“Please refrain?” Linnett laughed with her friends. “Whatever, Soot.”
“Don’t call her that,” Ford ordered as he took his seat between us.
I smiled inwardly, then looked forward when Mr. Humphries came in the room holding a stack of tests in his hands.
“Everybody ready?” he asked as he stood at the first row of desks.
“Yes,” came the droned, monotone responses.
Mr. Humphries’ quick smile had me smiling right back.
And as I breezed through the test, I felt confident that I would pass with flying colors.
One glance at Ford, however, showed me that he was struggling.
Still, at first, I didn’t worry about him.
I was too focused on doing all my problems.
Then, as I was normally always the last one finished, I looked over just as Ford got up, too.
He looked like he was about to throw up.
The teacher nodded his head toward the desk.
“I’m gonna go grab some coffee,” he said. “Place your papers right there.”
Ford tossed his down carelessly and walked back to his seat.
Not being able to help myself, I glanced at the front page of his test and saw that almost all of the answers that Ford had on the page were wrong.
A quick flash of inspiration hit me.
I closed my eyes as I realized what I was about to do.
Get us both in trouble, that’s for sure.
But I had to take the chance.
Because, despite what Ford might think, I didn’t hate him. I wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to pass his classes. And even more, I knew that playing football was important to him.
So I did what I had to do.
Erasing Ford’s name, I put my name on the paper. Then, erasing my name from my test, I quickly wrote Ford’s name. Then tucked them back into the stack, mine on top.
The teacher came in then, a fresh cup of coffee in his hands.
“All right,” he said. “Everyone done?”
I smiled at the teacher, feeling my heart take a pounding.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “Then I’ll get these graded.”
I licked my lips nervously and sat, my thumbs twitching, as the rest of the class talked in quiet tones around me.
Since I was the only junior in a senior level class, I didn’t have any friends in here. And the one person that I knew never talked to me because he didn’t like me all that much.
The teacher graded the papers and flipped them back over, one by one, until he got to the last in the stack.
I saw it the moment he realized whose paper it was.
Shit.
He marked ‘X’ so many times that I knew that Ford—or actually now I—had failed within the first page and a half.
And by the time he was done recording the grades and handing the tests back to us, I felt sick to my stomach.
Everybody groaned as they got their tests back, but Ford, who blew out a relieved breath beside me.
When Mr. Humphries stopped in front of me, I knew that he was about to say something.
“Ms. Trammel,” the teacher said, looking at me worriedly. “Are you okay today? You don’t usually make grades like this.”
He handed the paper to me, and I didn’t even bother to look at the grade.
I’d failed.
I saw Ford’s head snap up, the smile slowly leeching off of his face as understanding dawned.
“I had a bad morning,” I lied. “My car broke down and I had to run six miles to school. And last night I had a stomach virus… let’s just say I’ll do better next time.”
And I would.
“You can come see me in my office after this,” he said. “We’ll talk about what happened.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I know what happened, Mr. Humphries. I didn’t study. End of story.” I shrugged as if it meant nothing to me, when I’d literally just screwed up my 4.0 GPA.
Mr. Humphries sighed as he looked at me with concern.
“Okay,” he said. “Next time study, though. And if you feel bad, don’t come to school.”
My mouth twitched. “Yes, sir.”
Once the teacher moved down the row, I caught Ford looking at me as if he was about to say something.
I narrowed my eyes and pointed at him.
“Don’t,” I ordered.
“Ashe…”
“Shut up, Chevy,” I snapped softly. “And just remember, you owe me.”
Ford shut his mouth with an audible snap.
Then turned stiffly in his seat.
What he did not do was open his mouth or say a word to the teacher.
The moment the bell rang, I took off at a run out of the classroom.
Despite my speed and readiness to move, Ford still managed to catch me.
I was outside by the front of the building when he did.
He roughly yanked on my backpack, hauling me back.
I turned and got ready to yell, but the look in his eyes stopped me in my tracks.
“What?” I snapped.
“Why did you do that?” he hissed.
I shrugged.
“Because you need to play,” I told him. “And I want your dad to watch you play your senior year. And you’re too good to be out just because you can’t pass calculus. I’ll do it as much as I need to.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to keep repaying me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You saved me, Toyota,” I said. “I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
Ford gritted his teeth.
But it was true. He’d saved me from stepping out in front of a truck when I was pissed at him once. If he’d been even milliseconds behind me, I would’ve been a pancake on the road.
I would never forget it.
“I don’t like this,” he said.
I wish I could say that was the last time that I bailed Ford Spurlock out of a bind, but that would be lying.
And I wasn’t a liar. At least, not when it came to him.
