The Captains Tutor Girl.

Ivy The first thing anyone should have known about me was that I didn’t have a backup plan. I had a scholarship, a part-time tutoring job, and exactly seventeen dollars in my bank account until Friday. I also had an overdue electricity bill sitting beneath my Radiography textbook because, apparently, pretending it didn’t exist counted as a financial strategy. I sighed and pushed the book aside, revealing the bright red FINAL NOTICE stamped across the envelope. “Subtle,” I muttered, staring at the words with a tired frown. The library was unusually quiet that morning. A few students occupied the tables around me, most of them buried beneath laptops and textbooks. Outside the tall windows, Westbury University was already alive with students rushing between buildings, cars pulling into the parking lot, and the occasional sound of laughter drifting through the open doors. I envied people who could walk across campus without calculating how much money they had left. For me, every d

RyderI left the academic room more irritated than I had any right to be.Ivy Bennett.The scholarship girl with the oversized glasses that kept sliding down her freckled nose, the braces that flashed every time she clenched her jaw, and the stubborn little attitude that refused to fold no matter how hard I pushed. She had spent the entire hour looking at me like I was a problem she couldn’t wait to be done with, and somehow that got under my skin more than any of the girls who actually smiled when I walked into a room.I hadn’t expected that.I’d walked in ready to waste her time, maybe get a rise out of her, and then coast until the university found some other way to keep me eligible. Instead she’d sat across from me in that oversized sweater, spine straight, voice calm and sharp, correcting me like I was some lazy kid who couldn’t be bothered. Most people at Westbury laughed at my comments or rolled over the second I smirked. Ivy just stared at me like she was already calculating h

RyderI couldn’t stop thinking about the way she looked at Kane.It was stupid. Completely fucking stupid. She hadn’t even smiled that big. Just a soft little “trying to” and some quiet eye contact, and somehow it sat in my chest like a rock the rest of the day. Kane had been his usual easygoing self, tossing out that “if he gets too unbearable” line like he was the good guy in the situation. Which, fine. He usually was. But I didn’t like how Ivy’s voice changed when she answered him. Softer. Less sharp. Like she didn’t have to armor up around him the way she did with me.I hated that I noticed.After the session I went straight to film review and spent the whole time half-listening to Coach while my brain kept looping the same thirty seconds. Ivy packing her bag. Ivy not looking at me. Ivy lying about eating lunch with that same tired expression she always wore. I should’ve let it go. I told myself I would.I lasted until Thursday.She showed up exactly on time again, same oversized

Ryder. Practice was supposed to clear my head.It didn’t.I spent the first twenty minutes slamming pucks like they’d personally pissed me off, and Coach finally blew the whistle and told me to stop trying to kill the net. Kane skated up beside me, grinning like an idiot.“You good?”“Fine.”“You look like you want to fight somebody.”“I said I’m fine.”Kane raised his eyebrows and let it go, which was smart. I wasn’t in the mood to explain that my problem had glasses, freckles, and a mouth that kept telling me to shut up and do the worksheet.Ivy Bennett was living in my head rent-free and I hated it.After practice I sat on the bench longer than I needed to, unwrapping the tape from my wrists and replaying Tuesday in my mind. She’d told me I was doing better. Then she’d shut down the second I brought up Kane. That was the part that stuck. Not the compliment. The way her whole face changed when I said his name.I didn’t like that.I also didn’t like that I cared.Nora was waiting by