After Math by Denise Grover Swank
Before she agreed to tutor Tucker Price, college junior Scarlett Goodwin was introverted, struggling with her social anxiety, and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A math major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline. When Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation; her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker is failing College Algebra and his eligibility is in jeopardy, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him. Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett cautious of any contact, let alone spending hours in close proximity. But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets, which she suspects hold the reason for his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she examines into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?
This book was very interesting I like it when books have a character with my name Scarlett in it since it, not a very common name. This girl is smart at math and helps tutor a jock who has one personality with his friends and the rest of the world but shows a different side when he is with Scarlett. They both have a lot of heartache from their past. Tucker who has been in many different foster homes most which were not very good families after his mother died. Scarlett dealt with a mother who drank and had a string of boyfriends in and out of their lives.
So when their paths collide it is rocky at first but they both need each other for something. Scarlett who suffers from severe social anxieties feels comforted by Tucker's presence and him of course for the math help and they both need someone to really love and care for them. Scarlett was late to a class and got very upset and just about ran out of the room but ran into Tucker and got embarrassed but did sit down then she left class to go to the math lab where she worked as a tutor with her friend Tina. When Tucker enters the lab Scarlett is confused about why he is there for a tutor and she the lucky one. Scarlett noticed that he has very sad eyes.
He admires Scarlett for her honesty most people tend to lie and placate Tucker. Before Scarlett leaves the lab for the day Dr. Carlisle the teacher in charge of the lab asks her how her session went with Tucker and she said okay that is good. So if your family has money and you play a sport you usually get special treatment. Scarlett lives in an apartment with her friend Caroline who is a fashion major. Scarlett tells her about having to tutor Tucker. When she wakes up in the morning she has an e-mail from Tucker asking when they can get together for tutoring she tells him when she is available and agrees to 3 at the coffee shop on campus.
She waits for him at the coffee house and of course, he is late so she gets ready to leave right as he shows up with his friends and he is wondering why she is leaving. She gets upset and says she doesn't have time to waste waiting for someone who does really care to get the help she tries to get away from him but he stops her. Finally, she is able to leave and goes to the lab. She has a study group to go to. Before she can leave Tucker shows up and apologizes for earlier and she confused by his split personality. He begs her to give him another chance and wants her because she does not care about his popularity and will not let him walk all over her.
So they set up a schedule to meet two days a week after his class. She wants to meet at the library but he does not like that at all so they decide to meet at Panera(whatever that place is something like a bakery I think). So their first tutor session was the next afternoon at 3. She asks him his major and he says History because he likes the stories about people and the extraordinary they did that are being remembered so they are not forgotten.
Then she asked if he liked Soccer and no one has ever asked him that he is good at soccer but not sure if he really likes it. Scarlett goes to a party with her friends which she normally doesn't do and has some alcohol to loosen up and meets a nice guy named Daniel who is a business major and Tucker and his friends stumble into the door. Daniel asks if she knows him and she says ya I tutor him. She tells him she wants to get a job working at the CIA. She also tells him why she has to tutor him funding. Then later they decide to dance. They end up kissing she thinks it is nice but not spectacular. It is time for them to leave and Daniel wants to see her again he asks but has no way to give her his phone number so she just tells him her last name and walks out the door.
She is excited that he will find her and she will see him again She walks outside to feel too hot and the music too loud. Scarlett sees Tucker talking on the phone to someone named Marcel and punches the trashcan in anger he is drunk of course. She offers to drive him home but he realizes he did not drive to the party so they walk to her apartment. When they get there she cleans up the blood on his hands and puts frozen food on it to bring the swelling down. He says she should be a doctor and she tells him she had to do this for her mom who use to get beat up by her boyfriends.
She keeps insisting on calling one of his friends to come to pick him up but he keeps saying he has no friends no real ones anyway. Then she asked about a roommate and then about calling him a cab, but he just wants to stay at her place for a while and he ends up falling asleep in her bed and leaves in the morning. He tells her Marcel is his brother. Caroline shows up and wants to know what is going on and she tells her Tucker's in her bed and she also tells her about Daniel. she goes back to Tucker and they fight about who will sleep on the couch they end up falling asleep in her bed with him.
They start to share some kind of emotional connection with each other but neither one at this point know where it will lead. Scarlett feels relaxed in his arms and yearns for this kind of connection, but she knows about his bad-boy reputation and does not want to get hurt by this jock. When she comes out of the shower the next morning he is gone. On Monday after school, Daniel was waiting for her outside her classroom. They go for coffee and he wants to see more of him like going to the movies, but she wants to take it slow.
She meets Tucker on Tuesday for tutoring and he apologizes for Friday she accepts. He asks her why Scarlett likes math and she says because it has rules and she can be in control and always find the answers. She asks him outright why he acts differently around her than other people, and he says he trusts her. After they are done tutoring he tells ask her to run with him to help her de-stress besides just doing math. So they agree to meet in the gym at 8 that night.
