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The sharpness of his tone when he dropped me off rang in my ears, and even now, the phantom ache in my throat as I snapped back a response rose up. Fighting with someone you barely knew, I realized, was almost as uncomfortable as fighting with someone you loved.
“Maybe I was right about what I said Friday,” I said, rubbing my arm. “Mrs. Diego can find you a new tutor.”
Connor’s brow creased. “Why?”
“Because things are too complicated with us.”Us. The monosyllable tasted awkward in my mouth. “We don’t like each other, which is a pretty terrible student-teacher relationship.”
“You don’t like me?”
This time, his shocked tone made me laugh. “I know, someone not liking Connor Bray? Alert the media. But you don’t like me either. Which is—well—whatever. We can hate each other and be enemies, and that’s fine, but it means that I can’t tutor you.”
As my sentence drew on, Connor’s eyes narrowed on me, and his head tilted to the side. I couldn’t tell if he was amused or offended. “We’re enemies?”
Okay, fine, I wouldn’t have called him a strict enemy. Probably not, anyway. I’d reserve that term for two members of the cheer squad. “Maybe…frenemies.” Wewereable to be friendly enough during our tutoring sessions, when the jerk side of his personality went into hibernation. “But either way—”
“I need you.” Connor took a step closer until he’d entered my bubble of space, scenting the air with the smell of sandalwood and mint. There was no room to back up, not unless I wanted to take the plunge down the staircase, so I froze. “I need you to tutor me. I’m out of options at this point, and I don’t have time to find another tutor. You need something too, right?”
A neon sign flashed in my head.Valedictorian. A gateway title that led to scholarships, potential full rides, no more worrying about what my parents had left for me in the college fund.
“Love advice,” he filled in when my silence had stretched too long.
I snorted. “Not that your advice worked well the first time.” I casted a glance down the stairs, the smudges on the linoleum from a morning’s worth of shoe treads. Halfway down the stairs there was a landing, and then they turned, so I couldn’t see the first floor.Love advice. The two words made me think of Alex, with a winter storm of nerves and feelings hot on its heels. None of it comfortable.
“Have you and Alex talked about Friday?” Connor asked, the words sounding suspiciously like small-talk. Filler. Like he didn’t really care but he knew he should ask.
“Didyoutalk to him when you went back to the diner? Become BFFs?”
“I never went back after I dropped you off. Jade and Madison got a ride from Kyle.” Connor wavered on his feet. “He grovel at your feet for making you find your own ride home?”
If there was one thing that I didn’t want to talk to Connor Bray about right then, it was Alex. The whole situation of Friday night. In fact, I wanted to strike that night from my memory, draw a fierce, red line through the whole evening. I started descending the staircase. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Macy—”
Not even five stairs down, I turned, craning my neck back up at him. “Are you pronouncing it wrong on purpose?”
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said his cheeks appeared pink. “How are you supposed to pronounce it?”
“The S makes azeesound. Not aseesound.”
“Wait, there’s an s? Where?”
I gave him a blank stare. “It’sM-A-I-S-I-E.”
He reached up and rubbed his fingers across his lips, the gesture almost self-conscious. “I’ll have to write it down. I won’t remember it unless I write it down.”
Something about what he said had me hesitating. “Writing things down helps you remember?”
Connor shrugged and stepped down to the same stair as me. “Yeah, I guess. That’s how I passed Spanish last year, anyway. It was way easier to remember conjugations after I wrote them down.”
A little lightbulb went off in my head. “Where do you want to meet for tutoring today?”
Connor went down one more stair, glancing back. “What happened to our negative student-teacher, frenemy relationship?”
The way Connor looked up at me caused me to pull up short. His expression was more open now, almost relieved. That relief tickled something in my brain, reminding that small side that argued that therewasmore to Connor than his snarky attitude and popularity status. There was desperation in him, just like every other student.
I hated that reminder.
I stepped past him, gripping my bag strap tightly. “I think I’ve got an idea for tutoring.”
