“Cool.” He smiles, his eyes crinkling in the corners. He doesn’t even seem to notice Caleb standing there. “See you at three.”
After he leaves, I turn my attention back to Caleb. He looks annoyed…or maybe…jealous? There’s no way.
“So, you got plans with nerd boy?” Caleb asks, the irritation obvious in his voice.
Oh shit, is he jealous?Is he seriously jealous?
I am freaking out on the inside, absolutely losing my shit. Caleb Brown just asked to drive me home, which is basically a precursor to asking me on a real date. And then Jonah ruined it and Caleb actually seems jealous.
“Yeah, sorry,” I say, deciding to maintain an air of mystery instead of letting him know I just have tutoring. “I’m busy after school. But thanks so much for offering me a ride.” I grin and touch his shoulder with as much confidence as I can muster, even though my knees are shaking. “You’re such a sweetheart.”
With that, I turn and walk straight into my classroom, feeling as though my heart will explode. I cannot believe I just boldly flirted with Caleb Brown. My grades may suck, but right now my social life is totally on point.
***
“So,” Jonah says when I join him at the same table in the library after school. “Show me your stack.”
I put a hand to my chest. “Damn, Jonah. That’s a little forward, don’t you think? Maybe buy me dinner first?”
He looks confused for just a second and then he blushes and presses his lips together. God, I love how easily I can make this nerd blush. He’s probably never even dated a girl, much less flirted with one.
“I meant stack ofpapers,” he says. “Not…well—I don’t even know what the word stack could mean in another connotation.”
I shrug. “It sounds kind of like rack?”
He gives me this incredulous look. “You don’t even know the meaning of your own joke?”
“What can I say?” I reach into my backpack and dig around inside. “If I can find a way to crack in inappropriate joke just to see you blush, I will.”
“You are ridiculous,” he says with a long exhale. “I’m not blushing. If anything, I’m red with rage because you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever tutored.”
“Dang, Jonah!” I put a hand to my chest. “Bringing out the claws, huh?”
“Sorry,” he says quickly. “Show me yourpapers. How much did you get done?”
After our session on Tuesday, Jonah had looked over my stack of extra credit worksheets and said I should be able to do at least ten of them by the time we met again. Ha. Yeah. Freaking. Right.
I managed to do three of the easier worksheets after dinner last night, and that’s all I’ve done.
I hand him the stack of papers, hoping he won’t actually go through them.
But of course he does.
“Three?” he looks up at me and I expect a lecture or some other look of disappointment. Instead, his brows pull together in concern, “Is everything okay?”
His question hits home, but I’m not about to tell this guy anything about my stressful life away from school. I shrug like I don’t give a shit. “Yep.”
“Okay,” he says, turning his attention back to the papers. “You need to finish five a day to complete them all in a month. At this rate, you’ll be done in two months or longer.”
“Well, they didn’t give me a due date,” I say.
“Don’t underestimate how long it takes the teachers to grade these. I’d get them in as soon as possible. If they aren’t graded by the end of the school year, you’ll be SOL.”
“Oh, awesome,” I say sarcastically. “Now I’m even more stressed out about this crap.” I take the papers from him and shove them back in my bag. “Can we just get to the tutoring now? I promise I’ll work on the stack when I get home.”
“Don’t get tripped up if the questions are confusing,” he says, still talking about the stack of extra credit work. “Just circle it and skip over it and we’ll look at them next time we meet up, okay?”
“Sure thing, Boss.”
