CHAPTER 1
He was already feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable from a long practice but sitting in his coach’s office getting berated about his grades was way worse, and he suddenly wished he was back on the football field running drills until he passed out.
“Kelly, you’re failing English.”
“I’ll bring my grades up coach, I promise.”
“That’s what you said last year, and you barely passed,” Coach Adams said shaking his head. “And if you continue to fail you know you can’t play.”
“Coach please, I will fix the grade, please don’t kick me off the team.”
“I have no intention of doing that. You’re one of my best players and we all know I can’t afford to lose you. So, there’s a few things that will need to change.”
“Anything, you name it coach.”
“First of all, you need to stop partying. I’m sick and tired of you being hungover every Monday at practice and I’m also sick and tired of hearing all the drama about you and these girls. Your main focus should be football. And in order to do that, you need to be using all your free time to study.”
“Yes sir, you’re right,” Tristan replied, even though he was dying inside at the notion of no longer being able to party and meet girls.
“And since I can’t afford to lose you from the team, I need you to pass your English class, so I’m setting you up with a tutor.”
Tristan’ face scrunched up and he let out a long sigh.
“A tutor?”
“Is there a problem?” Coach Adams asked, crossing his large arms over his even larger chest. “Because we’re on track to be heading to the playoffs this year, but if you really don’t want to play...”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll do anything.”
“Great, that’s what I like to hear. So then come with me.”
Coach Adams led Tristan down the hall of the sports complex to walk him over to the library that was only two buildings down.
Coach Adams took this time with Tristan to have as meaningful of a conversation as you can have with a 20-year-old college student, but he knew how much star potential Tristan had, and absolutely hated to see him wasting it on bad decisions.
“I really appreciate you helping me,” Tristan said as they walked into the library, following his coach towards one of the back study rooms.
“And I really appreciate you making the effort to do whatever it takes to stay on the team. Trust me, your future self will thank you.”
Tristan gave him a small smile as they walked into the study room, where he stopped in his tracks at the girl in front of him.
“Uh, I thought you said we were going to meet my tutor?” Tristan asked in confusion, not being able to take his eyes off the tall blonde that stood in front of him.
“Exactly,” replied coach Adams, “Tristan, this is Tessa, Tessa this is Tristan.”
The coach stepped back and chuckled as he watched the two timidly shake hands and stand in an awkward silence.
“Alright well, you two talk and figure out your schedules. Don’t let me down, Kelly.” With a strong slap on Tristan’ shoulder coach Adams left the room, leaving the two very nervous 20-year-olds alone together.
Tristan cleared his throat and gave Tessa a shy smile. He had expected his tutor to be some old lady, not this beautiful tall blonde who looked to be his same age.
Her eyes were stunningly blue, and her lips were full and colored with a soft pink shade of lipgloss.
Her hair was elegantly pinned into a bun with a few golden curls framing her plump cheeks.
Her slim figure made her appear even taller than she probably was, and her long legs were covered in black tights that peaked out from a flowy black skirt.
She had her long arms wrapped around her body protectively, giving herself away as to how nervous she was.
“It’s nice to meet you Tessa,” Tristan said, his voice cracking through the silence.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Do you wanna uh...sit and...talk?”
“Sure,” she said with a subtle shrug, and they both took their seats at the table.
“Thanks for doing this,” he said, watching as she reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a very large planner and flipped to the month of August.
“No worries, I get credits,” she said, avoiding eye contact.
“So, I’m a charity case,” he said with a laugh.
“Not exactly,” she replied, finally being brave enough to look up into his eyes. “So, what’s your schedule like and when can you meet? We should try for at least once a week.”
He took a moment to run over his football schedule in his head and looked over her planner that was completely full of glitter gel pen writing.
“Damn girl, do you have any free time at all?”
“I like to stay busy,” she said with a casual shrug, “I have a double major and double minor so-”
“What the fuck?” He said with a laugh and then pulled back when he noticed that she was unamused by his outburst. “Sorry I just mean, that’s crazy. Like, crazy in a good way.”
“Mmhm. So, when can you do this?”
