“Momma gets real annoyed when I start asking too many questions. She just tells me to look it up and quit being so chatty. But I can’t look it up because we don’t have any internet and the library is too far for me to walk.”

“Well, I have internet and a library nearby. I’ll look it up and get back to you.” I’m already thinking about how I can remedy the problem for him. Maybe I can call my parents’ manager and set up something through one of their various charities.

Jude doesn’t say much, just watches us with a smile and eats his own ice cream cone.

After we drop Fynn off—with promises to bring him some of my old geology books—I have to ask Jude as we’re driving back home. “How did you get into doing this whole Big Brother thing?”

“Just kinda fell into it, I guess.”

I get the impression I’m not going to get more than that from him, so I switch tactics. “And how did it happen that my class was canceled right at the time you needed to do your Big Brother thing with Fynn?” Total shot in the dark, but it was extremely unusual that Professor Reyna canceled class. She never misses a lecture. She even taught last month when she had the flu, even though we could barely hear her through the surgical mask.

Jude’s gaze hits me, unblinking and sharp as a razor. Okay, there’s definitely more to Jude Parker than this whole laid-back party guy image he projects. “Just lucky, I guess.”

“Really. That’s some luck,” I say, but don’t press him further. “He’s a smart kid.”

“The best. I knew you two would hit it off.”

We drive in silence while I navigate down Main Street. Are there more kids like Fynn? Like me? “Are there others? Like him? Locally, I mean.”

“None exactly like him, to be sure, but if you’re talking about local kids who have an insatiable curiosity and drive to learn, I would say there are quite a few in need.”

My brain is already ticking ahead. What if I could do something big, like open a school for gifted kids in Blue Falls? A thing like that would have changed my whole life. If there are others, kids like me, kids who want to learn everything but no one around them who understands, if I had had that growing up . . .

It doesn’t necessarily help me pick my major, but it’s a start.

It’s still early, not even four. Is my advisor still in her office?

An hour later, I leave my advisor’s office with more hope than I’ve had in a long time.

I’m likely going to have to get at least a master’s degree in education, but I’ve done it. I’ve picked a major. Er, two. After discussion with the advisor, I settled on a double major in physics and math with a minor in business.