Chapter Six
Ava
I heard the quarterback throw his book when I walked up to the door. He was ready to run out. I shouldn’t have done it, but I knew a good whack to the head would wake him up, so I threw the door open and made sure it hit him right in the nose. I read once that young animals learn through pain. That’s why their parents snap at them and throw them around.
There was something to be said for that. He sat right back down and took a look at me like a kid that’d just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. When I turned away to sit down, he coyly picked up his book.
“Dropped it.” He was defensive.
“That’s alright. I’m Ava,” I reached out my hand, and he shook it.
“Channing,” he said, “but you probably know that.”
I was done with pleasantries. If I let him go on, he’d end up tackling me before the lesson was done. “So, what are we looking at today?”
He passed his book over. “Physics. Well, honestly, I’m trying not to think of all the ways to kill Hamburg, which is why I decided to study physics instead of chem.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“She makes failing a team sport.”
“Yeah, what chapter are you on in physics?”
“Something about the laws of thermodynamics.”
“Thermodynamics.” I knew the book so well I opened it to chapter four without even looking through it.
“This is a really easy chapter. You just have to memorize the laws, and they’re not hard to understand.”
He ran his hands through his hair, and the sleeve of his shirt rolled up his arm. “How many laws are there?”
I rose my eyebrow. “Usually I just play counselor for the first session.”
“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”
“Good.” I turned to the fourth page in the chapter. “Look, there’s always a page and a half introduction. Then they get into the material. The third paragraph is where they start giving you the relevant information.”
“Really?”
“The introduction is the best part. This chapter goes through all of the practical applications of the laws. It helps you visualize things. For example, the zeroth law of thermodynamics.”
“Zeroth?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would they call it that?”
“Actually, there is a story behind that, but…”
“But what?”
“Well, here, look,” I pointed down at the section that explains the law, “it’s really simple.”
He laid back casually and folded his arms behind his head. “I want to know the story.”
“The law is what’s important.”
“Yeah, but the story will get me interested in the subject.”
“Fine. Up until the 18th century, there were only three laws. We’ll get to those in a bit. Then they discovered another law, which is used to define systems of temperature, which placed the zeroth law before the first, so they called it the zeroth.”
“That sounds so interesting,” he said sarcastically.
“I thought we weren’t going to do the counselor thing.”
“We’re not. I’m sorry. How do you know all this crap? What’s your major?”
“Japanese.”
“You’re bullshitting me.”
“Yeah, I am. I don’t do small talk.” I pointed down to the book. “Here are the four laws,” I pointed to the bold print terms. He took out his phone.
“Tell me you’re not gonna stare at that thing the rest of this session.”
“No, I’m taking notes.” He had the memo pad pulled up. “What are the laws?”
He listened and tapped away while I went through each law. He didn’t interrupt once. He was careful and poised once we moved onto business. He made things easy, rushed through, and got the bare minimum he needed without straying. Once I got him on track, he just kept going. He wasn’t stupid either.
He was very intelligent. The other players I was tutoring just stared at me and nodded their heads the whole time. None of them knew what I was talking about. They only came so I could write a letter to the coach saying that they were seeing me. That way, they could stay on the team if their grades started slipping.
Channing didn’t need my help. I envied his systematic thinking and the ease with which he did things. It made me wonder about him. Why was he failing? What was keeping him from doing his work? It didn’t fit. This guy looked like he should’ve been vying with me for top of the class. Maybe he just had the wrong priorities. There was no way of knowing in such a short session, and I didn’t plan on trying to figure him out.
Once I’d read him the laws and answered his questions, he reached into his bag and pulled a note to his coach out of a black binder. “Here,” he pushed it across the table.
“That’ll be $50.”
“Oh, sorry,” he reached into his wallet and pulled it out. I knew I shouldn’t have been looking when he opened his wallet, but he was wearing another pair of label jeans, and his shoes were pure white, not one streak. He had a basic hundred made of twenties, fives, and ones. It was a standard amount to carry around, something a banker would suggest.
I signed the paper quickly and passed it back to him. “Are you coming weekly?” We both started to get up. He threw his book in his bag.
