I wanted to run. Anywhere on this Earth was better than here. I didn't want a tutor. That's end of discussion.
Mrs. Jackling leaned back in her chair and smiled maliciously like a predator about to jump her prey. "Samuel Rose, one of the top five students in Baltimore High, will be your tutor for all of your subjects."
~*~
I slammed my locker shut loudly and stormed down the hallway.
"Wait! Eleanor!" someone called behind me. I didn't need to turn around to know that that voice belonged to Samuel Rose. I ignored him and continued stomping, anger building up in my chest.
I was mad. Mad at Mrs. Jackling. Mad that I had a tutor who just had to be Samuel. Mad at everything.
"Eleanor!" Samuel yelled again, this time his voice nearer to me. His footsteps thumped on the ground as he ran past me and planted himself right in front me, causing me to stop. He bent down, put up a hand, and gasped for breath.
"S-Sorry... About yesterday and... what happened... right then..." He managed to say between staggered breaths.
I crossed my arms and glared at him. "How's saying ‘sorry’ going to change things? Now I'm stuck with you."
Samuel swallowed and straightened up, but lowered his gaze so that he wasn't staring directly into my eyes.
"I know it's not going to change anything," he said softly. "I just wanted to at least apologize to you."
I sighed and uncrossed my arms.
"Whatever," I huffed and turned to walk away again. Samuel didn't follow me this time. But I didn't care about that. He was the one who first ruined my life. Not me.
CHAPTER 3: My World is Officially Ending
As I got home from school and marched up into my bedroom, I called Marisol and told her about the news.
"Say what?!" she screamed into the phone when she heard what happened. I had to hold the receiver away from my ears. One screaming Coach Wayne was enough. I didn't need two people shattering my eardrums.
"Can you please keep your voice down?" I demanded with a scowl. "My ears are gonna explode!"
"Sorry, sorry," Marisol apologized, but I could imagine her with a smirk at the other end. "But dang! That's news!"
I rolled my eyes and plopped myself down onto my bed.
"What am I going to do now?" I asked, irritated. "I don't want to be stuck with that boy for the rest of my life!"
"I dunno," Marisol said with a shrug in her voice. "Fall in love with him?"
If this conversation was in real life, I would have slapped her arm and glared. But this was over a phone. I would just slap her tomorrow at school.
"Don't be stupid," I scolded her. "I'll love that boy when the world ends."
Marisol giggled, her voice echoing through the receiver. "Oh come on, El. You're the student. He's the tutor. What could go wrong?"
"Everything," I told her. I hated the fact that I would need to be breathing, sharing, and feeling the same air as Samuel Rose. I was better than him. Far better than him. I didn't belong in his category. I was Eleanor Fyer, Queen of Harken High, future heir of the Fyer estate. And Samuel Rose was nothing compared to me. Absolutely nothing.
"Oh come on, El," Marisol said, laughing a little. I knew you can't technically hear it, but I could hear a smile in her words. "The most bizarre things happen sometimes. You might never know."
"I think I know," I told her, a little coldly. "I don't want to have anything to do with that boy. The sooner our tutor session is over, the better I'll feel. I just need to learn what I need to pass math tests. I don't need other things from him."
"Are you sure?" Mariso asked playfully. It was official. As soon as I saw her tomorrow, I would murder her and made sure that her blood stained the walls of our school.
Marisol probably sensed my tension because she laughed and added, "Okay, okay. Just kidding. But you might never know."
I rolled my eyes and attempted to change the subject before it got deeper and more complex than that, "So, anything new?"
"Nah," Marisol answered, complying to my sudden change in topics. "Unless you count Justin screaming in the living room."
"Party at yours?" I asked and smirked a little. Marisol had a 13 year old brother, Justin, who always invited his, and I quoted from Marisol's point of view, 'bratty' friends. Whenever they came over, they would crowd the X-Box or the Wii. Sometimes I couldn’t even tell what the game they were playing is about. Most of the time, it was just a bunch of fighting and action that I saw no point in.
Marisol sighed. "Yup. Holden won't stop yelling with Justin."
I chuckled. Whenever Marisol got annoyed by her brother and his 'bratty' friends, it was funny watching her lash out at them.
"Did you yell at them yet?"
"Yeah. It was all sunshine and unicorns."
"That’s great, Mar. Do those unicorns have magical and sparkly horns?"
"Eleanor!" Marisol whined. "Stop teasing me!"
"That's why you don't tease me first," I told her with a grin of victory plastered on my face.
Marisol groaned from the other end. "But I was just stating true facts!"
"Which are complete bozos," I finished for her, adding on to her sentence.
"What are bozos?"
"They are-" my voice was cut off when the door burst open and my mom walked in, decked out in her business outfit.
