I felt accomplished when I finished the first page of my homework.
"Good job!" Samuel congratulated me with a smile and clapped his hands.
For some reason, I felt myself flush a little. The red tainting my cheeks didn't feel really hot, but I knew it was there.
"Uh, t-thanks," I stammered. I was dumbstruck. I never stammered on my words before and certainly not in front of a boy whom I hated, so why did I just do that right then?
Samuel smiled. "No problem!"
We moved on to the next topic which was science. As expected, Mrs. Jackling made this part of the tutoring the hardest and most tiring. She had handed Samuel piles and piles of work that he needed to teach me and review over.
As he explained about the Periodic Table, I stared at his hair. For the first time since I had met him, I noticed how beautiful Samuel's brown hair was.
It wasn't the dark type of brown, but the light, chocolate type. Whenever his hair caught the sunlight, it shimmered gold, then silver, then olive.
I watched as he furrowed his eyebrows a little as he read a passage out loud from the textbook. Somehow, I found this cute.
I guessed I was daydreaming too much because Samuel had to wave his hand in front of my face to snap me back to reality.
"Huh? What?" I jolted.
"Oh, I was just saying that today's tutoring session is over," Samuel told me as he began to pack up.
"Wait, but... What about Social Studies and ELA?" I asked frantically. Strangely, somewhere within me, I didn't want this tutoring to end such soon. I wanted it to last longer.
"We'll do those subjects tomorrow," Samuel said and stuffed his pens and pencils into his backpack. "I don't want to stress you out with all that work. For now, Math and Science will be enough for you to worry about."
Samuel stood up from the table and gave me a smile. "Thanks for letting me come over," he said, his eyes shining with gratitude. "I hope that what we did today helped. I'll see you tomorrow."
He turned and was about to leave when I stopped him.
"Wait, can we tutor in my house again tomorrow?" I asked.
"Sure!" Samuel answered. I saw a flash of happiness flicker in his eyes. "That sounds great."
"Okay, bye," I felt my cheeks flush again. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Samuel gave me a little wave before walking out the room. I listened as his footsteps echoed through the house as he went down the stairs. Soon, those footsteps faded away and the door opened and closed.
I stood, planted to my spot on the floor, and stared numbly after Samuel.
My phone rang, making me blink twice and run to retrieve it.
"Hello?" I asked when I picked up.
"How did tutoring go?" Marisol's voice resounded from the other end.
I didn't answer her for a second as I plundered my answer. How did the tutoring go? Good? Bad? A little scary?
"Definitely interesting," I finally decided to say. Marisol laughed.
"So, I'm guessing I'm winning the bet?" Marisol asked playfully.
I rolled my eyes though she couldn't see me. "No way," I told her firmly. "If I say I'm gonna to win, I will. I'm not losing to the bet."
Marisol laughed again. "Yeah, that's what you say. But are you sure?"
I scowled. "Of course I'm sure," I said. "Why would I gain feelings for someone I don't like?"
"Because I can hear a difference in your voice. It's shaking," Marisol told me.
"What do you-"
I stopped talking and noticed what she meant. My voice was slightly quivering and my hand that held the phone shook a little.
I squeezed my fist over my phone and drew in a deep breath and let it out.
"Never mind," I said, more evenly. "Nothing happened though."
"Sure," Marisol said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I, like, totally believe that."
Through my phone, I heard Marisol's bedroom door suddenly bang open and a second later, Justin's voice said whiningly, "Hey, Mar. Where's the Cheetos?"
Marisol sighed exasperatedly. "Justin, can't you see I'm a bit busy here?" she said, annoyed. "You don't just go barging into people’s room."
"Where's the Cheetos?" Justin asked again, completely ignoring Marisol's comment.
"Go away. Leave me alone."
"Cheetos?"
"No."
"But I and the others are hungry."
"I don't care."
"Fine," Justin huffed. "But don't blame me when you find the house rampaged!"
The door slammed shut and Marisol muttered under her breath, "Stupid brat of a brother."
Remembering that I was still on the phone, she asked, "You still have a session tomorrow right?"
"Yeah," I answered grumpily.
"Excited for it?"
I snorted. "Totally. I'm completely pumped up for it."
Except, I was not. At least, I’m didn’t think I am.
CHAPTER 6: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Marisol and I never eat lunch inside the cafeteria. It was way too loud with all the non-stop chattering from the kids. We made do outside at the dark blue tables that they placed beneath a ceiling. It wasn't exactly amazing to be sitting outside where I might get bitten by an ant or something, but it was definitely better than having to scream and yell every time I had to tell Marisol something.
"So, story time," Marisol propped her elbows onto the table and leaned forward a bit with a smirk as she popped a raisin into her mouth.
