WILD ; G.D.

tutor.

"i have a surprise for you," my mom took me by the arm, and pulled me into her empty classroom.

i rubbed my arm, and cursed under my breath. "god, mom. what was that for?"

she sat at her desk, and organized her papers. "i went to lunch with lisa yesterday. long story short, i told her that you struggle when it comes to math and science–"

my face fell. "why would you say that?"

she looked up at me, and uncapped a pen. "well, lisa said that her son grayson excelled in those subjects, and i know that you dislike when i try to teach you... we talked to grayson, and he would love to tutor you. surprise!"

i slung my backpack over my shoulder, and took a deep breath. "um, thanks mom. see you later." i quickly left the room, and made my way to my locker.

for some reason, i wasn't able to find any of my friends today. jacob and i were in the same friend group, too, but that was different. i didn't wanna hang out with my stepbrother and his other friends, and i really didn't want to hang out with arielle and her friends.

sure, i loved arielle's friends, but i didn't like arielle that much. it was a hard pass for me.

it was the end of the day, and i still couldn't find any of my friends. i fumbled with the pink lock on my locker, and took my phone out of my backpack.

there was a text from the group chat that my friends and i had. i used my thumb to unlock my phone, and read the message.

fuck.

we were all supposed to go on a mini road trip today, but jacob and i decided to ditch. unfortunately, we were both really bad at communicating with each other, so neither of us had told the group that we weren't coming.

i shook my head and pressed the button on the side of my phone, to put it in sleep mode. this day was getting more and more irritating by the minute, i really just wanted to get home.

i studied the contents of my locker, and put all of the books i needed into my backpack.

"um, c-camila?" the voice was quiet and deep, i was pretty sure that it belonged to grayson. sure enough, i turned around and came face to face with him. he looked different today, he was wearing glasses and his hair was semi styled.

i closed my locker, and zipped up my backpack. "hey, grayson. what brings you to this side of the lockers?"

he rubbed the back of his neck, and bit his lip. "i'm taking you to my house. your mom told me that she wanted me to start tutoring you today."

i slung my backpack over my shoulder, and gave him an awkward grin. "well, alright. let's get out of here."

the dolan household was really nice, and it was only a few houses away from ours. there were many rooms in the house, but ethan and grayson shared a room.

"it's by choice," grayson explained. "ethan and i don't really like being apart, as weird as that sounds."

i was sitting criss cross on his bed, sharing a plate of sugar cookies with him. "it doesn't sound weird to me, it actually sounds nice." i picked up a cookie, and shrugged slightly. "i wish that arielle, jacob and i were close like you two."

he frowned, and wiped off his glasses with his sleeve. "jacob really cares about you, camila. he just has a hard time expressing his emotions. on the other hand, arielle is extremely difficult, but i've known her for most of her life. she seems to be jealous of you."

i took a bit of my cookie, and chewed slowly. "that's funny, grayson. why would arielle be jealous of me? she's so good at everything, you know? sure, she's beyond complicated but–"

he took his glasses off again, and pulled his sleeve over his hand. "promise you won't tell arielle about what i'm about to say?"

i shot grayson a look, and he laughed. "yeah, that was a pretty stupid question, wasn't it? anyways, i know exactly why she's jealous of you." he picked up a sugar cookie, and placed his other hand under it. "she's really used to being the only girl in the group, you know? she used to get a lot more attention from all of us."

he had a point, she also happened to be her dad's only daughter... until I came along.

i ran a hand through my hair, and sighed. "yeah, i get that. i really do, actually. the whole merging of families act was pretty painless for me, but i didn't really think about how she felt."

grayson nodded, and placed his hand on my arm. "hey, it isn't your fault. arielle is a complex girl, there's a lot more to this." he removed his hand from my arm, and idly played with his long fingers. "she's been in love with ethan for the longest time, but... i don't know, it's complicated. he acts a certain way around you, and he barely knows you. he's never acted that way with arielle."

i didn't think that the way ethan was acting with me was a big deal, but apparently it was.

"last, but not least... you're um," he looked at his lap. "you're really gorgeous, but i'm sure you know that. not that arielle isn't pretty, because she is... but... i don't know what i'm saying, i'm sorry."

our hands accidentally brushed together, which made grayson's cheeks flush.

"don't be sorry, grayson. you're a sweet boy, you know that?"

he adjusted his glasses, and looked over at me. "yeah, i've been told."

a/n: i have so many ideas for this book... i'm really excited. thank you so much for reading!! 💚💛💙