“Your mom is getting married?”
“Yeah, she left my dad a while ago and now she’s remarrying for the third time,” Joe explains. “It’s kind of crazy, I know.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I shift my gaze to Oliver, who’s suddenly gone stony again. “That must be hard.”
“Nah, it’s fine. It’s just hard when we’re all spread out like this.” Joe looks between us. “I heard you guys laughing—what’s so funny? Did you finally figure out that problem?”
Oliver covers his mouth to hide his smirk and, unfortunately, covers those dimples. I swallow my own chuckle. This whole situation issort offunny. I mean, who would have thought I’d not only live across from the random boy I tried to kiss, but that he’d end up as my tutor? Oh, and that I have a big ole crush on his older brother?
“Nope,” Oliver says simply, then rises to his feet. His eyes linger on mine, just for a moment, something softening behind them. But then he cuts away to address Joe. “It was way too difficult.”
Joe scratches the back of his head. “Huh. Really?”
“Yes.” Oliver’s already moving down the hall. “Maybe you’ll be able to figure it out—sorry.”
I watch him leave. What the heck was that all about? Who would’ve known Subwayboy was such a little flirt?
But—wait. Does that mean he’s going to tutor me again?
No! Geez. What am I thinking? I have Joe now.
Joe sits next to me, then picks up his pencil and studies Oliver’s work. “Is it really that hard?”
“Everything about calculus is hard,” I supply, which is unhelpful but honest.
“Let’s see if I can manage.”
If he can’t, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I imagine knocking on Oliver’s bedroom door, begging him to help me again, and shiver. No thank you. I won’t lose any more of my dignity today.
On the bright side, I finally confessed to Oliver. It’s all out in the open. No more secrets. Who cares if he knew the entire time? It’s in the past now. I don’t have to stress about it anymore. And he took it surprisingly well. I mean, he got me back with his little joke, so now we’re square.
Agh, but I told him I wanted my first kiss to feel special! Is that sappy? Does he assume I’m some pathetic hopeless romantic? Maybe Patrick’s right. Boys don’t think about romance the way girls do. Kisses aren’t something they dream about. Oliver probably thinks I should just get it over with too.
“Oh! I finally figured it out.” Joe tilts my homework so we can both read it. “So, this is how you do it—”
He begins patiently walking through each step in the problem, and by the time he reaches the end, I think I understand a little better than before. So he has me try the next one, and he’s encouraging when I make a mistake, ensuring I go back and try again. Eventually, I figure it out.
“You’re so smart, Joe. Thank goodness we have your brain here to help us.”
Joe only grins.
I may have bombed the pretest, but the real test is tomorrow. With Joe’s help, I’m going to do better. Iknowit. If I don’t, I may as well kiss my dreams of going to the festival with him goodbye.
And I’m determinednotto let that happen.
THIRTY
Patrick
As soon as I get home from school I close my bedroom door and riffle through the love letters and gifts that tumbled from my locker. Some envelopes carry a sweet plum scent. Others are sealed with glittery heart stickers. Each letter is addressed to me, my name written in tidy handwriting that gives nothing away.
I’m wondering who could have written them when Sara Lin pops into my mind. I replay the way she threw her arms aroundme, burying her head in my chest as she apologized. We’re not huggers. I mean, we’ve never been physically affectionate with each other. That’s what caught me off guard. Because hugging was new. And she did it, probably, because she was so upset.
That’s all it meant.
It doesn’t mean all these love letters are from her.
That ship sailed a while ago, didn’t it?
