“You should hear from one of the admins at the center soon about my replacement. Feel free to reach out to them if you haven’t heard anything in 3-5 business days.”
I needed to get out of this conversation. Quick. Jamming my key into the lock, I can’t stop myself from glancing up at Jake’s panicked face, which also holds a hint of guilt and downright hopelessness. I slam the door shut behind me before he can even respond and spend the next three hours burying myself in my work so I don’t have to think about the desperate look in his eyes as I walked away.
Chapter 10
Jake
The middle-aged receptionist looks up at me with such pity I may just crumple over and die at this very moment. “Unfortunately, Mr. Keeley, it doesn’t look like any of our tutors are available right now to take on a new student. We’ve reached the busiest point in the semester and all of our tutors booked up weeks ago.”
This couldn’t be happening. “Are you sure there’s no one else who can help me out? Even if I have to pay extra for it.” I don’t like to flash my trust fund around. My parents worked their asses off to earn that money, and I hated the perception that came with being a trust fund kid. That I was just a brat who didn’t know the meaning of hard work. However, my hockey career is worth everything to me, so if Daddy’s credit card gets me a passing grade, so be it.
“I’m afraid not. The only tutor who has an opening now is….” She trails off, and I can fill in the blank myself. The only person who is available right now is the same one who quit on me. Fantastic. “We do provide free study materials for most courses in the library that you can check out. Beyond that, I’m afraid my hands are tied.”
“Well, thanks anyway. I appreciate it.” I pinch the bridge of my nose between my fingers, feeling a headache coming on as I walk into the hall where Ollie is waiting for me. When I emailed the tutoring center and found out they were booked, Ollie kept me from finding the nearest bridge and jumping off and suggested we come in person to “wave my charm around.”
“Another dead end.”
“Are you serious?” This might be the first time I’ve ever seen Ollie look nervous.
“Yup. All their tutors are fully booked. Well all except…”
“Shit.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I have no idea,” I groan, dragging a hand over my face. “I need Eliana.” Never in a million years would I have imagined my fate would be so strongly tied to a random person I barely even knew, and yet here I was.
Ollie winces. “Yeah good luck with that one.”
“Do you have any other brilliant ideas?”
He thinks hard for a few minutes before shaking his head. “I guess not. So what’s the plan? Can you complain to your TA about how your tutor just up and quit? There has to be some rule against that.”
“Probably. I doubt complaining would win me any favors, though. My TA kinda hates me and it’s not like my tutor didn’t quit without a solid reason…” Though she did seem pretty close to caving when she realized how desperate I was. “I just need to find a way to show her that I’m serious about this and that I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
“Okay, sure. How exactly do you plan on doing that?”
“I have a crazy idea, but it just might work out.”
“That sounds moderately concerning.”
“Trust the process, Ollie. Trust the process.”
This plan was either incredibly genius or would end up getting me arrested. I realized there was a zero percent chance that Eliana would simply take my word that I had changed and would never be late again. That ship had sailed, sunk, and was currently in the bottom of the ocean with the Titanic. Which is why I came to the conclusion that I had toshow herI was different. While I may not know much about her, I did know she worked in research. Though I still didn’t entirely understand all the intricacies of what my mom and sisters did, one thing I did know was the importance of collecting multiple points of data before drawing any conclusions. Currently, the only data Eliana had was that I was an asshole hockey player who couldn’t figure out how to work a clock. I was determined to change that.
Which is why I was currently sitting on a bench directly across from her lab reading my psych textbook while trying to decipher my latest homework assignment. I wasn’t entirely sure what her work schedule was yet, but I had nowhere else to be today, so I planned on camping out here until I either saw Eliana or someone who could tell me when she’d be in. I’d sit on this bench as long as I needed to, day after day, to show her that I was very serious about fixing my grade. At least, I hoped that would be her takeaway message. The last thing I needed was for her to think I was stalking her.
The next hour featured a series of people shuffling in and out of the building, most of whom gave me weird or confused looks. It’s not until 2 p.m. when Eliana finally enters the building. And pretends not to see me. Lucky forme she struggles to find her keys, leaving me with an opening.
“Get up to anything fun this weekend?”
She freezes for a moment at the sound of my voice, then continues on, shaking her head.
“Ifor one spent a majority of the time trying to memorize which regions of the brain interact to control our emotional processes. I think I got most of them down, but maybe you can help me with the res?—”
“I’m sorry. I can’t talk right now.” She rushes into her lab and gently shuts the door.