“Yeah, I might as well. Sorry about the rant.”
“It was nothing. Trust me. The other guys…” I could help but smile.
“Are they that bad?”
“They’re alright. It’s nothing. It’s $50 a session, due before the session begins.”
“Okay, Wednesday?” he shrugged his bag on.
“Yeah, I’ll see you then.” He held the door open so I could walk out.
Nicole and I brought coffee to a table in the back of the lounge. I hid my textbooks in my bag so she wouldn’t see, but the top of my calculus book poked out when I sat down.
“That’s why you wanted to go here. You’re going to go right upstairs and poke your head in one of those books and you won’t come out till sunrise.”
“That’s not true,” I grinned.
“Oh, yes it is. That’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
“Not sunrise.”
“Oh, alright. You’re missing out, though.”
“I have to deal with crazy students all day. Why would I want to meet up with even crazier ones after work?”
“Good point.” Nicole took a sip of her drink. She swirled her cup around and stared down at it. “You saw Channing Barker,” she said.
“How did you know?”
“Tony told me.”
“The receptionist has been telling people who I’m seeing? Really?”
“Yes.” Nicole leaned across the table. “What was he like?”
“Look at you all wide-eyed and smiling like that. He’s not even a celebrity. I didn’t know who he was until you pointed him out at the restaurant.”
“You never leave the library. Everyone else knows who he is. What was he like?”
“I don’t know. He’s smart and quiet—there, now will you stop bugging me?”
“No.”
“Alright, what else do you want to know?” I took a drink of my coffee.
She stood there thinking about it for a moment. “Is he nice?”
“No, not really.”
“Was he rude?”
“No, he wasn’t rude. He was really easy to deal with.”
“You’re not giving me a clear picture here. Is he bad like the players or bad in a different way?”
“No, not like the players. There’s no comparison. Some of those boys are so stupid they should be tested.”
“You’re evil,” Nicole laughed.
“He’s not special, Nicole. He’s just better at throwing a ball. So what is with this obsession with him?”
“You’ve never seen the games on TV, have you? They’re constantly zooming in on his face and talking about him. That’s a big deal.”
“I just spent half the morning with him. Trust me; he’s nobody.”
“I’m jealous,” Nicole declared.
“I knew it. I knew it. The way you rant and rave about the players,” I took a sip of my drink.
“I’m not going to lie.”
“You want to trade jobs? I would gladly wait tables.”
“No, trust me. You wouldn’t. I would kill to have a job where I could sit down all day.”
“You mean like studying?” I asked.
“No, not like studying. I study.”
“Are you keeping up?” I pushed her.
“Yes, I am.”
“Good, don’t you dare flunk out of here,” I told her firmly.
“I have my priorities too. Don’t mistake me for one of those meatheads.” Nicole gave me a sharp glare. “I can hold my own, and that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I have a firm 4.0, and I go out in the sun. You don’t have to hibernate.”
“I like the library. I’ll admit it, but this place has the most amazing collection. There’s old moth-eaten manuscripts, books on everything you could imagine. You should go up there and look around sometime.”
“I’ve got a full work schedule and classes to study for.”
“Oh, now you have excuses.”
“I mean it. My life is hectic,” Nicole said. “I’ve got too much to do.”
“You have time to party, but you can’t visit the library?”
“I study. I get good grades. Nothing else matters, except for condoms. Besides, my life is healthy. You’re a shut-in.”
“I wouldn’t call going out to get a burger and sitting down in the lounge being a shut-in. I leave the library.”
“Half the time the only reason you leave is to sleep and go to class. You know the other guys are starting to notice.”
“Let them talk,” I said. “I’d rather be celibate than working at fast food. You know, even if we graduate, we’re probably going to have a hard time finding a job. The market is terrible. I think that keeping my grades up and doing some extra studying is the right thing to do.”
“Maybe it is,” Nicole conceded. There was no point in going on and on, but we’d hit a wall. She was convinced that there was something wrong with me, and I had to keep reassuring her. School wasn’t easy, and yes, I was reading books on the side, but for the most part, I was just doing my work. I couldn’t understand how that could possibly be a bad thing.