[TAM: Evening the Odds] Chapter 20. (Patreon)

Chapter 20: Nightly texts and tutoring.

The trip to the hotel was hard. My body was heavy and knowing it would hurt like a bitch the next day didn’t help things, but I decided to believe Megan’s words and take comfort in knowing this would only get easier from here.

I wanted to drop on the bed and go to sleep immediately, but I had promised to have three math assignments ready for tomorrow. Not doing it would only get me more troubles to deal with, so I got to work and finished in a bit over an hour. Really, the hardest part was trying to not make it obvious. I think a small part of me found solace in knowing that if these three girls weren’t able to solve math problems this easy they wouldn’t get very far in life. But who was I kidding? They’d end up getting jobs at their parents’ companies and earning millions without ever trying.

Whatever. I ate my meal and was ready to go to bed when I heard the sound of a text message coming from my phone.

-Emma: Hey, how are you doing?

-David: My body doesn’t like me right now and it will hate me tomorrow.

-Emma: Yeah, I heard from Ms. Miller you started today. That bad?

-David: That bad. But Emily and Megan were tolerant with me, so I guess I’m thankful for that.

-Emma: I don’t know how I feel about you staring at two sexy girls in sportswear while they work out.

-David: Believe me, that’s the last of my worries right now. Besides, you have bigger boobs.

She took a moment before answering.

-Emma: I won’t dignify that with a response.

-David: Sorry. I just miss you.

-Emma: I miss you too. Is it stupid? We saw each other today.

-David: I saw my literature teacher today, not my sexy girlfriend Emma.

There was another pause before she answered back.

-Emma: Go to sleep you dork.

-David: Gladly.

I got ready for bed after that nice little exchange. It was relatively early but I could barely keep my eyelids open. I was looking forward to a night of deep sleep when I heard my phone again. This time it was a message from an unknown number.

-???: Hello? Mr. Walker, this is Mia Owens.

-David: Oh. Hello Ms. Owens.

I immediately saved her number to my phone.

-Ms. Owens: Hello. Sorry, I asked Emma for your number. Was that out of line?

-David: I don’t mind. I’m actually kind of happy I now have your number.

-Ms. Owens: Hoho, are you? Will you send me late night messages saying how much you miss my classes?

-David: I was thinking more along the lines of asking you questions about the paper we need to read, but that sounds good too.

-Ms. Owens: Alright, I fell right into that one. I just wanted to contact you to send you the summary of the topic for Friday’s debate. You don’t have to read it now, but be sure to give it a look during the week.

-File: Should voting age be lowered.pdf-

-David: Alright. Thank you Ms. Owens.

-Ms. Owens: Goodnight Mr. Walker.

-David: Goodnight.

It was weird to think the two people closest to me in school were two teachers. It definitely wasn’t like that in high school.

I went to sleep and the next day came in the blink of an eye. It felt almost literal. Didn’t have any dreams or anything. Just closed my eyes, fell asleep, and a second later my alarm went off. 

My body hurt, by which I mean IT FUCKING HURT. Getting out of bed has never been that hard even to this very day. Every step was a torture delivered by Satan himself.

I knew I’d be disappointing my coach Emily, but no, jogging to school wasn’t gonna happen. However, walking should do it. I had a good breakfast and left with enough time to get to school just as the bell rang.

During the first recess, I actively searched for my worst tormentors to give them their homework as promised. I found all three of them together next to a vending machine.

With a sigh to prepare myself, I dived in.

“Good morning,” I called to them. “I have your homework, as promised.”

“Good thing, too. We were just about to look for you.” Lilian told me, taking the notebooks away from me in one swift motion. “I assume you did a proper job?” she asked, a silent threat lingering after her question.

“Yes. I even left a few wrong answers so the teacher won’t suspect you’re copying.”

“Good. Now go away,” Olivia says. “I don’t feel like dealing with you today. Your face is pissing me off.”

Jessica, as always, ignored me while she sucked on a lollipop.

