Page 92 of Return Policy
“Hey, Soph,” he says, coming up to our table. “Yo, Anderson, you gotrippedby Coach today. What did he want?”
Elijah glances at me, then back to Desmond. “It was nothing.”
“It didn’t seem like nothing,” Desmond pushes. “You were in there for a while.”
“Drop it, Des,” Elijah says firmly, with a clenched jaw.
“Damn, bro. Namaste.” Desmond flattens his hands together. “Didn’t mean to hit a nerve.” Elijah rolls his eyes, attention turning back to his pizza. “See you guys later.”
“Bye.” I wave, and he walks away. “What was that about?” I ask once Desmond’s out of earshot.
“Nothing.”
“Come on, Honey Bee.” I nudge his foot with mine. “What’s going on?”
He looks up at me, frowning. “I failed my world history exam.”
My heart sinks as I furrow my brows. “I thought you were doing well in that class now. You have an excellent tutor.” I wink at him, and he chuckles weakly.
“Yeah, I know. I don’t really get it…” He looks down at his pizza. “I’m kinda failing my statistics class too.”
“What?” I ask, my tone full of surprise. “I had no idea you were struggling with another class. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’re just so damn smart…” He smiles at me sadly. “I didn’t want you to think I’m just a dumb jock.”
“Seriously? That was a complete joke.” Shaking my head, I grab his hand, my heart aching behind my sternum. “I promise I don’t think that. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it bothered you.”
“It didn’t… It’s just… my coach pulled me in his office earlier, and they could bench me for the rest of the season if I don’t pass our finals.” He pulls his hands away from mine and drags both over his face, leaning back in the chair. “I could lose my scholarship… I could lose everything.”
“Elijah,” I say softly, pulling his attention back to me. “We can figure this out together.”
“I just… I didn’t think it was going that bad, but I failed another quiz, and Ihaveto pass my midterm or my only hope is finals.”
“I wish you would have told me sooner.” I place my hand on his.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just figured you couldn’t help anyway since you’re an art major and I didn’t want to stress you.”
“Well, I might not be able to help, but Charlie’s an education major and has helped me with all of my math homework since seventh grade. I bet she’d be happy to tutor you.”
“Really?” His face lights up. “That would be awesome.”
“But you can’t have the same arrangement with her we have.”
“You mean how I fuck you before and feed you after?” He bites his lower lip, and I fight a smile.
“Yeah, definitely not that.”
* * *
“Do you understand it now?” Charlie asks Elijah calmly after repeating the process of sampling and biases for the third time. Somehow she still hasn’t gotten annoyed with Elijah, and I owe her big time. She really will make a great teacher.
“I think so…” His facial expression looks more likewhat the fuck?
“Did you read the notes I gave you?” Noah asks, referring to the stuffed binder he gave Elijah from when he took the class a few years back.
“Yes,” Elijah groans. “I really appreciate it… but your handwriting sucks, bro.”
Noah throws a hand over his chest. “Hey. My John Hancock is excellent.”
