Read Online How to Win at High School by Owen Matthews - Free Book Online

table.”)
    She’s cool with it.
    He takes her to Tunnel Barbecue and they load up on ribs instead. Guzzle Pepsis and get messy.
    She’s cool with it.
    Takes her to a horror movie, something standard. A bunch of teenagers alone in the woods. They drink. They hook up. They die.
    She’s cool with it.
    (Better than cool, in fact: she’s all over it, screaming at the scary bits, burying her face in Adam’s coat, gripping on his arm for dear life.)
    Adam walks her to the bus loop after the movie. Victoria’s bus pulls up. She lingers. Bites her lip. Looks away.
    (“What do you do if she wants to kiss you? You go with it, obviously.”)
    Adam leans in and kisses her.
    She’s cool with it.

81.
    Sam claps his hands. “Damn right you kissed her,” he says. “What did I tell you?”
    They’re on the riverfront trail, looking out across the water at the Detroit skyline beyond. They’re just a few blocks away from the movie theater, Tunnel Barbecue, and the bus loop, and the air feels
    infused
    with Victoria.
    (Adam’s still buzzing.)
    â€œIt was just like you said,” Adam says. “She looked at me and I knew she wanted me to kiss her and—”
    â€œAnd you went with it,” Sam says.
    â€œIt was so good,” Adam says.
    Sam grins like he knows exactly what Adam’s going through. Like he’s loving every minute.
    â€œI told you,” he says. “Didn’t I?”

82.
    Second date.
    â€œSo what’s the deal with you?” Victoria wants to know. “You’re always hanging out with these pretty girls in the hall. Are you, like, a player or something?”
    Adam laughs. “Are you kidding?”
    â€œI was talking about you with Steph,” Victoria says. “We can’t figure it out.”
    Then she blushes.
    â€œNot that, I mean, you shouldn’t be hanging out with pretty girls. Your sister just doesn’t seem to think it’s your style.”
    â€œIt’s not,” Adam tells her. “It’s just business.”
    Victoria frowns. “Business?”
    Adam looks at her. Adam pauses.
    (Adam doesn’t want to tell her about the homework scheme. Not Victoria Lemieux. He’s getting the sense she’s a good girl.
    He’s getting the sense that she
    would
    not
    approve.)
    So:
    â€œSometimes I tutor people,” he says. “Help them out with their homework, that kind of thing.”
    â€œSo you’re a nerd,” Victoria says. “You’re just a really big nerd.”
    â€œFuck no,” Adam says, harder than he means to. “I mean, no, I’m not a nerd.”
    Victoria laughs. “I take it back, jeez. Didn’t mean to insult you or anything, Mr. Big-Shot Cool Guy.”
    â€œHa,” Adam says. “I’m not that, either.”
    (Yet.)

83.
    Victoria’s story:
    Freshman.
    Only child.
    Both parents work at the Chrysler plant.
    (Adam doesn’t say anything when she tells him this. Doesn’t tell her how lucky he thinks she is that her folks kept their jobs. How much he envies her life.)
    Victoria’s family lives in Walkerville, the old distillery district down by the river. The trendy part of town.
    (Adam doesn’t say anything when she tells him this, either. Doesn’t tell her about how he lives in a shithole in Remington Park. How envious he is. What he says is:)
    â€œWhy didn’t you go to Walkerville High?”
    Victoria screws up her face. “It’s all stoners and burnouts and losers.”
    â€œYeah,” Adam says—
    (conveniently omitting the fact that he himself
    has pretty much
    always been a stoner
    and a burnout
    and a . . .
    well, you know)—
    â€œbut Nixon’s like three miles away.”
    Victoria blushes. “Okay, confession time,” she says. “I was in advanced placement in grade school. They bussed us out of district. All my friends graduated to Nixon, so