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“What can I do? We’re stuck at home.”
“I wanted to get you flowers, but I felt bad about making someone deliver them to you, so I’ll hold off on those. I got you something else, though. It’s lame because you are really hard to shop for.”
“I am? How?”
“You never want anything. Everything is always fine. You have what you want and what you need, but some of us want to do nice things for you. Some of us can’t do nice things because we’re apart right now, so all some of us could do was send you a gift card. It’s probably in your email that you never check, by the way.”
“I’ve been a little busy. And I usually only get spam in the one that’s not my Dunbar email, anyway.”
“Well, not anymore. There’s a gift card in there for you, so you can buy whatever you want. But, Layne, you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“That you’ll buy something for you; not for your mom, who I know is great, and not for anyone else. Just for you.”
“I don’t really need anything.” Layne shrugged.
Shay glared at her and said, “I’ll take it back.”
“No, I’m–” Layne laughed and added, “I’ll buy myself something. You win.”
“And I have to confess something now, that I know you’re not going to like, but my parents didn’t like it a lot more.”
“What? Are you okay?” Layne asked, worried now.
She moved her phone to the other pillow and rolled onto her side to stare at Shay on the screen.
“I’m fine. We’re fine here. Just… I kind of failed a class.”
“You did what?”
“It was that stupid trig class I had to take. I thought I’d wait until my last semester to do my math requirement, but I didn’t realize the whole semester would turn to shit.”
“We studied for your final together. You were good.”
“I was. But the test was online and timed, and… I don’t know. I got really nervous. Normally, I’m in class, and yeah, I know there’s a time limit, but this system they use for the usual online classes is, like, nuts. There’s a timer right there in my face, and it turned to red with ten minutes left, and I just… I bombed it.”
“I’m sorry, Shay. What does that mean?”
“Not much. I guess I got kind of lucky that I was able to go for my fifth year, but I wouldn’t have been able to graduate without my math requirement anyway. I shouldn’t have put it off; I know that. But I wasn’t a math major, and I was doing fine when we were in class. I had a C, but I was close to a B then. When we went virtual, though, I had a hard time keeping up with everything, so yeah… I didn’t pass.”
“Are you still eligible to play next year with that grade?”
“I still meet the overall GPA requirement, yeah. I’ll have to retake the class or choose another math that meets the requirements. Want to help me pick when the time comes?”
“Sure. And I’ll help you study, if you want. I’m not a math whiz, but I’m not bad with trig or geometry.”
“You wouldn’t be.”
“What do you mean?”
Shay smiled at her and replied, “You can see the court, remember? You see the angles. You know where to pass the ball and how to time it better than most.”
“That doesn’t make me good at geometry or trigonometry,” Layne argued.
“Who knows? Maybe it does. Anyway, want to watch something?”
“I can’t. My mom’s going to be home soon. I need to cook her a late dinner. But if you’re still up later, we can try.”
