Page 14 of The Design of Goodbye
“Yeah. I still do sometimes.” The corner of her mouth quirked into a smile. “Is he your tutor?”
I nodded.
“He’s kind of quiet but super nice,” she said. “You have no reason to stress. I know from firsthand experience he’s great at math.”
“Was he your tutor last year?”
“No,” she answered. “I bothered him a few times during art class to help me with some math homework. He’s literally the only person who’s ever made math make sense. You’re in good hands.”
I wished I could explain to her exactly why I was worried about the upcoming tutoring sessions. But the most I could say was “Jules hates him.”
She snorted. “That’s because her boyfriend does. C’mon,” she said, standing, “let’s move Bart back to his home.”
Bart was heavier than I remembered, and it took us a few attempts to pick him up. We had to stop once on the way because he almost slipped out of Taylor’s grip. But, finally,Bart was safely back home on our sewing table.
Once Bart was plugged in and ready to use, Taylor asked, “Do you know why Tanner hates Liam?”
I shook my head.
“I was in gym class with both of them last year,” she explained as she sorted through the pending orders rack. “Liam had only been at our school a week, and we were playing soccer. Tanner was going on about how no one was going to score a goal since he was the goalie. No one did...until Liam. Not only did Liam score the goal, but the ball hit Tanner in the face first. I’ve never seen Tanner so angry. That’s why he bullies Liam. He’s trying to get the upper hand.”
“No wonder I didn’t know.” I paused, debating. “Did you know they call Liam ‘Roo’?”
“Yes,” she said, looking pissed.
“They call him that because he jumps whenever someone slams a locker.”
“I wish they wouldn’t do that.” She frowned. “He wasn’t always like that. He came back this semester different.”
“Different how?”
She grabbed a blazer off the rack and turned to me. “He and I had art together last spring. He has this amazing drip and splatter watercolor technique. And the way he uses color?” She flopped onto a chair, the blazer falling on top of her like a blanket. “Phenomenal. We had art together again this semester, but he switched classes.”
“Why?”
“Our first lesson was on color theory. We were supposed to design our own version of a color wheel, but Liam refused to use color. Mr. MacFarland told Liam he had to, or he’d fail the lesson. Liam stormed out and never came back.”
“What do you think happened to Liam?” I wondered. “Tanner thinks it was juvie or drugs.”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I tried to talk to him that day he left art class, but he didn’t say much,” she said. “All I know is something happened to Liam, and it changed him.”
chapter seven
I was half an hour late for tutoring, so I was surprised but relieved to see Liam waiting for me on a bench near the library’s entrance.
He was sketching something and didn’t notice me, so I muttered a hesitant “Uh, hi.”
He looked up. “Hi. Get lost?” He slammed his sketchbook closed, but I’d caught a glimpse of what he was working on. It was half finished, but the bird—a sparrow? a finch?—was incredible.
“What kind of bird was that?” I pointed to his closed sketchbook.
He faltered before saying, “A chickadee. So, did you?”
“Did I what?”
He sighed. Great, I’d been here less than a minute, and he was already annoyed with me. This wasnotgoing well.
“Get lost?”