Not taking chances, I left immediately. When I was far enough away, I checked their scores out of curiosity.

[Hughes, Olivia - Affection Score: -45]

[Ramirez, Jessica - Affection Score: 0]

[Reed, Lilian - Affection Score: -50]

There was an improvement of two points only, while Jessica remained indifferent. Man, what did I ever do to these girls? 

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, my subtle efforts to change opinions of me working well enough that many minus scores turned into zeroes that day! At least 5 people didn’t absolutely hate my guts anymore! Considering those were girls with which I didn’t have much contact, I’d consider it a win. Perhaps if I could concentrate on just a few people, they’d spread the word and the general opinion of me might change.

Well, those were thoughts for another time. For now, classes were over, clubs were over and it was time to tutor the jocks. The thing is… where?

I didn’t feel taking them to my hotel room was appropriate and school was about to close for the day, meaning no library. In the end, after giving the suggestion to the soccer super stars, we agreed on a coffee shop that was a few ways from school. It had big tables and Wi-Fi connection, so as long as we weren’t extremely loud, it was a decent place to study. Besides, as I found out that day, they served really good coffee.

We would work on English and Math, since those were the subjects both girls needed help with. We’d work on the others on Thursday. To start, I gave them a short diagnostic test I prepared while they were in soccer practice. This was to see the areas they needed the most help. And boy did they need help. The fact that they weren’t able to solve mid-level math problems and find implicit information in a text said a lot. I mean, math I could understand, but reading comprehension?

There was no conversation other than what was relevant to their studies. I was actually surprised that they were taking it seriously. They were as focused as they could be as they tried to solve problems and silently read the sample texts as I gave them some guidance and answered their many questions.

Eventually, however, Emily hesitantly asked, “Can… Can we take a small break?” Hearing her ask that so meekly and nervously was almost a shock considering how she was yesterday.

“Let’s see… It's been an hour already, so yes. Let’s take ten minutes.”

“Oh thank God!” Emily slumped in her seat while Megan set her pen down with a sigh of relief. “I think my brain is melting.”

“Math really isn’t my forte. I can’t wrap my head around these formulas,” Megan comments, taking a sip of her coffee.

“I think I’m starting to get it,” Emily said. “What drives me nuts is English. What’s the author’s intention? What did this character mean by this? What does it mean that the curtains are blue?” She read the questions mockingly. “If they just said it we wouldn’t be having this issue!”

“The curtains are blue because they reflect the emotions of the characters, right?” Megan asked me, trying to confirm.

“Sometimes,” I answered with a wry smile. “Other times the curtains are just blue. You need to think and see if there actually is a connection between a character’s state of mind and the description of the environment around them.”

“Argh!” Emily grumbled at my answer. “Let’s change the subject for now, please!” she told Megan, but then turned to look at me with a small frown. “Hey. I saw you walking to school this morning.”

“Really?” Megan’s eyes widened with a small smile.

“Sorry I wasn’t jogging, but my body is killing me today,” I defended myself.

“No, that’s good. Light exercise, like walking and stretching, help blood flow and repair your muscles. It was a good choice,” Emily explained. “I’m surprised you walked at all. I figured you’d whine and wouldn’t even get out of bed.”

I scoffed. “Hah. Now it’s my turn to ask you not to look down on me. I take my responsibilities seriously.” I shrugged. “Sure, it was tempting to stay in bed but I don’t have the time to lay down.”

“Mmm, is that so?” Emily gave me a curious look while a small smile formed on Megan’s face.

After that, we studied for one more hour, stopping after 30 minutes for a 5 minute break. The girls were trying their best, but in the words of Ms. Miller, sometimes a person’s best isn’t enough. I was gonna have to help them a lot, just like they’d have to make a miracle happen to get me in shape. We parted ways right there at the coffee shop, but they seemed to be in a better mood than when we started.

[Grant, Megan - Affection Score: 21]

[Miller, Emily - Affection Score: 15]