Flynn
MRS JUNE IS not happy to see me. She flips through a file which I suspect contains my academic records over the past few years and pushes her glasses further up her nose. Mind you, she never wears glasses except when she has me in her office or any other 'notorious' student apparently.
If it's an attempt to look menacing, then she'd have to do better than that.
"You're going to fail." There. She drops it just like that, without any filter.
"Yeah, no shit."
The arch of her eyebrow is so sharp, it scares me for a second. "Excuse me?"
"It's an inside joke." Carter quickly says, coming to my defense. "What he's trying to say is literally the opposite."
What the fuck does that even mean? "That doesn't even make any sense."
"Shut up." He grits and I lean further against the chair with a sigh.
Mrs June slams a sheet of paper in front of me and points a finger at my grades. "If any of this is funny to you, then I suggest you might have to reconsider your sense of humor because you're not going anywhere if you keep failing English like this. It's one of the core subjects you need to graduate," then she turns to Carter. "You both know that."
I glance at my scoresheet and trace my grades with my eyes. It's fairly good to be honest, not bad if I want to end up as a high school teacher but for some reason, English keeps fucking me up. I don't mind my grades. I've not cared about them ever since I gave up my position as swim captain. I've not cared about many things since then but it's been a while since I felt like a true idiot and now, staring at the reds on my scoresheet, I really do feel like an idiot.
"I don't get it," she tells me, snatching the paper away from me. "I'd understand your excuse as captain but you dropped that title a while ago. We don't accept that excuse for athletes anymore now, Carter knows that. So there's no excuse not to study."
"Unfortunately." He mumbles, smiling at her regardless.
I scratch my eyebrow and tip my head back against the chair. I don't want to spend another minute in here.
To my misfortune, she nods at Carter and gestures towards the door. "If you'll give us a moment."
"Of course," he says, rising to his feet. Then he leans towards me and mumbles, "Don't fuck this up. She's trying to help you." And then he turns around and leaves.
It's just me and her in this stuffy-as-hell office and all her attention is on me now.
"Flynn, I understand you're strugglingâ"
"I'm not," I say, cutting her off before she can say anything else. "I'm fine. My sister has nothing to do with this."
She regards me for a moment before clicking her tongue and looking away. She pushes her glasses up her nose again and brings out another sheet of paper from whatever collection she has down there. "If you say so."
She clears her throat and begins. "Do you have a problem with the teacher?"
"No."
"Do you not like how she teaches?"
"I don't know. I've never given that a thought."
She taps a pen against her paper. "Have you ever considered tutoring?"
I almost laugh. "Why would I want to tutor someone something I don't know?"
She narrows her eyes at me. "I'm talking about getting yourself a tutor."
"I'm good, thanks." Then I sit up straighter and jut my thumb towards the door. "May I leave now?"
Her tone is firm. "You may not."
I lean back against the chair and she sighs.
"Look, the school recently set up an online peer to peer tutoring program. I'm sure you must have heard of it from your teachers and if you haven't, I'm doing you the honors." Then she slides the paper over to me. "And if you're not a fan of online learning, then you could take a look at that list. It contains the best of the top students in your class. Some of them are in the program as well. If you need my help in getting any one of them to tutor you, my office is a stone throw away. Depending on where you are of course."
Mark Clayton.
Chester Maurice.
Josephine Pryce.
Elizabeth Daniels.
Nora Blanchet.
Raymond Boyce...
The list goes on and on but I don't bother looking at the rest. Only one of them is familiar. Josephine Pryce. I can already feel her glaring at me even though she's not here. She's the only one I'm familiar with in a way here and I can bet my soul that she hates me. She's the captain of the debate club that Ellie had forced me to join in hopes that it would help with my public speaking. Yet, even though she clearly despises me, I find it oddly amusing to get on her nerves.
"Seen someone you could get to help you already?"
I look up at Mrs June. "What?"
She points to my face and draws a curve. "You were smiling."
"No, I wasn't."
The bell rings, signaling the end of a free period and I get to my feet, handing the paper over to her.
"I really do suggest you get yourself a tutor, Flynn." She says as I head for the door.
"Sure Mrs June." And then I slam the door shut behind me.
Carter is still hanging around the door like a creep and he leans away from a group of girls who have managed to surround him within the short period of time that he left the office.
"How'd it go?" He asks, falling in step with me as I head towards my locker to get my History textbook.
