The Do-Over (Extra Credit series, Book 2)

Chapter 1: MATT

Of course Annika Saar would be in this course. Because she's one of my only complete and utter failures. I try to sink lower into my chair while I wait for the class to start, wishing (for the umpteenth time) that things hadn't gone so disastrously wrong with her. And still she brings up a completely confusing mash-up of emotions in me: fury, guilt, resentment, fascination, curiosity, and always, always lust. Because she's still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I keep my eyes down so I don't gawk.

One of the worst things about the night I refer to in my head as The Clusterfuck is that I had her in my bed and I don't even remember it. I've had a year to puzzle that over and for the life of me I still don't get it. A whole night together and I've got nothing? I can't help it—my eyes travel up, up, up her legs as she stands in the front of the room talking to the teacher. Bless you, super-skinny jeans! Then she whirls around just as my gaze reaches her face and I think Jesus, she's even more beautiful than I remember, quickly followed by shit, how she hates me! Those pale blue eyes that first captivated me are now shooting ice chips. She looks like an arctic she-wolf.

I have to hand it to her though. That girl holds her head high. She straightens and squares her shoulders. And she's super-model tall too. Then those rosy lips open.

"Asshole!" she mouths at me, stomping over to a chair as far as possible from mine.

Annnnd, that's Annika.

As the class starts I'm on autopilot, writing whatever the teacher wants. I do autopilot better than anyone and this class is just a minor inconvenience. It's a pilot program called Extra Credit for students in some kind of trouble. Sure, it's a little embarrassing, being forced to take this class. And yeah, I don't exactly want my folks to find out about my "situation." But whatever. It's not like it's graded so it won't affect my GPA.

And it's not like I did anything really wrong. It was a frat thing and I'm president so it comes with the job. Every year we get the Org Chem final from the year before and circulate it to the brothers in that class. Every year. So what if this year we got caught? We'll still do it again next year. I'd do it again tomorrow. Plenty of frats keep old tests as study aids and if it's an ethical "gray area" that means it's okay. The system is rigged and that's how it's played.

Write for a few minutes about why you're here and what you hope to get out of this experience, the teacher asks us. I got this.

The first step in solving any problem is to acknowledge it. After acknowledging it comes analyzing it. How did this situation happen? What were the circumstances? Who were the players? After this analysis a solution often presents itself. This class is designed to acknowledge student problems and, presumably, identify them for analysis. Like with a medical procedure, the correct diagnosis is key to the successful treatment.

Swoosh! I slap my pen down on my desk. Sometimes I out-do even myself. We go around a circle and read our responses and I know I'm golden. Most of them are crap. Kyle, the guy sitting next to me, struggles to put together two sentences. Annika writes something about being an international student and gets some prepositions wrong. For about two seconds I wonder what it's like to move to the U.S. for college. She told me a little bit about Estonia during the Clusterfuck.

The professor, who wants us to call her Marjorie, has us do some more writing so I churn out another shiny paragraph. I could do this all day, but it's boring. This time when we read them though I snap to attention. Annika's is all about me, a.k.a. the "stupid lying jerk." I don't even know how the rest of them react because my vision narrows down to her. That girl who tosses her long blond hair over her shoulder and tenses up for battle. That one.

Any minute now everyone's going to remember what a fool she made of me. Any day now the gossip's going to start up again.... Behind my red haze I can hear Marjorie mediating between us but I'm too angry to listen. Kyle looks questioningly between me and Annika and I smirk, "Been there. Done that."

The temperature in the room drops further and I see something in Annika's expression that I try to make sense of: anger for sure, shock, and...hurt? I shift in my chair. No one makes me behave worse than Annika. I'm pretty tuned out for the rest of the class and relieved when we're excused til next week. I shove to my feet and try to shift gears. This was my first class yet it feels like it's been a long day. I still have Post-War Politics, International Finance, soccer practice, the weekly steering meeting for the frat. I already feel exhausted. I've been there and done all that too. But I have to keep pedaling harder or I'll fall.

I spare one last glance at Annika as I leave. Her long hair hides her face as she leans down to pack her bag. Her shoulders seem to droop. Whatever.

* * *

"Hey!"

I sure hope that's not directed at me. I walk a little faster, hunching into the cold wind that's blowing through the quad.

"Hey, Matt!!"

Ugh. I turn reluctantly and see it's Kyle. He jogs over to me, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder.

"What the fuck, man?"

I raise an eyebrow and wait. My mom taught me that. If you're patient, she says, people will tell you everything you need to know without you even having to ask. A group of girls detour around us, giggling as they flutter their fingers at me. I smile back because that's how it works, but Kyle glares at the interruption and they scatter quickly.

"What's up with you and that foreign girl?"

I tense. "Whatever."

That's officially going to be my go-to answer to everything now. I start walking again because it's cold and it's a long story anyway. He moves into step with me.

"Seemed a little harsh."

I bark out a laugh. "Really? You really don't know? You must be the only one on campus then. It took a year to die down."

His eyes widen. "Wait. What? She was the one who put that shit up about you on Facebook?" He starts cracking up but when I glare at him he just slaps me on the back. As we get closer to the Poli Sci building he sobers up and catches my arm just as I'm about to turn in. "You got to admit she got you good. And you did pop her cherry and drop her."

I whirl on him. "I. Did. Not." It doesn't matter how many times I say it the rumors never die.

Kyle throws up his hands and backs off. "Whoa. Okay. That's just what I heard." He frowns. "I also heard she got into a cat fight with some sorority girls last semester. And that she used to be a model." He shrugs. "Who starts this shit?"

Before I can open my mouth to end this highly annoying conversation my phone rings in my back pocket. I fumble it with gloved hands, cursing, and see it's my mom. Fuck my life. With one more glare at Kyle I make a dash for my next class while struggling to answer before it goes to voicemail.

"What?" My impatience is obvious. I jam my phone between my shoulder and my ear so I can yank open the heavy door of Kent Hall. I stumble inside, grateful at least for the warmth. I hear my name from several directions and nod toward the sounds.

"Matthew, that's no way to speak to your mother."

I sigh. "Sorry, Ma. But aren't you the one who values directness? I'm sure you don't have time for chitchat."

"True." Then she gets down to business because that's how we roll. "What's this Extra Credit course I see on your schedule this semester?"

I freeze. I should have prepared a good answer. "Just what it says. It's Extra Credit. For my Poli Sci major. It's like...extra discussion of current events, some special lectures...." I try to be as vague as possible because one of my mother's many superpowers is seeing through lies.

"Hmm. I'd like to see the syllabus. It could look good on your law school application."

"Ma...." It's pointless, but I have to try.

"I have a meeting now, Matt. I'll call back at my usual time." Click. I look at my phone to confirm: yep, she hung up. I shove my phone back in my pocket, determined to rescue this fucked up day.

"Hey, Matt!" Another girl waves at me and I can't remember her name. I glance around and everyone seems to be looking at me, smiling and waving and I'm not even sure who half of them are. Is this really as good as it gets?