Page 28 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

“—and every time I piss off Ms. Schwab, the next day Coach makes his gym classes run extra laps. They’re definitely banging.”

“That’s circumstantial at best,” says a second voice dismissively, one familiar enough to make TJ pause. “Ms. Schwab and theprincipal, on the other hand—”

“Seriously?” A chair creaks back. “You’ve got to be pulling my leg, dude.”

This last bit is what jars TJ into finally placing the voice. Rajan.

“Let’s just say I’ve seen some things,” replies the other voice, quite seriously.Simran.

Without thinking, TJ turns back around and pushes through the classroom door.

Inside, Simran and Rajan are sitting next to each other at a desk at the front, Simran twiddling a pencil in her fingers, Rajan with his feet up. They both jump when TJ enters.

There’s too much to unpack about this scene. “What the hell?” TJ manages.

“Hello to you, too,” Rajan says. “Hey, do you think Coach and Ms. Schwab are banging?”

TJ ignores this and looks between them. “You two know each other?”

“Are you joking? We’retight.” Rajan slaps Simran on the back like she’s one of his bros. TJ has the urge to rub her eyes and look again.

“I’m a math tutor,” Simran explains, setting her pencil down.

“And the school keeps forcing me to get help,” Rajan pitches in, twisting his ball cap from front to back. “They think just because I failed a few times, it means I don’t know what’s going on. Kind of judgmental, right?”

Only then does TJ register the textbook, calculator, and papers strewn on the table. She looks at Simran. “I didn’t know you tutored math.”

Simran shrugs and closes the textbook, offering no explanation. “What are you doing here?”

TJ realizes how it looks. Her barging into the room, clearly eavesdropping. “Soccer practice. I was just on my way to the parking lot.” She watches Simran put her pencil case away. “Uh, do you need a ride home?”

“With Liam?” Simran mutters. TJ shakes her head.

“My mom.”

She relaxes visibly. “Okay. Sure.”

Rajan snickers. “I wouldn’t want a ride with Liam, either.”

TJ gives him a bored glance. “Don’t you have a bathroom stall to vandalize or something?”

“You wouldn’t be giving me that look if you knew the shit Liam was talking the other day.”

She rolls her eyes. If she had a dollar for every time the guys in Liam’s circle were talking shit to each other, she’d be rich enough to bribe her way into an Ivy League college. “Yeah, right. Come on, Simran.”

Rajan opens his mouth again, but hesitates.

Something about that catches her attention. It’s instinct, maybe, the paranoia that’s been seeping deeper into her thoughts, but she can’t ignore it. “What?”

His eyes dart from TJ to Simran and then back. “I’m not sure you wanna know.”

Well, now she definitely does. “Spit it out.”

Rajan sighs, his default lazy grin fading for a second and becoming uncharacteristically serious. “He was asking some of the guys after gym class this morning how to hint to his girlfriend that she should shave.”

Simran makes a sound behind her. TJ’s face heats.

“Just thought you should know,” Rajan says casually.