Drake laughs. “I’d like to see you try.”
“How’s it going with the tutor?” Preston asks with a mouth full of food. “Are you passing?”
I take a few bites of my wrap. “I think so.”
“Don’t think,” Preston says. “You need to know.”
“I got it under control,” I assure him, nudging Jamie to get his attention. “Any new leads on The Queen?”
He shakes his head. “She’s always one step ahead of me.” Jamie scratches the stubble along his jaw, deep in thought. “There’s something familiar about her code. I know it from somewhere, but I can’t remember why.”
“Dude, I don’t even know what that means. Way over my head,” I say.
“Whenever I break through one of her firewalls, I get shut out again. The bitch even wrote a virus into the patch.”
“So, what does that mean?”
Jamie is a whiz with computers. He gets that from his dad.
“It means that she knows I’m on to her. Her code is like poetry. It’s like art,” he says, sounding somewhat impressed.
“I still don’t understand,” I confess.
Preston laughs. “Jamie has a crush on The Queen.”
“No, I don’t,” Jamie shoots back, annoyed. “It’s just…”
“Jamie’s in love,” Drake booms.
“Fuck off,” Jamie growls. “You guys don’t get what I’m saying anyway, so there’s no point explaining myself.” He slides his legs off the bench, turning away from us to leave before he adds, “Incoming.”
I turn around to see what he’s talking about and find Sam walking down the long aisle between the tables, heading toward us. I expect her to stop when our eyes meet, but she keeps going until I shout her name. She glances at me with a tray of food in her hand and a messenger bag draped over her shoulder.
“Is that her?” Drake asks, and I nod. “She’s hot.”
Taylor smacks him again, hard enough for us to hear the skin-to-skin contact.
I beckon Sam with my index finger.
She rolls her eyes, debating whether she wants to approach our table. With some hesitation, she strolls over to my side, her eyes pointed down at me. “What do you want, Tucker?”
Preston laughs, shoving more food in his mouth. Jamie stares at Sam in awe, as if he’s shocked a girl would ever be so rude to me. Taylor whispers into Drake’s ear.
“Sit with us.” I pat the open bench next to me, and her eyes follow my hand. When she doesn’t budge, I add, “Please.”
She bites her cheek, mulling over my offer. “I guess I can stay for a few minutes.”
Why does she have to play so hard to get with me? She drives me fucking crazy. Sam takes her place next to me and scans the faces at the table before looking at me to make an introduction.
“This is Sam,” I tell my friends. “She’s my tutor.”
“And your TA,” she adds.
Until now, only Jamie knew Sam was my teacher.
“Hey, I know you,” Taylor says to Sam. “You work for the newspaper, right?”
“I’m an associate editor at The Strickland Gazette,” Sam says with a smile.