"Hel-lo, Ellie!" she chirped and smiled. Her bright pink shirt and sparkling buttons almost blinded me. Her frizzy hair looked wilder than usual and her black leathery hand bag swished back and forth in a hypnotizing way.
"Bailey's here," I hissed into my phone, while eyeing my mom as she twirled around in my room, looking and poking around in my shelf and closet for 'new and interesting things'. "I'll call you later."
I pressed the 'end' button and quickly stuffed my phone below my pillow.
I turned to my mom and smiled. "Good afternoon, Bailey."
"And good afternoon to you too, Eleanor," Bailey answered back as she continued her mini search.
I rarely called my mom 'mom'. I was used to calling her by her actually name. Partially because she wanted me too. Something about how she thought calling her by her real name made her sound 'younger than she really is'; whatever that meant. No matter how you looked at it, my mom looked the same age each year. She looked way younger than most moms I had encountered. Maybe it was just because she applied way more makeup to her face than I did.
"So, what brings you here, today?" I asked. It was a mother-and-daughter thing that Bailey and I had shared since I could remember. I would ask her 'What's up?' and that started the conversation.
"Oh, nothing much," Bailey answered with a wide smile. She crossed the room and sat down beside me on the edge of the bed. "I just wanted to see my beautiful daughter."
"Anything else?" I asked, praying for her to go away so I could resume my peace and continue talking with Marisol. Apparently, Bailey didn't get the message.
"Oh, yes," she said, as if suddenly remembering something. "Did anything special happen at school today?"
I tilted my head to the side in a questioning way. "What... do you mean by 'special'?" Visions of Samuel flooded my mind. I had to bite my lip and clench my bed sheets tightly just to keep myself from pulling out my hair in frustration at that boy.
Bailey chuckled. "Oh, you know. Maybe boy troubles?"
At the mention of that, my face turned red.
"W-What?!" I stuttered. "Why would you think that?!"
"Well, you are 17 now, right?" Bailey said with a grin. "You're coming of age to find boyfriends. Having boy troubles at this age is very normal."
I stared at her, wondering if she was kidding. Despite her playful, glittering eyes and huge, bright smile, I could tell that she wasn't exactly joking.
I sighed and told her about Mrs. Jackling's bright idea of placing me with Samuel so he could tutor me.
As soon as Bailey heard that I was going to be paired up with a boy soon, she went crazy and wild over the news.
"
That's so great!" she squealed and gave me a hug, squeezing the air and life out of me. "You can finally find a boyfriend in your life now! Just like how I found your father!"
Head locked in her grip, I squirmed uselessly, gasping for breath. "Can't... breathe..."
Realizing that I was starting to turn blue and purple, Bailey quickly released me with an apologetic smile. "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to squeeze you like that. It's just, I was excited. That's all."
I scooted away from her, fearing that she might suddenly hug me again and kill me this time, while smoothing out my shirt of the wrinkles that Bailey made.
"Whatever," I grumbled, my sides still aching from the hug. "Do you need anything else?"
Bailey thought for a moment, one of her fingers tapping her chin thoughtfully. Her red nails, painted to fit her outfit, flashed vividly each time it caught the sun light. I was tempted to look away in order to save my eyes from permanent blindness, but I didn't for some odd reason.
"Hm..." Bailey mumbled to herself. Suddenly she remembered with a little 'Ah-ha!"
"I need to go to one of your father's banquets. You'll be fine staying home alone right?" she asked.
The weird thing was, I called my dad plain 'dad'. Not his real name like Bailey, but just 'dad'.
My dad was a huge business man working as the CEO of Castoway, a drilling company. He was rarely home because he had to attend countless meetings to discuss random issues and got invited to parties and banquets. Bailey always tagged along with him so I was already used to being alone.
I didn't mind, of course. In a teenager's point of view, it was a blessing to be home alone so much. This meant I had the whole house to myself.
"Right," I said. "Banquet. I'll be fine."
Bailey smiled gratefully and stood up, checking her huge golden watch on her waist. Realizing the time, she gasped and began to rush out the room.
"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder. "I gotta go! Your dad's waiting for me!"
Right before she was fully gone from my sight, she paused at the door way and turned back to look at me one last time, a small playful smile tugging on her lips. "And, oh yeah. If you ever do fall for that boy, tell me. I can't wait to get in between you two."
"MOM!"
Bailey chuckled and disappeared from the doorframe with a quick, "Bye sweetie!"
I rolled my eyes and, once I was sure she was out of ear shot, I pulled out my phone from under the pillow. Before I could even dial in Marisol's number, she called, the light green banner flashing on the top of the screen. I picked up.
"What happened?" was the first thing she asked. No 'hello!' or 'how are you doing?'. Just a 'What happened?'.
"How did you know that I was done with the conversation?"
"So, what happened?" Marisol repeated.
"You didn't answer my question. How did you know?"
