Tutor Me

by Hope Stillwater

  Come now.

  Callum read the text over my shoulder and then looked at me, his arms tightening around my waist. “I’m worried about this. So many things could go wrong. I can’t believe I agreed to let you do it.”

  I swiveled to the side and touched his face. “I know it sounds risky but it’s really fine. Lacey’s brother will help and I’ll call if anything goes wrong, I promise.”

  He leaned his cheek against mine and sighed, “OK.”

  When I got close to Lacey’s house I parked around the corner so that no one would see my car.

  The house was quiet, with no cars left in the driveway except for Kai’s Escalade, which I imagined he and Kai had come in together. I let myself in the front door, not wanting to make any extra noise. There were solo cups strewn around but the place was far from trashed. Lacey had clearly restricted the guest list to a handful of people.

  Rather than call out, I texted her, I’m here

  She wrote back fast: Cabana

  In the cabana Bryce and Kai were sprawled out side by side on the couch, heads tilted back and dead to the world. Lacey was struggling to pull Bryce’s t-shirt over his head, but it was pinned underneath him. She had only gotten a little way with Kai’s, and then apparently stopped.

  “Help me get this off him. These boys are so heavy.”

  “How about we just cut the shirts off?” I suggested.

  “Great idea. This is one of Kai’s favorites so, all the better.”

  “You realize they’re going to know they’ve been messed with when they wake up, right?”

  “I thought about that. Let’s drop them off in their car in the Dixon High parking lot instead of at home. They’ll think Dixon boys did it AFTER the party. If they ask I’ll say they insisted on driving drunk. They aren’t going to tell a soul about this, trust me.”

  We found scissors and sliced the hems of their shirts, tearing the fabric up to the collar and cutting the last bit. We cut off the sleeves too. The material trapped under their backs could stay. Together we shimmied their pants down. It was awkward but we did manage to tug them off, at least so they pooled around their feet.

  “So, briefs on or off?”

  Lacey looked devilish. “Let’s cut them off. We’ll cover their junk up for the photo, but just barely.” We went to work with the scissors, being careful to avoid any unintentional snips. We were nasty but not that nasty.

  The clothing removal had been the hard part. Decorating the boys was easier, even fun if not for the adrenalin spiking through my veins. Lacey had charcoal sticks for each of us. On Kai’s belly she drew an arrow pointing down to his crotch and wrote SMALL DING DONG next to it. Across Bryce’s forehead I wrote SEXIST PIG and on his chest I wrote I’M VAIN. Lacey posed them so they were holding hands, something that would mortify these two homophobes to no end. To hide their crotches, across their laps we draped a pink feather boa Lacey had found in her mom’s closet. We tucked black cloth on the couch around them so they wouldn’t be able to see the fabric and tell where the pictures had been taken.

  We stepped back to admire our handiwork, but only for a moment. Neither boy had so much as stirred, but we needed to wrap this up before I anyway passed out from nerves.

  Lacey, cool as a cucumber, stood on the coffee table and snapped photos of them from above. “They are going to never live this down!” She was gleeful. “Let me text Dylan to get out here and help us move them. He’s in his room.”

  While we waited for Dylan we took a couple more shots, wiped the charcoal off, and cleaned up around them. A few minutes later, no sign of Dylan. Lacey looked annoyed. “I’ll go get him.” She strode out of the cabana toward the house. I sat outside on a chair by the pool, not wanting to be alone with the sleeping beauties. The cool night air felt good but didn’t help to get my heart under control. Clearly I was not cut out for a life of crime.

  Lacey shot out of the house in a hurry. “We’re fucked. My shithead brother is passed out cold with a bottle of jack next to him. I’m going to beat the crap out of him.” She was livid. Having been on the receiving end of that wrath I pitied her brother when he woke up. But there were more pressing things to worry about.

  “There’s no way we can move them ourselves. Callum…”

  She cut me off, knowing exactly what I was going to say. “NO. We’ll think of something else.”

