Laura pats Maddy’s shoulder and gives me a wave. “It’s no problem. We’ve got your back.”
Aunt Maddy leaves the table to walk Laura out, and I tug at the zipper on my bag.
Milo clears his throat. “So, what do you want to work on?”
I shrug. “Beats me.”
“See ya, suckers,” Kai says, moving past our booth while texting on his phone. “How long are you guys gonna be?”
Milo looks at me and then back at his brother. “An hour, maybe?”
“I’ll be cruising around so I’ll be back to drive you home.”
Jealousy writhes inside me. “Where are you going?”
“I dunno,” Kai says, backing away with a happy glint in his eyes. “Parker and I were talking about meeting up. Maybe we’ll go for a spin around Mountain Drive and see who can take the curves the fastest.”
I pout, hugging my bag against my front. “Aw, I wanna go.”
“Well, when I pick up Milo, we can…”
“Nope,” Aunt Maddy cuts him off. “Get going Kai. Jamie, you’re not going anywhere tonight. Hello? Your homework has never been more important.”
I groan. “Whatever.”
Kai pushes open the front door, smirking as he waves goodbye.
I frown, feeling every good vibe falling to the pit of my stomach.
As Maddy walks back to the counter, Milo fidgets against the vinyl seat, asking, “Anything in particular you want to work on?”
“According to all my teachers, I’m failing. They all gave me extra study guides, but I don’t see how they’ll help.”
“That’s why you’re getting my help too,” Milo replies. “Can I look at the study guides?”
I open my bag and pull out a wad of paper and toss it onto the table. “Here you go.”
Milo’s nose crinkles as he looks at the scrunched papers, some balled and some torn. He flattens them out best he can. “Umm, okay.”
“Hey, at least I didn’t throw them out.”
Milo fixes his glasses as he looks up at me. “Yeah, I guess.”
I lean forward. “Hey, do you actually understand that Shakespeare stuff?”
“What Shakespeare stuff?”
“You know, how they talk and all that stuff.”
“Yeah.” He nods. “I mean, sometimes I have to read it again or go backwards once I have more context of the scene, but yeah, I get it. Did you understand the scene we went over today in class?”
“I never understand any of the scenes we talk about.”
“But you get what the story is about, don’t you? King Lear and his daughters. Love, jealousy, and hatred.”
I deadpan him. “I guess I know the names of the characters. Kinda… If I look at the page.”
Milo stares at me blankly. “They’re capitalized before the character speaks.”
