The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,52
finally mutters, his face blushing slightly, like the thought of admitting that goes against everything he believes in. “This ten dollars goes toward your charity.”
I grin wide, passing over his purchases and accepting his money.
“Why thank you, Brett Sanderson. That’s very kind of you.”
He shakes his head, but he looks amused.
“Make sure you study tonight. I’m testing you on your progress tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave him off as he walks past me into school and turn back to the group of students behind me who are scrambling for the last of what’s left.
My eyes flit to the tray that’s holding the money, and I grin once again.
I would say this morning’s bake sale has definitely been a success.
15
“Are you studying at night too? Separately from this?”
I nod at Brett. We’re in one of our morning sessions, and while I definitely hated waking up so early at the start of our arrangement, I can’t argue with the fact that my brain feels more alert and it’s nice to feel like I’ve actually achieved something before classes start.
“I can tell. You’re starting to make progress.”
“I am?”
“Yeah, I honestly think you’re going to be okay in chemistry. It’s just math that’s tougher for you.”
His words offer slight relief. I’ve always kinda liked science. I’m not the best at it or anything, but for the most part it does interest me, so when I can actually understand what’s going on in class, it does help that I don’t hate the subject, unlike Calculus, where I feel like it’s a foreign language.
“How about your other subjects?”
“I think I’ve managed to pull up my grades enough.” I’ve finally caught up on everything I was behind on, and my teachers have been really positive. I think it really was a case of me just checking out and not bothering to stay on track. Now that my homework and classwork is up to date, those classes have become a lot easier to manage. If I do fail, it’ll be down to math and chemistry, not any other subject, which I guess is a good thing because it means I only need to focus on those.
“Don’t work yourself too hard,” Brett warns. “Just do a couple of hours in the evening, especially if we’ve had a tutoring session before school, or else you’ll just burn yourself out.”
“Careful, Brett—you almost sound concerned about me.”
He rolls his eyes but doesn’t bother to argue with me, which honestly makes a nice change.
“Abigail.”
I look up to see Ms. Sallinson standing over our desk in the library.
The sight of her makes my stomach sink through the floor. What now?
“Oh don’t worry,” she says immediately, like she can read my mind. “I’m just here to congratulate you on the success of your bake sale yesterday. From what I can see, it was a huge success, and you must have raised a lot of money.”
“It’s because she charged an arm and a leg,” Brett tells her, rather unnecessarily. I narrow my eyes at him but don’t bother replying. I did charge a lot, but it worked.
“You have a savvy business mind, Ms. Baker.”
Well I certainly don’t have an academic one, so at least that’s something.
“And your auction is still taking place on Saturday?”
I nod. “Are you coming to that?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not going to cramp your style. I’ll just need you to record a video on your phone so I can see what happened, but I trust you’ll be heavily involved.”
That might be a stretch since Chase tells me he doesn’t need my help every time I ask him about it, but it’s a relief that she’s not going to be there because I’m pretty certain there’ll be plenty of underage drinking. Everyone will be able to relax without her.
“I actually just bumped into Coach Dyson, too, and she told me to remind you that you have cheer practice after school.”
I nod again, my head swimming. When did my life get so busy? Between studying, fundraising, cheerleading, and just living, it’s hard to fit everything in.
She smiles, sending me one last wave, and I let out a sigh as I watch her leave. It’s all just a lot.
“You’re still cheerleading? Isn’t that over now?”
I look back at Brett. “It’s for the goodbye senior pep rally next month.”
He nods, shifting in his seat, but he doesn’t comment. I tilt my head, examining him. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would enjoy a pep rally.