Callie Reeves is a perfectionist. She has control over everything from her friends to her grades, the cheerleading squad she captains and anyone inbetween - even when it comes to dating.
After creating a list of rules to keep her no-strings attache...
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"You're avoiding me," I grip the locker door and look around the vacant hallway. "Relax - nobody else is here so late on a Friday afternoon."
"Then why are you?"
I can smell the chlorine coming from him so my guess is he was swimming. One glance at his hair confirms it because it's darker than normal and sticking up in several directions. Plus he has a duffel bag on his shoulder.
"Swim team trains Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons." Sam explains, keeping his arms crossed.
"And track is Thursday afternoon?" I conclude.
"We're expected to put more effort in - plus most of the other guys do another sport as well," He elaborates and nods his head. "Nice try, why are you avoiding me?"
I collect my chemistry textbook slowly and close the door. "I'm not. I do need to study."
Pivoting away from him I drag my feet back to the lab and have him catch up in a few strides. After the lab this morning we were presented with our assignment - a lab report involving one of the previously covered topics to answer a series of questions. I wanted to get a jump start, especially considering I got drawn the short straw.
We drew tokins to get a particularly topic and mine happened to be carbon chemistry. If I didn't have other commitments like the other person who got stuck with this monster of a report, I'd be less anxious.
"It's almost five p.m," Sam comments and follows me into the lab. "The school closes in half an hour."
"I'm well aware of closing hours."
"Then why not just wait until next week?"
I drop my textbook onto the bench covered with different books and papers. His eyes scan the scattered mess and picks up a molecular structure of ethanol. Carefully he places it down beside methanol and meets my eyes.
"Because my week doesn't really allow me to wait," I explain and pick up my diary annotated with scheduled parts. "I have tutoring, family commitments, cheerleading, training, football game, swim meet, social life and obvious school. Have a look - don't drop or spill anything on it either, that's my bible."
I hand over the detailed journal that keeps my mind from spiraling. He takes it gently and widens his eyes as he reads it. I go back to my task, using the colour coded system to tag relevant content with the marking criteria and pre-planning my time in the laboratories.
"You tutor eight people in a week?" He asks in disbelief and starts recounting them to me. "Monday; Sahara, Biology, Sophomore, from seven-thirty to eight. Payton, Physics, Junior, eleven to eleven-forty five. Tuesday; Joey, Chemistry, Senior, three-thirty till four. Harlin, Biology, Freshman, four till four-thirty. How does that work?"
"They're brothers."
"Oh. Did you have to reschedule to do the baking for the swim meet?" He decodes.
