Toffee Apple

Toffee Apples. Hard on the outside, soft in the middle. And as the red-headed chubby child in the family, that’s exactly what I’ve become over the years. Mercilessly teased by my siblings, I found my relief in the library of my high school, overachieving in a bid to win a scholarship to a college far, far away.
And I almost have it. Senior year is almost over, and everything I’ve ever wanted is at my fingertips.
Then I meet him.
Brody Miller.
It starts innocently enough. A short conversation and an exchange of phone numbers. I leave him thinking he won’t call. He belongs on the cover of a romance novel, why would he be interested in me? But he does call. He even asks me out.
When school starts back, I’m delighted to find him standing up the front of my AP Statistics class. Except he’s not a student. He’s here to teach.
Oh no.
I can’t think. I can’t focus. And suddenly I’m failing a class I used to ace. I need help.
Which is exactly what I get when Mr. Miller asks me to stay behind after class to discuss my grades.
He offers to tutor me. Platonically, of course.
I accept. Non-platonically, of course.
Then one thing leads to another and…. I’m not supposed to tell. But it could very well ruin everything we’ve both worked our entire lives to achieve.