  I pressed on. “There is no other way. There are no other guys we can trust enough to bring into this. He knows what we’re up to and he told me to call if we needed help.”

  She sighed, her body slumping as she stood by the pool. “OK fine. Call him.”

  Callum answered on the first ring. “Hi.”

  “We’ve hit a road block and need some help, sorry.”

  “We’ll be right there.”

  “Thank you. Let yourself in and come out by the pool.”

  After we hung up, it dawned on me that he’d said “We”. What was that about?

  I found out about one minute later, when Callum and Theo opened the doors to the patio.

  “How in the world did you get here so fast, and what’s Theo doing here?” I must have looked as astonished as I felt.

  Callum looked embarrassed. “After you left I was worried so I called Theo and we’ve been sitting in the car about a block away, in case you needed us.”

  Theo interjected. “Yeh he yanked me out of a sure hook-up for this. I must be the best friend ever.”

  Callum rolled his eyes at Theo’s words but didn’t comment, instead asking quickly, “So what’s up?”

  Since their arrival in the patio, Lacey had just stood there, rigid, unable to be polite but knowing she couldn’t be rude when she needed Callum’s help. Theo waved to her and she said hi to him, but she and Callum ignored each other.

  I spoke since Lacey was still silent, gazing away. “We’ve taken the photos and all, but we can’t lift the guys to move them to the car.”

  Callum addressed Lacey directly for the first time. “I thought your brother was going to help with that.”

  She kept her eyes averted. When she spoke her voice was like ice. “He was supposed to, but the little shit is passed out in his room. Believe me, I’m going to shred him once he sobers up.”

  Theo and Callum shot a brief glance at each other but sensibly didn’t make any snide comments. Callum just asked, “Where are they?”

  I pointed toward the cabana and they walked over there immediately. Lacey and I followed. Inside, Theo let out a low whistle at the sight before them. Callum started chuckling.

  “You girls sure did a number on them.”

  “You haven’t seen the best of it. We wiped off the words we wrote in charcoal.” Lacey handed her phone to Theo. He and Callum flipped through the pictures, laughing.

  “Oh man. Best. Revenge. Ever.” I loved Theo for his lightheartedness.

  Callum nodded approval, but then snapped into action. “Bro let’s get these pricks out of here.”

  Lacey took Kai’s keys and ran out to unlock the car, propping the side gate open as she went, so Theo and Callum wouldn’t have to lug them through the house. They picked up Kai first, Callum holding him by his armpits and Theo by his knees. I held the cabana door open and carried the scraps of clothing and his wallet. Kai was heavy and it was slow going but eventually he was in the back of the Escalade, and Bryce after that. Callum did ‘accidentally’ knock Bryce’s shoulder into Lacey’s gate but otherwise the boys were pretty careful with them. Callum drove the SUV while Theo followed in his car. Lacey and I cleaned up the cabana until they returned. I didn’t relax until Theo and Callum walked back in through the gate, grinning.

  Theo spoke first. “Those two are sleeping it off in a secluded corner of the Dixon parking lot. I wish I could see their faces when they come to. Nice work, ladies.” His cheeriness was infectious and with the release in tension came elation, even for Lacey, who had been as tight as a bow since she found out about Dylan.

  Chapter 27

&nbs
p; Lacey texted me Monday morning. Ready for lunch today?

  Yes. No.

  I felt nauseous at what lay ahead. Lacey had it worse: she’d had to talk to Kai the day before and pretend they were still together, otherwise he would have gotten suspicious that she’d been involved in his and Bryce’s ‘kidnapping’. She’d avoided seeing him by going to the mall all day and then talking her parents into taking her out to dinner when they got back from their trip, but even facetiming with him must have been tough. She reported that he and Bryce were freaked out about the night before, but had only said they’d found themselves passed out in the Dixon parking lot, not that they were naked. He’d asked her a lot about the end of the night. She gave the story we’d rehearsed, that she’d ended up closeted with Dylan in his room trying to revive him and by the time she’d come out they were gone. While we’d been working the guys over in the cabana Lacey had sent a Where are you? text to Kai, as evidence the next day.

