"How did you get in?"
Marko looked up from his notepad, still processing the words. Sarah Rose was facing him, glance expecting.
"I mean it's mine," Marko said, gesturing down at his device. "I know the password."
Sarah Rose giggled quietly, in that conspiratorial kind of way that made you feel not as if you were being laughed at, but like you had been let in on a secret. "Not that," she explained, "How did you get into the school? Into Sabia?"
"I tested in," Marko said, a little more confused now. This was common knowledge. "Pietro and I—we got a scholarship."
"Pietro, maybe," Sarah Rose said, tapping her chin with her stylus. "He's wicked smart, even if he tries to look silly. But you're smart about different things. In class, you answer questions with the bolded phrases from the textbook. You use the exact words, like you don't know enough about them to rearrange them."
"Teachers like it if you keep things simple," Marko said. "If you give them the same thing they're going to put on the test, then they don't have to think about it as much."
"But I'm not like that," Sarah Rose continued, "And you do the same thing to me."
Marko tapped his notepad to keep the screen from timing out. The colors flashed back into view. They didn't hold any answers for him.
"That's why you like to study with me," Sarah Rose said, "Not to hang out. Not to help me. But because you have to catch up."
"I don't understand," Marko said. His tone was not as convincing as he would have liked.
Sarah Rose scooted closer, leaning over with her arm on the table. That got his attention. She always sat up straight.
"I'm sorry," she said, "That was probably rude. You don't have to tell me anything. But—if you—if later you want to be friends, you can tell me. And I won't tell anybody."
Marko opened his mouth to respond, but before he could come up with any words Sarah Rose had sat up again, pushed her chair back. Flicking on her screen, she turned to him again. "Well? Are you going to finish explaining the chapter to me?"