Chapter 24
Julia
Hello, sophomore year.
I can’t believe summer is done and today marks the first official day of my sophomore year at Dickson, but here I am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for my first class of the day.
Students filter into the classroom ahead of me, taking seats in the last three rows mostly, and chatting animatedly with their friends.
Since this is a nine a.m. class, everyone is a little more awake than the poor souls who didn’t know better than to skip first-hour sessions and excited to be back for another year of parties, sports, and maybe, if they have time, a little bit of learning.
Always a bit of an anomaly, I take one of the free seats in the first row and put my backpack in the chair next to me to save it for Drew.
He texted before and asked me to save him a seat since he got held up at the coffee cart grabbing us both drinks, and I’ve never shied away from a showdown for a seat when necessary.
Movie theaters, planes, trains—I have no problem saying something is taken.
Maybe it’s my best friend Ace’s influence, but for some reason, it’s one of the only forms of confrontation that doesn’t make me the least bit uncomfortable.
I survey the group around me surreptitiously, looking for familiar faces from last year, and a few stand out immediately.
The only problem? They don’t stand out in a good way.
Higgins and Holston Hobbs are notorious class clowns and interruption seekers.
I have no idea who they paid off to pass last semester, but I don’t remember them passing even a single test in Calc 1.
Today, they’re wearing matching penguin pajama onesies.
I take out my phone and text Drew quick.
Me: Got our seats in the front row secured.
Drew: Awesome, babe. Be there shortly.
Smiling to myself, I toggle over to my message thread with Scottie to answer the one that came in right before I got into the building.
Scottie: If Dr. Nick can’t heal me like he says he can, I hope he can at least write a prescription for a lightning-fast motorized chair. Getting around campus in the rush is a PITA.
Me: Now, now, none of that talk. We’re staying optimistic, remember? These are Lexi’s genes we’re talking about. And you said he sounded super confident.
A little under a week ago, Scottie had her first consult with Lexi Winslow’s dad and renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Nick Raines, about her paralysis from a traumatic cheerleading injury in the spring.
All the doctors involved in treating her before said the chance of getting any use of her legs back was extremely limited, but Lexi’s dad isn’t convinced.
He’s been working on new research in Germany, and he thinks there’s a chance for surgery and rehabilitation.
After everything Scottie’s been through—her family trauma is so unimaginably heavy—I want it for her more than I’ve ever wanted anything for myself.
She’s an amazing person. She deserves every opportunity in life and to actually catch a break for once.
Scottie: He did. But I guess I just…don’t wanna get my hopes up too high, you know?
Me: I get that. But I’ll hope for the both of us, okay?
Scottie: Thanks, Jules. ?
Me: Are you kidding? You’re my girl.
Just as I’m finishing typing, there’s some movement next to me, a hand moving my backpack out of the way out of the corner of my eye.
I smile and tuck my phone away, my head jerking as my gaze makes a bumpy landing on a face I’m not expecting at all. It’s not Drew. It’s Ace.
Which does not compute.
“Ace? What the hell are you doing here?”
He waggles his eyebrows and lifts his backpack into his lap, undoing the zipper slowly. “Getting ready to get my learn on. What do you mean?”
I swear, my eyebrows might as well be singular, they’re so close together. “You’re in this class?”
Ace shrugs, taking out a pen, notebook, a pair of tweezers, a turkey baster, an…is that an unopened slip ‘n slide?…and his laptop in answer. I have questions, lots of them, about the contents of his bag, but compared to the giant pink elephant of his presence, they’re inconsequential right now.
“But…how? I don’t understand.” This is Calc 2, which means you need to have taken Calc 1 to be in it. Unless he managed to fit in summer classes I didn’t know about, Ace has not taken Calc 1.
“You’ve rubbed off on me, I guess, Jules.
” He grins at me and flips his baseball cap around so he’s wearing it backward.
I swear, I hear three girls behind us sigh dreamily when he does it.
“I know I’ve been pretty lax about it in the past, but I’m going to start taking my schoolwork more seriously.
Shooting for good grades, taking the hard stuff.
You know a student’s effort in college is a good sign of how much they succeed in life? ”
“It is?” I question, but I don’t even really know what I’m saying. His ramble and unexpected presence are making my brain feel like scrambled eggs.
“No.” He chuckles softly. “Well, I mean, at least I haven’t heard anyone other than me say that. But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Life is ninety percent effort, ten percent ability.”