  We met up before school to go over the details. Lacey was as self-assured as ever.

  “Aren’t you worried?”

  She looked surprised. “No, why should I be? It’s all worked out.”

  “Does ANYTHING ever worry you?”

  She paused for a moment. “My brother worries me.”

  At school Lacey and I avoided each other: any signs of friendship would have seemed odd given our very public ‘break-up’. At lunch I sat with Callum, Jamie, Theo and some others, while Lacey came in late and joined her regular crowd, minus Charlotte, who was not ready to return to school. I’d been keeping my eye on Lacey and once she was seated she looked over at me and gave a slight nod. We both stood up and she approached my table. She climbed up on my chair and then on top of the table, and I followed, less gracefully, behind. We were already drawing some interested stares. Occasionally students stood up to make announcements about prom tickets and such, but it wasn’t common. Nervously I looked around.

  Lacey clapped twice, loud and fast, to get everyone’s attention. Not that it was necessary. The two of us, supposedly sworn enemies, on top of a table in the middle of the cafeteria? All eyes were now on us.

  Lacey called out, “listen up people.” The entire cafeteria went silent, waiting to hear what the hell this was about. Some phones were already out, filming us. Bryce, Kai, Alex, Chloe and Pete were looking at us in utter disbelief.

  “As many of you know, some cruel photos of a student did the rounds. The student is kind and good and didn’t deserve that shitty treatment. Especially from people she trusted.” Lacey looked pointedly at Bryce and Kai.

  I spoke next, as planned. “Since the cowards who took those photos didn’t reveal themselves we can’t be sure who did it, but there have been some new developments in the story.”

  Lacey pulled out her phone as I spoke and held it up. I continued. “New photos have been posted to snapchat. We wanted to alert you to them.”

  Students scrambled to their phones and the quicker ones were already gasping and laughing. Lacey had posted two snaps of Kai and Bryce, from a false account.

  Lacey put on her best innocent pout. “Hmm. I wonder why someone would do this to poor Kai and Bryce? Could this be a case of revenge?”

  I looked over at Kai and Bryce’s table. Their faces were ashen.

  “It sure seems like it to me.” I pointed right at Kai and Bryce and said loud enough for all to hear. “You fuck with any of us again we’re pressing charges. You disgust us.” The last came out in a hiss.

  Bryce and Kai jumped up, fuming, and they made a move toward us. I thought for a minute they might try to pull us off the table but Callum and Theo and a couple other guys came up to them and pushed them away. The teachers on lunch duty, who had until that moment been completely agog watching us, finally intervened and separated everyone. Kai and Bryce left the cafeteria to jeers and boos.

  Lacey’s voice had hardened into steel, and she swiveled around to take in the entire room. “Stop idolizing sexist pigs, people.”

  There was applause and whistles as Lacey and I jumped off the table and strode out of the cafeteria.

  “Should we ditch school today?” I asked Lacey in the hall. My adrenalin was crashing and I was feeling drained suddenly.

  But Lacey was made of tougher stuff. “Nah, let’s ride this out. I want to observe the fall-out from this.” She shot me a grin. “And besides, someone would miss you in Calc.” I followed her eyes and saw Callum leaning against my locker, waiting.

  That evening I did something surprising: I told my dad the whole story. He nodded, with mild interest. “A nice example of ‘eye-for-an-eye’ behavior, which continues to prevail in spite of the state’s attempts to monopolize punishment. And public shaming: that has a long and fascinating history.” He paused, taking a sip of wine. “That was brave, my girl. I’m proud of you.”

  Callum was even more complimentary when he snuck into my room late that night. “That was something else today. You rocked.” I was curled up on his lap on my desk chair.

  I smirked, embarrassed. “You would have done that without a second thought. And it was a bit over the top, wasn’t it?”

  Callum turned my head to look at him. “It needed to be that over the top to have the impact. I am in awe of you.”

  “What about Lacey?”

