Page 9 of Silent Count
“Full package?” She folds her arms, smirking. “You realize you’re trying to sell yourself for a study session, right?”
“Hey, if I’m this good at convincing you to tutor me, just imagine how great I’ll be at acing psychology.”
Chelsea looks up and meets my gaze. “All right, Bo Callaway, I’ll help you get your grade up.” She laughs, then turns to walk to the driver’s side of the car, and I follow. “Do you have your phone on you?”
I pull my phone out of my pocket, pushing the Post-it Note with her number off it first. I don’t know why I don’t want her to know I have it. But for some reason, I want her to give it to me. “Yep.”
She tells me her number, and I tap it into my phone while she speaks.
“Got it. Thank you.” I drop my phone back into my pocket.
Nodding, she opens her car door. “Text me so I have your number. When I get home, I’ll send you some dates and times, and we’ll schedule the first session. Does that work?”
I grab the top of the door and hold it open while she gets into the car. “Sounds good. Thank you, Chelsea.” I bend down so she doesn’t have to look up.
“No problem. That’s what I get paid for.” She giggles. “I’m guessing the guys don’t know about it, and that’s why you didn’t bring it up earlier?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I’m not embarrassed or anything. I just want to take care of it privately, if that makes sense.”
She looks at me for a long second and nods. “I get that. The need for privacy. I won’t say anything to anyone.”
“Thanks, Chelsea. Don’t forget to text me your availability tonight. Coach wants me to get started as soon as possible so I’m ready for the next test.” I mean, it’s not a lie, but also, I want to talk to her some more.
“I won’t forget.”
She reaches for the handle to pull the door closed, but I wave her off and close the door for her.
When she starts the car, I step away so she can pull out of the spot on the street. She smiles at me as she passes, and I raise my hand to wave goodbye.
Once her taillights are gone from my view, I text her a simple,‘Hi, it’s Bo,’then walk back into the house. Casey and Noelle must have gone to bed, which I’m kind of grateful for. I don’t really want to answer questions.
I lock the door to the house since it seems everyone is in for the night. Then I grab a water bottle from the refrigerator before going to my room. I pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time to see if it’s a good time to call my dad. The sooner I can get this over with, the better. I push on his Contact, and he answers on the second ring.
“Hello, son. I figured you might be calling me today.” He chuckles.
“Hey, Dad.” I close my bedroom door and then lie down on my bed. “You did, did you?” I smile.
I get along with both of my parents and my two sisters, Savannah and Caroline, who are still in high school, and generally, their approval makes my life … easier. I’ve been in some sort of spotlight my entire life, between football and my dad’s career. But also, my dad’s family is wealthy and fairly well known in California, regardless of his status as a Supreme Court judge.
“I assume you knew about the show before today, right?” he asks.
“We knew at the end of last year that it was a possibility, but since we didn’t hear anything, I thought maybe it was dead in the water. You found out before me, I take it?” I shake my head even though he can’t see me.
He lets out a deep laugh. “I did. But you know that’s part of the process. It’s a pretty standard media agreement. You know by now what you can and can’t say regarding the family, so I’m not worried about that. According to the contract, you should be able to have some privacy, but, Bo, they are going to be on you the whole time. You understand that, right? This is a big year for you, and you have a lot of eyes watching.”
As if I don’t know. I can handle the pressure pretty well, but when he puts it like this … yeah, it becomes real.
“I know. I’m not worried about it. Hopefully, it will be fun, but for my sake and my roommates’, I don’t want them here at the house.”
“The house is off-limits, so you should be okay. I think you or one of your roommates has to agree to them coming into the house. Just make sure no one allows it.” He laughs.
“Yeah, no. Casey’s pretty private, as is his sister, and Silas already said he doesn’t want them here because his room is messy.” We both laugh, and then I clear my throat. “There is something else I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay … what’s going on?” he asks.
“I know you’ll get notified, but I wanted to be the one to tell you that I need to work with a tutor to get my psychology grade up. We had one quiz that I didn’t do well on, so Coach has set me up with a tutor so I don’t lose my eligibility.” I pause. “I’m not worried about it, and Coach isn’t either. Plus, I know my tutor, so it should be fine.”
My dad sighs. “Bo, really? Psychology?”