“I don’t know that that’s—”
“Good morning,” the professor announces from the front of the room, effectively cutting off our discussion with a finger to the lips and a pat on my knee from Ace. He turns to the front, his pen at the ready, the random smattering of items tucked back into his backpack and notebook opened.
I turn to look for Drew as someone else takes the seat on my other side, effectively leaving him without a spot. I don’t say anything, my shock over the whole last two minutes robbing me of my normal vocal abilities.
Drew comes in just as I’m about to turn back to the front, confusion spreading across his handsome face. I wince, mouthing an apology across the space as he’s forced to find a seat in the second row on the far side of the room.
I sit quietly for a little while as Professor Emmsy introduces himself and the class basics, but as the intricacies of Ace’s presence hit me, I have to delve deeper.
I quiet my voice to a whisper and start to talk, but Ace shakes his head, his eyebrows forming a sharp wrinkle with their severe pull.
He points to the professor again and cups a hand around his ear, mouthing, “I’m trying to listen.”
Frustrated, I reach over and rip a piece of paper from his notebook and steal his pen, scribbling my thoughts down quickly and handing it back to him.
How are you in this class??? This is Calc 2, Ace. You haven’t taken Calc 1.
He scribbles back and shoves it toward me, shaking his head seriously this time and pointing toward the board where the professor has started to outline the course’s expectations and syllabus.
I worked it out with my peer counselor. I’m getting dual credit for Calc 1 at the same time
My chin jerks back. “You’re in both classes?”
He points to the paper with a stern pen, and I sigh heavily before complying.
You’re in both classes?
No. Private tutor for Calc 1.
Ohhhh. Who’s the tutor?
Suddenly fine with direct communication, he turns to me and waggles his eyebrows.
“What?” I ask, confused. He goes back to the paper, jotting quickly.
You. You’re the tutor.
“I’m sorry, what?” My voice is much louder than intended, and several sets of eyes jerk in my direction, including Drew’s. Seemingly for the first time, he recognizes the guy beside me as Ace, and his consternation grows.
But Ace just goes back to writing on the paper before sliding it back my way.
Relax. You don’t have to actually tutor me. At least not really. You just have to help me through this and teach me what I need to know and then sign off that you tutored me. If I pass this my peer counselor said they’ll go ahead and credit calc 1
I blink hard as my vision blurs for a moment. I’m supposed to be his tutor? Like, what the hell is going on? I scribble down a response.
I don’t know how the hell you pull these things off. That’s insane. No college would EVER go for that.
He just grins at me again before jotting something down.
Until now. It would seem they’re actively going for it
I blow out a breath.
I truly can’t believe you and how you manage these things. You don’t even know how to use commas.
It’s a genetic gift Jules. I can’t explain it any other way. As for the commas you can teach me that too.
I grab his paper and add them where they’re needed in that very statement, circling for dramatic effect.
Which only makes Ace’s nearly permanent grin grow more.
See? You’re already teaching me things. This is going to work out great.
He turns to face the front again, and I do my best to shift my focus to my new teacher and the board as well. Evidently, I’m in charge of two people’s college fates now, whether I like it or not.
The teacher continues his first day spiel, assigning us a practice sheet and several pages in the textbook to read before next class so we’re not going into the lesson blind, and I jot the information down in my planner on autopilot.
For Ace’s part, he takes active notes—not that I can make any sense of them—and focuses hard on Professor Emmsy’s every word, but by the time he dismisses class fifty minutes later—declaring his congratulations that the seats we’ve picked today will be our official seats for the rest of the semester—I feel like my skin is crawling.
I’m confused. I’m a little angry. And I don’t understand what the hell is happening at all.
Ace hands me my pen when I accidentally knock it on the floor and packs up his own belongings, and then he stands in expectation, waiting to walk me out of class. Drew packs up his own stuff, too, and heads toward us, and truth be told, I feel a little like I might explode.
I take a deep breath, willing myself to maintain some semblance of decorum since our professor still lingers at the front of the room, but I can’t deny that my voice is cutting as I ask, “Why didn’t you check with me before signing me up to be your tutor, Ace?”
He jerks back at the tone, and I suck my lips into my mouth before adding, “I just…I already have a full schedule on my plate, and now I’m going to be helping you with this class too.”