For unknown reasons, Marisol had loved raisins ever since she was in the 2nd grade. I love donuts in which Marisol would never understand because she considered them, and I quote, 'weirdly shaped'. But then again, I never ceased to understand why she not only loved eating raisins, but also used it to bring away her sorrows and frustrations. I ate nuts whenever I could and that was saying a lot.
"What do you mean?" I asked and sucked some orange juice through my straw. I didn't eat much. Just a veggie sandwich and an orange juice box.
"Duh, girl," Marisol rolled her eyes playfully. "About yesterday."
I sighed and set the juice box down. "I already told you. It wasn't anything special."
Marisol laughed and wiggled her finger in my face. "Ah-ah-ah. Details, girl, details."
I picked up my pizza and took a bite out of it, savoring the amazing taste of tomato sauce, melted cheese, and dough put all together.
I swallowed and said ,"There's nothing to say. It was basically like any regular tutoring in this world."
"What did he teach you?" Marisol asked promptly and tossed another raisin into her mouth.
"Stuff."
"Like...?"
"Things."
"Oh come on," Marisol giggled and gave me a gentle shove. "Just tell me already."
I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to say something when a voice with a familiar accent interrupted me.
"Can I zit here?"
I looked up and sure enough, it was Chloe with her bright smile. Her ear rings flashed brightly like Bailey's nails, almost blinding me.
I opened my mouth to tell her no when Marisol butted in.
"Sure!" she smiled. I groaned internally as Chloe slipped into the spot next to me and dumped a Kit Kat bar, a Snicker bar, and two packs of Gummy Bears onto the table. All of them were King size.
She pulled her backpack off her shoulders and rummaged around for a while before she did a little 'Ah-ha!' and pulled out a can of Coke and set it next to all her candies.
I scooted a little bit to the left to keep a good distance away from her. If that girl thought that candy and soft drinks could keep you full every day, she must be crazy. Sure, sweets made you hyper and energized, but it took time before you truly felt any change at all and the burst of energy didn't last long. I knew this fact first-handedly because I used to just eat sweets for lunch as well. The result was sleeping in class and getting way too many detentions.
Chloe popped open her can of coke and ripped open a pack of Gummy Bears.
&n
bsp; "You guys like eating outside?" Chloe asked as she chewed on one of the bears, a red one.
"Yeah," Marisol answered. "The cafeteria's way too loud."
"It's a good spot," Chloe mused as she looked around. There wasn't much to see unless you counted brick walls and random flowers that grew through cracks in the ground.
"Yup!" Marisol agreed jokingly. "Nature is our BFF."
Chloe swallowed and chewed on another gummy bear.
"So, you're from Germany, right?" Marisol asked as she plucked a raisin from her box and popped it into her mouth.
"Yes," Chloe answered.
"What’s it like there?"
Chloe tilted her a bit to the side and chewed thoughtfully as she thought of an answer.
I don't blame her. I hated explaining things. It didn't come with my nature.
"It’s like here, in America," Chloe finally said, carefully. "Except, I seem to enjoy America much more."
Marisol smiled. "That's great!" she said enthusiastically. "You seriously need to explore all of America. Start with Texas first. Man, Texas rocks."
To prove her point, she dug around in her purse and pulled out her phone.
"I'm a Texas Longhorn fan," she informed Chloe as she pointed to her phone case that featured an orange silhouette of a Texas Longhorn.
Chloe looked confused.
"What is the 'Texas Longhorn'?"
"It's a football team," I answered for Marisol, surprising myself. "I'm a fan as well."
"Ah," Chloe nodded her head understandingly. "I see. Well, I hope to one day meet them too. Maybe I'll be their fan as well."
Marisol grinned. "There's no way you won't!"
I couldn't help but to smile along. "Yeah, they're like the best football team in all of Texas."
Something was definitely going on with me. I felt like something had changed within me. Maybe sitting next to Chloe, the weird candy girl with crazy hair is starting to affect me.
"You play any sports?" Marisol asked as flipped her hair behind her, stopping me from thinking any further.
"No," Chloe said. She crumpled up the wrapper for the gummy bears and set it beside her. Next, she moved to the Kit Kat bar. She ripped open the pack and began to bite the four bars inside.
"Aw, that's too bad," Marisol said as she rattled her box of raisins and held it up to see if there were anymore. "Eleanor and I play volleyball."
"She forced me to," I added.
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Okay, okay," Marisol laughed and held up her hands in mock defeat. "So maybe I did kinda force you to. But on the bright side, you like volleyball right?"
"Yeah, I'll totally like it if Coach Wayne will stop screaming every five seconds and spitting every time he opens his mouth," I grumbled and rolled my eyes.
"Sounds like an interesting coach," Chloe grinned.
"That's an understatement."
Marisol and Chloe burst out laughing. Though I was not sure why, I smiled a little too. It just felt natural... in a way.
