Boy of the Week

by Emily Camp

  Cody took my cell and examined the text. “What a loser, Andrews.” He shook his head. His dirty-blond hair was always messy, but it looked good. “I’m embarrassed to call the guy my friend.”

  “It was coming.”

  “Still, what a wimp.”

  That was kind of my thought, but I wasn’t going to say it. Today Jack was there before me. He stood at Miss Deeter’s desk talking to her.

  “Landry.” Cody socked Jack in the shoulder as he walked by. Jack turned toward us, his eyes fell on Cody’s arm around me. Cody turned to me and said, “Good luck, Jonesy,” and then walked off to his table.

  Jack followed me to our spot. Today he had a small paperback curled in his hand. I draped my backpack over the back of my chair before sitting. He put the book on the table. Romeo and Juliet.

  “Please don’t tell me,” I said.

  “Miss Deeter gave us permission to use the study room.” He nodded toward the single room that was closed off with a large window facing the rest of ES.

  “For what?”

  He lifted the book.

  “I cannot work on anything about love today.”

  “Fighting with your boyfriend?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, we broke up.” I slumped in my chair.

  “It doesn’t have a happy ending.” He waved the book.

  “Really?” I put my hand on my head. “You think I don’t know that. Who doesn’t know how Romeo and Juliet ends?”

  “I thought it’d be fun to go over the play together.”

  “So much fun.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “C’mon then.”

  I made no effort to move, just sat there staring at him. A look of bore on my face, just like he always looked at me. “I don’t want to.”

  “You know, you’re a real pain in the neck.”

  “I’m having a bad day.”

  Jack sighed in frustration and finally sat. “How long has he been your boyfriend?”

  “Since Friday, but that’s not even the point.” I leaned back in my seat, glancing over at Cody, he caught my eye and smiled again.

  “You do realize that was just a couple days ago.”

  “Five days. He broke up with me by text.” As if that gave me more reason to sulk about it.

  “How dare he.” Jack mock-gasped.

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “We have to do something today because we missed yesterday.”

  Just as I was opening my mouth to say something else, Cody bumped into my chair when he walked by. I looked up, he smirked and winked as he kept walking to Miss Deeter’s desk.

  “Looks like this week’s boyfriend.” Jack opened the paperback.

  “What?” I snapped.

  Jack flipped open the book, staring at the pages he said, “I’ve heard about you.”

  “What have you heard?” Because before all this tutoring, I didn’t have a clue who he was.

  “Just stuff.”

  “Are you going around talking about me to people?”

  “No,” he held the book open to the spot he wanted. “When you’re quiet you hear things.”

  My jaw dropped. “About me? People talk about me? Who’s talking about me?” Now I definitely wasn’t going to be able to concentrate. How could I when I knew jerks were spreading rumors about me?

  “I don’t know.” He seemed so calm about this, but I didn’t like people gossiping about my life.

  “Name one.” How could he be so casual? What if I told him that I heard he was an awkward nerd?

  “Nolan Sams,” he said.

  I knew I should have kicked Nolan in the balls when I had the chance. “I don’t know what he told you, but he’s a liar.”

  “He didn’t tell me anything, but I heard about you.”

  “You know this, do you?” I was blinking rapidly now, trying to keep myself from blowing up. Jack had been tutoring me for what a week or two, he thought he knew me? He didn’t know me.

  “I mean,” he ran his hand over the back of his neck, “I’ve heard your boyfriends don’t last long.”

  “So, you need to tutor me in love, too?”

  He cleared his throat, “I didn’t say that.”

  “Have you ever even had a girlfriend?”

  He scratched his head. I have rendered him speechless. Finally.

  “Look, can we just work on anything but Romeo and Juliet today?” If I hadn’t faked a headache yesterday, I would be using that excuse today. Unfortunately, I was stuck here.

  He closed the book and his shoulders slumped. “Geometry or biology?”

