Falling Apart

Chapter 3

                “It takes an idiot to know an idiot.” I muttered under my breath before flipping through his notebook. The first few pages had minimal writing on it, and his notes always seemed to get messier and messier down the page. “Why do your notes start off neat then end in scribbles?”

                I looked over at Jace, who seemed too focused on his phone to pay any attention to me. He was tapping away on the screen as he glanced over at his handwriting quickly. “Oh?” he mumbled. “I must’ve fallen asleep while taking the notes.”

                Of course, he was Jace Wasson. It was expected from him.

                As I continued flipping through his notebook, I noticed that the notes stopped after the sixth page. I frowned, flipping through the front to the back once again, trying to see if my eyes were deceiving me. Jace’s notebook only had six pages filled while I’d gone through an entire notebook this semester already? It says a lot about who he is.

                I fished my notebook, much neater than the condition that Jace’s notebook was in, and tossed it to him. He flinched from surprise as the notebook hit against his chest, falling onto his lap. “What the hell is this?” he asked, staring at my red notebook with disgust. “It’s heavy as fuck.”

                I rolled my eyes. “Deal with it, Wasson.” I spat. “I want you to copy every note I have in my book, and transfer is on to your notebook.”

                Jace stared at me with a look of disbelief before bursting into laughter. “Y-You’re kidding, right?” he asked, noticing that I had a straight face. “You’re insane! That’s like copying every word in the dictionary!”

                “Well, you should’ve thought about that before deciding to cut class every day.” I gave him a mocking smile. “I want you to copy all of that by the end of this week, because I’m going to need my notebook back for our midterm in two weeks.”

                Jace glared at me. “You’re a shit tutor.”

                I glared back at him; only, I had a smile on my face. “And you’re a shit student.”

*

                “I’m telling you, Everly, you don’t have to come to counseling with me today.” Julianne sighed, repeating herself for the fourth time today since we’ve gotten in the car. “You could just leave once you drop me off. I’ll call my mom to pick me up.”

                I rolled my eyes, tilting my head to the side. Since Julianne’s gotten in my car, she’s been trying to persuade me not to come to therapy with her. Julianne does this same routine every Sunday, while I’m giving her a ride to therapy. She tells me that I don’t have to wait an hour for her in the waiting room, and I tell her that I seriously don’t mind. “Julianne, we go over this every week.” I let out a deep breath of air, pulling my car into a parking spot. “I’m coming inside with you, whether you like it or not.”

                The two of us got out of the parking lot while I locked the car from my set of keys. We made our way into of office building, pressing the upper button as we waited for the elevator to come. “I just don’t want you to feel like you’re forced to come with me every week.” Julianne muttered once the elevator doors opened while a couple bickering stepping out.

                I snorted, clicking the button to go on the third floor. “Jules, what better have I got to do on a Sunday afternoon?” I asked, a smile cracking across Julianne’s face. “Go to church? Make oatmeal cookies with my mother?”