Page 56 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

“This morning,” I said. And when he was silent, I proceeded to tell him, and all the others in the basement, how that had gone down. Basically, Wallaby had invited me into her office to tell me I needed to get my act together. The overdue papers last semester had been half the reason I had failed. In her words, it was lucky that she was offering the same course this semester, so I could retake it and earn my credits, but I needed to “Start putting in the bare minimum, Mister Price,” I shrilled in Wallaby’s voice.

“Okay, that’s a shit impression. Don’t do that again.” Avery remained deadpan.

“About that ball-kicking?” I reminded him. “Do your own, asshole.”

“I’ll pass. So, what happened next?” He folded his hands together and held my gaze without blinking.

I snorted. “What happened next? ‘Yes, Ma’am. Of course, Ma’am.’ And I was out.”

“She didn’t tell you how to actually put that bare minimum in, huh?” Avery asked.

I shook my head, pulling the other earbud out because I had totally lost my concentration. “I guess there’s no hope for me at all, boys.”

“There is.” Avery was short and to the point as ever. “You fail again, you take the summer session. There are options.”

“Seriously, dude. If I fail twice, the summer session will be a nice epilogue that changes nothing.” As I said this, Riley twisted on the sofa to face me better.

“Have you tried getting in touch with Noah?” he asked.

I let out a strangled laugh. “Have I tried? Everyone I talked to said he was booked until the twenty-fourth century. People are literally scheduling which courses they expect to fail before they’re even admitted, then getting in touch with him. I got as far as talking to Matt Hughes, Noah’s best friend. And he told me I was way too late. Besides, Noah’s coaching nerds for competitions most of the time.”

“Did you actually see the guy?” Riley asked.

“Do you know how to make him see me?” I returned flatly.

“You’re doing the thing, buddy,” Avery said.

“What thing?” I snapped.

“You’re being a dick. Cap’s just trying to help.”

I rolled my eyes and nodded. “I’m sorry, Riley. I’m just on edge.”

Our team captain waved his hand off and shook his head. “It’s fine. But…is it really that hard to even meet with the guy?”

I blew out a breath of air. Noah Foster was the wunderkind of physics. “Dude’s won the Physics Olympiad when he was fourteen. And he’s weird. You can’t just go up to his room. He’ll ban you for life, man.”

They all laughed, Avery’s laughter being a short exhale, like I was kidding.

I gawked at them. “I’m serious. Brad, the Breakers’ goalie, tried it and Noah told him he would never, ever even hint at something that could help him get a single point he didn’t earn himself. And when Brad shits himself with fear, you know the guy isn’t joking. I guess it’s got something to do with knocking on his door and breaking his concentration. Brad didn’t know what to call it.”

“Traitor,” Avery accused me and I ignored him. I was desperate and I’d heard from a mutual connection that our biggest rival’s goalie had met with my last resort tutor. I’d touched bases with Brad. Sue me.

“Alright,” Riley said. “So, you can’t go up to his room and knock because he’ll blacklist you. No one you spoke with can get you in touch with him. How do you get him to tutor you, then?”

“I don’t,” I said.

“There must be someone else,” Sebastian offered.

“Not gonna work. Sawyer scored a grand total of nothing the entire semester. He’s starting from scratch.” Avery was thinking aloud and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Thanks, buddy,” I said.

He ignored me. “We need Noah. He’s the only one who could, in theory, do this. We’re talking about teaching a toddler how to build a rocket.”

“Thanks some more, buddy.” I exhaled and slid lower in my seat until my ass was practically hanging over the edge. The can rested on my chest, my hands wrapped around it, elbows cozy on the armrests.

“He’s gotta have a price,” Avery said ultimately.