  “Biology.” I dug for my science textbook. Not that it mattered any, I still didn’t comprehend anything he said. How could I when all I could think about was what people were saying behind my back. I already knew what Nolan had told people. I’d already dealt with some of the aftermath of that, but I didn’t know that everyone believed it. Especially Jack. He made all these assumptions when he didn’t know. He had no clue who I was.

  Soon, my anger subsided and was replaced by self-pity. Looking back he was right about one thing. I have had a lot of boyfriends. I wasn’t just failing my classes, it seemed I was a failure in relationships, too.

  Chapter Ten

  Mr. Radcliffe had a poster in his office that read, If you fail, try again.

  And that was what I did. I tried again.

  Cody was different. We talked for hours over facetime every night. He made me laugh all the time. It was a plus that he had a car and I didn’t have to ride the bus. Even if he apologized for the loud hoopty, it was better than mine which sat still sat in our driveway, unmoved since the beginning of the school year. Only a week after I got my license.

  He walked me to ES everyday where we split up and he worked with his tutee on geometry and I was stuck with serious Jack.

  My eyes would wander to him as Jack went on and on about how to calculate triangles. Cody would be smiling as he explained the problem to his person. Why couldn’t Jack smile while we worked? At least it would make it less awkward. As if Cody felt me staring, he’d look up and wink. The butterflies would dance in my belly.

  “Hello.” Jack waved a hand in front of my face. Which irritated me, because he was blocking the view of my gorgeous boyfriend. I wanted to stare at Cody’s high cheekbones and long, slender nose, his messy hair, so maybe his mouth was a little bit big for his face, but that made him even cuter.

  “I’m listening.” I told Jack, though I wasn’t at all.

  He made me read Romeo and Juliet with him. Me reading the parts of Juliet and him reading Romeo. Talk about awkward. We sat at the table in the closed off room for those sessions as to not disturb the others trying to study. I hated those days because I didn’t have a view of Cody.

  One night, while lounging in Cody’s room with him, I stole one of his shirts with his name and jersey number on the back. I loved how soft it was against my skin and that it smelled like him. I wore it to school. Even though it was too big for me, I gathered the extra fabric on my hip to make it fit and put a rubber band around it. My mom liked him. Gavin loved him. Things seemed to be working out. I watched him finish his football season. He came to Gavin’s games.

  His favorite team was the Ohio State Buckeyes. Luckily, that was my dad’s favorite too, because he’d bought me a t-shirt on one of the few occasions he acted like a father. I dug the shirt out of the back of my closet and added it to my wardrobe rotation.

  By Thanksgiving break I was released from educational support in geometry because of Cody’s extra help. However, I still struggled with science. I missed the dissection day which did not help my grade. Cody had tutored three people since I’d been with Jack. Mr. Radcliffe checked up with me weekly. He wasn’t pleased with the slow progress. I tried to study at night, but there were so many other things to do at home, like texting and facetiming Cody. Mr. Radcliffe believed that Jack was the right tutor for me. That made me roll my eyes, perfect Jack Landry. Straight
A student, and all-around good guy who rarely smiled.

  Cody and I made out in his room one night after his friends had left after an Ohio State game. There were fireworks and butterflies. I loved the smell of his room, like his citrusy cologne. I loved the feel of him hovering over me. He kissed me for hours and never made a move to do anything else, which was another reason why I liked him so much. We’d been together for a month.

  Cody’s smile was my favorite in the whole world. He stopped kissing me, leaned up and looked at me with hooded eyes and the smile that I couldn’t get enough of. His hand roved up and down my side, staying in places that were safe and comfortable. He couldn’t be a better guy. We were perfect. I finally found my one.

  “Kacey,” my name on his lips sent me swooning. “I …” He looked away from me.

  My heart rose to my chest. My body stiffened. I was ready to push him off me. This could get awkward.

  On my side, his hand moved quicker. “I …”

  I forced a smile and tried to pull his face to mine again.

