copied exactly what he did by shrugging. “Yeah?”

He grinned at the way I teased him. “It’s nice. But I’m not the kind of person that cares about the way something looks. But I know it must have taken you a lot of work, and I appreciate it.”

That was so much better than the older version of him, so I was happy to take it. “Thank you.”

He grabbed his satchel off the desk and prepared to leave for his class.

“Since today is an exam day, what if I proctor it?”

He pulled the strap over his shoulder and stared at me.

“You know, hand out the exams then collect them when they’re finished. You could get a lot more done here than sitting there.”

He rubbed the back of his neck again, a thoughtful look on his face. “I never considered that.”

“Is that a yes?”

He took off his satchel and pulled out the binder. He handed it to me.

I took it and smiled, appreciating his confidence. “Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t cheat.”

He shook his head. “You don’t have to worry about that. None of them would.”

I smiled again, loving the way he defended his students. “I’ll collect the exams and head back.”

“If someone has a question about a problem, just call me. I can take care of it over the phone.”

“Alright.” I placed the binder in my purse and prepared to walk out.

“Emerson?”

I turned back around.

“Thanks… For everything.”

When all their eyes were on me, it was a little terrifying.

It was nice to sit in a chair and stare at Derek the entire time. He made it look so easy to be the center of attention, to command the room with his incomparable presence. But now that I was up there, I felt out of place…like I had no business being there with all these bright minds. “Dr. Hamilton asked me to proctor the exam. You have one hour.” I passed out the exams and took a seat at the desk. When I looked up the rows of chairs, I saw all of them staring down at their papers, looking a little overwhelmed by the questions Derek had made for them.

I was glad I wasn’t them.

I opened my computer and opened the program to start editing Derek’s pages. Now that he was writing regularly, it was difficult to keep up with him. Sometimes I worked when I was home, even after putting in a full day of work with him, because I didn’t want to fall behind and be the reason this book wasn’t submitted on time.

Since he shared his documents with me, I edited the pages he’d already written, and his story was the only item that was shared.

But now, there were two items.

The second was called “Untitled.”

I assumed it was a new document he’d opened by accident, so I ignored it and got to work.

After I collected the exams, I headed back to the lab.

Derek was absorbed in his work and didn’t even notice when I returned, so I went into his office and organized the completed exams. I three-hole-punched each one and placed them into the binder. That way, it would be easier for me to grade. There was already a key in the binder, so I took a seat and started to grade each one like I did last time.

When I got to Bryan’s exam, I was happy to see he got almost every single question right.

Isabella still did well…despite the altercation.

When I finished the last one, I realized I had handled everything for him that day. I went to his class without him, executed an exam, graded them, and organized them in the binder—without him spending a moment on it.