The Price of Falling

Chapter 11

I had only seen Conner in the halls of school or in Creative Writing class a handful of times since the night of Jack's party, and I was starting to wonder if he had dropped out or gotten arrested again. I was at home that Wednesday night, studying for one of my last tests before exams. Mom was working one of her night shifts, so I was at home alone. The music on my stereo was loud as I highlighted something about Amplitude in my physics textbook. My phone dinged, and I picked it up to see who had texted me. Conner's name was on my screen. I unlocked my phone to read the message: Can we talk? Cryptic. But I went with it.

I responded, Sure. Talk about what?

Suddenly, my doorbell rang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. No one ever rang the doorbell. I took the stairs two at a time to see who was at the door. I peeked through the window beside the door to see Conner standing there, with his hands in his pockets, biting his upper lip. When I opened the door, he smiled and said, "Hey Griffin."

"Why won't you just call me Ruthie?" I asked as I ushered him in.

"I've decided that I don't care if you don't like it. Whether you think so or not, Griffin is kind of a hot name, and it suits you," Conner's dimples were deep as he smiled again. Did Conner Price just call me hot? In a roundabout way? Was he flirting? Or was he just being weird. I was bad at this. I could not figure him out. So I changed the subject.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked him, referring to the text he had sent me.

"I didn't know who else to talk to about my grades. I'm bombing pretty much everything."

"That's kind of what happens when you never show up to school," I said.

"Look, I had stuff to take care of, and I don't need a lecture. I just need help," he pleaded with me.

"What kind of help?"

"I've talked to all of my teachers, and they've agreed to help me out. They gave me all my missing assignments, and they said if I turned those in and passed exams, then they'd pass me for the class. Then I could graduate on time," He said all of this very quickly. "And I figured since you're like the valedictorian or whatever, you were the best person to ask for help."

I contemplated this for a moment. Then, I decided to mess with him. "Well, if you wanted a valedictorian for a tutor, you're barking up the wrong tree. I got bumped to second place by Charlie Gupta," I said. Charlie had raised his GPA above mine for second semester, and he took my spot as Ellensburg High School's valedictorian.

"I don't really care about the valedictorian thing. You're smart, and I really need help, or I wouldn't be asking at all," he had a desperate look in his eye. Part of me wanted to tell him that was what he got for skipping school and being a delinquent, but another part of me felt bad for him and wanted to help. "Please, Griffin. You're my only hope at graduating," he added. And all the pushover bones in my body went into action.

"Fine," I groaned. "We'll start tomorrow. But you better be ready. This isn't going to be easy. Call it Graduation Bootcamp."

Conner lifted me up in a bear hug and said, "Thank you! I owe you big time."