  “I really care about you.”

  My heart beat faster. The air left my lungs. Part of me was relieved he didn’t say the ‘L’ word. I had been ready to bolt. I wasn’t sure if this was any better. He cared about me? That wasn’t a bad thing. At least he didn’t say love. I hooked my arms around his neck and pulled him back down for more kisses.

  Chapter Eleven

  I hadn’t even been home long enough to take off my bra and put on sweats when the doorbell rang.

  “Kace, can you get that?” My mom was in the kitchen. Wasn’t sure what she was doing. She didn’t cook or bake that often and it smelled kind of burnt. The theme song from Star Wars blasted from the living room.

  “Yeah.” I called out then made my way to the door.

  I was surprised when I opened it to see Jack there, with his backpack.

  “Lanyard?” I said even though he wasn’t wearing his lanyard.

  “We missed a couple days because of the holiday. Want to study?”

  On Saturday night of Thanksgiving break? Hardly. “Not really?” But I did need to.

  He lifted a handful of DVDs. “I brought movies.”

  “You’re assuming we have a DVD player.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes, but …” I leaned forward and whispered. “My mom doesn’t know I’m in educational support.”

  “Say we’re working on a project together.” He shrugged as if he lied all the time. Who was this person? It was weird. He was out of place, like seeing your teacher at Walmart.

  “Kacey, who is it?” My mom peeked around the corner.

  My eyes widened at Jack, hoping he wouldn’t tell her exactly who he was.

  “It’s Jack.” I said as she came further in, giving her a view of the door.

  “Jack?” She tilted her head and gave me a confused look because she knew I just got home from Cody’s house.

  “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Jones.” He reached a hand out. “Kacey and I are working on a school project.” Could he be any more obvious?

  “Please call me Becky.” She didn’t seem to question his lie.

  “Becky,” he nodded as if repeating it would help him remember. Maybe it did. He was the one who knew how to remember things after all.

  She looked at his other hand where he held the DVD’s. “We’re studying plot for English.”

  “You look familiar,” she said.

  “Jack refereed some of Gavin’s games.”

  “Oh,” she said, her face lighting up as she moved to make way for him to come in. She glanced at me an ‘I knew it’ look. But she didn’t know anything. “You’re just in time for dinner.”

  She started toward the kitchen and I whispered in his ear. “It may or may not be edible.”

  “I’m cutting weight for wrestling.”

  “Cutting weight?” I asked.

  He looked around. Suddenly, I was aware at how humble my house was. Judging by his brand-new car sitting out in the driveway beside my stationary one, I assumed his home was elaborate. “If I’m an ounce over my weight class, I can’t wrestle.”

  “Okay.” That really didn’t explain much. I mean I remember Cody and Dylan talking about UFC fighters and weight classes and such, but I’d never paid that much attention. I motioned for him to follow me into the living room where Gavin was watching Star Wars for the millionth time.

  “No way, I love the originals.” Jack put the movies he brought on the coffee table then sat on the sofa.

  “Go ahead, make yourself at home.” I said, though I wasn’t sure he heard me because my brother said something about Han Solo about that time. Then he and Jack were in an entire conversation I didn’t comprehend.

  I went to the kitchen. “I thought you were studying.” My mom said.

  “Star Wars distracted him.” Not that I was complaining any.

  “I bet Gavin likes that.” She winced and stuck her injured finger in her mouth after burning it on the pot.

  “I’m sure he does.”

  “You didn’t tell me you had a project in English.”

  “I forgot.” I grabbed a couple of waters from the fridge. At first, I reached for the sodas, but remembered he was watching his weight? I’d never heard of a boy watching his weight, especially when he was skinny, but then again, I knew nothing about wrestling other than two boys in skimpy outfits rolling around on the ground.

  I went back to the room with the boys. “Thirsty?” I handed Jack the water.