When she shows up she is scared and does not know what to do but Tucker shows her how and they begin running together every now and then he lets her ask some questions about himself that when she finds out he was in foster care. They learn a few things about each other during these times just getting to know each other. He tells her he really wanted to major in Physical Education but he thinks if he goes Pro he could not go back and be a teacher. (That's just crazy talk because many ex-pro athletes have done just that). He is kinda pining on a dream that not his the last foster home he was in their son Jason played soccer and got Tucker into it and they wanted him to peruse it as a career after their run they part ways and agree to meet up again for another tutoring session.
She begins to see Daniel after her first class on Mondays and Wednesday's he asks her out to a movie on Friday but before she could answer Tucker shows up and does not like her being with Daniel. Daniel is upset she is still tutoring him but he ends up leaving. Tucker asks if they are dating she says he wants them to. The guys don't like each other because of some girl. She helps him brush up for a test he has and they part ways.
She wakes up on Friday sick she goes to her first class because she can't miss it. Daniel id outside her class and notice he escorts her to the clinic and she finds out she has strep throat so their so-called date is off. Later that night she gets an e-mail from Tucker asking if she is okay after finding out she was not at the math lab. She lets him know it was not the running but that she got strep. He e-mailed back to ask if she wanted to run on Sunday she replies with a yes. But when she gets there no running happens they work on weight training instead and he has to show her how to use the machine of course.
That when she meets his other foster brother Jason who doesn't like her and tells her several times and also wants Scarlett to leave Tucker alone because apparently, he has been missing some soccer practices. Daniel meets her outside her class on Monday and finally gives her his number so she can get a hold of him. After she gets done with work Tucker is there waiting to show her he got a B+ on his test and he gives her a present for helping him out. She opens it and finds a clock the face of the clock has equations on it instead of numbers she says she loves it. He tells her if she wants she should go out with Daniel because she deserves a nice guy, but she really wants to go out with Tucker.
She gets upset that he seems to want to only be friends with her she tries to run away and he is confused about why she gets anger he says he sorry and walks away. The next day during their tutor session he asks if they are still on to run but she says she already has plans after they part ways. Scarlett text Daniel to ask if he wants to do something so they go to a movie. She gets angry when he starts bashing Tucker the date does not go well even though they do kiss she just not feeling anything for him. After he left her at her doorstep she starts to cry and low and behold Tucker jogs by and he comforts her. He wants to go beat up whoever made her cry.
Scarlett and Daniel are getting coffee when Tucker walks in. Daniel sees her reaction to Tucker and asks if she likes him she says she just his tutor. Tucker hears their conversation and gets in a fight with Daniel for he talked to her. Tucker punches Daniel and pulls her out the door and he figures out that Daniel was the one who made her cry. He says he is sorry for messing up her life and she tells him she likes him and they both say they more than like each other. He tells he is not good enough for her but she wants to make that decision for herself she pulls him close wanting to kiss him but he stops her because he does not want to lose her friendship and he thinks if they become more he will screw it up and lose her so he walks away.
The next tutor session with Tucker is strained after all that has to happen Scarlett breaks down and starts crying Tucker tries to say he sorry and comfort her but it is too much for her and she ends up leaving saying she a not do this anymore. He follows the car and hugs her but he can't have it both ways and she drives away. She tells Caroline she quit being Tucker's tutor. On Friday she goes outside to get out of her apt and Tucker shows up and he tells her how he feels when he is with her. They both realize they are broken and together they are whole and then they kiss and she tugs him to her apt. They enter her room take off their clothes and have sex. He gives him a rule that they can never say the word goodbye. They make love again this time at Tucker's apt. He is still not telling her the whole truth about his past and who his brothers are she does not want him to shut her out but he just can't open up to her. Soon after they start dating it going good for a while until Jason runs into Scarlett and tells her to again stay away from Tucker.
He comes over and tells her a bit about his past and says she still has some secrets too and she tells him some stuff too. He and Caroline don't get along but the plan to try to at least tolerate each other since he will be around a lot now. He tells her he loves her but he does not expect her to say it back yet. They decide that Scarlett will come to see him play soccer on Saturday. One night he gets a call from Marcel and he tells him to stay put and he will meet him there. He won't tell her any of the details and she thinks this is moving to fast and thinks he can't commit to her if he cannot tell her the truth. Sometimes love is not enough to keep a relationship together.
See is miserable without Tucker and gets worried on Saturday when he has not arrived yet for the game but he shows up in the nick of time and plays phenomenally. So he bound to get a contract to play for a pro team which worries her because they will be apart for long periods of time and she sees no way of staying together trying to have a long-distance relationship. He gets the news and he will be leaving next week and he finally tells her about Marcel and blames himself for the situation his brother is in now. They fight about how his foster parents wanted him to become a soccer pro and he leaves.
He has been gone two months and this is the first time Scarlett when to campus to watch him play but it turns out he is out sick with the flu. She gets an anxiety attack when she won't be able to see him play, and walks outside the door. Then she hears her name being called and he is there saying he had to see her, he tells her how sorry he was for hurting her and leaving things like he did, and that he quit the team. He going to come back to school and change his major. He begs her for another chance and is stunned when she tells him she loves him.
Epilogue: Scarlett is getting ready for her internship interview and is nervous he starts school again and they are now living together. So this story had a happy ending like most do but there were a lot of bumps and turns along the way.
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