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was going to yell at them for cheating, and they’d get detention for a week.
    “Well, Mr. Wilson,” Mr. Rogers said, giving a pointed look at Maps. “I see you’ve forgotten, well, a lot of what you’ve learned previous years. Your test scores were quite low.”
    Mr. Rogers sitting behind his desk, pen in one hand and their tests splayed out in front of him.
    Maps gulped, surprisingly not for himself, but more for the feelings of the boy standing to his right. “It’s still early in the term,” he said. “I have lots of time to improve, if I really try.”
    “And I do hope you’ll try. Frankly, knowing so little, if you don’t improve drastically I’m afraid you may not pass this class.”
    Maps could practically hear Lane’s jaw clench.
    “I will try, Mr. Rogers,” Maps said.
    “Good. Mr. E. Bogs’ math scores were really remarkable, and I was thinking that he could tutor you until the end of the semester—for extra credit, of course.”
    Maps and Lane both slowly turned to look each other in the eyes. They each had horror-struck expressions on their faces.
    “Now, boys, it’s not like I’m going to make you hold hands and skip around the park. I’m just asking if you can perhaps work together, just for a bit, until Mr. Wilson here gets on his feet.”
    “Uh, Mr. Rogers,” Lane choked out. “My last name is actually Rhodes, not, uh, E. Bogs. I have no idea why I wrote that.”
    “Obviously because your sense of humor is upstanding. Seriously, She’s All That ? No?” Maps asked.
    Both Mr. Rogers and Lane stared at him. Maps pushed his thick glasses up by the bridge of the nose.
    “So, you’ll do it then, Mr. Rhodes?” Mr. Rogers asked.
    Lane nodded, looking like he might be a little sick. “Of course. Anything to help.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Maps slipped into his room late that evening. He had spent the rest of the day at Benji’s house chatting about their first day back after term break, and about how he’d pulled a fast one on Mr. Rogers. Benji didn’t understand why Maps had helped the poor sod out, after all, Maps had been avoiding Lane for weeks. Maps couldn’t place his finger on why he’d helped, either.
    But now Maps was exhausted, the thrills of the first day back having worn off. He flopped his heavy backpack down on the floor and flicked on the lamp sitting atop his bedside table. Pulling his warmest fleece pajamas out from a drawer in his dresser, Maps stripped down and put on his comfy sleepwear, fully intent on grabbing his eReader and slinking into bed.
    It was cold outside, just after Christmas. It was that lingering time of the year where the cold almost felt welcoming because it gave people a good excuse to wear oversized clothing and cuddle into bed early. The sky darkened earlier at night and the lack of evening light had a tendency to wear on Maps, even though he was normally energetic.
    He grabbed his eReader off his side table and curled into bed under his heavy down comforter. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and opened his book to the last page he’d left off. While Maps didn’t have a particular aversion to reading any genre of book, fantasy novels were by far his favorite. Benji liked to joke that Maps was the type to look like he solely read science fiction, but Maps just huffed at that, not dignifying Benji with a rebuttal.
    Maps wrapped the ends of the comforter up and under his chilly toes. The world fogged, the letters on his eReader slowly blending as the gentle light from beside his bed carefully lulled him to sleep…
    Maps shot awake. He’d dozed off. His glasses were crooked on his face and his eReader had tumbled to the ground. But something had woken him. He didn’t remember what, but something had. He sat up in bed and waited, listened, looked around.
    Then he heard it again.
    A gentle knock.
    Maps stood up and went to his door, assuming his mother had come to tell him to go to sleep or turn off his bedside lamp. But when he opened the