Page 37 of I Wish You All the Best

“Fine.” Nathan turns to me. “Why did the scarecrow get an award?”

“Um.” I actually try to think of any possible answers, but I’ve got nothing. “Why?”

“Because he was outstanding in his field!” He throws his hands out, big goofy grin on his face.

All three of us just stare at him, blankly.

“You get it?” he asks. “’Cause you put them in fields?”

“Oh, I get it. It’s even funnier when you have to explain it,” I say, before I turn to Sophie. “You’re right.”

“See?”

“Whatever.” Nathan rolls his eyes and bites into the pizza. “Y’all just don’t appreciate good humor when you hear it.”

“Sure …” Sophie says under her breath. “So, Ben, do you like it here?”

“It’s okay,” I say.

Meleika huffs. “You picked a great time to transfer,” she adds sarcastically.

“You guys dressing up for Spirit Week?” Sophie asks.

Meleika pulls out her phone. “Yeah. I need the extra credit in Biology.”

“Extra credit?” I ask. I saw the list of theme days, but nothing about extra credit.

“Teachers will give you credit if you dress up for the theme days,” Nathan says. “Sometimes it’s just ten points on something, but some teachers will drop your lowest test or give you a free one hundred if you dress up all five days.”

Meleika giggles. “It’s probably the only way I’m passing Bio.”

“Told you to get a tutor.” Sophie sighs, like this is the thousandth time she’s said these exact words.

“And I told you I don’t have the time. Between planning for this dance, studying, and work, I’ve got nothing but weekends, and no one ever does weekends.” Then Meleika leans against Sophie, using her shoulder as a pillow. “If you loved me, you’d tutor me.”

Sophie scoffs. “Yeah, I know next to nothing about biology. Your grades might go down if I tutored you.”

“They’re going to go down anyway!” Meleika groans.

Nathan pushes his tray away, his food left half-finished. “I’ll need one for Algebra, but no one’s put up any listings yet.”

“People are busy, dude,” Sophie says.

“You need a tutor?” I ask, and I’m not sure why. Oh God, I’m not really doing this, am I?

“Yeah, it’s kicking my ass.” Nathan rubs his forehead like just talking about math has given him a headache.

Yep, I am apparently doing this, because no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop my mouth from moving. “Oh, I mean, I could …”

“Really?” He raises an eyebrow.

I do sort of owe him for showing me around the school and trying to make me feel welcome. “I don’t know how good I am at tutoring, but I can try.” Besides, if he’s good in English, he might be willing to help me too.

“I don’t know if you want to do that,” Sophie says. “He’s a bit of a lost cause.”

Nathan turns back toward her. “Bite me.”

“Just saying,” she sings.