I can’t bring myself to say the wordnerd, so I dance around it. “I’m so sorry, Jonah.”
He stares at his fingers for a moment, pressing them to the desk. “It’s fine, Natalie. You don’t have to explain.”
“But I do. I have to apologize. I don’t want you thinking you’re anything less than amazing, because you are.”
His lips turn up a little in the corners. “Thanks,” he says, meeting my eyes. “I broke up with Lara, by the way.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Ex.” He shrugs. “She’s kind of a bitch. After we talked that day at the beach, I got to thinking that I’d rather just be alone than be with someone like her.”
I realize I’m smiling in this huge, giddy way, and I quickly make my face go back to normal. “That’s good. I’m proud of you. You deserve so much better than her.”
“Hopefully,” he says. The bell rings and he stands. “Good luck on your test. I think you’re going to do great.”
It feels like a ton of weight has been lifted from our friendship now that we’ve gotten this talk over with. I’m happy Jonah ditched that girl and I’m glad I got to apologize for calling him a nerd. I can’t believe it, but I’m actually looking forward to tutoring this week.
“Walk me to history class?” I say as we leave the empty classroom. “You can quiz me all the way there.”
He grins and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’d love to.”
Chapter 18
Mrs. Lapin reuses the same tests from class to class, so instead of letting us write on them, she has us number one through thirty on a piece of our own paper and then we fill in our multiple choice answer. The cool thing about this way of testing is that she can grade our tests instantly by putting our answer sheet up against her master key.
The bad thing? She can grade it instantly.
I walk up to her desk to turn in my exam and she smiles at me, then puts my paper next to her answer key. I want to turn around and run back to my desk as fast as my legs will take me, but most kids stand around and wait to see their grade. I force my feet to stay planted near her desk and I wince when she marks one wrong right at the start. A few seconds go by and she makes another x and then another. I look away, focusing on the date she’s written on the dry erase board.
“Not bad,” she says a few seconds later. She hands my paper back and I look down, seeing my grade written in red pen and circled at the top right corner.
Relief washes over me. An eighty-nine. That’s not failing. In fact, that’s almost an A. I can’t help but grin as I take my paper back to my desk. The last minute studying paid off.
I snap a photo of my grade and text it to Jonah.
Me:I couldn’t have done this without you!
He responds by sending about fifty smiling face emojis. For the first time since I was a young and stupid high school freshman, college feels like it might actually be attainable. And I owe it all to my ex step-dad’s new wife who forced me to get tutored. Go figure.
***
Jonah slaps something on my hand when I walk into tutorials on Tuesday afternoon. I look down and see it’s a pink sparkly sticker of a unicorn that takes up almost my entire hand.
“Are you a big fan of unicorns?” I say as I sit next to him at our usual table.
“My little sister loves them,” he says, pulling out his notebook. “My parents give her a sticker to celebrate any accomplishment she does.”
I hold my arm up to examine the sticker. “So why are you giving me one?”
“She said you should get one for your fantastic grade on the history test.”
I give him a curious look and his cheeks flush a deep and glorious shade of red. “You told your little sister about my grade?” I ask, leaning forward. “When would that ever come up in normal conversation?”
He rolls his eyes but I can tell he’s embarrassed and trying to play it off. “My parents asked about the students I tutor, and I told them one did really good on her test. My sister overheard, and well…” He gestures to the sticker on the back of my hand. “That’s from her.”
I hold out my hand and let the sticker sparkle under the library lights. “Tell her thank you. I love it.”
“You earned it,” he says with a laugh. “Now let’s get to business.”
