“Good save,” he said.
“Thanks.”
Three boys walked by them and the one closest said, “Hi, Olive Oil.” The boys laughed and kept walking.
Tinker stared after them. Probably not a good idea to beat the shit out of a bunch of middle schoolers. “Who was that?”
There went the eye roll. Definitely called for it that time. “Ugh. A kid from my math class and his gooner friends. They’re so cringe. Like calling me Olive Oil is original. I’m gonna sit over on the side and do my homework.”
He watched Olivia walk to the far side of the gym and sit against the wall. She didn’t talk to any of the kids she passed, and no one paid her any attention. Except the kid who’d called her Olive Oil. He was trying to play it cool, but he was definitely watching her.
Tinker remembered what it was like being twelve and liking a girl, thinking the way to get her to notice him while not being the laughingstock of his friend group was to be a complete jackass.
The kid’s friends left, leaving him alone, and Tinker took his chance.
“Hey. Kid.”
The kid was wide-eyed and glanced around, checking to see if Tinker was talking to him. Or looking for an escape. Maybe both.
“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and impart some wisdom. If you like Olivia, quit being a fuckwit—it’s not impressing her or anyone else. Figure out a way to tell her you like her without being an asshole.
“But if you are just a fuckwit.” He dropped his voice to barely a whisper. “Cut that shit out. You won’t like what happens if I find out you’re picking on the new kid to score cool points with your friends. Got it?”
“Ye—yes, sir.”
Tinker stared at the kid for several seconds to drive his point across. He nodded once and left him to think whatever he wanted about what Tinker might do to him. Not that Tinker would. He’d never hurt a kid. But he looked scary enough to make the kid wonder, and he could teach Olivia a few things that would hurt the kid if it came down to it. He spotted Abby at the edge of the stage.
She was alone, flipping through a sheaf of papers. “Hey.”
She glanced up, a look of surprise and, he hoped, pleasure on her face. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
From far away, she’d looked like the calm in the storm. Up close? She looked like one of those motivational posters that said “hang in there” with a picture of a cat dangling from a branch.
She was the cat.
“Came to see if you need help with anything,” he said.
She looked at her watch. “About a thousand things.”
“Start with one.”
It looked like she was about to say she didn’t know or there wasn’t anything he could do, but then asked, “Can you take Olivia home? She usually goes home with me, but I’m stuck here. I feel bad she has to hang out with nothing to do. I’d have my mom pick her up, but she has Will, and her car is in the shop. She has a loaner, but she forgot to get his booster seat out of her car, and I didn’t leave my booster at his daycare this morning, so she can’t pick up Olivia because he can’t ride without a booster seat. She didn’t tell me until after she’d already picked him up. The daycare is only a few miles from her house, but I’m not comfortable with them driving across town?—”
“I need your keys,” he said.
“What?” She stared at him blankly.
“Your car keys. I’m on my bike and I don’t have a spare helmet, so I need to borrow your car to drive Olivia home.”
She blinked several times. “Really?”
“You need her home, right?” he asked.
“I don’t need her home…”
He cocked a brow at her, and she trailed off. “Yes, that would be very helpful. Let me go get my keys.”
She hurried off and he shook his head. She’d learn when he offered, he meant it.
