Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“I was not sleeping. I was resting my eyes.”
“Brad,” she says with a short puff of exasperation. “I know you’re too smart for these classes, but until you graduate high school, you need to follow the rules here.” She lets something drop in front of my face and it flutters down to land on my fingertips like a feather plucked from some unlucky bird about to be roasted for a holiday dinner. “This is the number for Melody James. She’s struggling in her trigonometry class and needs assistance. I recommend that you call her and set up a time to tutor. Otherwise, there will be no more access to the GT lounge and you will be required to sign in every morning physically in order to be marked in attendance. The physical check-in will be matched daily with the computer records and then again every week until your graduation.”
With a groan, I push into a sitting position. “You’re really going to blackmail me with this?” I nod toward the piece of paper on the table.
“Don’t think of it as blackmail,” Ms. Cruz says. Now that she has my attention, she returns to her desk. “Think of it as a growth opportunity.”
“I’m six feet. Why would I need to grow?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Melody likes taller men.”
“Melody can suck my d--”
My words die on my tongue as a girl sexier than Carter Franklin’s sports car walks through the door. Her hair looks like she dipped it in cotton candy. Her tits are full and her hips look the perfect roundness to take a real pounding. Nonchalantly, I tug my hoodie down over my lap so I don’t embarrass myself. The movement catches her eyes and they shift from Ms. Cruz to me. She gives me a quick once-over flick and then dismisses me as unimportant.
“Ms. Cruz,” she says, directing her attention back to the honors advisor. “I’m Melody James. I was told to come here for—” She pauses and sneaks another glance my way. “Well, I see you’re busy so I’ll come back later.”
“No, no, come in.” Ms. Cruz gestures for Melody, my future, to come inside.
All traces of tiredness are gone. I sit up as straight as I can and wait for my introduction. I should smile. My brows crash together. Do I remember how to smile? I haven’t done it in a while. I move my lips around and it feels strange so I shut that down real quick. I’m not great at wooing chicks but even I know that looking like I’ve got malfunctioning duck face isn’t going to do me any favors.
“This is Bradley Hayes. He’s volunteered to be your tutor for this term.”
Melody cocks her head to one side and inspects me like I’m an ugly insect pinned on her science board. “Do you even go to school here?” She swings back to Ms. Cruz. “I have never seen this person in my entire life. Shouldn’t I have a tutor who has taken trigonometry before?”
“Nah, that class? I hate that fucking class,” I moan, the words slipping out before I can stop them.
“See!” Melody points a finger at me. “He’s not the right one.”
I’m definitely not. I can handle blood. I can handle knives. I can handle a gun being pointed in my face, which happened last week when some guy at the match got mad that I’d beaten him for the third time in a row. But not Trigonometry. It’s boring as shit. “Definitely not the right one,” I agree. “You should drop it and hang out in the GT lounge. You could do an independent study, right, Ms. C?”
And I’d be here every day, just as Ms. C told me I had to be. I rub my hands together at this perfect plan.
“I don’t want to take an independent study.”
“It really is too late to drop the class,” Ms. C says. “But to answer your question, Melody, I don’t know of a better tutor for you than Brad. He is a student here and has been for the last two years but it doesn’t surprise me that you haven’t run into him as he’s often…” She trails off, unsure of the right word.
“I skip a lot,” I offer. No need to hide the truth. I’m not embarrassed of it.
“Yes, he has an attendance problem. In fact, I thought pairing the two of you up would solve both your problems. Brad can’t miss more days at school and you need in-school tutoring. It’s a perfect solution, if I do say so myself.” A phone ringer goes off, catching Ms. C’s attention. “Let me take this phone call while the two of you get acquainted.”
She grabs her phone and steps out of the classroom. Melody glares at me as if I murdered her cat. She dumps her backpack on the table and slumps into a chair.