Page 32 of And They Were Roommates

“He did what?”

“No one told you? At first, I thought Jasper was telling us in code there’s another new love letter deliverer, but then he emphasizedrealinreal good tutor. I cried.There’s a real tutor now?It felt like a sign.” Luis gestures a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit across his upper half.

I mirror him until I remember signing the cross doesn’t operate like a handshake. “That examwastough.”

Luis pulls his calculus textbook from his bag.Luis Gabriel García Perezis written in permanent marker on the fabric. “I bombed the slope field portion. Got a B-plus.”

“Oh.”

“Super embarrassing, I know. My parents are demanding I get my grade back to a ninety-eight or higher ASAP. What’d you get?”

“A-minus,” I mumble.

“Rough.”

Unspoken Guideline 8: An A− everywhere else is an F− here.

“At least a rough start for you makes sense,” Luis adds, barely keeping his voice low. “You’re new. You gotta figure out a whole new campus on top of locking in.”

Is Luis the first person to acknowledge how hard transferring has been for me?

I smile. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Tugging on his curls more, Luis opens to our 3.2 homework questions due in two days. A lesson I haven’t gotten a free moment to review yet. “An Excellence Scholar like you must pick up this stuff mad quick. Walk me through these?”

If I can’t solve simple calculus, Luis could tell everyone that the second-year Excellence Scholar is a joke. Outgoing plus attractive like him equals lots of friends, just like Xavier. This could get back to STRIP. No more being their face. No more double room to myself.

No backing out.

I flip to the introductory section of 3.2. After severalplace short line segmentsandxy planephrases later, I’m only more lost. Still, I swipe up his calculator. “Let’s solve number one together first. In drawing the slope field for the differential equation—” I plug in numbers that seem right according to the page. “At the point (–1,1), you’d draw a short segment of slope…”

I write down= 1–2(–1) = 1 + 2 = 3on scrap paper, then check in the back of the book for answers, squinting in preparation to be wrong.

= 1–2(–1) = 1 + 2 = 3

My eyes widen. I was right?

Luis groans loudly enough to pull the librarian’s focus, but not enough to get shushed. Yet. He points at the(–1, 1)on the page. “Because you substituted both. I only used this one.”

The double doors squeal open.

Jasper?I whip my head around. Three upperclassmen I don’t recognize.

Why am I waiting for him?

Focusing on Luis, I guide him through the nine remaining questions. Every time he answers correctly, he hugs me in full view of the librarian. More STRIP reliability points. Once we’re done, my head brims with equations I suddenly understand. I hadfun.

Was I paying attention to my face? My hair? Were we sitting too close?

I can’t remember.

“You’re the best guy in STRIP, for real,” Luis says as he packs his belongings. His curls have doubled in size. “No offense to Jasper. He does write awesome stuff.”

“You think?”

“STRIP, in general, is how Emilio has stayed in touch with his girlfriend every week for the last year. But I guess the two were fighting all through summer break. Once he told Jasper about it and got a love letter written by him, they instantly made up. He’s a wizard.”

“What are Jasper’s letters like?” My face burns once I realize what I asked. I shouldn’t care, but I still can’t figure out Jasper’s social standing. A part of me wants to know others’ opinions. When he speaks in class, he’s cheered on. During passing time, others swarm him. Although same for Xavier. Either they’re popular, or their top five rank is. If it’s the latter, ranking may come with being seen more than I expected. Being watched.

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