  “Thanks.” He said taking it, but he didn’t open it. He just sat it beside his movies. I sat on the ground beside the coffee table and picked up the cases.

  The 1997 Romeo and Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo Dicaprio. “I love this movie.”

  Jack glanced over at me, peering at me through his glasses. There was a hint of a smile on his face.

  Then my mom called out, “dinner’s ready.”

  Jack sat between me and Gavin as we all attempted to eat my mother’s burnt casserole.

  “Jack, you’re a sophomore?” My mom lifted her fork to her mouth.

  “Senior.” He took a bite and then winced, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of what he realized he just said or because of how the food tasted.

  My mom tilted her head, “Why are you in a sophomore English class?”

  He took a drink of water, as I listened to my heartbeat in my ears because I knew this was going to be the moment my social life ended.

  “I’ve taken all the honors courses and I just need another credit so …”

  “So you take English instead of something like art?”

  This felt oddly like an interrogation. But my mom always did that, asked a million questions.

  “I don’t like art much.” He looked down at his food and moved it around with his fork. “I mean it’s okay, but Art 1 was enough to satisfy my art credit so …”

  So much talk about credits. My brain was starting to hurt.

  “Can we watch the next Star Wars when we’re done eating?” Gavin said all excited like.

  Before Jack could answer my mom said, “Jack and Kacey have a project. How about you get your bath and then read your comic books quietly in your room.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Yes,” mom said.

  “Fine.” Gavin slid out of his chair as if his bones disappeared, he was on the ground in a puddle. My mom and I knew the routine, we both ignored him. Jack, however, watched with an amused smile on his face as Gavin made a show of slithering to the stairs, finally having an audience.

  “I know. He’s weird,” I said taking a drink.

  “We just don’t react.” My mom shrugged. Then she groaned, looking at the mess on the counter. “I suppose those can wait ‘til tomorrow.” She stretched and stood up, carrying her plate and Gavin’s to the sink. “You know he won’t get his clothes then he’ll be streaking again.”

  “Boys like to do that.” Jack said so seriously that it wasn’t until my
mom started laughing that I realized he’d just told a joke. He really was a different person outside of school.

  “Yes, they do.” My mom agreed then started toward the stairs, “Nice meeting you Jack.”

  “You too, Becky.”

  “You just made her day,” I said.

  “Why?” He looked at the kitchen. His hand hooked over the back of the chair, his body facing mine.

  “Because you didn’t call her Mrs. Jones again.”

  “She asked me not to.”

  “Did you watch the game today?” I picked up my plate and his and carried them over to the sink.

  “Yeah. O-H.”

  “I-O.” The dishes made a clank when I put them in the sink. “Ready to study plot?” I pointed toward the living room.

  Jack stared at the dishes. “Shouldn’t we do those?”

  “My mom will tomorrow.” I began to head to the living room.

  “Your mom looked tired,” he said.

  My eyes wandered to the stairs. I could hear Gavin arguing with her about his bath and pajamas.

  Jack stood there in front of the sink, hands on his hips.

  “You seriously want to do our dishes?”

  He was even weirder than I thought.

  “Not really, but your mom shouldn’t have to.” He reached over and turned on the sink.

  Doing the dishes was the last thing I wanted to do, but I couldn’t let Jack do those on his own. So I got a cloth and a towel from under the sink. I handed him the dishrag. He squirted the soap in the water, the bubbles rose, and he began to wash, handing me the clean dishes when he was done.

  “If someone would have told me that I would be doing dishes with you over Thanksgiving break,” I dried a dish after he handed it to me, “I’d think they’d lost their mind.”

  “Because you’re doing the dishes with me? Or because you’re doing the dishes at all?”

  I laughed. “Both.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with helping out.” His hand brushed mine all soapy and warm when he handed me a plate. Was he tutoring me on chores now, too?

  “How do you do it?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “Get good grades, compete in sports and do chores? It’s like you’re not even human.”