Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Kyle made a sound in the back of his throat—something between a scoff and a laugh.
I shot a look at him. “Do you disagree? You, the guy who made a substitute teacher cry our freshman year of high school? Do you really want her around students like that when instead she could be working with cute little—”
“Dude, quit thinking with your ovaries.”
“Excuse me?”
He ignored me. “Tori, if you want to take that class, fight for it. It’s your degree, your future. Don’t let your advisor tell you what grade to teach. Or your roommate, either.” He glared at me. “You want to teach high school? Then do what you have to do to make that happen.”
He said it so simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tori glanced over at me, then back at him, blinking hard. She looked torn, as if she had to choose between us.
“But the class is full,” she said finally.
Kyle shrugged. “So you talk to the teacher of the class. Talk to the education department. Move some mountains or kick some butts if you have to. Don’t just roll over because some asshole told you it was full.”
“But my advisor said there’s nothing I can do.”
“So? He’s not the only professor you have a connection to. Get your comp teacher to back you up—she chose you to work with the incredibly charming and hot baseball star out of all of her students, right? I bet she’ll have your back, even if certain other people don’t.” He cocked his head, looking straight at me. What an arrogant ass.
It wasn’t that I disagreed with Tori’s goals, it was just that high schools could be scary places, and I didn’t want to see her get hurt. But Kyle had no problem with it, apparently.
I watched Tori out of the corner of my eye. Her fingers were curled around the edge of the chair, her expression shifting as she tried to decide. For a second, the porch got quiet. Even the washing machine’s distant thumping seemed to pause, like it was waiting for Tori to decide whose advice she would take.
“I’ll talk to my advisor.”
The next afternoon, Jayden and I were in the basement, picking our way through the next big pile of Aunt Mabel’s clutter. We’d decided to go ahead with clearing a space for working out. Kyle had been tasked with looking for equipment we could use.
Jayden wiped his forehead with the edge of his shirt after transporting a bunch of dusty old hardbacks into the recycle pile. “Why aren’t Kyle and Tori helping?”
“They’re doing a tutoring session at the kitchen table.” They’d been at it since he drove her back from campus. I set aside a box labeled “Random Crap from the Attic” and let out a slow breath. “As soon as she got in, she made a beeline for me—practically tackled me in the hallway. She was so excited when she told me she got into the Adolescent Development class.”
Jayden smiled. “No kidding? I thought that was full.”
“It was.” I said carefully. There was something that had been bothering me ever since she got home. If I couldn’t discuss it with my best friend, who could I discuss it with? “He helped her.”
Jayden didn’t need to ask who I meant. “What do you expect? He’s not the monster you make him out to be. He really—”
I interrupted. “No. I mean he truly helped her with the situation with that class and her advisor.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Jayden clearly didn’t see the issue.
I sat down on the arm of an ancient recliner we’d just unearthed. “I was there yesterday when she was so upset. I listened and I tried to help her. I gave her advice—told her maybe she should accept the elementary education route for now, and reassess next year. But Kyle told her to fight for what she wanted. She did, and she got it.”
I laughed under my breath, but there was no humor in it. “I just… never realized Kyle had something to offer a woman like Tori. Something more than his muscles or his innuendos. I never thought he could be good for her.”
Jayden understood. He came over and clapped me on the back.
“Hopefully, we’re all good for her. Shouldn’t you want that? I don’t think she’s had a lot of people in her corner. Plus she’s had the world’s shittiest luck with roommates. Ideally, all three of us should help her. And she helps us. That’s how it should be.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I just didn’t realize until just now that he might be able to support her the way she needed him to.” Especially when I’d failed so thoroughly. Kyle had accused me of thinking with my ovaries, a body part I didn’t have, but maybe I’d been thinking about how I viewed Tori—sweet, kind, and nurturing. Not how she actually was or wanted to be.