Page 89 of Call the Shots
“I’m trying to say I’m sorry!” Bear blurted out. “I’m sorry for being a gigantic shithead with asshole tendencies and flooding the dorm and saying mean shit to you and—and I’m sorry and I don’t know how to say it and I’ve never done this before and I’msorry,June!”
As his words tapered off, the two of us glanced to see the class staring at us, silent. The blush burned, especially when Dr. Schulman shuffled into class.
“Well, Mr. Moreau,” he said. “If you’re done admitting to being a ‘gigantic shithead,’ I’d like to teach my course.”
“Sorry, sir,” Bear mumbled, eyes on the desk.
I felt awful for Bear. The embarrassment was overwhelming but so was the guilt. When I broke up with Xavier, Iknewhe lied to me. So why did I believe him about Bear?
I ripped a piece of paper and scribbled two words on it.
no concha
Bear wrote four words below that.
no concha - im sorry
I flipped to a fresh sheet of notebook paper to take notes while Dr. Schulman talked about the basics of matter. Bear jotted down something else.
i dont know how to do this
I motioned that it was fine, but he passed a new piece of paper.
how do i make it okay
I stole another look at him.
bear its fine i promise
Bear wrote something and erased it until the paper ripped. He froze. Quickly, he tore the rest of it to pieces, then swept them into his backpack.
My wish was granted.When class ended, Bear shot out of his chair, and I didn’t see him at my next class or on my way to the library to study with Montoya.
No matter how many times I asked privately, none of his teammates ever joined us. Whatever. I had a killer hangover and papers to write. With my upcoming trip to Austin, I’d gathered up alternative assignments from all of my professors to make up for the week of being gone. The only one who refused to let me get the points was Dr. Schulman but that was fine, I had an A in his class anyway. At the library, I had to get a head start on my homework, that was what was really important.
Except, when I saw our usual table, I stopped at the stairs.
Three other tables from around the library had been crammed against ours and extra chairs were added, leaving Montoya surrounded by Fridge, Denali, Elijah, Nick, and…Bear.
“June!” Montoya hurried up to me. “The guys are studying with us.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Theolderguys.”
He vibrated with excitement, and without looking up, Bear pulled out my chair. I slowly sat down, gazing around at the Gladiators. They were typing on laptops and highlighting notes while Denali and Bear checked off their inventory lists.
Bear did this. I didn’t know what he traded for it, or what kind of threats were thrown, but I knew he put this together.
Quickly, I ripped out a piece of paper and wrote two words.
thank you
He slipped the paper in his pocket, frowning over his laptop. “That’s it for the inventory, Denali. We’re done.”
“Goddammit,” Denali muttered. “That can’t be it.”
“We have two boxes of tape left, how is this supposed to last us through the summer?”
