AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You do realize how entitled you sound, right?”
Connor shut his eyes for a solid five seconds, and like me, he fought for composure. He took a step toward me, and I had to fight to keep from jolting back, forcing my feet to stand their ground. No way was I going to let him intimidate me. “I have to pass Algebra II. I don’t have a choice. If I fail, I’ll get kicked off the football team.”
The consequences—theyweresweet. “Then you should’ve studied the first time.”
Connor’s face twisted with an ugly emotion—a mixture of frustration and anger that pinched up his pretty-boy features—but before he had a chance to whip out a comeback, a new sound interrupted.
“Where the hell is Bray?” a voice boomed from the direction of the football field, causing both of us to jump. Connor reacted sharper, head whipping toward the field.
When he turned back to me, his eyes were glimmering with urgency. “Name your price. Anything.”
In that moment, something in me lifted. The anger he’d worn a moment ago had instantly evaporated into pure desperation, and the side of me who loved tutoring, who loved helping, winced.He needs help, that side of my brain whispered.You’re going to let your feelings get in the way?
I was truly, truly debating it.
Someone called Connor’s name again, this time sounding much closer. Connor took a large step away from me—I hadn’t realized he’d gotten so close. “Think about it, then. We’ll meet tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“For our first tutoring session.” And just like that, he’d regained his composure enough to shrug back on the mask of confidence and condescension. As he ducked underneath the bleacher railing, he flashed a wink at me. “Don’t forget that textbook of yours.”
If it weren’t so sacrilegious, and if I wouldn’t have gotten a fine for the damage, I would’ve chuckedthat textbook of mineat the back of his head. I was no football player, but I had a pretty good aim.
Before I had the chance, he bolted back to where he’d ditched his stuff.
Our first tutoring session. As much as I wanted to fight it, there was no use. Despite me literally biting him and yelling his ear off, he, like Principal Oliphant, had me in his back pocket.
“Maisie.” Mom’s voice came as an intrusive pin to my thought bubble, drawing me away from my U.S. History worksheet. She slumped down on the other end of the couch and propped her mismatched socked feet on the glass coffee table. It was a veryMomlook. She hadn’t even been home ten minutes and she was already dressed in her comfy clothes, ready to check out for the night. “Can you do me a favor?”
“It depends,” I said slowly, knowing it’d annoy her, but also knowing it wasn’t a good idea to blindly agree. “What is it?”
“Can you drop a packet of paperwork off next door? It’s for the student exhibition Center Inspire is hosting in a few weeks. I need Principal Oliphant’s signature on a few things.”
And there we go, a prime example why blindly agreeing was a bad thing. “Mom.”
“It’s next door,” she said, smacking the TV remote on her thigh before aiming it at the console again. She blew her at bangs, but they only fell back into place. Jozie had convinced her to get those bangs, and the same style made them seem more like sisters. Whereas I inherited Dad’s rounded nose and big ears and brown hair, Jozie got all of Mom’s dainty features and strawberry blonde hair. “It’s not like it’s on the other side of town. And all you have to say is ‘these are from my mom’ and come back.”
“Can’t you do it? I’m working on homework.”
Mom pinched her ancient, tattered sweatshirt. “I’m hardly dressed to be going out of the house. And it’ll do you good to have a break, Maisie. You can’t do homework all the time.”
Intentional or not, her words felt like an insult. I turned back to my worksheet, ready to dig my heels in.
“I’ll let you off the hook for dishes tonight.”
Bribery. It seemed I couldn’t escape it.
A two second interaction was worth the twenty-minute dish-washing time, especially since it was lasagna night. I could do this.
Growing up, I’d never thought things with Madison would end the way they did. I never pictured our friendship ending, but if it had, I would’ve expected a World War III type argument, a blow-up so big and bad that it even ruined the cordialness of our families. Is it really so bad if it isn't a big enough fight to be nuclear?
The answer: yes. It could really be that bad.
Our falling outwasn’tnuclear. It didn’t extend to our parents. In fact, afterthe incident, we simply never spoke again. Almost like we weren’t best friends to begin with.
Madison’s house was directly next door to mine, so close that we used to throw Barbie dolls to each other through our open windows. It felt weird approaching her porch now, the gravel of her driveway crunching beneath my feet. Almost as if I was in a dream.
The porch creaked as I stepped onto it, eyeing theAll Are Welcome Heredoormat that was well-worn. It actually readAll R Wlme Resince foot traffic had erased most of the letters.
