St Mary's Academy Series Box Set 1

by Seven Steps

  Granted, I hadn’t done much figuring it out lately, but I was working on it.

  Kind of.

  I swallowed my last bite.

  “I think I’m all set. Thanks.”

  “Not according to your guidance counselor.”

  My head popped up.

  “You spoke to my guidance counselor?” I asked.

  Quincey nodded. “She called the house while Aunt Pam was in the shower and she and I had a little chat. Turns out, you are not all set.”

  He took a big bite of pizza, looking at me like he’d won something.

  I leaned forward in my chair.

  “Did you tell Mom?”

  “No. And I can be persuaded to keep my mouth shut. If…”

  “If what?”

  “If you’ll let Joe tutor you.”

  I felt like throwing something at him. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what? Helping you with your obviously messed up life?”

  “Is this what you think helping looks like, because I assure you that it isn’t.”

  “Look, cuz. I’m just looking out for you. Of course, if you don’t want my help, I’m sure Aunt Pam has better options.”

  I glanced at my mom, still listening to the radio, then back at Quincey.

  It’s amazing how you can love someone one minute, and the next minute want to feed them to hungry alligators.

  Joe and I looked at each other. Now he knew I was the least studious person in the world.

  What would he say?

  What did he think of me?

  Crap.

  I didn’t want Joe to tutor me. Things would get weird between us. Well, weirder. I was already a hot mess when he came around. Could I handle sitting across a table from him while he went on and on about English and government and science?

  I sighed.

  What choice did I have?

  “Fine,” I growled. “I accept your conditions. And, if you find your sneakers shredded in the morning, I didn’t do it.”

  “That’s the girl we all love.” Quincey grinned.

  “Not that it matters,” I said. “I need to ace every test and homework assignment for the rest of the year to graduate. It’s never going to happen.”

  “When’s the last time you handed in your homework?” Joe asked.

  I scoffed. “You don’t want to know.”

  This was bad. So bad. Now he knew I was a dumb-dumb. I should have stayed in my room.

  “Well, I’ve dealt with the worst of the worst,” Joe said. “This should be easy. Raising you from, what, a C to an A?”

  “F,” I corrected.

  He sucked in a breath. “F?”

  I nodded. “Yup. Not as easy as you thought.”

  “Well… uh…” he stuttered. He took a swallow of soda and slammed it down on the counter. “We’d better get to work then. Besides, we’re friends now, right? That’s what friends do. They tutor each other.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know if that’s how it works.”

  “Okay.” He rubbed his hands together. “Do you have any test coming up soon?”

  “My English quiz.”

  “Great. Let’s go for it. Where’s your English book?”

  “It’s over there, but I don’t know. Mom doesn’t really allow non-relatives in the house for long periods of time. She’s people-phobic, so…”

  “Oh, do you mean me?”

  I nodded.

  “Are you saying I’m not welcome here?”

  Before I could answer he yelled into the living room. “Aunt Pam, am I not welcomed here?”

  “You? Honey, you can come by any time. I told you that before, didn’t I?”

  Joe turned back toward me with a smile.

  “See. I’m like a permanent house guest.”

  Grrr. Why was he making this so difficult?

  “But you have so much stuff going on right now. Tutoring me would only get in the way.”

  He waved my comment away. “Nope. Just some after school stuff. After that, I’m free.”

  I noticed he’d said after school stuff. Not the play.

  Did he know that neither my mom nor Quincey knew about it? Was he covering for me, or was I just thinking too much into it? I couldn’t tell with Joe.

  “I don’t know,” I said slowly.

  “Soph, what’s worse?” Quincey asked. “Getting tutored by Joe or repeating the eleventh grade? Think about it.”

  I groaned. Why did it feel like everyone was against me?

  “Fine. He can tutor me.”

  “Great. It’s settled then,” Joe said with a smile. “I’m your official tutor.”

  I shook my head, trying to figure out what just happened. I came out here to get a pizza, then words were spoken, and now Joe was tutoring me? I needed a do over. If I had known this would happen, I would’ve never left my room.

  Joe clapped once. “So how about you get your books, I’ll get some sodas, and I’ll meet you in the living room in five?”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  I heard the radio shut off, and my mom walked into the dining room.

  “What’s going on in here?” she asked.

  “Joe volunteered to tutor Sophia,” Quincey said.

  Mom practically lit up. “Really? That’s wonderful. I’ve been trying to get her to get a tutor for the last year. You know if her daddy were alive, he’d tutor her. But we do what we can with what we have. Thank you, Joe baby!”

  “You’re welcome, Aunt Pam. Now, where are the sodas?” Joe asked.

  “The fridge,” she said.

  “Why do we need sodas?” I asked.

  “Caffeine,” Joe said. “It helps you stay awake and get focused.”

  “And fat,” Quincey added.

  “That too,” Joe said with a smile. “Nothing a few extra miles on the treadmill won’t fix.”

  Great. One more thing I’d have to do.

  “Meet you in the living room,” Joe said, opening the fridge and perusing for the sodas.

  I looked around, but everyone seemed okay with this arrangement.

