My sudden motion startles Saylor, who’s sitting on the love seat across the room watching Animal Planet with Nonnie.
“Shit,” I say. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Nonnie rubs her cat slippers together. “That’s quite the amount of expletives.”
I rub my eyes. They’re raw and itchy—no doubt my mascara is smeared everywhere. My skin feels dry from falling asleep with makeup on. I’m going to regret it when I break out later this week.
“I have an English paper due tomorrow.” I dig through my schoolbag that I’d left by my feet. “I haven’t even started. I’ll be up all night.”
Saylor eyes the textbooks I’m piling on the coffee table. “I can help.”
“Thanks, but—”
“Seriously, I don’t mind. I’m not working tonight.” He motions upstairs. “Go get your laptop.”
My brain is too scrambled to come up with any better ideas, so I go and grab my computer. When I bring it back down, he takes it from me and opens a blank Word document.
“What are you—?”
“Get your book and tell me your thesis,” he says. “You think, I’ll type.”
My stress level begins to dissolve. It takes me a moment to remember the prompt for my essay. “I have to write if I think John Proctor is a hero or an anti-hero. FromThe Crucible.”
“Ah, I know that one,” Nonnie interrupts. “Shakespeare?”
Saylor and I exchange a horrified look.
She stands up, patting me on the arm. “You know, maybe I’ll grab us some snacks.”
As she disappears into the kitchen, her teal curlers bobbing as she walks, Saylor turns to me. “I’ve read it,” he assures me. “What’s your stance?”
I talk, trying to remember what I’d thought when I finished the play. John Proctor isn’t a hero. Not really. He chose to die rather than continue living a lie, because his reputation and name would be tarnished going forward.
Saylor’s typing everything I’m saying, and it hits me that he’s helping me even though I pretended not to know him when I saw him at 7-Eleven with Lin. I never apologized for that, but I never felt like I had to. It’s my business what I choose to tell my friends, isn’t it? I shouldn’t feel bad about that.
Nonnie comes back with a bowl of frozen grapes, and when Saylor reaches for one I allow myself to look at him. Why is he being so nice to me? Peach too, even though she hasn’t been around much the last few days. She definitely deserved an apology that never came, and yet they haven’t held any of this against me.
By the time I’m done making a compelling argument, Saylor just stares at me.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he says, but he doesn’t look at me as he hands my laptop back to me. “You have a very interesting essay, that’s all.”
The front door unlocks, and a second later I hear my dad call hello. Once a week he’s agreed to take later janitorial shifts so he can meet with his therapist in the morning.
Wallis is the first one to the front door, greeting him enthusiastically.
“We’re in here!” Nonnie hollers.
When my dad sees the three of us sitting in the living room, he smiles. “Has Kira convinced you all to start watchingCrime Boss?”
“I missed it,” I admit. “My quick nap turned into a four-hour coma. Saylor was just helping me finish an essay.”
My dad doesn’t hide the impressed look on his face. “That was nice of him.”
“Thank you,” I blurt, turning to Saylor. Because he’s right—it was nice.
“It’s no problem, but I’m going to head to bed,” Saylor says, shooting me another strange look. “I’ll see y’all in the morning.”
