Extra Credit - S01 E13

Story 8 months ago

Extra Credit - S01 E13

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 13

Calista

The diner was buzzing with conversation. It was lunch time and Harper and I decided to meet up for a quick bite before class. I needed it. Tomorrow was my first full shift of placement and I was already dreading it.

The waitress had brought our orders out and my stomach growled at the sight of real food. The last few days I'd been living off of americanos, and macaroni and cheese.

"Bon appétit," I said, cutting my veggie burger in half.

Harper hummed her response, having already dipped into her twice-baked potato.

"I love food," I said once I had swallowed my first bite.

"You sure don't make enough time for it," Harper responded.

I placed the burger down, taking the time to swallow again before answering. "Things have been... a little out of control lately. Simple tasks like eating or getting changed in the morning don't take priority. Especially when I'm in the dorms working on assignments all day."

Harper's copper hair swayed as she nodded. "Trust me, I get it. But you have to prioritize yourself. Your health is important—your emotional and mental well being is important."

I smiled at her. She didn't need me to tell her she was right—Harper always was. Instead I changed the direction of our conversation. "How about you? Have you decided what you want to do after graduation yet?"

"I have decided that I'm going to apply to the FBI's intelligence unit."

"That's amazing, Harper. You'll absolutely get it. There's no way in hell they'd turn you down."

Back when we were in high school, everyone knew that Harper would go on to work for NASA, the president or some super exclusive organization. She was a genius and most of her peers referred to her as Baby Einstein. She could have absolutely deferred to college early. The only reason she didn't was because her parents wanted her to stay and have a regular high school experience. Her father was a drop out and often voiced how much he regretted that he didn't get to finish.

To her father's delight, she graduated senior year with the highest average the school had ever seen—along with a handful of rewards. Teachers and students alike were in awe of Harper. To this day, I still was.

My lips parted, prepared to ask her more about the intelligence unit when someone appeared beside our table.

"There you are."

Andrew's long body slid into the rounded booth, bumping into me. The fry I was holding fell and plunged into a mound of ketchup on my plate. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

I furrowed my brow at him, suspicion rising in my chest. "And why is that?"

Andrew wrapped an arm around the back of the booth, twisting in his seat. "Lincoln has a bit of a favour to ask you."

"Why hasn't he asked me himself?" I asked, picking up the fry I had dropped. "He has my number."

"He's a little tied up at the moment."

"So he sent you instead?" I popped the fry in my mouth. "Is this part of your managerial duties?"

His face split into a grin. "Best friend duties, actually."

Best friends. As odd as the scenario seemed, it made a lot of sense. Andrew and Lincoln were opposites—like oil and water. Lincoln was cold and rough around the edges. It took a lot of effort to pull the smallest inkling of a smile out of him. And even then, it looked like it physically hurt him. Andrew's demeanour was much more... social. He was boisterous and, apparently, had no filter. In reality, it shouldn't work. They shouldn't mix. But for some reason, they did.

Andrew's brown eyes darted to Harper, registering that I had someone sitting next to me. He jutted his chin out at her before offering his hand. "Hey, sorry to interrupt. I'm Drew by the way."

Harper pegged him with an icy stare before biting into her hotdog. Then she muttered a reply. "Pleasure."

The response seemed to amuse him. He dropped his unshaken hand, grin growing in size as he shifted his focus back to me.

Yeah, he was the complete opposite of Lincoln.

I sighed. "What does he want, Drew?"

"He wants to know if you can watch Sadie tonight."

I scoffed, biting into another fry. No wonder he didn't show up and ask me himself. So much for not making this a habit.

Andrew brought his arm down off the back of the booth and leaned on the table. He propped his head up in his hand. "I thought you might say that, so I came prepared with an incentive."

I raised a brow at him. "You mean a bribe."

"Incentive sounds better." Andrew's eyes twinkled with mischief.

This was a hundred percent going to be a bribe.

"Alright," I said, turning in my seat to face him. "What is it?"

"I knew that you wouldn't be too thrilled," Andrew started. "So before I left to come and find you, I asked Lincoln about being open to another day of tutoring."

I raised an eyebrow, not believing what I was hearing. "Every week?"

"Every week," Andrew confirmed. "If you're up for it."

"So you're rewarding her babysitting, with more work." Harper's eyes were sharp as she inspected Andrew—who was busy picking a french fry off of my plate.

"She doesn't have to accept it," he said around the fry in his mouth. "But it's a win-win situation really. Lincoln has someone to watch Sadie from time to time, and you get more chances to ensure Lincoln passes Anatomy with flying colours."

My ears perked up. "So this would be an ongoing thing—me watching Sadie?"

Andrew snapped his fingers before pointing at me. "You got it."

Having an extra hour a week to tutor Lincoln would help a lot. The one session we had barely allowed us to get through one lecture—never mind the content he was still trying to catch up on. Our time together was more valuable than I'd like to admit. Especially because I knew that there was no way Lincoln was doing any studying on his own.

"Make it two extra tutoring sessions a week."

Andrew scanned my face, probably deciding whether he'd be able to change my mind. Spoiler alert: he couldn't. "You drive a hard bargain, but I will make it happen."

He stuck his hand between us. Hesitantly, I took it.

"Don't you have to run it by him first?"

"Manager, remember?" Andrew slipped out of his seat, but not before stealing another one of my fries. "You've got yourself a deal. I'll be dropping Sadie off at your dorm later on tonight."

Before I could respond he had his back to me and was heading towards the exit. "Peace out, girl scouts."

Two extra hours for tutoring a week. It was both a blessing and a curse.

"How did you manage to make more work for yourself?" Harper asked, taking a sip of her drink.

I settled back into the seat, picking up the burger again. "It will be worth it."

"Weren't we just having a conversation about how you're so busy that you barely have time to eat?" Her amber eyes seared into me. "You're too nice of a person, Cal. I don't want Lincoln taking advantage of you because of that."

"He's not taking advantage." I waved away her concerns. "If he sticks to his end of the bargain, this will practically guarantee that I get that reference letter from Hamilton."

Harper leaned back in her seat. "I hope, for your sake, that you're right."

*

Author's note:

Posting a couple hours earlier than normal because I have somewhere to be tonight (I hate being an adult sometimes).

What do you think? Is Harper right? Is Cali making a mistake?

Thanks for being here. You're amazing x