Free Draw Play: A Sports Romance by Tia Lewis Page A

believe it’s so early. Like we even have the time to cover the material in three weeks.”
    “You’re supposed to be covering the material on your own.”
    “I am, I am.” I showed her how far along I was in my text. “I’m keeping up with it.”
    “Good.”
    “Don’t forget to tell Coach about that.”
    “I won’t.” She faced her book, but I could see her smile.
    After a few minutes, I had to defend myself. “And I cut out of the party early, too.”
    “Oh, you did? What was her name?”
    “Wow, really?”
    She looked up. “Sorry. I just assumed. Did you not get her name?” She grinned, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this sassy new girl. A wardrobe and a haircut and she thought she was hot shit.
    “I was alone,” I told her.
    “Oh. Then I guess it wasn’t such a great party, huh?” She made a note on her paper and then flipped to the next page. “Get back to work,” she murmured.
    Once again I couldn’t fucking win. Either Claire was sensitive, or a total smartass. I pounded the keys a little harder than I needed to as I typed, and when I looked over at her, I could see the smile she tried to hide.
    We worked in silence for three hours. The only sounds I heard were my fingers hitting the keys and the flipping of pages.

10

Claire
    “ S o , how’s it going with ‘Jennings the Jock’?” Thomas chuckled to himself.
    “You’re so corny.” I rolled my eyes and wondered why I had agreed to go to the comic book store with Marcie to watch Thomas and his Dungeons & Dragons buddies play. It was about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Still, after studying with Jake for four hours, it was nice to hang out with my best friend.
    As long as Thomas kept his mouth shut. Everybody heard him, too. All eyes turned toward me.
    I laughed self-consciously. “Wow. Way to quiet the room, Thomas.”
    “Come on. You’ve got to have a bunch of stories already. You’ve been tutoring him for, what, almost two weeks now.”
    “You’re tutoring a jock?” One of the other players raised a red plastic cup to me. “Good luck with that.”
    “He’s not as stupid as I first thought,” I said.
    “No. He just needs a tutor because we all know jocks have a brain the size of a mouse.” Thomas laughed.
    I wished he could get off the topic and quit it with the obsession he had.
    “Sometimes, people need tutoring. It doesn’t mean they’re idiots.”
    “No, being a jock means he’s dumb and puts sports before his studies. Like what’s the point of going to college then if you’re just going to flunk out?”
    Most of the room laughed. Marcie didn’t. She understood how I was conflicted.
    “So, because he’s not a physicist or a biologist, he’s a fucking idiot? You’re one of my best friends, Thomas, but you’re really fucking annoying with this shit.” My blood pressure rose the more I spoke.
    Marcie placed a hand on my arm. “It’s not worth it. He doesn’t get it.” Her soft voice reassured me, calmed me.
    “I don’t understand why he has to be such a piece of shit sometimes,” I muttered.
    “It’s all he has. It’s his thing, you know? He’s a troll without a personality. Just ignore him.”
    I giggled. “So, it’s not just me who thinks that.”
    “Not at all,” she chuckled.
    “How did he get to be part of the group, anyway?”
    “Remember? He and Adam started out as roommates. It was Adam we wanted to be friends with.”
    “Oh, right.”
    Marcie, Adam, and I had met in a computer class during freshman year. It was mandatory, which was a laugh, seeing as how our computer lab didn’t even have up-to-date technology. We’d bonded pretty early on. Thomas had nothing better to do, so he always tagged along when we went to the campus cafeteria for dinner. A few others had floated in and out of our group over the years, but we were the core members.
    Marcie nudged me. “Speaking of Adam, have you two spent any more time together?”
    It was a touchy subject for me, one only