  He nodded. “Even Lacey redeemed herself today. I’m starting to respect her.”

  “Girl power, right?”

  “Girl power rules.” He was nibbling my neck so his words came out a little muffled. Then he was pulling my tank top up over my head. “But you know what’s better than just girl power?”

  “What?” I giggled, ticklish from his nuzzling.

  “Girl +boy power.” I laughed more.

  Chapter 28

  Callum picked me up just before 10 on Sunday, to go to brunch with his dad and Sarah. I had put on a yellow sundress and wore my hair down and carefully straightened. The good girl look may have been a little overkill but the image of myself as the slutty cheerleader still galled me. I grabbed the bouquet of flowers I’d picked up earlier and then opened the door. Callum was wearing an Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt and jeans, making no concessions to the occasion. He smiled when I opened the door and leaned forward to kiss me.

  “I missed you.” He grabbed my hand.

  “I saw you like, two hours ago.” He’d been sneaking into my room and sleeping there most nights.

  “I know. I’ve got it bad.” He didn’t look too upset about that, and I certainly wasn’t. “What are the flowers for?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Remember? Your dad said the brunch was to celebrate Sarah’s birthday. So I take it you didn’t get her anything?”

  By way of answer, Callum grimaced.

  I smiled. “OK these can be from both of us.”

  The restaurant was a popular place for brunch in Scottsdale that locals avoided during spring training but was chill the rest of the year. Bill and a woman who was presumably Sarah were already at a table. Callum had been holding my hand as we entered the restaurant and when we spotted them he gave it a squeeze, either to reassure himself or me. I squeezed back.

  Both Bill and Sarah stood up as we approached. Sarah was petite with a pile of frizzy blond hair and warm eyes behind glasses. She had a friendly open face and I liked her immediately. I could tell she was nervous, which endeared her to me even more. I had thrust the flowers into Callum’s hand as we got out of the car, knowing they would mean a lot more coming from him, so he greeted her by giving them to her. It was an awkward hand-off but she looked really pleased. I sat between Callum and Sarah, while Bill was across from me. After introductions and a glance at the menus, an uncomfortable silence set in.

  Bill cleared his throat. “Do you have to take that thing out to eat, or what?” He gestured toward Callum’s lip ring.

  Callum shook his head in response, his eyes flinty. Not off to a good start.

  When Bill spoke again after an excruciating pause, it was no better. “Well son, I haven�
�t seen much of you lately. What’s up?” He sounded accusatory and I flinched, because Callum wasn’t going to respond well to that either. Sarah glanced nervously at Bill, clearly realizing as I did that this was the wrong tone to take if he wanted to reconnect with his son.

  Sure enough, Callum merely shrugged and looked stonily at the menu. I saw a look pass between Sarah and Bill and then Bill cleared his throat.

  “That came out wrong. I meant to say I miss hearing your news, Cal, and would love to know how you’re doing. Please don’t shut me out.” His voice had softened, and the last part had a pleading tone to it.

  I kicked Callum under the table and gave him a look probably not unlike the look Sarah had given Bill.

  Callum smiled reluctantly, then seemed to warm up. “Things are pretty good, actually. I’m acing Calc, and doing OK in my other classes.” Both Bill and Sarah smiled at that.

  “How’s the band doing?” Bill was clearly eager to ask his son as much as possible while they were on speaking terms. According to Callum, Bill thought the band was a waste of time so he was making an effort here to show interest.

  “It’s good- we’re good.”

  Since Callum didn’t seem prepared to elaborate, I decided to jump in for him. “Callum is being modest. They’ve had several paying gigs lately. They’re doing great.”

  Sarah spoke up excitedly, “That’s terrific! Congratulations. Where did you play?”

  Callum told them about the bars and the upcoming 50th birthday party, and they asked questions about his bandmates. Our food arrived and we were eating it when the topic came around to me.

  “So, Jenny, you’re a cheerleader?” Bill kept his question studiously neutral, but I could tell he was curious about how Callum and I could have ended up together.