Read Transparent for Free Online Page B

lips. “You here for tutoring?”
    “Uh.” My heart flips, and I look down, unable to hold his gaze. Sometimes people hit dead-on like that—Miles more than anyone. It’s unnerving, and yet comforting at the same time. I almost feel visible, just for the smallest moment.
    He holds out his hand. “I’m Seth.”
    I stare at his palm. How strange that he would extend it to me. I take it reluctantly. “Fiona McClean.”
    His eyes go wide. “Oh! Right, yeah. Ms. Sorenson said you were supposed to be coming.”
    I purse my lips. “You … don’t know who I am?”
    “Not really.” He scratches the back of his head. “I’ve heard things, but hearing and knowing aren’t exactly the same thing, are they?”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    He shrugs. “You here for tutoring or not?”
    I watch him, trying to figure out why he’s acting so … weird. Either he honestly doesn’t care what my dad does, or he never watches the news and has no clue what’s going on outside Madison, Arizona.
    He waves his hand in front of my face. “Hello? Tutoring, yes or no?”
    “Stop being a jerk, Seth,” Bea calls. “Obviously she’s here for tutoring.”
    He sighs. “I’ll grab you some worksheets to do; that way I can gauge how far behind you are.”
    As he walks back to the front, I head over to Bea. “I thought you said he was really nice.”
    She chuckles. “No, I said he’s helped me a lot—I never said anything about him being super-nice about it. Not that he’s mean. He’s just … Seth.”
    “Great. So no gold stars?” That gets a laugh.
    “Unfortunately not. Seth’s always been a little antisocial, but he’s not so bad.” She erases one of her answers and scribbles in something new. “He’s like a math genius. He’s a senior, but he’s taken university-level courses for the last couple years. He tutors to pad his college applications.”
    “So is that his ability? Numbers?” Most everyone has some kind of mutation, though the change usually isn’t more than a random hair color or other small alteration. It’s the normal-
looking
people who are potentially dangerous, because their power lies somewhere else.
    She opens her mouth to speak, but a stack of papers appears between us.
    “Quit gossiping and get back to your graphs, Bea,” Seth says.
    She rolls her eyes. “Oh, c’mon, we both know I’m never gonna get this.”
    “You will. I’ll make sure of that.”
    I raise an eyebrow, surprised by how cocky that sounded.
    He turns to me. “Work through these. I’ll check back in twenty minutes.”
    The worksheet starts out with basic algebra and geometry, but it quickly increases in complexity. By page three I can feel my brain seizing up. Before I know it, Seth pulls the paper out from under me. “Let’s have a look.”
    I shrink in my chair, dreading his response.
    As he flips the page, his brow furrows. It creases even more at the third page. He lowers the paper, staring at me for a moment. “Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”
    I cram my lips together to stop them from quivering and push my tears into anger. “Actually, I was. I almost died, thank you very much.”
    He opens his mouth, but Bea speaks first. “Wow, Seth, can you be ruder? I don’t think you’ve made her feel welcome enough yet.”
    He looks back and forth between us. “I—”
    “Aren’t you going to apologize?” Bea asks.
    I can’t express how grateful I am that she’s defending me, because I can’t seem to find any words. I never thought I was smart, but I didn’t think I was stupid, either. Tons of people struggle with math. But Seth has probably tutored a lot of students. Am I really so dumb that he’d have to ask something like that?
    Seth runs a hand over his face, letting out a long sigh. “Fiona, can I speak with you outside?”
    “No,” I barely squeak out.
    He kneels by my desk, but I refuse to look at him. “I need to talk with you about this worksheet, and I don’t think you’d want