Page 26 of Tutor With Benefits
“Hey,” she says. “On time again, that’s good.”
She turns and walks into her dorm, letting us in with her. I’m the last one in, so I close and lock the door behind me, then take a place on the end of the bed with the other two.
“Have you guys looked at the notes at all from the other day?” she asks. “I couldn’t help but notice there was a little bit of struggling going on in class.”
“Not like you’re going to see a lot of improvement after just one session, right?” I ask.
“Yeah, we aren’t all you,” Taylor says. I elbow him in the ribs, and she looks at us with raised eyebrows.
“What’s that mean?” she asks.
“We just thought you did very well with your kissing, that’s all,” I say. “Pretty sure you picked up on things a lot faster than most would have. And that’s a good thing.”
“Oh, well, thank you,” she says. “I guess that is a good thing, huh?”
“Keep that up, and you’ll have Johnny eating right out of your hand in no time,” Cory says with a grin. “Just remember that you promised you’d stick with helping us out even after you get the guy.”
“I know,” she says with a nod. “And I’m sure if you all just give this a bit of your attention, like, I don’t know, half the effort you put into hockey, you’re going to be just fine. You just have to apply yourselves.”
“Now you’re sounding like Professor Fuck,” I say with clear resentment in my tone.
“That’s not very nice,” Tori tells me.
“She’s not very nice,” I shoot back. “I don’t get why she targets the three of us. It’s not like we’re the only ones in her class who are struggling.”
“I don’t know,” Tori says. “I think she’s nice.”
“You’re also really good at chemistry, so she probably is nice to you,” I tell her. “But put yourself in our shoes. It sucks.”
“I’m kind of there when it comes to dating,” Tori says, her voice quivering. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I just can’t get it down.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Cory says. “You’re doing fine. Like we said, we were talking about how fast you picked up on what we were doing the other day, so keep that in mind, and you’re going to be just fine. Trust me.”
“I hope so,” Tori says. “I keep dreaming about Johnny and wishing that I just had the courage to go up to him and tell him how I feel. I want to be normal, you know?”
“Normal is overrated,” Taylor says with a shrug. “You don’t have to get a date. Just be yourself. Only, I don’t know, sluttier.”
“Sluttier!” Tori cries.
“Wrong word, wrong word!” Cory says. “Don’t listen to Zach. He rarely knows what the fuck he’s talking about.”
“Fuck off,” I say.
“Alright, we’re getting way off topic now,” Taylor cuts in, bringing the conversation back around before it can get any worse. “Let’s get this chemistry lesson out of the way so we can work on building more of that much needed self-esteem in you.”
“Okay,” Tori sighs.
She flips open her book and tells us to do the same. I grab my pencil, and we dive right into the chapter. I am not looking forward to this any more than either of my friends, but I’m going to dutifully suffer through it, just like they are.
The only thing that’s getting me through is the idea that we’re going to be able to stay on the hockey team for the rest of the season. Well, that and the fact that Tori really does have a way of explaining this shit that just makes sense. I don’t know what’s different about the way she does it from how our professor does it, but she really can make the words that feel like they’re in a foreign language on the page suddenly come together to make sense in my brain.
And, from the way both Taylor and Cory are feverishly writing down notes and nodding along to what she’s saying, I get the impression that they’re also able to understand this as though it’s being taught to them for the first time.
We spend over an hour on the tutoring, and by the time we’re through the chapter, I feel like I finally have a grasp on what the fuck is being said.
“Now, if our so-called teacher could explain this the way you do, I don’t think any of us would have a problem with passing the class,” I say.
“So you feel like you understand what’s going on a little better now?” Tori asks as she looks from one of us to the other. There’s some hesitation from Taylor, so Tori adds, “You don’t have to be shy about asking questions. The whole point of you being here is so that we can get you to understand it. I’m not going to make fun of you or anything if you don’t know what’s going on.”