Page 18 of Tutor With Benefits

After the way she’s been picking on us the last few times we’ve been in class, I can’t help but hate her. I don’t normally let anyone get under my skin this way, but I can’t stand the smug way she stands up front and seems to choose which of us looks the most miserable, then calls on that person.

“She hardly called on Tori at all,” I say. “Wonder if she was letting her have a day off because of what happened last night.”

“I don’t know if that’s as widespread as it could have been,” Zach says. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

“But with how many people saw her, you know it spread,” I reply.

“Holy shit, guys!” Taylor breaks into our conversation. He’s holding his phone and eagerly looks up at both me and Zach.

“What?” we both ask at the same time.

“She’s in!” he says.

“What!” Once again, we both speak in unison, but this time it’s an exclamation rather than a question.

“I’ve thought a lot about your offer, and I’ve decided to accept,” Taylor reads out loud from the text he got on his phone. “The first tutoring lesson will be tonight at my place. My roommate is already out, so it’s free for the four of us tonight. Be there at six.”

He grins from one of us to the other, holding out his phone for us to both see that she did, in fact, text him.

“What do you make of that!” Zach shouts. “Fuck yeah! We’re going to stay on the team after all!”

“There is a God!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

“Hallelujah!” Taylor joins in with our celebration.

The three of us don’t hold back how happy we are. I truly didn’t think she was going to accept what we had to offer, and the fact that she did has blown my mind.

We resume practice with a renewed vigor.

There’s hope for us now. Hope that we’re going to stay on the team. Hope that we’re going to make it through the rest of this year, and hope that we’re going to graduate the school. And on time, for that matter.

Once again, the chance of going pro after this is on the horizon.

And I’m giving this my all.

SEVEN

TORI

The knock on the door comes at six on the dot.

“At least they’re prompt,” I mutter as I walk over to let them in.

The dorm room feels strangely bare without Anna, which is strange to me since she spent a lot of her time outside of school going out with friends or socializing in one way or another. I know I should be used to the place being empty, but somehow I’m not.

And knowing that I’m having these three guys come in to begin the tutoring sessions just has me feeling on edge.

I’ve never been so nervous for anything in my entire life, and that includes moving away from my friends, family, and everything else I have ever known in South Carolina to come to the Twin Cities and attend the University of Minnesota.

“Nice place,” Zach says as he walks in and looks over the dorm. “It’s very…college.”

“I don’t know what else you’d expect,” I say. “I spend most of my time studying, so there isn’t a lot of time left over for décor.”

“Looks like your roomie cleared out on that front when she left,” Taylor says as he notices the holes in the wall where Anna’s things had hung.

“She had a few things up,” I reply, suddenly realizing that’s the whole reason why I’m feeling the place is so empty now. “I guess I’ll probably find something to put over those spots so the holes aren’t staring at me for the rest of the semester.”

“Smart,” Cory says. “You don’t want to get a lecture for that. You know how the school is. You put in all this money for tuition, then they bitch about the fact you put a tiny little hole in the wall. You’d think you just knocked out half the dorm with the way they freak out over it.”

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