“What are your majors?” He asked, ignoring her question. She sighed and put her pencil down, a little annoyed.
“Journalism and English Lit. My minors are poetry and music theory.”
“Woah.”
“What?”
“So, you’re like, really smart,” he said with wide eyes.
“I like to read and write and play music. I’m not sure if that makes me smart.”
“Are you from here?”
“No, Pennsylvania, can we please get back to the reason we’re here?
” she asked with a frustrated sigh. It wasn’t that she was annoyed with him exactly – it's more so that she feels flustered and doesn’t like it.
Much to Tessa’s dismay he is very handsome with bright eyes that she can’t tell are green or blue.
And he’s tall, unbelievably tall, and he is carrying himself with a mixture of confidence and nervousness that is making him irresistibly charming, and.
.. okay yeah, maybe she’s a bit annoyed.
“Sorry, you’re right,” he said, putting his hands up in defeat. “What was the question again?”
“What day are you available to meet to study?” She said again, her voice laced with frustration.
“Is your boyfriend okay with you tutoring me?”
“What?” She blurted out way louder than she had intended. “I don’t have a boyfriend, what are you even talking about?”
“Bullshit,” he said with a smile.
“Tristan please -”
“Aren’t you going to ask if I have a girlfriend?” He teased with a cocky smirk.
“No, because I don’t care. And actually, I think I’m gonna go,” she said rolling her eyes and closing her planner.
“No no wait,” he said putting his hands up, “I’m sorry. I really appreciate your help, and I need your help. I can do Thursdays after practice, around like 6?”
She sighed and sat back down, opening her planner back up. “That’s usually when I do my piano lessons, but I can move that up an hour. I’ll make it work.”
“Really? Hell yeah, thanks Tess. You’re awesome.”
“Just please don’t waste my time, Tristan,” she said sincerely, her blue eyes looking straight into his, causing his heart to speed up. “I have a lot of stuff going on and I’ll be pissed if you don’t take this seriously or waste my time to be out partying or hooking up with girls.”
“Nah I’m not like that,” he said, knowing he’s lying, but also wanting to whatever to stay on the team.
“Cool,” she gave him a small smile and started packing her things up before slinging her large bag over her shoulder. He stood up with her and shoved his hands awkwardly in the pockets of his grey sweatpants.
“So should we like exchange numbers or whatever?”
“No,” she said dryly. “I’ll meet you here Thursday at 6.”
She walked out of the room without another word, and he couldn’t help but smile widely to himself.
She was very pretty and smart, and seemed completely uninterested in him, which piqued his interest even more.
Still, he knew that there was no way a girl like her would ever give some dumb jock like him the time of day, and also that he should be respectful and take this opportunity seriously.
Little did he know just how serious he would become about this Tessa girl.
As much as Tessa wished this day not to come, it was now Thursday at 6pm.
She really wasn’t trying to be mean. That simply wasn’t her nature, and she really did want to help someone who needed it, she just wasn’t so sure this guy was going to take this seriously.
She had heard about him around campus here and there.
He played on the football team, although she had no idea what position, she did know that he was a starter, which she assumed was a good thing.
She also was aware of his ability to party extremely hard on Friday nights and still have a great game the following day.
They went to a big school. Vanderbilt was in the heart of Nashville and a very well known division 1 football school. It was a great school for him to be at if he wanted to pursue the NFL, which she heard he was good enough to do.
Her roommates gave her a hard time about her new tutoring student.
They teased that he probably didn’t know how to read at all, and that she would be better to spend her time with him doing something other than studying.
Her best friend Abigail at one point even alluded to the fact that everything on him must be big, and she hid her face in horror.
And now here she was waiting for this very large football guy, and he was 7 minutes late.
She was about to get up and leave when he barreled through the door, his duffle bag slung over his shoulder, his face red and his hair damp.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry!” He said frantically, slinging his bag off his shoulder and onto the floor before he sat down heavily on the chair across from her.
“I had to take a shower after practice; couldn’t make you sit in here with me all sweaty.
” His smile was big and genuine, and it made being annoyed with him difficult.
“Well thanks I guess,” she said with a chuckle.