Page 36 of Robbin’ the Rich

My heart dropped so fast it physically hurt. No. Please no. I kept my expression carefully neutral while every muscle in my body tightened.

“What church?” I asked as evenly as possible.

Robin let out a humorless laugh. “Ascension Fellowship.”

The room suddenly felt too warm.

I stared at her while panic curled low and sharp in my stomach. Robin didn’t notice. She kept talking quietly, fingers tracing condensation along her glass. I should tell her, but I was frozen.

“I know they mean well,” she said. “But it's just...” She exhaled hard. “That church hurt a lot of people.”

I couldn’t breathe properly for a second. Because I knew. God, I knew.

“My first girlfriend’s family went there,” Robin continued softly. “Back when Pastor Young still ran everything.” Her jaw tightened slightly. “They threw her out after they found out about us.”

Pain flickered openly across her face for the first time since I’d met her. It was a look of real pain, not her usual anger wrapped in sarcasm. And suddenly every instinct in my body screamed at me to tell her. I needed to tell her now before this got worse. My throat tightened painfully.

Robin shook her head slightly. “And now my parents volunteer there like none of that happened.” She laughed once quietly, bitter around the edges. “I know it probably sounds stupid, but it felt like a betrayal.”

“No,” I stumbled out. She looked up then. I swallowed hard and forced myself to keep going. “It doesn’t sound stupid.”

Robin studied me quietly for one long second, and I almost told her right there. Almost. Instead fear won. I was a coward.

A voice suddenly interrupted beside the table.

“Mr. N?”

I startled hard enough that Robin blinked. One of my students stood nearby with his mom holding takeout bags, already grinning excitedly.

“Tyler,” I said quickly, grateful and horrified at the interruption simultaneously.

“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend,” he blurted.

Robin nearly choked on her drink.

I rubbed a hand over my face immediately. “Tyler, please.”

His mother looked mortified. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry⁠—”

“No, it’s okay,” Robin said, laughing now despite herself.

Tyler pointed at me confidently. “Is she the reason you were smiling at your phone?”

I stared at him in betrayal.

“You assigned homework on a Friday,” he reminded me. “Now we’re even.”

“Touchè.”

Robin openly grinned while Tyler’s mom dragged him away, apologizing profusely.

The second they disappeared, Robin looked back at me with amusement still bright in her eyes. “Mr. N? That was one of your students?”

I smiled tightly. “Yeah. One that is going to get homework on Friday again.”

“He seemed to like you.”

I nodded, “Yeah, we have a good relationship. I think being one of the youngest teachers in the building helps.”