Page 19 of The Surprise Play
I wince.Aw. He thinks Moby Dick’s a man.
This is why you have to read the book.
Wily stops pacing to glare down at me, flicking his hand in my direction. “Why do people keep looking at me like that!”
My lips twitch, and I don’t know how to break this to him, so I use the gentlest voice I can. “Moby Dick’s the whale. He doesn’t really have a character arc in the traditional sense. I mean, I guess you could argue that he’s an important character in the book, which he is… But if your professor was looking for a human experience, then…” I cringe. “Moby’s like the enemy of the story. The force of nature that affects the other character arcs and?—”
“Fuck! Stupid AI bullshit,” he grits out, and understanding quickly dawns.
“Oh, yeah. AI’s only helpful if you’re asking it for the right thing. Did you not notice when you read over?—”
“I didn’t have time to proof it properly! And I didn’t even know what the fuck I was reading, so no! I didn’t notice!”
“Okay.” I raise my palms, trying to calm him down.
Breaths spurt out his nose, his chest heaving as he mutters something under his breath and glares at me again. “It all comes so easy for you, doesn’t it?”
“I—”
“You’re smarter than me. Everybody’s fucking smarter than me! They don’t get what it’s like to hear something and not understand it. To read something and not get what the words even mean! You’ve probably always been a reader, right? You probably have stacks of books in your room that you pore over. Just like Blake.” He curses again, then growls and shouts, “Well, not everyone finds it that simple!”
I flinch away from his venom.
This is kind of scary.
I should go.
I should really just turn and go.
But…
Look at his face.
My eyes are transfixed as his expression jumps from anger to desperation to disappointment to pure, clear-cut frustration.
“And it doesn’t matter how many tutors I have, okay? Nothing works! That’s why I was paying extra to get my assignments done for me!” He slaps the back of his hand against his palm. “That worked. That was getting me through.”
I should nod and just agree with him. He’s ranting. He doesn’t need me to say anything.
So, of course I open my mouth. “But that’s not teaching you?—”
“Did you not just hear what I fucking said?” He spreads his arms wide. “Ican’tlearn, okay?” His expression bunches. “Fuck! I’m never gonna graduate.”
His growls and foul language are doing nothing to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Oh my gosh, look at his face.
He honestly believes he can’t learn.
No wonder he’s been having trouble with his tutors. If he can’t get past that belief, he’s always going to struggle.
I stand there, drinking in his unrest and feeling this pull inside me.
“You’re not stupid, Wily. And youcangraduate. I’d help you if you were willing to let me.”
“You can’t help me. You don’t get it! I’m not smart enough!”
“You are. I can teach you so that you can take that knowledge and apply it in your life. It’s pointless trying to graduate otherwise. And you’ve been passing so far,which means you must have been picking up something along the way. Your tutors can’t take your exams for you, so you must have done okay with those.”
