Page 9 of Roll With The Punches
“I hate when you’re right.”
Grace giggled. “She’s almost always right. Sheisa genius, after all. With the papers to prove it and everything.”
Emma blushed. “Stop,” she mumbled.
Jeff turned, studying them. “Wait, what?”
“Nothing,” Emma mumbled again.
“No, what’s going on?”
Grace stared at Emma, obvious confusion on her face. “Didn’t you tell them?”
“No. I hadn’t. Thank you very much.”
“Tell us what?” Jeff asked.
When Emma obviously wasn’t going to say it, Grace spoke up again. “The guidance counselor gave her an IQ test. She scored 172. She told Em she should apply to Mensa.”
“Holy crap!”
“It’snothing,” Emma said. “Those tests aren’t even accurate.”
“When did this happen?” he asked Grace, since Emma was obviously not wanting to talk about it.
“Two weeks ago.”
Jeff stared at Emma. “You got this newstwoweeksago and didn’t tell us?”
“It’snota big deal,” Emma insisted.
“I’ve been trying to talk her into applying for Mensa,” Grace said, “and she’s chicken.Bok bok.”
Jeff leaned against the counter. “Anything else you’ve been holding back?”
Emma’s face turned even pinker, but she shook her head.
“Why are you embarrassed by this?” he asked. “This is a good thing.”
“Because it’s just a number. It’s not the sum of who I am. That’d be like saying my best swimming times define me. Or like how many cars you can work on in a week defines you.”
Jeff immediately spotted the irony in this, that he didn’t have a ready comeback for her because she wasn’t completely wrong.
“You need to tell your dad about this,” he said. “If nothing else because he’ll be damn proud of you for it. Tonight. Okay?”
Mumbling seemed to be her go-to tone. “Okay. Fine.” She shot a dark glare Grace’s way, who stuck her tongue out at her in reply.
“Thank you,” Jeff said.
Now, if Emma would only go through with it.
