“I guess I’m just struggling with…understanding the material.”
“Well, if you actuallyreadit, that problem would take care of itself. You can’t just learn this shit through osmosis.”
Yeah, thanks, T. It would be helpful if reading wasn’t nearly impossible for me.
“Why don’t you ask Logan for some help?” Oakley offers offhandedly, to which Holden snorts.
“We’re talking about the same Logan here?” he asks, arching a brow. “The one who was ready to light every single one of us on fire for even breathing last year?”
“In his defense, I couldn’t wait to escape the whole lot of you after graduation,” Oakley says with a shrug.
“Didn’t realize moving to New York City would make you even more of a jackass,” Theo chirps, while Holden tosses up his middle finger to the camera.
“Ah, don’t let him lie to you,” Quinton’s disembodied voice calls from off screen. “He misses you guys more than he’s willing to say. Cries himself to sleep over it every night.”
Oakley rolls his eyes. “Can we get back on task here?”
“Oh, not as much fun when you’re the one with the target on your back, is it?” Theo mutters indignantly, and Holden raises his hands.
“Hey, in my defense, I just caught the end of you sayingget marriedwhen I joined the call.
“So that automatically meansI’mthe one getting married? Without telling any of you?”
“Hell if I know, man! You kept your entire relationship a secret. Who’s to say you wouldn’t do the same thing when you tie the knot?” Holden reasons, and Phoenix nudges him with his elbow.
“Uh, pot, meet kettle,” Phoenix reminds him. “Literally for all of us.”
“Not me,” I chime in with a big smile.
Oakley pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters, “Talking to the lot of you is like herding fucking cats.”
“But they’re your herd of cats, baby,” Quinton supplies, ashit-eating grin on his face.
“Anyway,” Oakley interjects loudly. “Try asking Logan. He got like a 1480, or something ridiculous like that, on his SAT.”
“1480, and he’s at Leighton getting an art degree?” asks Holden.
“Wait, you can get a degree inart?” I find myself blurting out. “Why did none of you tell me that? I could’ve been smooth sailing it this entire time.”
“Cam. Buddy,” Quinton says gently. “You still have to begoodat art to get a degree in it.”
I frown. “Isn’t art kinda subjective, though?”
“Well, even subjectively…you’d fail at art,” Phoenix pipes up, his face pulled back in a bit of a grimace. “I mean, do you remember those kama sutra stick figures you drew when you first met Kason? You spent an hour drawing those, and…”
I rack my brain for a moment, homing in on the memory, before I feel myself grimace too. “Okay, yeah. Maybe you have a point.”
“And you guys wonder why I hate group chat FaceTimes,” Oakley mutters before wrapping back around to the original topic. “Andspeakingof points, Logan obviously tests well. I’m not saying it will work, but maybe he can give you a couple cram session tips or something. I don’t know. Just a thought.”
It’s a good idea—better than anything I have at the moment—but unfortunately, I don’t know how helpful it would be in practice. But, of course, none of them are aware of the real reason I do so poorly in my classes, despite being my best friends. So how would they know putting the dyslexic kid in a class where he has to read a shit ton has nothing to do with knowing how to study?
“Yeah…uh,” I stammer before scrubbing a palm over my face. “I guess there’s no harm in asking.”
“Just make sure you record it when he laughs in your face,”Theo chirps with a grin.
“Hey, don’t put that in the universe,” Holden chides. “Maybe Logan will surprise us all by taking on a charity case.”
I force out a laugh, ignoring the way the comment gets under my skin a bit. Mostly because I know there’s no malice behind it—we all rib and dig at each other. It’s just that, more often than not, I’m the butt of the joke. A lot of those times it’s because I do or say something to deserve it, so I can’t be too mad.
