Page 95 of Oar Than Friends

I threw back the covers and scrambled after him into his dressing room to fetch my workout clothes.

‘I’m never going to get this right,’ huffed Alex, almost to himself, as he dropped his text book on the floor, ‘there’s too many. Too many!’

I looked over to see him stretching out in the armchair on the other side of the living room. Phoebe was on the floor by the fire writing notes as she readOthello, Oz and Hector were huddled together at the opposite end of the enormous couch I was sitting on, going over Latin verbs, and none of them paid the slightest bit of attention to their youngest brother who appeared to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I put down the book I was reading about rowing the Tideway – something else I had to master. When term broke I still hadn’t been selected as coxswain for Blondie, so I needed all the help I could get.

‘What’s up, Alex?’

Sitting back up with a loud groan, he turned his head toward me, ‘I have to memorize the periodic table and I can’t remember them. It’s boring and pointless.’

My nose wrinkled in agreement. Itwasboring, though I did need to use in it medicine so couldn’t totally agree on the pointlessness, but for him it kind of was seeing as he’d decided he only wanted to study languages, but was still at the age where sciences were compulsory learning.

‘I learned it using mnemonics, have you tried that? It helps a lot.’

‘No,’ Alex shook his head, ‘I don’t think so. What does that mean?’

‘Like when you make up a little poem with the first letters of each word. It helps you remember.’ His face remained blank as he looked at me. ‘You know, so the first two lines of the periodic table would be Happy Henry Likes Beer But Can Not Obtain Food … that’s the one I was taught, but you can make up your own.’

He followed along with the elements I was reading out, his eyes widening as understanding set in. ‘Oh, yeah. I get it. I’ll try that, thanks, Kate.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I smiled, ‘let me know if you want help with them.’

‘Did you know the word mnemonic comes from the Ancient Greek word meaning memory?’

‘No one cares, brainiac,’ Alex shot back at Oz with an eye roll, and went back to muttering under his breath.

‘Youshould, you’re half Greek.’

Alex ignored him.

Instead, Oz winked at me, just managing to hold in his laugh, and continued where he had left off helping Hector with his verbs. I’d been watching him almost as much as I’d been trying to study, and even though he’d sworn he also had studying to do I was yet to see him open any book, not even the one by his lap. Instead, he’d been working through Hector’s coursework, helping him with the exams he had when he returned to school in the new year. I was fascinated by his patience and understanding, the way he went over and over explaining the same point until he knew Hector understood completely on his own.

I stretched out and nudged his ass with the tip of my toe, ‘Hey, wanna come and find some of that leftover pie with me?’

Phoebe glanced up from the floor. ‘I want pie.’

‘Me too,’ came Alex.

‘And can you get me a Diet Coke?’ added Phoebe.

‘I’ll have regular.’

Oz’s eyes widened at me, ‘Jeez. Look at what you started now.’

I grinned, even more so when Oz shook the end of my foot and stood up holding out his hand to me, ‘Come on then.’

The second we were out of sight I wrapped my arms around his waist, ‘I don’t care about pie, I just wanted to get you alone.’

He stopped and pushed me up against the dark wooden panelling of the corridor, ‘Oh, really?’

‘Yep.’ I popped out the ‘p’.

‘Well, that’s a coincidence because I’ve been thinking about how to get you alone.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘Yeah. So tell me, what did you want me alone for?’

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