I opened my purse and checked the time on my phone. We had five more minutes before we had to leave for our next classes.
I took out a pack of nuts from my back pack and dumped a handful into my hand. I threw one into my mouth and began to chew.
"Hey, you wanna come to our volleyball game this Saturday?" Marisol asked Chloe.
"Sure!" Chloe smiled. "I'll love to!"
"Awesome! Here," Marisol slid her over a piece of paper. "It contains all the information, including the address."
Chloe picked up the paper and scanned through it once before tucking it away in her backpack.
"I promise to come," she said with a smile. "I will never miss a game of my new friends."
~*~
Marisol and I rushed down the hallway like everyone else. Marisol's Social Studies classroom was right next to my Geometry one so we fast walked in one direction. Chloe went the other way to Band.
I blew my hair out of my face and ran a hand through it. The people swarming around us made me hot and suddenly tired.
"You finished the Geometry homework?" Marisol asked as we turned a corner and began to head down the hall to the Geometry and Social Studies room.
"Yup," I answered. "Samuel helped me yesterday."
"Good, because we have a pop quiz today. I heard from a group of gossiping girls during PE today while we were changing."
"Say what?!" I exclaimed. "That can't be true! I just figured out what's going on in math and now she throws a freaking pop quiz at us? I can't believe she-"
"OMG!"
We froze and turned around to see a girl with bright red hair tied up in a ponytail that kept bouncing up and down jog towards us. She stopped in front of us and, though breathing heavily, she faced Marisol and grinned, revealing a row of braces, and chirped, "Are you Marisol Kennedy?!"
"Uh, yeah?" Marisol drew out slowly, confused. The girl gasped and squealed happily.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" She literally jumped up and down. "I can't believe it! I'm meeting the Marisol Kennedy, captain of Harken High's Volleyball Team! This is the real deal. They say you are the best!"
Marisol laughed awkwardly. "Uh... thanks I guess?"
The girl squealed again and shook her hands in front of her to show her excitement. I immediately sensed her as a fan. I tugged on Marisol's shirt sleeve and whispered, "Let's go. This girl's crazy."
Maybe the girl had super hearing or something. But whatever it was, she heard me.
Slowly, she turned her attention away from Marisol to stare at me, making me suddenly feel uneasy.
"Are you... Eleanor Fyer...?" she asked in a disbelieving voice. I didn't need to answer, because judging by how I stepped back a little and probably turned pale, she knew.
"OH MY GOODNESS!" the girl almost yelled. "I can't believe I'm meeting not only the captain of the volleyball team, but also the famous Eleanor Fyer today up close! It's like a dream coming true!"
I flinched at her loud voice.
"Can you keep it down?!" I hissed. "You're being too loud. My ears are about to explode!"
The girl giggled, but tuned her volume down a bit.
"This is perfect," she said in a daze. "This is absolutely perfect."
"What is?" Marisol asked, confused. The girl grinned, flashing her crooked row of braces at us.
"Harken High Newspaper of course!" she stated as if it were obvious. "We'll be interviewing you two. This will definitely gain more readers!"
I was taken aback.
"Wait a sec-"
"So, are you two in?" the girl asked in an excited way as she leaned forward for an answer.
"Um..." Marisol began. "We don't know. This is too sudden. We need to-"
"So you're in, right?!" the girl exclaimed and hopped up and down.
"We didn't say tha-"
"Alright!" the girl did a little fist pump in the air. She whipped out a notepad from her bag and scribbled something onto it. She ripped it out and handed it to Marisol.
"Thank you so much!" she smiled and began to jog away. "By the way, I'm Allison Waysley, just in case you need to know and I'm a number one fan of both of you!"
She gave us a wave and rounded a corner and disappeared.
"What... just happened?" Marisol asked as she stared at the piece of paper, dumb folded.
"Dunno," I said and shook my head. "But whatever just happened, it was definitely crazy."
Marisol sighed as she read over the paper. "Well, guess we're stuck in the newspaper club now. We're so lucky."
I rolled my eyes. "You mean you're the one lucky here. I still have tutoring sessions here."
Recovering pretty quickly from that incident, Marisol laughed and gave me a little pat on the shoulder.
"Whatever girl," she grinned. "The Newspaper Club doesn't sound that bad to me."
"Yeah right," I grumbled. “You wished.” Marisol shrugged and began to walk again
.
"See ya later," she called. As if suddenly remembering something, she paused and turned to face me on last time, smiling mischievously. "Oh! And, don't forget to invite Samuel to the volleyball game this Saturday, too!"
She giggled and ran away before I could say anything.
I groaned and opened the door to my Geometry class right as the bell rang. There was absolutely no way I would invite Samuel. Tutoring was enough. I didn't need to see him everywhere I went.
My backpack felt heavy on my shoulder as I entered and sat down in my usual spot at the back of the classroom.