Page 11 of Tutor With Benefits
TAYLOR
“Another one bites the dust!” Zach announces, loudly joining in the mirth over what we just witnessed.
“Womp womp. That’s gotta hurt!” Cory adds.
“Crashandburn. You know, I don’t know which is worse, the poor shirt that had to be worn by her all the way over here or the burger that got smashed. Waste of a perfectly good burger if you ask me,” I chime in.
“Hope she got some of that Pepsi in her hair. God knows she looks like she could stand to wash that mop, that’s probably the closest she’s got to getting it wet in the past week!” Cory says.
The three of us often eat dinner at the diner during the week, and we often try to sit at the same booth when we get there. It’s a spot that allows us to see who’s coming into the diner for dinner, and at the same time enables us to have a good view of the rest of the dining room, too.
Not that we care much about who comes in, except for when there’s another member of the hockey team that shows up. If it happens to be one of the guys we like hanging around, we’ll raise enough of a scene to get their attention and invite them over to sit with us.
But that doesn’t happen often.
For the most part, the three of us are pretty tight, and we don’t much care to add another to our group.
However, sitting where we are tonight has given us perfect seats to watch the downfall of Tori with her tray, and it just feels good to see that happen to her after we’ve been stewing all afternoon over the fact that she so blatantly turned us down when we asked her for help.
“Gross, I don’t want to think aboutanythingon that loser getting wet,” Zach says, pointing into his mouth and making a gagging sound. “I already deal with her creaming over Johnny in English class all the time. Now I’m not going to be able to get the wordwetout of my mind the next time I see her.”
Cory and I both burst into another round of laughter. We don’t know Tori that well, but it feels good making fun of her in the one way we can right now, since we’re all worried about how we’re going to stay on the hockey team when we don’t know how we’re going to bring up our chemistry grades.
“She might be good at chemistry, but someone really needs to teach her the basics, you know, like how to walk,” Cory says. “Pick up your damn feet and put one foot in front of the other.”
“Wasn’t she on the phone when she was getting her drink? Who the fuck cradles an iPhone between their cheek and shoulder? Put in your damn headphones for God’s sake,” I say with a shake of my head. “This seems like a classic case of the genius who doesn’t know how to tie her own shoes.”
“Fuck, wish I had my phone out when she ate shit like that. I would have been happy to plaster that all over the internet and see what she has to say about us then,” Zach tells us. “We thought she was a wallflower before, imagine what she’d do if the entire school and beyond saw her trip over her own damn feet with that tray full of food.”
“God, you’re going to make her off herself if you’re not careful,” Cory says with another laugh. “Not that anyone would notice if she was gone.”
We’re too far away for Tori to hear any of the comments we’re making about her, but I wish we weren’t. I’m pissed off that she refused to help us out. As if any of us ever did anything to her. It’s not like we’re mean to her or anything, so why does she feel like she’s too high and mighty to help us?
“Maybe that’ll knock her off her high horse,” I say. “Bring her down a few notches so she knows being smart’s not the only thing worth being in life. She’s not hot enough to act like her shit smells sweeter than ours.”
“If she wasn’t a woman I’d smack that conceited look she always has off her smug face,” Zach adds. “I just don’t get why girls these days walk around thinking that just because they’ve got a pair of tits they can treat the rest of the world like garbage.”
“Clearly the universe didn’t agree with her judgment over us,” I volunteer. “Or she wouldn’t have tripped over absolutely nothing just now.”
“My mom always says karma’s a bitch, so I guess that’s the bit of karma she got for not helping us out,” Cory tells us. “You know, I’ve always wanted to be part of instant karma. That was delayed by a few hours, but I’m happy I was here to get to see it.”
“I don’t know how real karma is, but I guess it’s the same thing to say that she’ll get her comeuppance, right?” Zach says.
“Pretty sure that’s the same thing as karma,” Cory replies.
“I don’t know. Karma’s like that New Age shit that got popular a few years ago. Pretty sure comeuppance has been around a lot longer than that,” Zach argues.
“Karma has been around as long as that fat guy in a towel has been!” Cory shoots back.
“Which one?” Zach asks. “There’s so many fat guys in towels, you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“You know, the bald monk guy that likes to laugh and shit.”
“Buddha?” I ask.
“That’s the one. My mom went on some Buddhist retreat a while back. She was all about karma when she got home, and from what she said, Buddha’s been around for a hot minute. So you can shove your comeuppance up your ass.”
“As delightful as that sounds, I’ll pass,” Zach says. “Though I’m sure your ass would love to have something shoved up it.”