"I just know," she answered. "Just tell me already. The suspense!"
I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration.
"Nothing much," I told her. "Bailey sided with you on the 'Samuel Rose' discussion."
There was a moment of silence before Marisol broke off into a bunch of squealing and 'Told you so!'.
I sighed irritatingly. "Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Fine, you win. But that doesn't mean that I'll love him."
Marisol laughed. "50 bucks."
"Huh?"
"I bet you 50 bucks that you will definitely fall for him."
I sagged a little. Marisol was definitely desperate enough to bet on something that would never happen.
"Fine. 50 bucks it is, then. I bet you 50 that I will never fall for him. Ever," I accepted the challenge.
Marisol's evil laughter resounded through the receiver.
"We'll see about that..." she giggled. “We'll see..."
We talked away for the rest of the time about random things that teenagers talked about like a recent breakup between the most stuck-up girl and hottest boy. it was a no brainer what happened there.
But Marisol's bet still played back and forth vividly in my mind. Would I, Eleanor Fyer, truly and surely fall for the Nobody Samuel Rose one day?
CHAPTER 4: Crazy Has a Whole New Meaning
I dreaded going to school the next day. That meant I would have to see both Samuel and Mrs. Jackling.
I was definitely scared of seeing Mrs. Jackling. It was not because she looked and sounded scary when she talked, but because she might start my tutoring sessions with Samuel.
I didn't want to start so soon. In fact, I didn't want to start at all.
I groaned and turned onto my stomach in my bed so that my face was buried into my pillow.
Samuel Rose. Of all the people in the world, it just had to be him. I pressed myself more into the pillow, hoping to somehow disappear forever in my bed. Or, at least, until the year passed so I wouldn't have to see Samuel.
But Bailey and Marisol obviously had different ideas.
"Eleanor?" Bailey called while banging repeatedly on my door. "Eleanor! Time for school!"
I groaned and pressed myself deeper into the pillow, trying to drown out her voice.
"Eleanor!"
Without warning, Bailey flung open the door and strode inside. When she saw me laying on the bed like a balloon that lost all its air, she sighed.
"Oh, come on, Ellie," she said. "Don't be like that. What's wrong with school?"
"It's not school," I grumbled. My voice was muffled into my pillow, so it came out like animal sounds. "It's something else."
Somehow understanding me, Bailey crossed the room and sat down beside me.
"Honey," she began, a warning that she was about to jump into one of her long speeches about life that was supposed to be 'essential' for me. "I know that you're upset about something, but you need to get it together and move on, okay?"
"That's easy for you to say," I told her, my face still planted firmly into my pillow. "You have no clue what happened to me."
Bailey heaved another sigh. "Please, Eleanor. You're going to be late for school. Marisol is waiting for you downstairs."
True to her word, Marisol called up the stairs, "El? We're gonna be late! Hurry up!"
I sighed heavily and slowly pushed myself up. Bailey smiled.
"Now, that's my girl!" she chirped and got up. She walked over to my drawer and pulled out a blue skirt and white shirt with frills going down the middle. She handed them to me and walked towards the door.
"Get changed and come downstairs for your breakfast!" she told me before dancing out the door.
I glared at my clothes as if blaming them for being a reason I had to get dressed and go to school.
Which they were.
I pulled off my pajama shirt and slipped on my white frilly shirt. Next, I slipped off my pajama pants and jumped into my blue skirt. I changed slowly to make the time last longer.
I pulled my wavy blonde hair up into a high ponytail and applied on my usual amount of makeup per day.
Putting on last minute accessories, I grabbed my backpack that was sitting in the corner of my room, slumped against the wall, and headed downstairs.
"Here are your pancakes." Bailey handed me a plate stacked with pancakes, topped with maple syrup.
I carried my plate to the kitchen and sat down beside Marisol who was in the middle of munching on a piece of waffle. Ever since we entered High School, all the activities increased, so Marisol and I had been taking turns eating breakfast at each other's to save time.
We quickly wolfed down our food and headed out the house.
"Keep safe!" Bailey called after us like she did every time.
"So, big day today?" Marisol asked as we walked down our neighborhood. We both lived close to Harken High so it was about half a mile walk to get to school.
"What do you mean?"
Marisol rolled her eyes. "Duh, Samuel! What else?"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on, El," Marisol grinned. "I still have a bet to win!"
/> "You mean, a bet I have to win," I corrected her.
Marisol laughed. "Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
We bickered playfully the entire way to school about who would win the bet. It was childish, but I knew the real reason why Marisol was doing this. She was trying to cheer me up, but failed. I still felt lousy and moody about going to school.
We were walking up the stairs to Harken High when someone called out to us, making us stop half way up.
I turned around to see Samuel jog up to us, out of breath.
"S-Sorry for... bothering you..." he managed to say. "But... I need to ask you... something..."