I flip my hoodie over my head and take out the textbook. "She wants me to get a tutor." I slam it shut. "Someone from our class."
"You could ask any of the girls from our class."
"A tutor, not a fuck buddy. You of all people know what they want from me."
He nods, folding his arms across his chest. I'm late for class already but I don't care.
He snaps his fingers like an idiot and I narrow my eyes at him. He's about to say something that won't help my current dilemma. "I'd say you should meet Mark but I think his girlfriend broke up with him because of you. He hates you."
"What the fâ how's that my fault?" I don't even know either of them.
"Look, I'm sure there a lot of people who are willing to help. Any of the guys or any girl who doesn't throw herself at you." He looks at the time on his phone and sighs.
His eyes widen as he backpedals away from me. "Coach will murder me. I'll see you at gym."
If my calculations are correct, I'm exactly twenty minutes late for this class already and my first option is to skip it but then Mrs June's voice is like a siren to my ears.
You're going to fail.
The next thing I know, I'm walking into History class while everyone stares at me. It's not unusual, neither is it the first time I'm coming late so I just head towards the back immediately.
When I take a seat, Mr Hunt narrows his eyes at me. "How nice of you to finally join us, Mr Cauley."
I throw a tight-lipped grin his way, not really in the mood to engage him in the usual banter before taking my textbook out of my bag.
I flip the textbook open and lean forward. "What page?" I ask the person in front of me without looking up but I don't get a response.
I look away from my book and when I do, I discover the lack of response is because of the person sitting right in front of me.
She stops writing for a second, pushes the earpiece she's wearing further into her ears and goes back to writing inside her notepad. I'd say she didn't hear me but if there's one thing I know about her, it's that she's never actually listening to any music while we're in class.
I try to take a peak at what she's writing but it doesn't look like anything related to American history. Her pen abruptly stops moving and she glances sideways.
"You're breathing down my neck." She whispers harshly.
"No, I'm not."
Jo rips out one of the buds from her ears and narrows her eyes into slits. "Yes, you are. And you're staring at me like a creep."
I scoff. "No, I wasn't. I asked you what page we are but you ignored me."
She points to her ears and I tsk while shaking my head.
"You definitely heard me."
"Well, next time, maybe you should try coming early to class. It would do you a lot of good. Now, leave me alone."
"Jo."
"It's Josephine to you."
I almost grin. "Josephine, what page?"
"56," she grits. "Now, leave me alone."
"Josephine."
"What?"
Well, this is going to be harder than I thought. How am I supposed to convince her to tutor me?
I push my textbook aside and lean closer to her but not so much that she'd be uncomfortable. Still, even though she's facing the front with utmost concentration, a few hairs on her neck still stand.
"You have a problem with me, don't you?"
She scoffs. "That'd be a waste of my negative energy, Cauley. Find someone else to bother."
"I'm not sure how I'd do that. Everyone else loves me."
"Hurray." Then she fixes the bud back into her ear.
I tap my pen repeatedly on my notepad, thinking of ways in which I can get her to tutor me. She's smart, I'd give her that but she hates me. I might have to get her to like me first, as a person, but that already seems like an impossible feat.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Your pen," she says. "It's driving me crazy."
"I wonder why," I say, already having fun with this. "Last time I checked, you were listening to music."
She hesitates for a split second and then she turns sideways. "Low volume. I can still hear what you're doing."
I tap the pen a little bit faster. Her right eye twitches. "So you admit you deliberately ignored me when I asked you what page we were in?"
"I'm not obligated to answer your question," she says and then she narrows her eyes at me. "Stop. Doing. That."
"No."
She snatches the pen from my fingers and snaps it in half but I'm already reaching for another one in my bag. Somehow, I knew she'd do that.
By the time she proudly drops the two halves of the pen on my table, I'm already spinning the other one around my fingers with a grin.
Her cheeks turn the slightest shade of red when I arch a challenging brow and she slowly turns around and faces the board. For a moment, she tries to ignore me and at the last minute, just when I'm about to commend her for doing a good job since I'm annoying her on purpose, she turns around, snatches the pen from me and snaps it into five pieces.
"Who hurt you?" I laugh but my laughter catches Mr Hunt's attention because he turns away from the board and looks at me.
"Any problem, Mr Cauley? Care to share your amusement with the rest of the class?"
I shake my head in the negative and he reluctantly turns away, not before giving me a warning eye first. I don't bother Jo again for the rest of the class, but the gears in my head are turning with ideas.