  My strict mom, my nosey cousin, and, worst of all, my former nemesis. Leaving me with no choice but to grab my books and plop on the couch to wait.

  I hadn’t even wrapped my mind around what was happening when Joe showed up next to me with two Pepsis that Purity had left over here a few weeks ago and a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into squares.

  Sandwiches? I was still full of pizza.

  “Fancy,” I said, picking up one of the squares.

  “Yeah. The sugar and carbs are like brain food.” We sat down on the floor with my English book, my practice exam, and the homework assignments spread out between us.

  “You ready for this?” he asked.

  Not in the least.

  I took a sip of soda to hide my nerves. “I guess I have to be.”

  For the next two hours, Joe and I dissected The Glass Menagerie based on the teacher’s notes and the test quiz questions.

  To my surprise, Joe was a really good tutor. He was kind and patient. We made flash cards and diagrams. We even did a jeopardy games where he quizzed me on the book’s themes and character traits. And he had this great trick where whenever I got an answer wrong, I would take a bite of food or take a sip of soda, then say the right answer three times. The food association was supposed to imprint the answers in my brain.

  And it worked.

  It actually worked.

  All this time, I’d been studying by trying to read the book straight through and memorize everything. But Joe said that I was a visual learner. And, apparently, a hungry one.

  I polished off the last of the sandwiches and licked my fingers.

  “All right,” I said, closing my notebook. “I think that’s all the Tom, Amanda, and Laura that I can take in one day.”

  Joe made no move to leave. He leaned his back onto the foot of the couch and stretched his legs forward.

  “Well, do you think you’r
e ready to pass the test?”

  “I think I’m ready to buy myself a set of glass figurines,” I said with a smile. I leaned back on the couch too. “It wouldn’t be so hard to learn this stuff if the books we had to study weren’t so boring.”

  Joe shrugged. “It’s a study in the human condition. The whole ‘what makes people tick’ thing.”

  “That I get. But can we add some drama to it? Some fight scenes? An explosion or two? I mean, the best we get is that weak kiss between Laura and Jim.”

  He raised his eyebrow. “You think you can do better?”

  I grinned. “You of all people should know that I’m an excellent kisser.”

  His cheeks reddened, and he looked to the front of the room.

  Did I just say that? I groaned.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I, uh, was talking about writing the play. I meant to say, do you think you could write a better play?”

  Now my cheeks were hot.

  I covered my face with my hands. “Wow. Well, excuse me while I die of embarrassment.”

  He laughed shortly, while I searched for something, anything, to distract me from the huge hole I’d just fallen into. I found my headphones lying next to my bookbag, picked them up, and began to untangle them. I needed some music right about now.

  “Struggling a little bit?” Joe asked.

  “No.” In fact, I was struggling, and not just a little. These headphones were notorious for tangling and today was no exception. They were my emergency headphones, since I consistently lost my wireless ones.

  “Here,” Josiah said, holding out his hand. “Let me see them.”

  “So, you’re a tutor and a knot picker?”

  He grinned. “Something like that.”

  I handed him the tangled headphones and he began to slowly, and gently, pick out he huge knot.

  After a few quiet minutes, he placed the newly detangled headphones in my palm. Our fingers brushed slightly, giving me goose bumps.

  “You did good tonight, Soph. Keep your nose in your books, and keep making those flash cards and you’ll be all right.”

  I groaned.

  “Studying sucks.”

  “No. Studying wrong sucks. Studying is actually quite fulfilling.”

  I playfully slapped his arm.

  “Are you Superman or Confucius?”

  “A little bit of both maybe. But seriously, if you want to review your notes at the end of the day, I can do that with you. It’s not a problem.”

  I shrugged. “Nah. I wouldn’t want to cut into your Quincey time.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Me and Quincey will have plenty of time to spend together. I’m right downstairs and don’t do much up until rehearsal. I’ll probably be sleeping here half the time, just like we used to do back home. I think that some educational time will be a welcomed distraction.”

  “So, you don’t go to school at all?”

  He shrugged. “I fast tracked my junior year back in Texas when I found out I was coming here.”

  “So, you just play video games all day with Quincey?”

  He smiled. “What a life, huh?”

  I laughed shortly. A comfortable silence passed between us. He looked at me, amused. I looked at him feeling… well… I didn’t know how I felt. Less anxious, that was for sure.

  “Don’t be stubborn about the tutoring. I know when you girls get it in your head that you’re going to do something, it’s hard to get it out. But it’ll really be my pleasure. I don’t mind it one bit.”

  I shrugged.

  “Come on. Talk to me. You need help and I’m here to help you. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You may. What if you have to wash your cape or go fly off and save the day or something else superhero-ish?”

  “If that happens, I’ll always come back. You can count on that.”

  His eyes gazed deep into mine, and I cleared my throat, looking away.

  “Fine,” I said. “You can tutor me after school, but I have to warn you. This is hard stuff.”

  “I’m up for whatever you can throw at me, Jelly Roll.”

  I sucked in a breath. Jelly Roll? We were on nicknames now?

  Before my head could explode, he pointed to his cheek.

