“Soccer? I couldn’t get you to my level.”
“I don’t need to be at your level. I just need to kick a ball and have it go where I want to.”
“You want me to teach you coordination? That’s a tall order. Have you asked Kai?”
Milo snorts. “Umm, no. This is way less humiliating. Kai would never let up about this.”
“So, why ask me? Kai and I are basically the same person.”
“No, you’re not,” he says softly. “Plus, you need my help. There has to be some payoff. I’ll tell your teachers, or whoever else, that you’re improving faster than you really are, and you can keep our soccer practice a secret from Kai.”
“You don’t want me to tell Kai? That’s impossible.”
Milo’s eyes flick to Aunt Maddy at the counter. “I can tell Maddy things that will help get her off your case. You can have more time to skate, or maybe get off the bench quicker and get back into soccer games.”
I sit up. “How will this work?”
Milo taps the papers. “You have to put the work in. No matter what, I’ll keep it positive. I just need your help and get Kai off my back. I don’t want to flunk a class. I just need some pointers.”
Wow. He’s worried about one class. He really takes school seriously. Dang. If I get anyone’s help, it should be from Milo. He cares so much about this stuff.
“Okay. How hard can it be?”
Milo grins. “So, it’s a deal?”
I reach my hand across the table. “Deal.”
Milo shakes my hand. “Okay. We should get some homework done then.”
Ugh. It’s going to beveryhard.
Five
“TheKingLearhomeworkis fresh in my mind,” Milo says from across the table. “We should tackle it first and get it out of the way.”
“I thought we were gonna start with something easy.”
“English is an easy subject. It’s easier than math or chemistry.”
“Geez. Just the mention of math turns off my brain.”
“We’ll get there. I promise to teach you in a way that you’ll get it.”
I frown. “We’ll see.”
Milo goes over the scene we discussed in class that wasn’t more interesting than figuring out Kai’s thing with Tabitha. He explains that King Lear being trapped in a storm symbolizes his realization that his cruel daughters are capable of victimizing him.
It’s weird how it starts sinking in. I click my pen, take a deep breath, and promise to try my best with the discussion questions Ms. Jenkins gave us at the end of class. I take a long time on each question. Milo finished his answers by the time I finished question two out of eight.
“It’s not a race,” he says. “I’m just going to work on my chemistry homework. Tell me if you need help and I’ll take a look at it.”
“I’m too slow,” I counter. “I have math homework too.”
“Just make a start and then I’ll take a look,” Milo replies. “We’ll have time to look over your math homework too.”
I wiggle my eyebrows and smirk. “Or you could just do it for me.”
“It’s all right for your teachers to know you’re getting help, but they don’t want to see you straight-up cheating.”
