“Well one of them is Justin Mark.”
I curl my lip. Justin Mark was a very large guy until two years ago when he got weight loss surgery. Now he spends every waking second talking about his workout regimen and how much weight he’s lost from day to day. Even the teachers always tell him to shut up.
“You’re definitely better than him,” I say.
Jonah’s smile widens. “The other tutors are girls. The Khan twins, Tamera Blight, and Jess McGovern.”
I stick out my tongue in disgust. “Wow. Yeah. I dodged a bullet here.”
Those girls are always fighting to be the smartest in the school, and oddly they’re all very popular. The Khan twins are also cheerleaders, which kind of defies the whole dumb cheerleader stereotype. They’re all into makeup and fashion and school work. I wouldn’t fit in with them at all.
I guess Jonah Garza is the best tutor I could have ended up with, all things considering. I turn to him, trying to force myself to think positively. “Will you be my tutor the whole two months, or will you switch off with the others?” We reach the doors at the end of the hallway and he pushes it open, waiting for me to go first.
“It’s up to you. If you don’t like working with me after a while, you can request another tutor.”
“No, thanks,” I say. “I think I’ll keep you.”
It could be my imagination, or some kind of trick of the sunlight as we step outside, but it almost looks like Jonah’s cheeks turn a little pink. April steps away from the wall and joins us. She’s still not on her phone, which is so weird to me.
“You ready?” she asks me.
“Yep.” I turn to Jonah. “So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nods and adjusts the strap of his messenger bag. “Three p.m. sharp or I’ll make you write five hundred sentences about the importance of being punctual.”
“Seriously?” I balk.
“No.” He grins sheepishly. “I’m just messing with you.”
Chapter 8
I try to pay attention in class the next day.
I swear I try.
Each class is like one new nightmare after another, with lessons that don’t make any sense and teachers who talk too fast, but none of that is what’s bothering me. I can’t stop thinking about what happened last night while eating dinner with my mom.
“I wonder if I should just get a job,” she had said, pressing her fork to stand up in her bowl of spaghetti.
I nearly choked on my own dinner. “You have a job, Mom.”
She sighed. “I’m talking about a real job. Maybe I should fix up my resume and start sending it out places.”
My heart sped up in my chest. “You mean like over summer break?”
She shrugged and twirled her fork around the noodles. “Or now.”
“But then who would run the store while I’m at school?” I said. I refused to believe that she meant what it sounded like she was saying.
“We’d just close the store.” She said it simply and easily, as if it wouldn’t be a big deal at all.
I looked down at my food. “You don’t mean that.”
She sighed and went back to eating. I didn’t say a word and neither did she until her bowl was empty and she stood up to take it to the kitchen sink.
“I guess you’re right,” she said softly as she walked by and headed toward her room. “I’d be lost without the store.”
Now, as I sit in my chair at the back of the history classroom, I wonder how often my mom has thought about closing the store and getting a job. The very idea of it sends a weird mixture of emotions through me. I’d be heartbroken to lose The Magpie. There’s no way around that.
