Page 61 of Rules

“I’m not. Really,” I reassure her quickly. “I picked up some shifts during the holidays to earn some extra cash. You know how my mother can get.”

“Is she drinking again?”

“That would imply her having stopped at some point,” I say dryly, waving her off. “So no. But she’s in one of her phases, and I need that money.”

“If you need…”

“No.” I grab her hands in mine to soften the harshness of my tone. This isn’t the first time either Lia or her parents offered to help out. I know it won’t be the last time either, but I can’t rely on them more than I already do. “You know I love you, but the answer is no.”

“You know the offer stands.” Her softly spoken words warm my heart.

“I know, just like you know I won’t accept it.”

“One day you’ll have to accept that there are people around you who you can trust and rely on, Brook. People you can open up to, and they won’t break your heart.”

I let go of her hands, chuckling lightly. It’s funny how she thinks I don’t open up to people when at the same time, I think I’ve given too many pieces of myself to those around me. So much there is barely anything left.

“They already have.”

* * *

MAX

“How bad is it?” I try to peek at the paper Brook’s reading, but she pulls it away and out of my reach, humming quietly.

I groan. Leaning against the wall behind me, I tilt my head back and look at the ceiling.

My history class has been driving me crazy. No matter how long or how hard I tried to study, nothing, and I meannothingstayed in my brain.

I must have sighed one too many times, because one morning Brook left whatever she’d been working on to sit opposite me and help me make notes that actually made sense to me instead of driving me to the point of pulling out my own hair.

I’m just not cut out for this. Give me a pair of skates any day of the week, and no matter how difficult a challenge or opponent, I’ll give my best to conquer it. But studying? That’s a completely different story.

Even with all of Brook’s help, I’m not sure I’m going to pass this exam. And I need to do it, my grades are slightly better, but that is barely enough to keep me eligible to play. If I didn’t pass this one I’ll have Coach at my throat again, and I wasn’t sure I’d be as lucky this time as I was the last. With the season progressing as it is, the last thing I needed was to be benched because I couldn’t get my shitty grades in order.

Brook scribbles something down, and I can feel my stomach roll with nerves. Since the exam is tomorrow, she wants me to take a practice test to get a feel for how it’ll all look. But she also insisted it’d be good to practice my writing. I didn’t even want to ask what she meant by that.

“You can tell me; I’m a big boy. Besides, it’s not the first time I failed an exam.” I run my fingers through my hair to keep them busy. “At least this one is practice so it’s not like…”

“You’re ready,” Brook cuts me off mid-sentence.

“I… what?” My mouth hangs open.

Writing down a few more words, she lifts her head to look at me. “You’re ready, Max.”

“Really?” I sound skeptical even to my own ears.

“You got an 82.” A smile curls her lips, and I can feel my eyes pop out.

An 82? Me?

“Are you sure?” I grab the exam she’s still holding.

She has to be wrong. I don’t remember the last time I got a score that high in history. Hell, in anything. While my math was decent enough, everything else was a constant shit storm.

I look at the exam in my hand. It takes me a few seconds before the mess of letters starts to make any sense. My handwriting is horrible to the point I wonder how she can even understand it.

I scan over the answers, noting a red mark here and there in Brook’s neat, curvy writing correcting some of the grammar. But the answers… they’re actually correct.

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