Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall

but I don’t really want to tell anyone else, but I know I can trust you.”
    â€œOf course, anything.”
    â€œI’m doing kind of bad in English, and I need you to tutor me,” he says. He licks his lips. “Please.”
    â€œOh,” I say. “Um, sure, of course.”
    â€œGupta gave me your name on a list of peer tutors, so I figured you’d be into it.”
    â€œDefinitely.” I scratch my head. “What do you need to do?”
    He shrugs. “Nothing right now. I have a paper due in a couple of weeks, but I turned in an extra-credit essay and that didn’t go well. So she told me about the peer tutoring thing.”
    â€œHow bad are you doing?”
    He scrunches up his nose. Oh God, he’s too cute.
    â€œWell, I’m getting a D this marking period.”
    â€œOuch.”
    â€œYeah, and I need to keep my GPA above a C so I don’t lose my spot at that basketball camp this summer.”
    â€œWe’ll figure it out,” I say. “I promise.”
    He grins and seems more himself already.

 
    six
    Ruby
    I’ve always been aware of the fact that Kyle and Gideon live next door to each other. Their houses are definitely similar to look at them from the outside, like you can tell that someone tried to build them in the same style. Gideon’s house is obviously a little bigger and a little older. But I expected it to be a normal-person house.
    I did not expect it to be a freaking mansion on the inside.
    When Kyle and Gideon leave me alone, I can’t help but wander around a little.
    His house has this gigantic foyer with big stairs and a couple of doorways off it. I’m sure they just think of it as a hallway or something. Really rich people are always downplaying how rich they are.
    I take a peek into each door as I pass and find the exact kind of super ridiculously fancy parlor you would expect on one side, with an equally fancy dining room on the other. Then there’s a family room with a big-ass TV, and finally the kitchen. But even the kitchen is bigger than I would expect, with an island and a separate eat-in area, like a breakfast nook. There’s one room beyond the kitchen, like a big sun porch. Maybe it’s called a solarium. I don’t know, my House Hunters addiction has only gotten me so far in life, and my parents recently canceled our cable anyway.
    His mom is in the kitchen, looking really put together and a little too smiley for my taste.
    â€œHi,” I say. “I’m Ruby, Kyle’s girlfriend.”
    â€œHi,” she says, extending her hand to shake mine. “I’m Miriam Berko.”
    I never quite know how to respond to adults who tell me their first name like that. Am I supposed to say, “A real pleasure to meet you, Miriam. You have a lovely home”?
    Mrs. Berko shakes my hand up and down like it’s one of those old-fashioned water pumps and offers me a snack.
    â€œNo thanks, I’m good,” I tell her, my smile plastered on. I’m honestly a little bit worried my face might get stuck like this.
    â€œGideon and Kyle went back over to Kyle’s to get his PS4,” I tell her. “So I’m just going to wait for them in the den. If that’s okay.”
    â€œSure, of course,” she says.
    I make my way back into the den and sit in the chair that looks the most used. And even then it doesn’t look like anyone ever really sits in it, but more like they bought it that way.
    I try to find a comfortable position, but in the process my phone slides out of my pocket and under the couch.
    When I reach to grab it, at first I pull out a binder that’s super disheveled and has paper coming out the edges. I swear I don’t mean to peek, but the edge of one has some writing on it and I can’t miss Kyle’s name. My natural nosiness takes over and I slide it out.
    It’s a to-do list. A to-do list about Gideon liking Kyle. And not in a friend