Once the bell chimes, she gets to her feet alongside everyone else and shoves her books into her bag. I should get serious now, talk to her and try to have a reasonable conversation.
I sling my bag over my shoulder. "Joâ"
"No." And then she leaves the aisle before I can say anything else, blends with the crowd of students at the front and disappears behind the door.
I watch her leave and I scoff but it comes out as a chuckle instead.
"Hey, Flynn," a random person calls and I turn to look at them. A familiar brunette is smiling up at me.
I grab the broken pieces of pen from Jo's table. "Aimee, right?"
"Stella," she grins as we head out of the class. "But you can call me whatever you want."
Well, well.
"Actually, um, I'm throwing a party at my house this weekend and I'm inviting you. I also invited Carter but you could come with the rest of your friends too if you'd like," she says. "I'll just text you the address."
I'm usually always down for a party but at the moment, I'm just trying to get a tutor. I glance at her and she blushes, coyly twirling a lock of her hair with a finger. Yeah, nope. Bad idea.
Then again, if Carter's going, I'm going.
"I'll think about it." I tell her as I open my locker and she beams, nodding at me and reluctantly turns around to leave.
True to her word, she texts me the address. I don't know how she got my number but I'm not surprised since this isn't the first time a random girl I don't know is texting me.
Five hours later, I find myself leaning against the counter in Stella's kitchen with a red solo cup in hand. Carter has his hands around a girl in the sitting room while she aggressively gropes him. The rest of the party is in full swing, obscenely loud music booming off the walls while Stella appears and disappears every now and then, to get me to notice her.
I lift the cup to my mouth and scroll through the student profiles on the school's peer tutorship website. Convincing Josephine seems like a Herculean task since she won't even spare me a second of her day. I had tried meeting up with her a couple of days ago after club but it didn't work since she pretty much assumes I don't give a shit about debate.
Heaven knows she infuriates me sometimes but God, do I love getting on her nerves.
Carter suggested I opt for the program Mrs June has been talking about since I'm yet to find a physical tutor so here I am, scrolling past profiles like I'm on a dating site.
I'm about to scroll past another one when my thumb halts on the screen. Even though I can clearly see Josephine Pryce as the profile name, I still zoom in on the profile picture.
It's a picture of her smiling with a spoon of ice cream raised close to her mouth. Well, I'll be damned. I have never seen her smile before. It doesn't look like something that was taken yesterday. It looks like it's dated probably a year or two ago. However, she still looks the same.
Hi! I'm a senior at Lakeville High School and the captain of the debate club. I enjoy music, reading novels and playing any type of sport.
I tap on the word Engage that sits right under her name and a small green mark replaces it. In seconds, my phone buzzes with an email notification.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Tutoring request
Hi,
I've received your request and it has been accepted. Just as my profile says, I'm available for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes tops. I'll be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 3pm and 5pm and then Saturdays by 6pm at 'Beans Only' Café.
Sincerely,
Josephine.
My mouth twitches while I read through her email. I'm pretty sure she'd never in her wildest imagination know it's me.
"Heyyy Flynn," someone says as I type a reply. "You look lonely. Need some company?"
"Not really," I tell whoever it is without looking up from my phone. I shoot my response to Josephine and finally look up at the girl who's red-faced from embarrassment. "But thanks."
"Sure." She squeaks and hurries away.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Thank you
Thank you for responding. I'll see you on Monday as well.
Best wishes,
Josephine.
So this is it, then. I've gotten myself a tutor. A tutor who might potentially loose her mind when she discovers who her student is.
A pair of heels block my line of vision and I look up to see the host of this godforsaken party beaming at me.
"Hey." She says and kisses me before I can respond. My eyes dart towards a group of her friends huddled together a few meters away from us. They're staring and giggling like they'd dared her to do this. So I let her kiss me.
My mind flicks back to the realization that I've just gotten through to Josephine without her even knowing and I grin against Stella's lips when I imagine the look on Jo's face when she sees me on Monday.
Stella misinterprets my grin as a sign and she leans back before fisting my shirt. "You wanna take this upstairs?"
I tuck my phone into my pocket and down the rest of my drink. She's hot, sort of pretty and some fun in this boring-as-hell party won't hurt in the slightest.
"Lead the way."
AN: i've missed writing about my children. thank you sm for 100k plus reads. YOU ARE THE BEST! also very shameless promo, but a new story is up on my profile titled Freefall. do well to check it out lovelies and have a great day/night <3