Page 13 of It's in the Contract
“You are?”
Suzy smiles and nods. “I am. I probably won’t win, but you never know.”
“Suzy, that’s great! I will support you however you need.”
“Thanks.” Suzy gets a fiery look in her black eyes. “Winning would be nice, but honestly, I just want to see Brielle taken down a notch. I don’t care who does it.”
“She has always been so awful to you especially.”
Suzy nods. “Ever since I turned her in for cheating on a test in middle school, she’s had it out for me.”
I follow Suzy into the living room.
“Let’s watch a romcom,” she says. “That will make you feel better.”
We plop down on the couch and turn onHow to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. My mood improves somewhat, but I can’t stop my worries from floating through my head.
Four
Learn how to do winged eyeliner like Callie Carter in 90 seconds! #makeuptutorial
YouTube short by @moodymakeup.
The library isspacious and well-lit, with tall bookshelves crammed full. Groups of students study at tables around the room or laugh softly, their faces lit up by each other’s phones. I used to love to read before my social life took over everything, and I still feel a little twinge of happiness at walking inside Monte Ville High’s library. The smell of the books—paper and leather—wafts over me.
I walk past a table where Nick Faust and some other members of the football team are seated. Nick mimes barfing on the floor, and the other boys laugh.
My face flushes, and I hurry on. I weave through green and white couches and pass a motivational poster on the wall that reads, “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” I wave to Summer Folley, one of my fellow cheerleaders, and when I walk past her I catch a whiff of her perfume. I pause.
“Summer, are you wearing the new Dior Miss perfume?”
Summer’s already large brown eyes widen. “Yes, I am. Do you like it?”
“I’m dying to get my hands on a bottle,” I say. “Later, you’ll have to tell me where you found it. Right now, I have to go. See you at cheer?”
“Of course.” Summer nods. Her mouth opens, but she hesitates.
I pause. “What?”
“What Noah did to you wasn’t right.” Summer’s eyes are full of pity. “I’m sorry that happened.”
The hurt punches me in the chest again, but I give her my best smile. “I’m fine.” I hurry on before I start to cry.
Despite my worries about people thinking I’m stupid, I signed up for a tutor. Chemistry just about killed me last year, and I’m going to need all the help I can get if I want to keep at least a 3.3 GPA and stay on the cheer team.
I don’t know who the school assigned to tutor me, only that he’ll be sitting at a specific table in the back that’s mostly hidden by surrounding bookshelves—the place we’ll be least likely to be spotted. So, I head through the rows of shelves until I reach the back corner of the library.
The gossip that would make its way through the school if it got out that I was being tutored would destroy me.Callie Carter, famous for her stupidity. Callie Carter can do it all . . . except use her brain.
I can’t make it through organic chemistry without help, but I can’t let anyone find out about it.
Then I see my tutor, and I stop.
It’s the boy with the chunky fantasy book who sits alone at lunch day after day. He’s sitting at a round table, hunched over an open notebook and scribbling away. His warm brown skin stands out against the white paper, and his black hair is loosely curly. Thick brows are turned down slightly in concentration,and a pair of dark gray headphones—the kind that cover your whole ear—dangle around his neck. He’s not bad looking, and I wonder why he’s been sitting alone all week. Not that I’ve been paying attention or anything.
I walk up to him, and my footsteps echo in this quiet corner, but he doesn’t even glance up from what he’s doing. His t-shirt has a mountain image and says, “One does not simply walk into Mordor”. I take a peek at what he’s so intently drawing, and it looks like a map, with large swooping strokes to represent mountain ranges and tiny triangles for trees.
“What’s that?”
