She finally cracks a smile. “You’re so obvious right now.”
“What do you mean?” He takes a drink of milk to hide his smile.
Lacey rolls her eyes, but then she finally glances my way. “Hey, Vaughn.”
“Hey, Lacey.” My pulse quickens as her expression softens. She looks away quickly, staring down at her tray almost like she’s annoyed for being nice to me. Rowan catches my gaze and winks. Fucker.
The rest of lunch is uneventful. I don’t say much, but by the time the bell rings for us to go to our next class, I’ve relaxed and am no longer hangry.
The couples disperse first, then Rowan lifts one hand over his head as he leaves, “I’m off to class. Later, dudes.”
It’s just me and Lacey, and I know this is my chance to ask her to help me. I’m ready to resort to begging if necessary. But also, I just don’t want her to be mad at me anymore.
“I’m really sorry about last night,” I say.
Her steps are slow, and I keep her pace as we drop off our trays.
“We had a deal.”
“I know, and I blew it. You were right to be pissed, and I get it if you don’t want to help me anymore. It might not seem like it, but I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You’re a good tutor, and I like studying with you. You make math fun somehow.”
Her brows lift ever so slightly. “I do?”
“Yeah, I mean, who else would make a Frost Lake color-coded study guide? You even drew little soccer balls and pom-poms around the edges.”
“I figured you’d think it was cheesy.”
“I don’t. It’s cool as hell. No one has ever done anythinglike that for me.” All true. People respect me, most even like me, but they don’t go out of their way to help me.
We leave our trays and move out of the line. When we’re a few feet away, she stops walking. The stare she levels me with makes me want to squirm, but I resist.
“I can’t tutor you tonight. I have the football game. The team is making up the Ralley game that got rescheduled due to weather last month.”
“I could meet you before or after,” I suggest.
“You have practice before, and after the game it’ll be late.” She looks sympathetic about her schedule, but like maybe she doesn’t want to be too accommodating. A small grin pulls at one side of her mouth. “Unless you want to sit in the bleachers, and I’ll shout out algebra answers to you from the field.”
“Yes,” I say before I can think too hard about it.
“I was kidding.” She laughs and we continue to walk again. The halls are starting to clear out as people head off to their fifth period class.
“I will take any time you have.Any.”
“Aren’t you worried about people seeing you?”
“I’ll deal,” I say.
“Okay. Meet me there at six.”
“Isn’t the game at seven?”
“Do you want help or not?” A little of her usual sass resurfaces, and I feel the first relief I have since she slammed the door in my face last night.
“Yes. I’ll be there.”
Chapter Thirteen
Vaughn
