The deal
939 Words
Claire's POV
After a long day at the bakery,we closed and headed home.
We had already eaten dinner at the bake shop,so when we arrived home .
Everyone went to bed .
I went into my reading corner,brought out some of my assignments,some notes to read .
I was doing an assignment when my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it. I usually did with unknown numbers. But something made me pick my phone up.
Hey. It's Ethan.
I stared at the screen for a second then typed back.
'How did you get this number?'
'You gave it to me. Remember?'
I had forgotten about that. I put the book down and typed.
'Right. What do you want?'
There was a long pause. Long enough that I almost put my phone down and went back to my studies. Then the typing bubble appeared.
'How are you?'
I frowned at the screen.
Fine. What do you want Ethan?'
Another pause.
'Can I ask you something?'
'You're already asking me things.'
'Fair enough. Are you good at keeping secrets?'
I sat up slowly. Of all the things I had expected him to say, it wasn't that. I thought about it for a second then typed.
'Depends on the secret.'
The typing bubble appeared and disappeared twice before his message finally came through.
'I need help. The academic kind. I failed three classes and the school found out. That's why I got suspended. If it gets out to anyone else ,teammates, students, anyone my spot on the team is gone permanently. Coach already gave me one warning.'
I read it twice.
So that was it.
I didn't respond immediately. I got up, poured myself a glass of water, came back and sat down. I wasn't flattered. I wasn't even particularly surprised. I just wanted to understand exactly what he was asking before I said anything.
'So you want a private tutor?.'
'Yes.'
'And complete secrecy.'
'Yes.'
'why me?'
The pause this time was the longest one yet.
'Because you're the best in every class I failed. And because you don't talk much so you could keep a secret.I noticed that.'
I almost smiled at that. Almost.
I thought about mom's face that evening at the bakery. How tired she looked. How she never complained but I could see it in the way her shoulders dropped at the end of every shift. Lily was growing and school fees weren't getting cheaper.
I typed slowly.
'I charge per session. I'm not doing this for free.'
'That's fine. Name your price.'
'I'll get back to you on that. But I have one condition.'
'What?'
'This never comes back to me. Not to Sarah. Not to your teammates. Not to anyone. If it does, I stop immediately and you're on your own.'
'Understood. Deal.'
I put my phone down and looked at the torn pieces of my poetry book scattered across my desk.
I needed the money. That was the only reason. That was the beginning and the end of it.
But as I lay in bed that night staring at the ceiling, one thing kept quietly turning over in my mind.
He said the school found out he failed his classes.
But he never said how.
***
The next morning came faster than I wanted it to.
I woke up to my eyes aching me.
I got dressed quietly, ate breakfast while Lily talked enough for the both of us, kissed mom on the cheek and headed out.
The whole bus ride to school I kept turning last night's conversation over in my head. Not because of Ethan specifically. But because I had agreed to something that required me to be invisible and involved at the same time. Those two things had never gone well together in my experience.
I walked into school with my bag on one shoulder and my head down like any other morning.
The hallway was its usual loud self. Lockers slamming. People laughing at things that probably weren't that funny. The kind of noise that was just full of pretense.
I got to my locker, turned the combination and started sorting through my books. History. Math. English.
"Morning."
I didn't flinch but it was a close thing.
Ethan was at the locker two doors down from mine, pulling out a binder like it was the most normal thing in the world. He didn't look at me when he said it. Didn't linger. Didn't give anything away. Just morning like we hadn't spent half of last night texting about secrets and money and failed classes.
I turned back to my locker.
"Morning," I replied, just as flat.
He grabbed his binder, closed his locker and walked off down the hallway. A group of his teammates caught up with him almost immediately, pulling him into whatever loud conversation they were already having. Within seconds he was laughing at something one of them said, completely at ease.
Like nothing had happened.
I stood there for a second longer than I needed to.
That was either very cool or very calculated.
I hadn't decided which one yet.
I closed my locker and headed to class, keeping my eyes forward and my thoughts to myself, the way I always did.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, that same quiet question from the night before was still sitting there, patient and unbothered.
He never said how the school found out.
It wasn't the end of terms yet and none of the students results had been uploaded to the portal.
And for some reason I couldn't explain, I didn't think that was an accident.
- Writer
