He headed over to where Olivia was sitting against the wall, knees drawn up, a book resting on them. “Hey, kid. You wanna get out of here?”
Olivia looked up. “I have to wait for Abby. Ms. Sue doesn’t have a seat for Will, so she can’t pick me up.”
“I got all that from Abby. She’s going to give me her keys so I can drive you home.”
“Oh. Then, yeah.” She shoved the book into her bag and stood, slinging it over her shoulder.
“Um, excuse me. Olivia?” The kid from earlier stood next to them.
“Yeah?” Suspicion was heavy in her voice. Tinker didn’t blame her—he wasn’t sure where this was going either.
“Um.” He glanced nervously at Tinker, then Olivia. “I was wondering if you’d be my partner for the Mathletics competition next month.”
Olivia frowned. “What’s the joke?”
“No joke. I’m serious. You’re really good at math and I think we could win.”
“How do you know I’m good at math?” she asked.
“I mean. You killed that quiz last week and you weren’t even here for most of it.”
“Why are you asking me now?”
“Uh, someone told me I should quit being a fu—fart head.” The kid cut a quick glance at Tinker again.
Olivia still looked skeptical, but said, “Sure…I guess.”
The kid’s face relaxed. “Oh. Cool. I’ll tell Ms. Stein on Monday.”
“Okay,” Olivia said.
They stood there for several uncomfortable seconds.
“Okay. Uh, bye. I’ll see you Monday. Bye.” He waved and walked away.
“Bye.” She watched him walk away. “That was weird.” She looked at Tinker. “Did you say something to him?”
“Just to stop being a fu—fart head.”
“Do you think he was serious?” she asked.
“He asked in front of me, so yeah.”
“Huh. Weird.”
Abby joined them and handed Tinker her keys.
“What time will you be done here?” he asked.
She looked at her watch. “Hopefully not later than nine. We’re going to do a basic cleanup and then break everything down tomorrow.”
“All right. I’ll bring your car back after I make sure Olivia is inside.”
“Okay. Thank you, again.”
“Ms. Day!!”
Abby glanced toward the voice. “I’m sorry, I need to go.” She touched his arm and rushed off to help a student who looked they were on the verge of tears.
