Pass Interference Read Free

played in. Nowhere on the desk did she see anything that looked like school work.
    The door shut and Philip wheeled himself toward Sara. As he passed the little kitchen table, he plucked an orange out of the fruit bowl and offered it to her. “Orange?”
    Sara glanced sidelong at Philip, holding up an orange like he was getting ready to throw a baseball. She merely shook her head no.
    “Suit yourself,” he groused, placing the orange back in the bowl. “So much for hospitality. Okay. Where do we start?”
    She looked from Philip to the desk and back to Philip again. “I presume you read the email from Dean Landry that told you how to prepare for your tutoring session.”
    “ Hmmm .” He wrinkled his nose. “I um didn’t have a chance. Been busy,” Philip said flippantly.
    Sara narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. “I can see that. Must be hard to sit on your butt all day and do nothing besides entertain a group of kids who wouldn’t know a participle from a popsicle.”
    Philip chose to let that remark slide. “Landry is a little verbose, don’t you think?”
    “Verbose! Oooh, a five dollar word.”
    Wrinkling his brow, he asked, “What’s with the attitude, Mary?”
    Sara looked away, a little startled by the direct question. She mindlessly rifled through the things on top of his desk. “Um. I told you. It’s Sara. And I prefer to tutor people who actually care about their grades.”
    “What makes you think I don’t care?”
    “Pretty much everything since I arrived.” She shrugged. “Like throwing a party when you’re supposed to be having a tutoring session.”
    “I wasn’t throwing a party,” Philip shot back defensively. “Some of my teammates came over to see how I was doing, and then more people came and—”
    Sara rolled her eyes and decided she knew what he was going to say before he finished. “And a party broke out. Sure, whatever you say.” She didn’t wait for a retort. “Look, I don’t care about your personal life, just your academic life, the one you don’t care about.” Sara scoffed. “Anyway, we’re wasting time. What do you want to cover first?”
    “Cover? What do you mean?”
    “I mean what subject?” She set her phone down on the desk and reached into her bag to take out her tablet. “What subjects do you need the most help with? Math? Science?”
    “Uh.” Scratching his head, he mused, “I’m pretty good with math and science. But I can use some help with English. Literature. Composition. That kind of thing.”
    “Perfect,” Sara said, her face brightening. This was something she could definitely sink her teeth into. “Do you have any samples of anything you’ve written this semester?”
    Philip squinted at her and very slowly shook his head no.
    “Okay, no worries. I want you to write something for me.” She lifted her eyes toward the ceiling. “Give me hmmm let’s start with a hundred words about how you feel about being sidelined.” Focusing on Philip, she asked, “Did I use the right term?”
    “Yeah. A hundred words, huh? That’s a lot.”
    Sara raised her brows. “No it’s not. A hundred words is nothing.”
    “Why don’t I just do this for homework and I can hand it in next time we meet.”
    Sara folded her arms and eyed Philip with distrust. Looking at him like this, she could see he’d been through a lot. It showed on his face. His jaw was clenched and tense, giving his angular face even more hard edges. His nose had two little bumps, like it had been broken more than once and never healed quite right. He had a scruff that made his face look thinner around the chin. His brown hair was unruly and could use a trim, or even a comb. His cinnamon brown eyes were close-set. His dark eyebrows were thick and brought all his features together in one striking picture. Taken all together, he was actually quite handsome. She could see what the girls saw in him, even though he wasn’t at all her type. “Nice try, Einstein, but I think