Chapter 43

The next day, I think I’m about to die in biology class.

I, apparently, put something wrong in the beaker that Debbie and I are working on. It fizzles up and over the top and stains the counter a balmy shade of red. Our teacher scrambles to get it cleaned up and waves her hands all over the place. I could feel bad but I mainly feel dread.

I’m terrible at school.

Biology and chemistry are a complete wash. I can barely do one experiment without something blowing up, spilling or just not working. English is fine but I read much slower than the rest of the class. That and my penmanship is appalling. I can’t even read my own essays.

The only class I’m good at is combat. It’s particularly evident that afternoon. Maybe I had a bunch of rage to get out after chemistry but I lift my sparring partner, Jade, up with one hand and slam her to the ground. She grunts and groans in discomfort and tries to roll onto her front. I give her one swift kick to the shoulder and she’s down.

She waves a hand in surrender as I stand above her. My breaths come in heavy pants. I hear a chuckle behind me.

“Alright then, Kissimet,” the voice says. “Please let that be the only student you send to the infirmary during class.”

I turn and ease the tension out of the shoulders. Coach White stands and watches me with an amused smirk on his lips. His arms are crossed over his chest. I drop my sparring bat on the ground and watch as Jade stumbles to get up. She throws me the dirtiest look possible and swears at me under her breath. I look back at Coach White. He looks impressed.

“You know,” he says. “The girl’s lacrosse team could use your athleticism. Maybe you should try out.”

“Lacrosse?” I scoff. “I don’t think I could catch a ball.”

Coach White shrugs. “Maybe with some help. But you’re very coachable. Your foot skills are great and your strength could give you an insane shot.”

“No thanks,” I grumble. I push past him to go to the locker room. Though the thought is appealing, there’s no way the Hayes will let me do anything other than watch Mia.

“Kissimet!” Coach calls out. I turn on my heel to look back at him. He’s awfully persistent. I can feel myself glaring at me. His face goes soft and I’m immediately confused.

“You’re good at this, kid,” he says. “Real good. The club or sports could give you the next leg up. Even if you can only make one meeting a week. Just take the extra time to do something for yourself.” He smiles at me and shakes his head. “You’re gonna do great things. I just know it. But put the effort in now so you can.”

I look at him and I feel a deep sinking in my chest. I look sheepishly up at Coach White and mumble so low that I hope he can’t hear it. “I’ll think about it,” Then I bolt out of the gym.

I recount the whole thing to Debbie at the start of physics class. Sh shrieks with excitement and everyone turns to glare at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbles. She squeezes my hand. “Chloe that’s so great! You absolutely have to do something now that Coach White’s mentioned it. He runs the whole athletics department. You’d have a shoo in to any team you want!”

“Yeah but what about Mia?” I say with a shake of my head. “None of the boys are going to let me leave her for that long.”

“So wait until you’re done!” Debbie says. “You have like two months left, right?” I nod and she goes on. “Then there’s no reason not to! Come on this is like your big break!”

“Big break?” I raise an eyebrow. “Just because I’m on a sports team doesn’t mean I’m cut out to be inducted into warrior training. Need I remind you they’ve never taken a woman.”

Debbie rolls her eyes. “But you’ll be the first!” she says. “Sports and combat club would just be a reason for you to focus more on your training. Just mention it to the brothers. They didn’t specifically say you couldn’t did they?”

I think about my contract. “Err,” I say while I rub at the back of my neck. “Not specifically—”

“Then just try,” she says. The bell rings and we all settle in our seats. Debbie drops her voice to a whisper. “The worst thing they can say is no.”

I almost want to tell her that’s not the worst when the teach starts handing back out our tests from the week before. I know I did poorly but nothing would prepare me for the paper with the massive “0” on it in thick red ink. I didn’t get a single question right. The teacher scribbled I should see her after class on the top right corner. I can barely focus through the lecture as I realize there’s a chance I could get kicked out of this damn school.

I tentatively approach the teacher’s desk after everyone leaves the class. She smiles sadly at me and stands from her desk.

“Miss Kissimet, I see you got my note,” she says.

“I didn’t get a single one right?!” I exclaim, slapping the paper on her desk. She looks at it then looks back at me. She still has the sad smile.

“Unfortunately,” she sighs. “No.”

“Do you have someone who you could ask for help?” The teacher says softly. “Or I can assign you a tutor?”

“No!” I say quickly. I don’t want it going back to the brothers that I’m almost flunking out of school. Something tells me they won’t be happy about that. The teach blinks at me, shocked at my outburst.

“Sorry,” I continue. “I can find a tutor myself. Ask…a friend or something.”

The teach nods. “Okay, then,” she says. “I really don’t want to have to fail you.”

“You won’t,” I say with determination. I grab my paper and exit the room.

I get back to the pyramid and make the walk directly to Steven’s room. He did say I could ask him for help. I’m pretty sure getting none of the questions right on your physics test warrants help.

I raise my hand and timidly knock on his door. He tells me to come in from the inside. His voice is muffled and so I’m not surprised to see him in a full hazmat suit when I walk in. He’s inside the glass cage I saw when I first was in his room. He’s very carefully pinching at something with forceps and placing it into some petri dish of sorts.

He sees me and smiles, getting up from his work. He steps into a different part of the cage and removes his suit and gloves then comes out to greet me with a wide smile.

“Hiya,” he says.

“Hiya,” I reply with less vigor. “I need help.”

“Okay,” he says, drawing the word out. “What’s wrong?”

I say nothing and just hand him the paper I’ve clutched to my chest the entire way home. His eyes almost bulge out of his head. Hi gaze darts back and forth from me to the page. I realize I’m gnawing on my lip again.

“Okay,” Steven repeats. He huffs a breath that gives me no hope. “Let me just finish what I was doing in the lab. Then we can sit down and go over this stuff from the start, figure out what you need help on.”

I watch him busy around the lab. He’s meticulous in his motions yet chaotic in the way he works. He darts all over the place like a confused mouse but then has the steadiest hands whenever he actually starts doing the work.

When all the beakers and flasks are washed, he comes out and makes me sit next to him at his desk. He starts with the most basic parts of the physics I learned., it’s so much easier for me to get the concepts. When go through the first three problems together but the last problem on the test, he makes me do.

“Okay so carry the one here and…. Done!” I set the pen down next to the paper. Steven takes it into his hand and looks it over. He looks at me and gives me a sly grin.

“I got it?!” I ask. He nods. I do a little happy dance in my chair then look back at Steven.

He’s smiling but in a sort of thoughtful way, like his brain is still churning behind his skull. His smile slowly falls off his face and his pupils go dark. I wet my lips. They darken further.

“You’re very smart,” Steven says, quietly. “It suits you.”

“Thank you,” I say back just as quiet.

Steven pushes a bit of my hair back behind my ear. “You’re welcome.”

Heat rushes to my cheeks and I feel my chest flutter. I think about leaning forwards, letting his lips hit mine and just falling into his lap and giving into it and—

I jerk back. This is a Hayes. The sweetest Hayes, but still a Hayes.

Steven’s jaw snaps shut. His pupils go small. His cheeks get as red as mine feel. He rubs the back of his neck then gets up abruptly. He motions towards the lab.

“I should—”

“Me too,” I get up as well and shove all my papers into a pile that I can pick up. I almost sprint to the door then remember one final thing. I look back at Steven.

“I – uh – thanks. “

Smooth, Chloe.