Green Fur
At eleven o’clock at night, I was racking my brains trying to solve the last physics question when a text popped up in my phone.
It was Denise Chadburn, the top student in our class.
[Pancakes from the west of the city and black tea with two cubes of sugar.]
That was in the opposite direction from my house and would take me over half an hour to get there and back.
I didn’t want to do it, so I texted her back: [I’m sorry, I need to get to class early tomorrow and can’t go there.]
Denise never texted back after that.
I thought that was the end of it.
Ten minutes later, my homeroom teacher, Ms. Sable, texted me.
[Jordan Schmidt, Denise is preparing for the regional Olympiad and is under much pressure. She also has gastric issues. Half an hour of extra studying wouldn’t do your dismal results any good anyway. Help bring our top student some breakfast to save her time.]
I stared at my phone screen, my jawline tightening.
[Ms. Sable, it’s out of the way for me. It’ll take me half an hour longer on the road.]
Ms. Sable sent me a voice message.
“Jordan, you’ve got to be more flexible. The fact you were paired up with Denise in our one-to-one mentoring program is to your advantage. She’s smart. A piece of advice from her is more helpful to you than rote learning by yourself for half an hour. Shouldn’t you at least try being helpful to her?”
I ignored her texts and left my phone screen to turn dark, reflecting the fatigue on my face.