The locker room still smelled like sweat and ice, a combination Theo Bolt had grown so used to he barely noticed it anymore. Practice had run late again—Coach had been on a rampage about their sloppy passes, and as the team’s star forward, Theo had taken the brunt of it. Not that he minded. Pressure was part of the deal when you were the guy everyone relied on.

He slung his gear bag over his shoulder and checked his phone. A string of unread texts from his teammates lit up the screen, but it wasn’t those that caught his eye—it was the reminder about that tutoring session.

“Crap,” he muttered under his breath. He was already forty-five minutes late.

Theo didn’t even know why the school had set this up in the first place. Sure, his grades weren’t great, but they weren’t that bad either. And it wasn’t like he couldn’t figure out how to scrape by on his own. Still, some teacher—or maybe the principal—had decided he needed extra help, and now he was supposed to sit through tutoring sessions with someone he barely even knew.

What was their name again? He vaguely remembered being told, but it hadn’t stuck. He did remember one thing, though—they weren’t even the top of their class. Just some random student. Why the school thought they were qualified to help him, he had no idea.

As he jogged across the campus toward the library, guilt started to creep in. He’d blown off a lot of stuff in his life, but something about this felt...different. Maybe it was the thought of someone waiting around for him, wasting their time because of his screw-up. He hated letting people down, even if he barely knew them.

Theo pushed open the library doors, the warm air hitting his face as he scanned the room. It didn’t take long to spot them—slouched at a table in the corner, staring at their phone with an expression that could only be described as done.

He walked over, his heart thudding a little harder than usual. Was it guilt? Maybe. Or maybe it was just nerves. He wasn’t used to being in situations like this