Pass Interference Read Free Page A

you’d probably tell me your dog ate it.”
    Philip shook his head. “Okay, fine, whatever,” he said with a sigh. Then he scratched his chin just before shuffling the materials on his desk in search of his tablet. He picked up Sara’s schoolbag and put it down again. His hair brushed her arm, surprising Sara, and sent an unexpected shiver through her body, so she took a step back to give him more space. He finally found a tablet stuffed under some CDs. He placed it on his lap and wheeled away from her.
    She pulled out the desk chair and sat down, figuring this would be a good time for her to catch up on some of her own homework.
    After about ten minutes, Sara heard Philip scoff. She lifted her head and noticed that it looked like he was reading something on his tablet rather than writing something.
    “What are you doing?” she demanded.
    Philip’s expression was that of a little boy who got caught doing something he knew was wrong. “Um. Nothing.”
    Sara rose from the desk chair and walked toward him. She was on a mission. “Don’t touch that,” she ordered, grabbing his tablet before he had a chance to close the cover. The browser was open to a sports article. She read the headline out loud. “Barracudas on Winning Streak Despite Missing Mason.” She squinted at him in an attempt to appear intimidating. “Really?”
    “I know, right?” He took his tablet out of her hands. “I don’t know why every article about the Barracudas needs to mention me. Why can’t they just give credit to the guys on the field instead of saying they won despite the fact I wasn’t playing. It’s irrelevant. It diminishes the win.”
    “You’re supposed to be writing, not reading,” she reminded him.
    “Oh. Yeah, sorry,” he said a little sheepishly. “I’m sort of a sports news junkie.”
    Sara stifled a laugh. She wanted to appear imposing, but there was something so impish about the way he looked at the moment that made it hard for her to act tough. She shook her head and said, “Get back to work, Mason,” as she walked back toward the desk and sat back down.
    “Yes, Miss Ross,” he replied in a mocking tone.
    A little while later, she heard Philip softly mumbling and she realized he was counting.
    With her temple on her fist and her elbow on the desk, she turned her head to look at Philip. “What are you doing now ?”
    Lifting only his eyes, he said, “Doing a word count.” Then he looked back at his tablet on his lap.
    Sara got up from her chair and walked over. “You’re doing a manual word count?”
    “ Shhhh ,” he grumbled. “I’ll lose my place.”
    Sara chuckled. “You don’t have to count by hand. There’s an automatic word count feature you can use.”
    Philip looked embarrassed. “Oh. Um. I knew that.”
    “You did not,” she said, laughing. “Here, I’ll show you.” Leaning over next to his wheelchair, she tapped the menu on his tablet and enabled the word-count feature. When she looked at him, she was a little unnerved to see he was looking at her instead of at the tablet. “Um. A hundred and seventeen words.”
    A wide smile covered his face. “Super. I guess I’m done.”
    Sara took a couple steps back. Placing her hands on her hips, she asked, “Did you proofread it?”
    “Are you serious?”
    “You’ll find in time that I never joke.”
    “Yeah, I’m gettin’ that. Here.” He looked down at his tablet again. “What’s your email?”
    “It’s Sara R 2 7 at E F U dot E D U. Oh, and Sara is spelled S-A-R-A. No H.”
    “Cool.” He tapped out her address on the touchscreen keyboard. “Here it comes.”
    Sara returned to the desk and checked the email on her mobile device to make sure Philip’s message arrived. “Great.” Stuffing her tablet back into her bag, she slung the pack over her shoulder and said, “Then I’ll see you next week.”
    “What?” He looked at her with shock, his eyes following her as she walked toward the door. “Aren’t you gonna take a