TUTOR

Chapter 7

Ilang araw rin ang lumipas bago bumalik si Evan sa school. Not that I was counting the days. I was just worried na baka hindi ko na nagagampanan ang role ko bilang tutor niya!

Patapos na ang Advanced Trigonometry noong pinatawag ako ng Principal namin.

"Ms. Alcantara," bungad ni Ma'am Principal. "Good to see you, have a seat." Aya niya.

Taking a seat means na baka mahaba-habang usapan ito. Aantayin pa kaya ako nila Paul at Anne for lunch?

"Pinatawag niyo po ako, Ma'am?"

She leaned back on her office chair, then she smirked. Is this good news?

"I wanted to commend you for the good job," sabi niya. Good job?

"Mr. Evan Guerrero was able to catch up with the lessons, after his prolonged leave."

"Ma'am, to be honest po, we haven't had any sessions together for around 3 days na po," sabi ko naman.

"Ah, no! I didn't mean his recent absences. I meant yung leave of absence niya bago kayo magsimula sa sessions ninyo!"

Si Evan, nag-leave of absence bago kami naging tutor-tutee?

Napansin siguro ni Principal ang nakakunot kong noo kaya nag-explain siya.

"You see, Evan is on scholarship. This is not my story to tell, but you ought to know perhaps. Because of his personal matters, his grandmother got sick, kaya kinailangan niya mag-leave for a month. And that leave left a dent on his grades."

Hindi ko napigilan ang maliit na tawa. "Sorry po, but does Eclairs High's bad boy need to pull his grades up?"

"Oh Jennie," nakangiti si Principal habang sinabi ito. "So he also never told you? Evan was our former top placer!"

I'm sorry, what?

Napalakas ata pagkasabi ko noon dahil inulit ni Principal ang mga sinabi niya. "Emphasis on was, dear. Again, his grades fell badly after missing a month's worth of classes. Hindi na rin ako nagulat na hindi niya binanggit sa iyo na siya ang top ranking student ng Eclairs."

"But how? Why?"

"You should ask him yourself, dear! You have 3 days to catch up on!"

At pinalabas na niya ako ng office niya to take my lunch. Exempted na rin daw ako sa isang pop quiz sa next subject ko, which is Statistics. I'm happy with that reward.

***

Narinig ko ang makina ng bike ni Evan mula sa kwarto ko.

Walang pasabi yan na pupunta siya ngayon, pero I expected na rin. Ni hindi ko nga siya nakita buong araw sa school today, pero narinig ko ngang bumalik na siya.

"Anak!" Rinig kong sabi ng Mama ko.

Anak?!

"Tara at pumasok ka na, salamat naman dito!" Salamat? May dala ba si Evan para sa amin? At galing saan?

Naririnig ko na ang hakbang niya papuntang kwarto ko, kaya nagkunwari akong nagbabasa. Nagmadali rin akong ilagay ang earphones ko sa mga tenga ko.

Knock. Knock.

Okay, kunwari wala akong narinig.

Bumukas na lang ang pinto ko at wala parin akong kibo.

Narinig kong tumawa si Evan, at hindi pa rin ako gumagalaw.

"Hey tiny, you can stop pretending now," sabi niya sabay salampak ng backpack niya sa sahig ng kwarto ko. "You're so stiff, ang daling malaman na hindi ka naman talaga nagbabasa."

I glared at him. "Fine, ni hindi ka man lang nagkunwari. Also, ang at home mo naman, pumasok ka na lang bigla!"

"Chill, princess. I'm not in the mood and pagod ako. Please, I need to catch up sa mga namiss out kong lessons."

Wow. This isn't like him at all. Usually nagbibiro siya or magsasabi na ayaw niya muna mag-aral.

How is he the top-ranking student in our school?

Why have I never paid attention?

I guess because I was happy with my position? I'm happy na scholar ako in a prestigious school? Dahil ba hindi naman competition ang lahat para sa akin?

"Bakit hindi mo sinabi sa akin na ikaw ang Top 1?" Hindi ko napigilang itanong.

He just stared at me for a while. "It didn't matter at the time, my grades were slipping and hindi naman ako nage-expect to be at the top again."

"Why did you need tutoring from me when you're actually good?!" Frustrated kong tanong sa kanya.

"Tiny.. I can't self-learn lessons for a month," he said in a matter-of-fact-way. "Kaya they gave me the best note taker of Eclairs as a tutor!"

Well..

I can't say I'm complaining.

Third or fourth week na rin kami sa sessions namin, and I won't deny that I like being around him.

He can be funny, he can be stubborn, and sometimes nasa parehong mood lang rin kami na ayaw na namin mag-aral dahil sa pagod.

But we got through the lessons he missed and the current lessons together, hindi ba?

But.. "Teka nga, why do you keep calling me Tiny!!" Pinalo ko siya ng notebook.

"Because you are tiny!"