One Perfect Kiss by Jaci Burton

Author:Jaci Burton [Burton, Jaci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Contemporary Women
ISBN: 9780399585104
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-09-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

* * *

JOSIE WAS ENJOYING the quiet time of her prep period Tuesday afternoon, grading papers in her classroom when the door opened and Zach walked in. She could tell from the look on his face he was not happy.

“Three players on probation, Josie. You put three of my players on probation.”

She leaned back in her chair and studied him, noticing how sharp he looked in his dark jeans and black-and-white-striped button-down shirt with the paisley tie.

So. Hot.

“First, I did not put your players on academic probation, Zach. They did that to themselves by either failing tests or not turning in assignments. And second, you already know that, so I don’t know why you’ve barged in here being all accusatory with me.”

His face scrunched up with bottled rage. She sat back calmly while he worked through his anger, because she knew he wasn’t pissed at her, but rather at his players. So she let him walk it off by pacing back and forth in her classroom for a few minutes.

“What was it this time? They had to write some freakin’ play? Or was it that damn poetry shit again? I mean, that’s torture, Josie, you know that.”

“Let me see the student names.”

He walked by and dropped the partially crumpled report on her desk. She picked it up and scanned the list.

“Abe’s in my eleventh-grade language arts class. He didn’t turn in two papers last week on theme and archetypes.”

“What? He didn’t do the work at all?”

“No. He didn’t do the work. And Paul was supposed to write an analysis on the second half of the book we were reading in class, describing the narrator’s point of view. It was worth three hundred points. He failed to turn it in.”

“Like he didn’t turn it in on time?”

“No, Zach. He didn’t turn it in at all.”

“Shit.”

“And Warren didn’t turn in a single one of his homework assignments last week.”

She heard his heavy sigh, knew how much this must weigh on him. The football team relied on him, but all the players had to be on the same page. And when two or three fell, they crumpled the entire team.

She pushed back from her chair and looked up at him. “I’m sorry. What can I do to help?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. They either do the work or they fail and they’re off the team. I’m getting tired of kicking their asses every damn day.”

She grasped his arm. “They’re worth it, you know. Every one of them is worth the effort you put into them. They know you care, Zach. You have no idea what that means to them. If the two of us talk to these boys, maybe we can convince them to put in some extra effort.”

“I’m not sure I even care anymore.”

“Of course you do. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be standing in my classroom yelling at me about them.”

He looked down at her. “I’m sorry. I just—I’m running out of ideas on how to help them.”

“Then let me help you help them.

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