“I know,” he apologizes softly. “And I should have asked. But I’m going to pull my weight, I swear. I’m going to pull my weight in all our classes.”
“What do you mean, all our classes?”
“Ace,” Drew greets, finally making it over to us against the stream of students leaving the room. “Surprised to see you here.”
“Oh hey, man.” Ace smiles at him, clapping a hand on his back. “Yeah, I’m changing it up this year. Focusing harder, you know?”
“Mm-hmm,” Drew hums, handing me my coffee and wincing as he checks his watch. “I’m sorry I have to run, but I’ve got physics to get to. It starts in five minutes, and I have to make it all the way over to Vincent Hall. Everyone says Grudeau is a hard-ass about being on time.”
Both Drew and I are taking physics this semester, but we didn’t end up in the same class.
“Of course. I’ll text you later.”
“Yeah,” Drew agrees. “Maybe I can come by tonight.” My cheeks feel hot. I’m annoyed at Ace; I’m feeling a strange jealousy vibe coming from Drew. It’s all too much.
I nod. It’s all I can manage.
We’re not officially a couple, but I do like spending time with him. But I’ve explained the situation with Ace before, and he needs to trust me too.
I don’t know. I’m just…caught off guard. And overwhelmed.
Drew leans down and kisses my cheek before taking off for the back of the classroom on fast feet, glancing over his shoulder at Ace and me when he gets to the door.
I sigh, slinging my bag up on my shoulder and willing myself to get over this in less than fifteen minutes.
I mean, I’m going to get over it anyway; I may as well get over it now before it stresses me out. Right?
“Do you not have class this hour?” I ask Ace as he puts on his own backpack, letting me go up the aisle first and following behind me.
He’s quiet for much longer than he’s ever quiet, so I stop dead in my tracks and turn to face him, his earlier words of all our classes hitting me again like a Mack truck.
“Ace, what’s your next class?”
He smiles sheepishly. “Psychology 201.”
“Ace! Are you in…are you in all my classes?” I ask, outrage making the pitch of my voice much, much higher than normal.
He winces. “I’m guessing from the way you said that, that’s a bad thing?”
“Ace!”
“Yes. I…yes. I’m in all your classes. But you’re my best friend, Lia. And I want to get better at being a student, and you’re the best student I know. It felt like the best place to start—the best of both worlds, you know? Are you mad?”
“Yes!” I snap.
“I’m sorry!” he apologizes, reaching out for my hand that I jerk back.
“Really. I didn’t think it’d be a big deal, but I can see now I should have considered the extra strain on you. But I promise I won’t make you babysit me. Swear. I’m gonna handle this shit on my own for the most part.”
I sigh. His face is so earnest, so Ace. It’s hard to stay mad at him. I don’t know if my brain chemicals are just used to getting over it quickly after this many years of our rule or what, but it is what it is.
I love him, for better or worse. He’s my bestie.
With one more deep heave of air, I reach out for his shoulders and pull him into a hug. He returns the gesture, wrapping his arms around my back and tucking his face into my neck. I soak in the comfort of him for a long second before pulling back.
“I just have one question.”
“Yeah?”
“The tweezers, I can get. The slip ‘n slide, even. But why in the fresh hell do you have a turkey baster in your backpack?”
“It’s all for later. Me and some other sophomores decided on an innocent little slip ‘n slide event by the new fountain on the pedestrian court to welcome some of the more interesting freshman. I was obviously going to tell you about it. I just didn’t get a chance.
The turkey baster was the best way I could think to surreptitiously steal some water from the fountain to wet the slide. ”
“The group of more interesting freshman you’re referring to wouldn’t happen to include Finn’s twin brothers, would it?”
He smirks. “I don’t know. Trav and Jack are pretty interesting.”
“What am I gonna do with you, Ace?” I ask, mystified. “Finn’s liable to cut your throat if you get them in trouble.”
He smiles and slings an arm around my shoulders. “Aw, that’s so sweet of you to worry about me, but Finn loves me too much to really hurt me. At least, not without ample warning time so I can run to Central America first. Now, come on. Walk with me to our next class, bestie.”
Ace in all my classes.
Ace involving Finn’s brothers in pranks before they’ve had a single grade submitted.
Ace with a turkey baster in his backpack.
It’s literally the first day of class, and Ace is already turning Dickson University upside down.
God help me. God help us all.