“How about you take Cadence’s seat?” he suggested. “I need her up front to be a little more engaged. And you seem to be comprehending the material just fine.”
Kaitlin whirled around to look at me. I shrugged, watching her glare. She collected her books with a huff and walked over to me.
“Bitch,” she whispered when I got up from the seat.
I ignored her and slid into my desk. And then I opened my notebook and tried to pay attention as Mr. Connelly went through each of the quiz problems one by one before putting us into small groups to work a few additional problems. Thank God I wasn’t with Kaitlin. She hated my guts now, and I expected her to do something awful to me in the near future.
It wasn’t my fault Mr. Connelly wanted me to sit front and center. My heart gave a small jolt at that realization. He wanted me up front. Not her. And then I shook my head and remembered that Kaitlin was doing just fine in calculus. I, on the other hand, was failing miserably.
Whatever. He loaned me his CD.
The girls didn’t really want to include me in the group, but they also didn’t want to come across as complete bitches in front of Mr. Connelly. Apparently everyone was working hard to gain his attention, and being mean to me would certainly be a turnoff. I stifled a laugh when Alaina leaned over and explained the third problem to me. It just so happened to be at the exact moment Mr. Connelly approached our group to listen in and offer assistance.
“So, I think the answer is 6x + 7. Do you see, Cadence?” she asked sweetly. And then she looked up at Mr. Connelly. “Oh, Mr. Connelly! I didn’t know you were there. Did I work this one right?” She held up her notebook.
Mr. Connelly perused her work and nodded. “Alaina? You have a 98 average in this class.”
“I know,” she said. “I thought I’d come to help the others.”
“Well, that’s awfully nice of you,” he said, “to give up your free time like that.”
“I think maybe having a girl explain math to another girl can be helpful,” Alaina said. “We speak, like, a completely different language.”
“I see,” Mr. Connelly replied, and he moved on to the next group.
“I don’t think I get it, Alaina,” I said once Mr. Connelly was gone.
Alaina huffed and turned to Callie sitting to her left, completely ignoring me. “So anyway, I told Brent he better start manning up if he thinks he has a shot at making this work.”
I went back to my worksheet, staring at it, trying to read a language I didn’t comprehend.
After tutoring, I hung back to talk to Mr. Connelly.
“So what do you think, Cadence?” he asked, cleaning the board with a wet paper towel.
“I think I’m stupid,” I mumbled.
He tossed the paper towel and walked over to me.
“You’re not stupid. Don’t ever say that,” he said gently. “Wanna show me what’s still got you hung up?”
“Number three,” I replied. “I figured out the others.”
“Number three? Didn’t Alaina help you with that one?” he asked, squatting beside me at my desk.
“Uh, yeah,” I replied sarcastically.
He paused and looked at my face. I stared at him emotionless. If I cried in front of him one more time, then I would never ever ever go back to school. Freaking ever.
“All right. Flip to a clean page in your notebook there,” he began, and I stayed another twenty minutes until I understood why the answer was 6x + 7.
If Mondays didn’t suck enough. Dean finally came back to school. I expected him the previous Monday but was glad to discover that I still had a little time left before I had to dodge him in the hallways and classes. I figured if I kept my head down and walked quickly, I’d never have to see him or hear his stupid voice.
Until I discovered that the empty locker beside mine was assigned to him. Are you freaking kidding me?
“Uh, hey, Cadence,” Dean said, approaching me tentatively. I threw my books in my locker and slammed the door.
I turned to leave.
“Wait!” Dean said, grabbing my arm.
“Don’t do that,” I replied, looking down at my arm. He released me immediately.
“Sorry. Look—” He pushed his hand through his blond hair. “—I’m supposed to apologize and stuff.”
Apologize and stuff? This guy was a real idiot. Suddenly I felt like an idiot for liking him. And kissing him. And letting him see my bare breasts only to be told that he thought they were bigger and did I wear a padded bra.
“I don’t need your apology,” I said.
“Well, you’re getting it. It’s on the list my parents put together,” Dean replied.
I stared at him for a moment, and then my lips curled into a grin.
“Your parents put together a list for you?”
Dean shrugged and grinned himself. “It’s so lame.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Wanna see it?” he asked.
I relaxed and nodded. Oh, what the hell? I was curious.
Dean handed me a folded piece of paper he kept tucked in his back pocket. I opened it and read quickly. There were several names of people he was expected to apologize to, a list of rules he had to follow while at school, and a bunch of “penance” chores he was required to do on a daily basis when he got home from school.
I shook my head. “And I thought I had it bad.”
Dean snorted. “Senior year is supposed to be awesome, right?”
Yes, it was. It was supposed to be an awesome year with Gracie.
“My mom drives me to school and picks me up,” Dean went on.
“You can’t even take the bus? At least I can take the bus.”
Dean chuckled and then hung his face. “I am really sorry, Cadence,” he whispered. “I’m not telling you that because it’s on my list.”
I tensed.
“I shouldn’t have offered you any drugs.”
“You shouldn’t have had any drugs,” I said.
“Well, I like drugs, okay?” he replied. “I’m trying to be better.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m sorry I got you involved in that whole robbery thing,” he continued.
Surprisingly, I really didn’t care about the robbery thing. I was more concerned with the make-out session.
“You said some pretty mean things to me when we were going at it,” I said.