Page 18 of Perfect on Paper

Wow. If Brooke was admitting defeat—or at least, impending defeat—she must be seriously struggling. My mouth was open to say “of course I’ll help” before she’d even finished her sentence, then I remembered I couldn’t. Brougham and I had agreed to take two tonight, after he finished dryland training. I mean, Icouldcancel, but my parents had raised me to consider bailing on someone at the last minute pretty damn rude.

The problem was, I couldn’t exactly tell Brooke what my plans were tonight.

“Um, I, well… I’m busy,” I said weakly.

Brooke’s face fell, and everything shattered. Fuck Brougham, fuck Brougham, fucking, fuckingfuckBrougham. “Oh,” she said.

“I promised Ains I’d help her with a video.”

I’d just lied to Brooke. I didn’t need to lie. I could’ve left it at “I’m busy.” But just saying I was busy felt like a blow off, and I couldn’t stand it if Brooke thought I didn’t want to see her, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“That’s fine. I’ll be fine. I just, yeah, need to sit down andfocus,I guess.”

She didn’t sound certain. But of course she didn’t. She wouldn’t have asked for help if it wasn’t a last resort.

“If you need help, English is my best subject.”

The voice came from behind me, and Brooke and I both looked up to see who’d spoken.

It was Raina. She stood awkwardly, looking at the floor and pulling on the ends of that too-tight ponytail. This alone was unlike her. She was usually forceful and confident—when she pushed her way through a crowd, it was a little like experiencing the running of the bulls. Here and now, though, she seemed almost hesitant.

If I was shocked to hear an offer of assistance from her, Brooke sounded even more so. “I, uh, oh. Hi, Ray.”

“Hi.” Raina’s eyes flickered up briefly at this, but she didn’t smile. “You’re readingThe Kite Runner,right? Mr. Elliot assigns that every year. I’m not doing anything tonight, so. I’d be happy to help.” It sounded like the words themselves pained her to say them.

“Help… me?” Brooke asked dumbly. I didn’t blame her. Raina’s attitude toward Brooke ranged from mild disdain at best to outright disgust at worst. This? This was close to a cease-fire.

“Why?” I asked shortly.

Raina looked at me directly now, her gaze icy. “Because it looks terrible if someone on the council fails a major assessment piece,” she said.

Well, that did make more sense for Raina.

“I’m not going tofail,” Brooke protested, but she sounded unsure.

“Do you want a hand or not?”

Brooke hesitated. Good. She wasn’t falling for whateverploy this might be. For a second, I’d—“I have to drop Darcy home now,” Brooke said.

“Well, I’m free whenever. How about if you decide to take me up on it, you shoot me a message on Insta?”

She didn’t even wait for Brooke’s reply, just turned on her heel and all but sprinted down the rapidly emptying hall. Brooke and I stared after her.

“Do not message her,” I said.

“You don’t think?”

“I do not think. That waswaytoo weird.”

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“Donotmessage her.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

Brooke looked at me, and I looked at her, and we burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Raina offering to help Brooke out for no gain. What was next? Brougham developing a soft, warm disposition?

After that random-ass display, nothing could surprise me too much.

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