“It was matching, Billy Wayne,” Grant exhaled, fighting the urge to bang his head against the bleachers.
“Uh huh,” Billy Wayne nodded unphased, “but some of these here words I ain’t never heard before. I studied the list she give us, but I got these marked wrong. What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?”
“I don’t know, and I couldn’t care less,” Grant said, deadpan.
A doe-eyed Billy Wayne stared back at Grant, confused, as though he had been certain that Grant knew everything.
Hailey bit her bottom lip as she tried to stifle a giggle.
“Grant don’t know these answers either,” Billy Wayne frowned.
Grant leaned back in the bleachers, getting comfortable for what he knew would prove to be a very long afternoon. “You know, Billy Wayne, a very wise man once said, ‘tis better to be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.’”
“Dad!” Hailey called insistently. “Can I please switch partners? Paul doesn’t understand this math homework any more than I do. This is not helping either one of us.”
“Okay then,” Jack nodded. “You and Billy Wayne go ahead and trade places.”
Hailey gathered her book and her notebook and slid over toward Grant. They began working through her math homework, and she was amazed by the uncharacteristic patience with which Grant talked her through the problems.
“Don’t do it for me; teach me how to do it,” she smiled when Grant got in a hurry.
“I’m sorry,” Grant nodded understandingly. “Okay…let’s look at this again.”
Grant had an easy way of making her understand things. Though he understood the complexities of the equations on a much deeper level than she could grasp, he was able to explain each step in laymen’s terms that made solving each problem a piece of cake. There was a kindness in his voice when he spoke to her, and, as he helped her with her homework, for a brief moment, she felt like they were the only two people in the room.
“As much as I keep trying to tell myself that you and I are meant to be,” Hailey whispered, “reminders keep creeping in as if to thrust me back into reality. And the reality is…you and I couldn’t be more different.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Grant countered.
Hailey closed her book. “You’ve been to China; I’ve never even been to a Chinese restaurant. You’ve been in a prison; the only time I’ve ever been to jail I could not pass go and could not collect 200 dollars. You speak nine languages, and I’ve recently discovered that I barely speak English. You’re a genius, and I’m…well, apparently too dumb to even come up with a creative word for dumb right now!”
“Okay,” Grant said with a sarcastic raise of his eyebrow, “well, thankfully I’m brilliant enough to decipher your English; I’ll buy you a thesaurus, take you to a Chinese restaurant, and, FYI, while I have been inside a prison, I haven’t been in a prison per say, and we don’t really want anyone getting confused about that, so if you could keep this particular rant down a decibel or so, that would be fantastic.”
“I hate you,” Hailey rolled her eyes.
“Back at ya, Sista,” Grant winked.
“Could you two please stop all your whispering?” Paul bellowed.
“Paul, quit wasting time looking around and get to work,” Coach Nelson snapped as he looked up from helping one of his freshmen proofread a book report.
“Coach, I just don’t understand this stuff,” Paul whined. “And I’m not exactly working with Einstein here.”
“Perhaps another one of your teammates would be willing to help you,” Coach Nelson nodded.
“I’d rather fail,” Paul said coldly.
“Fail and sit out or swallow your pride and ask for help; it’s totally up to you,” Coach Nelson shrugged.
Paul rolled his eyes. “Cohen,” he grumbled, “can you help me with this calculus?”
Grant flashed a hateful glance in Jack’s direction.
“He’d be happy to,” Jack nodded. “Right, Grant?”
“Thrilled,” Grant rolled his eyes.
“Working together and learning to rely on one another is the whole idea behind this experiment. Come-on, we’re a team, guys,” Coach Nelson shook his head.
Grant snickered as he looked around. “Exactly, we’re a basketball team, and obviously not one vying for the title at the next Scholar’s Bowl, so can we just play some hoops and skip the bonding session?”
“Why can’t you ever be positive?” Hailey snapped. “It’s one negative after another with you!”
“Well,” Grant snapped back, “if you and your buddy Paul would ever catch on to the simplistic fact that two negatives make a positive, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation, now would we?”
“Coach, can’t we just get back to doing what we’re good at?” Joe John Jordan pled.
“Too bad I’m not in the mood to go milk a cow,” Grant muttered under his breath.
“What did you say?” Joe John insisted. “Why don’t we take it to the court?”
“Let’s be honest,” Grant scoffed, “you didn’t exactly hone your skills with cousin Michael.”
“Who?” Joe John bellowed. “I ain’t got no cousin Michael.”
Grant smiled as he rolled his eyes. “I was referring to the Jordan with a slightly better tan and, also in contrast to you, an entire arsenal of skills essential to this game.”
Hailey grabbed hold of the back of Grant’s t-shirt. “Excuse us for just one second,” she grumbled as she forced Grant to his feet.
