Page 7 of Ruthless Rose

“Come on, Max. Be serious. What should I do?” I tilt my head to the side, watching his face as he thinks over everything.

“That guy flusters you like nobody’s business. Granted, that’s not difficult to do with you. And that was before all this tutoring business.”

Scarlett narrows her eyes at me. “Why is that, anyway?”

My shoulders hunch up, my head drops back, and I stare up at the sky. “I don’t know.”

She takes a quick sip of water. “Do you two have a history or something?”

“No,” I lie. “I just started at Rosehaven last year.”

Max quirks up an eyebrow, and I’m almost positive he doesn’t buy what I’m selling, but he drops it, shooting me a confused look.

Scarlett nods toward my chips. “Don’t you want to finish eating?”

“Nope. Not hungry.” I shake my head. “I know it’s dumb, but this whole Micah thing really throws my life into major upheaval until football season is over.”

Scarlett wrinkles her nose. “Don’t laugh, but I have no idea when football ends.”

“Cupcake, considering your boyfriend is the captain, you’re pretty clueless. Cute, but clueless. It depends on how far they make it. Usually, like November or December. It totally depends on whether they make it past districts to regionals or states.”

I groan. “He seems to think we can just pretend like we’re meeting and not really do it. What if they think I’m tutoring him and he still fails?”

“That would suck.” Max crumples up his trash between his palms.

“That’s it. I’ve decided. I’m going to try to get out of it. Maybe if I tell my parents that I don’t have time to help him in addition to my own studies, they’ll say something.”

A sharp tone sounds from the speaker at the back of the building. “Daphne Davis, please report to the guidance office.”

Scarlett makes a face. “What’s that all about?”

“I’m not sure. Headmaster Gilmore mentioned something about them wanting to talk to me this morning. He also said the tutoring somehow would help me? I don’t know.” I groan, dropping my head to my arms, which are resting on the picnic table in front of me. “This is the Mondayest Monday ever.”

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