Chapter 15

When Austin walked into the school on Friday, something was apparent. Nora was pressed up against a wall with Luke Allen, his nemesis, holding her hips, and she seemed to be enjoying his attention. When she spotted Austin, Nora looked him in the eyes, went to her tiptoes, and kissed Luke.

’Message received,’ Austin thought as he continued on to his locker.

When the bell for lunch rang, Austin was happy because it meant he got to spend an hour with Tina. Even if all they did was study, that time always put him in a better mood. When he walked in, he found Maverick sitting there.

“Tina has this room reserved for tutoring,” Austin said.

“I know. She’s going to help me with trig.”

“Oh.”

Maverick waggled his eyebrows at Austin.

“You didn’t think we’d allow you to monopolize Tina’s lunchtime the rest of the year, did you?” Maverick asked.

Actually, Austin had.

“We?” Austin asked.

A moment later, Luke came sauntering in. When he saw Austin and Maverick there, he scowled.

“What are you two doing here?”

“I take it you’re having trouble in trig, too,” Maverick said.

“I got a D minus on the last test,” Luke admitted.

Austin stifled a laugh because he knew the math teacher didn’t believe in giving failing grades.

“What did you guys get?” Luke asked.

“D plus,” Maverick said.

They both looked at Austin.

“I’m not in trig.”

“Then why are you here?” Luke asked.

“I started here mid-semester. Tina’s helping me catch up with all my classes. I have to know it all for finals,” Austin said.

“I suggest you drop out of tutoring. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that I owe you an ass-kicking,” Luke said.

“Settle down. There will be no ass-kicking,” Maverick said as he looked Austin in the eye. Then he looked at Luke. “I saw you this morning with my sister. If you do anything that pisses her off, I’ll let Austin kick your ass ... again.”

“Fuck you ... oh ... hey, Tina,” Luke said as she joined them.

“Classy as always, Allen,” Tina said to Luke.

“Sorry, but these two get under my skin,” Luke said as he glared at Austin and Maverick.

“If this is going to be a problem, you can find another tutor,” Tina said.

Luke looked down at the table before mumbling, “It’s all good.”

Tina focused on Austin.

“Sorry, but these two didn’t do so well on their trig test. I was asked to help them catch up, and the only time I had was with you. Why don’t you eat your lunch while I work with them? Then they can leave, and I’ll help you.”

Austin liked the ‘they can leave’ part, so he nodded his agreement with her plan.

Kelly had discovered that Austin had been bringing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for most of the year and insisted on making him lunch. This time, she’d filled a thermos with tomato soup. There were two bowls and hunks of French bread in his bag, along with two slices of caramel apple cake. Kelly knew he ate with Tina, so she’d started packing enough for the both of them.

Austin pulled everything out and handed Tina her portion. Maverick gave Austin a questioning look but held his tongue. That had been the Houstons’ dinner the previous night.

Tina thanked Austin as he served her and then jumped into trying to figure out what was stumping the boys. It turned out to be just about everything.

“Let me show you a trick to finding the exact trig values you need to memorize,” Tina said as she held up her hand with her fingers spread. “Each finger represents a different value: the pinky is 0 degrees, the next 30 degrees, the middle finger 45 degrees, the next 60 degrees, and the thumb is 90 degrees.”

She then explained how to use their fingers to find the cosine, sine, and tangent of the different angles.

Tina saw that Austin got it, so she asked him to work with Maverick while she helped Luke. By the time they were done with their half-hour, the trig boys had had a breakthrough.

“I just couldn’t remember all that,” Luke admitted.

“I wish our teacher had told us about the finger trick,” Maverick said.

Austin’s perverted teenage mind took the ‘finger trick’ comment as something dirty and fought not to laugh. Tina caught him and gave him some side-eye.

“Now that you know, go to lunch and come back Monday after you’ve solved the problems on your tutoring assignment,” Tina said.

“We could hang out and help you with Austin,” Luke said.

“Get out. I want to talk to Austin alone,” Tina said and all but pushed Luke and Maverick out the door.

Once she was sure they’d left, Tina said, “Ed called.”

“Did he?”

“He wants us back Wednesday night. He has a shoot planned that he says pays good money.”

“And he wants me?” Austin asked.

“Well,” she hesitated. “He had someone else in mind, but I told him I wouldn’t do it without you. So there might be another guy there.”

Austin would bet his imaginary beach house that it was Ed.

“I’ll go if you want me to.”

That elicited unnecessary squeals of joy and hugging that Austin didn’t fight.

“Can we get together sometime and maybe practice? I want to look my best,” Tina said.

“My dad is having his new family over this weekend, so that’s out. We can do Monday and Tuesday night if you want. My dad visits his fiancée on weeknights, and I have the place to myself.”

“What about Maverick’s stepmom?”

“Kelly?” Austin asked. “She checks in on me from time to time. I bet if we asked, she’d take pictures of us if you wanted to practice with me in the photos.”

“You don’t think she’d mind?” Tina asked hopefully.

Austin doubted Kelly would pass up a chance for some naughty fun. She might even push Tina into doing stuff with Austin.

Then again, what was going on between him and Kelly was so wrong. She was at least twenty years older and married to his and his dad’s boss. Austin wouldn’t blame his dad if he kicked Austin’s butt if he ever found out. But all Kelly had to do was flash her tits or grab his dick, and reason left his mind. Even rationalizing that Kelly was teaching him how to be a stud was starting to make him wonder if he should be risking everything.