Page 8 of The Save

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you call this?"

"A logistical question." Shar sipped her drink. “You're acting weird.”

“I am not." I reached out and pulled a piece from Crystal's muffin.

"Is this about the tutoring?" Shar asked.

I avoided their eyes. "What tutoring?" It was stupid. I should've admitted it right away. I should've told them whathappened with Chase the second I left that office, but something had held me back. I'd hoped to talk with them about it after I got an email in my inbox. After I'd set something up so I had some kind of success to report.

"Yep. Bullseye." Crystal leaned back in her chair.

"I'm sorry." I slumped over the table, pushing my curls out of my face. "I didn't mean to shut down."

Shar put a hand on my arm. "After two years, we kind of know how you work."

I gave her a skeptical look. "How is that?"

She grinned. "Late night talks. That's when you open up."

"We've all been so busy, we didn't realize we needed a girls' night. Buuuut." Crystal's eyes lit up as she straightened in her chair. "That's changing tonight. We're going out."

The tension that had been coiled inside me all week released a little. "Yes. That's exactly what I need." No more obsessing about transcripts or resume padding, no more waiting for my email to load. "Where are we going?"

"Trivia night at the Den." Crystal threw her hands up, sending muffin crumbs off the edge of the table.

I laughed out loud. "Because you want to win another twenty percent off coupon at Boston Pizza?"

"I heard they're giving out free zoo tickets!" Crystal's eyes glittered, and I couldn't help but feel flattered. The last time we'd gone to the Den at the University of Calgary for trivia night, we'd beaten every other team by a minute and a half on our response time and got every question right. Well, I got every question right.

"Rob's okay with this?"

Shar nodded resolutely. "Yep. He's doing an extra practice, and I told him to stay as late as he wanted at the rink."

Crystal grinned. "I love that his hockey dreams give us more of you."

Shar laughed, shoved the last of her muffin into her mouth, and stood. “Alright. I need to warm up before my solo audition.”

I pushed back from the table. “And I’ve got Complex Variables."

Crystal shook her head. “You shouldn't look happy about that statement."

I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. “Pick you up tonight?"

Chapter

Four

I madeit to the science theatre with three minutes to spare, winded from speed-walking across campus and dodging two separate high school tour groups and a guy trying to sell student union planners out of a duffel bag.

The class was already half full. Turns out, math students are huge nerds and have nothing better to do than show up early to lecture. Professor Kowalski stood at the front, fiddling with the transparency projector. He wore his usual tweed jacket and brown slacks, his salt and pepper hair tufting in the back like a duckling.

He looked up as I slid into my usual seat near the front. “Miss Taylor.”See? He hadn't been to my house or walked down my hall half naked, and he still remembered my last name.“A word, if you’ve got a second before we start?”

My pulse kicked up. Not because I was in trouble—Kowalski liked me—but because being summoned by an authority figure still triggered academic fight-or-flight in my DNA. I stood and walked down to the front, clutching my notebook like a shield.

“A little bird told me that you recently offered to tutor a couple of student-athletes.” He ground the R's in that sentence,his eastern European accent mostly beaten out of him after living in Alberta for the past forty years.

My spine straightened. A little bird? The only person who knew I'd offered tutoring was Chase. Warmth bloomed in my chest. Had he been talking about me to other professors? “Yes? I mean—I offered, but I don’t know if they’re taking me up on it.”

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