  “You’ve had a glob of jelly on your cheek since we made the flash cards.”

  My face flushed hot. I grabbed a tissue and dabbed at my cheek until the offending purple goo came off.

  “Thanks for telling me,” I said sourly.

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you were saving it for later or not. I do like that nickname, though. What do you think about being the Jelly Roll in the crew?”

  “What crew?”

  “The Superman and Q crew. It could be Superman and Q featuring Jelly Roll.”

  I finished wiping my cheek clean, then threw the napkin at him.

  “No. Well, maybe.”

  His eyes sparkled.

  “All right, Jelly Roll.”

  “Aunt Pam is whipping me in chess!” Quincey yelled from the dining room. “How much longer do you have to un-stupefy my cousin? I need to play a game I know I’ll win.”

  Joe jerked his thumb toward Quincey’s room.

  “The king calls,” he said, standing up. He extended his hand to me and pulled me to my feet. I held on to him a little longer than I should have. His hands felt so good. So rough and rugged and yet, gentle.

  We stood there, facing each other. This time, the silence wasn’t comfortable. It was tense. Like we were waiting for something, but neither one of us knew what that something was.

  Quincey’s bellows broke the spell.

  “And someone heat up the leftover pizza! I’m starving!”

  “I should go,” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  I headed toward the kitchen, and Joe went to Quincey. It wasn’t until I reached the refrigerator that I finally remembered how to breathe.

  13

  I stared at the sheet of paper in disbelief.

  I’d been studying with Joe for just one day, and my English teacher just handed me back a quiz with a B on it.

  I’d been an F student all year. And now here I was. Holding a B in my hand.

  “Good work, Sophia,” Ms. Mason said, pausing at my desk. “What did you do differently?”

  At first, I thought she was accusing me of cheating, but after looking into her eyes, I could see she was curious, not suspicious.

  I shook my head.

  “I just, studied, I guess. With a partner.”

  She smiled and nodded at me. “Well, keep up the studying and stick with this partner. Maybe you’ll pass this class after all.”

  Then, she left, continuing her mosey down the aisle to drop the next graded quiz on the next desk.

  When the bell rang, I sprinted out of class and down to play rehearsal.

  I spotted Josiah’s camo hat heading down the hallway.

  “Joe!”

  He turned around and gave me a smile. “Hey, Jelly Roll.”

  I waved my test at him like it was a white flag after a decade of war. Then, in my excitement, I threw myself into his arms.

  “I passed! This is the first test this year that I’ve actually passed!”

  My hands wrapped around his wide back, and he gripped me around my waist tightly, his head resting on the top of mine.

  “I knew you would.”

  I pulled away and looked up at him. He was tall. Really tall. When did he get so tall?

  “My English teacher said that if I kept it up, I’ll pass the class.”

  “So, keep it up. When’s our next tutoring session?”

  I smiled. “Same time, same place?”

  “Sure.”

  It was only when one of his fingers twitched that I realized we’d never let go of each other.

  My hands had moved from being wrapped around his back to being wrapped around his biceps, but his hands were still clasped around my waist.

  Whoa.

  Thi
s was definitely not a good idea.

  I’d gotten so excited about my B that I didn’t think. I took a step back and dropped my eyes, embarrassed by my sudden outburst.

  “I’ll, uh, see you on the stage,” I said, starting to retreat back to the auditorium. I wished Purity were here. She would have tackled me before I threw myself into Joe’s arms. But she was helping Jasmine and Ollie set up for an art show tonight.

  Today of all days.

  I was halfway down the hallway when Joe caught up to me.

  “You know, our studying doesn’t have to be limited to school stuff. I mean, I can help you with your lines too if you want.”

  I squeezed my lips together, willing myself to think. I couldn’t be pulled into more Joe time. It had already had me jumping into his arms like an idiot.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Where would we study? My mom doesn’t know I’m in the play.”

  “I know. I thought of that.”

  “Wait.” I stopped walking and turned to him. “How do you know that?”

  “Well, I told Quincey about the play and I mentioned I’d seen you there. That’s when he told me that you were volunteering at the soup kitchen. I figured you were trying to keep it incognito because of your mom.”

  I knew it! So, Quincey did know I was lying about the soup kitchen and he was trying to out me. That jerk! When I got home, I was going to tell him exactly what I thought of his little stunt.

  “Where would we even rehearse?” I asked.

  “Same place. The living room. We’ll tell your mom you have to study the play for school. It isn’t a lie, really. You are in school after all.”

  I shook my head and crossed my arms.

  “Why would you help me keep this from my mom?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Well, if you learn your lines, then the play gets better, and we all look good on stage. Especially me. It’s selfish, really.”

  He grinned, and I rolled my eyes.

  I could use some help memorizing my lines. My focus was shot lately. Plus, Joe had proven himself an excellent tutor. And, if I could do well in this play, maybe I could find the confidence to sing on stage again. Maybe this was the first step to getting my life back on track.

  I sighed. “Well, I mean, if you have the time, it couldn’t hurt.”

  He smiled. “I practically live at your house. Of course I have the time.”