the price of being ace

Chapter 33

I don't know why but I'm kinda nervous for our tutoring session after school today and she's late which also makes me nervous because she's never been before
"Hey sorry I'm late I come bearing gifts because I was tired and probably wouldn't be able to do much without caffeine,Jackson said that you like caramel in your coffee" Erin says setting a dunkin ice coffee in front of me
"Well all is forgiven now" I say with a smile as she sits down beside me
"So before we get to the hard stuff I wanted to ask if you were going to the party later?" Erin asks and I nod
"Hopefully" I say but I mean it depends on Kate
"Great then maybe I'll see you there" she says and I nod before I open the math homework

Turns out it may be a lot harder to go to this party than I thought because Kate and Martin are home but I manage to sneak out
"So any news about the woman your dad is dating?" I ask jo as we walk into the party
"We don't talk about her anymore" she says and I frown
"Why?" I ask
"Because she is our teacher" she says and I honestly wasn't expecting that
"Oh that must suck" I say and she nods
"Yeah there are some things you never want to know about your teachers,at least she doesn't come over when my dads not home" she says and now it's kinda awkward
"Let's talk about something else it's a party after all" She adds and I nod

We find Jackson,Erin and Luca standing by the stairs and decide to hang with them for a while until Grayson steals jo away so she can meet some of his friends
"So ace you're tutoring Erin Huh mind tutoring me too I'm terrible at math" Luca asks and I laugh
"Are you in math this semester?" I ask and he shakes his head
"No but would you do me a solid next semester?" He asks and I smile
"I don't know maybe,I'm not that good at math Im just better than Erin" I say jokingly
"Hey" she says feigning offence
"It's ok I still love you math ability or not" Jackson says pulling her close

I sneak back inside just a little after curfew and open a book to pretend to read when Kate comes to say Goodnight
"Need anything before I go to bed?" She asks and I shake my head
"No I'm good although haven't seen Apollo tonight" I say and she laughs
"Try under your bed" she says so I lean over the edge of my bed and see him staring back at me
"Hey buddy come here" I say and surprisingly he actually starts wriggling out from under the bed
"Seriously sometimes I think you think that cat is your boyfriend" Jackson says as I drag Apollo onto the bed with me
"He's a cat who by the way is still afraid of you" I say wincing as Apollo's claws dig into arms
"He was like 1 he should be over it" he says and I frown
"You gave him the cat equivalent of childhood trauma" I say and he shrugs
"Good point i guess" he says then leaves

I'm just packing up my stuff after sports med when my phone buzzes
Erin:hey instead of the usual at the school tutoring session can you come over?
Me:sure are you ok?
Erin:yeah I just had to go home at lunch
Me:do you need me to bring you anything from school?
Erin:yeah I kinda forgot my binder in my locker
Me:I can get it for you
Erin:cool my locker is 27 and my combo is up right down right
Me:I didn't think they allowed those types of locks only the combo ones
Erin:oh yeah I forgot to say I left it in my gym locker so it's in the locker room
Me:ok but I kinda need your address too

I get to her house and ring the bell binder in hand
"Hey come in" she says opening the door
"here's your binder" I say handing her the binder
"Is that your brother?" I ask passing a family photo on our way into her kitchen
"Uh yeah although he's kinda not in our lives anymore" she says glancing at the photo
"Oh Im sorry" i say and she shakes her head
"It's fine,after his 3rd time in prison my parents kinda gave up on him but occasionally he calls just to talk to me" she says with a smile
"Do you have any siblings?" She asks and instinctively I shake my head like I have every time someone has asked the past year and a half
"Huh I thought Kate said you did" she says and I shrug thinking about what to say

"It's complicated,my dad had kids before he was married and they're like 4 years older than me then there's me who's the only child he had with wife number 3 who has 3 with my step dad and I have 2 younger siblings from a step mom and an older brother from the other step mom"I say not knowing why I'm telling her all this but she just laughs
"Yeah that does sound complicated.Is that why you went to juvie,For doing things to try and get your parents attention? Oh gosh wait that's a sensitive question I'm sorry" she says and I shake my head
"No you're good and yeah" I say although hinting I don't want to talk about it anymore

We're almost done the second last homework question when I hear the door open then slam
"God your father is driving me up the wall" a woman's voice seethes angrily and Erin gets up so fast then runs back towards the door
"Mom I have a friend over" I hear her say
"Oh" she says then Erin pops back into view
"It's ok I get it" I say to her as she sits back down
"Oh it's you" her mom says stopping dead when she sees my face making me frown
"Hi Im ace" i say smiling and offering my hand to shake,trying to be nice even after the reaction I just got
"What are you two doing?" She asks sounding skeptical
"She's my tutor" Erin says then holds up her homework
"Well 3 is wrong" her mom says reading over the page
"No it's correct" I say and she turns a steely look at me
"Mom I think ace is right because that's how mrs.Harlow did it" Erin says trying to diffuse the situation
"Ok sorry" her mom says then proceeds to do whatever she was going to in the kitchen