The Line Drive

eighteen

Dane

Friday is here. Getting to pet Elmo had relaxed me a great deal, and I'm not sure how I can thank Mackenzie properly without looking or sounding like an idiot. How she'd figured out something that would help me actually chill a bit was beyond me. Practice had felt better than it had in days after being at her place, wrapping up another computer science assignment, and getting to talk to her about something that wasn't school. Plus, tonight we had a party, and I was hoping I could just relax and have a drink and hang out with my team mates, and maybe Amy wouldn't ruin this one for me.

Computer science is finally starting to make sense. As I sit in class, I get what our professor is saying and I can follow along as he talks through some new concepts. I don't really believe in God, but I thank him anyway for Mackenzie's help.

Before I know it, our hour is up. Since I sit near the back, I'm the last one out the door.

"Mr. Sawyer." My professor's voice stops me. I step back one step and turn to him.

"Yes, professor?"

"You've done a lot better on your last two assignments." He tells me. Something about his tone makes me slightly nervous.

"Yes." I agree.

"I have to ask. Are you cheating?" I stare at him, because I've never been accused of cheating. "It's just that, you did so poorly on your first assignments. One of them you got a 5% on, I was considering kicking you out of my class." He's not wrong, I did absolutely awful on some of the assignments. Before Mackenzie, I hadn't gotten above a 35% on any of them. "To go from that to a perfect score on your recent assignments, I have to wonder--" He trails off.

"I got a tutor." I blush a little as I say it, because I'm not used to admitting that I need help at school.

"Oh!" He claps his hands together. "That's great news. May I ask who?" I can tell he's still suspicious, perhaps that I'm paying someone off, just like Mackenzie had said I wanted to do.

"Mackenzie Brooks?" I say, hoping that he knows her name.

"Oh, yes, Ms. Brooks." He breathes a sigh of relief. I would have never thought that name-dropping Mackenzie would cause a professor to get off my back. "That is--" He pauses, trying to think of words. "Excellent. She is--" He takes a deep breath. "Excellent." I try hard not to laugh.

"Yeah, she's great." I say. It comes out kind of lame.

"Well, since it's Mackenzie--" My professor looks me in the eyes now. "I know how important it is to keep your grades up, for baseball." I nod. "I can't let you retake your quizzes, but, I am willing to let you redo your first six assignments. For a maximum score of 70%, if you do perfectly." I stare at him, thinking that this must be too good to be true. This is a game changer, because our assignments are a massive part of our grade, and failing the first six was already putting me so far behind where I needed to be that I had been calculating how well I needed to do on the final. That's what had contributed to my mid-week breakdown.

"70%." I repeat, just to make sure I hear him correctly.

"Yes. If you do them right."

"Professor, thank you."

"Due in a week." He adds. My heart drops a little, because that's a lot of work to get done so soon, but I'll do it, if it means that I can get my grade up. I'm currently sitting at an F, and I've got three weeks to get my grade back up before Coach has to take disciplinary action.

"Of course. I'll make it work. Thank you so much."

"Thank Ms. Brooks." He says, and turns and snaps his laptop shut. "She's one of the best students I've had in years that wasn't a comp sci major. Honest to a fault. I know she wouldn't let you cheat." He's not wrong.