Page 25 of Electricity

I t was strange to be in the same room with Liam and not be ignoring him on purpose, to think that the whole reason I was here was to actually talk to him for once.

We sat side-by-side but far enough apart that both of us were actually a little angled, so we could see each other.

I was overly conscious of the ways our knees almost but didn’t touch beneath the table.

“So you think you get Boyle’s Law now?” I said, watching him do a problem on his own.

“Yeah.” He pushed away from the table and looked at me. “What’s the next one?”

His hair had dried in disheveled waves and right now his eyes were more gray than green, looking at me, and goddammit Jessica get your head on straight. “Avogadro’s,” I said, ducking down to write it out. “So, do any of your other teammates require tutoring?”

“Why?” he asked. I could feel him watching me write. “You looking for a second job?”

“No. It’s just that if they do—” I want to know which ones are rapists — “I don’t want to help the one who pinched me that night.”

“You’re still hung up on that?” he asked.

I felt a flush start. I wasn’t a prude, honest, and I didn’t want to seem like one, but I also didn’t want random guys thinking they had the right to grab my ass.

“Well, it was Danny. According to him, you should feel honored,” he explained, matter-of-fact. “It was his pitching-hand.”

This, from the same boy who’d apologized for their behavior two days ago? Once again, Liam Lewis did not make sense. And if I thought about being ‘lucky’ Danny’d chosen my right butt cheek, there was a chance I’d explode Mr. Lewis’s precious big screen TV.

“Hooray,” I said, to defuse the situation and myself. Then I shoved the paper with the equation on it toward him before I could get off track. “Pick a volume, any volume.”

We solved more problems, ones in the book and ones I made up.

For someone with just a ‘solid C’, he really didn’t seem to need much additional instruction, and he contributed to the conversation just as much as I did, which, over the course of the evening, only served to make me nervous.

He didn’t need me here—so why was I? I kept a close eye on my soda all night, just in case.

“You tutor anything else?” he asked, as we were winding down.

“I could. I’m good at everything.” I regretted my word choice the moment they left my mouth, and then I watched him wonder if I was flirting with him. Was I? “Except being humble,” I clarified. “I totally suck at that.”

“You don’t have to be humble, when you can back it up.”

“That something your coach says?”

“No, Colton.” He started closing his text books. “What about English?”

“I’m not writing your papers for you. If I do, you’ll never learn to spell—and if I got caught, we’d both get expelled.”

At that, he outright laughed. “I’m not just a dumb jock.”

No, he wasn’t. I kind of felt safer in my fantasy world where he was. “What are you then?” I asked, watching him closely.

He seemed taken aback by the question. “I’m just a guy. A normal, everyday nice guy, who is occasionally good at hitting to the outfield.”

By then my bag was packed. “All right, Mr. Normal. Take me home.”

We went back downstairs and out the door. Had I learned anything? Other than getting confirmation of the widely known fact that Danny was an ass-grabber? Not yet. Some detective I was turning out to be.

I decided to go for broke in the car. “You said your mom was off at church…but she’s cool with you having big parties?”

“After raising two other Bisons—she knows we’re going to drink. She’d rather we do it somewhere safe, like at home.”

“Your house is safe?”

“Sure.” My credulous tone made him look at me. “Last weekend was a fluke. I feel bad Lacey drank too much, but really, between my brothers and me, we’ve had at least fifty parties, and that’s the first time anyone ever called the cops.”

“You know Lacey?” I asked. If so, how well?

He twisted to give me a look. “You two are only a few lockers down from me. I’m not blind. I just wish she’d come to me instead of calling the police.”

“But everyone’s saying you hate her.”

“Well everyone isn’t actually me. I’m on ZB too, you know? One or two of those pictures were funny—but no one needs to be at the bottom of a dogpile. My brothers ganged up on me enough to know that.”

“I don’t suppose you could just tell people to back off?” I asked, trying to look as charming and innocent as I could, entirely sure I was not pulling it off.

“How? Want me to take over the intercom some morning, and tell the whole school to be nicer, kindergarten-style?”

I opened up my mouth to offer suggestions and found there weren’t any. If the cruelty cat was out of the bag, it was almost impossible to shove back in. “I guess not.”

“Yeah—you think of something, you let me know.” He pulled off the highway onto my exit.

I didn’t think he’d done it—but I was sure that every guy who had done it had someone else who thought that about them. Their girlfriend, their sister, their mother—and each of those women were wrong.

Whether Liam had done it or not though, he was still the key to the baseball team—and I would find out more if I knew him longer. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and most historical spy missions lasted longer than an evening.

“What’re you reading in English?” I asked.

“ To Kill a Mockingbird . I’m, uh, having problems with the themes. I’m only barely making a B.”

A) Half of every essay in English ever was just making shit up, which I could tell Liam should have no problem with and B) themes, in that book? Really? He had to be kidding.

Or. He. Wanted. To. Hang. Out. With. Me. For. Some. Reason.

“Well if you need help let me know.”

“You’ve read it?”

“Yeah. A few years ago. For fun.”

“Figures.” He pulled the truck into a right hand turn into the trailer park, swaying slightly toward me. “You know, you’re confusing.”

“How so?”

“Most girls kind of worship me. You seem—a little hostile, to be honest.”

“That says more about you than it does about me.”

“See? That there?” he pointed. “That’s the hostility.”

I wondered if Lacey would agree. My hands found my phone inside my bag and pulled it out just as I got a text in from her:

R U OK???

I started to text her back then thought better of it. If she cared enough about me to make sure I was OK, I’d been forgiven-ish—or at least she’d finally hear me out in person.

Liam put his truck in park outside my trailer. “See you in class, tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

I smiled and shut the door on him and waited till he pulled away. I knew what I was waiting for—my mom’s car was gone and Allie’s light was off, so I wasn’t going straight inside. I needed to talk to Lacey.