My Best Friend's Brother

Tutoring Reese

Aria sat in the boys room with Reese and Dewey as Hal and Lois talked to Malcolm in the kitchen. The three of them could hear Hal and Lois but they paid them no attention, Aria helped Dewey with his homework while Reese tossed a ball in the air as he laid on his bed.

The three of them were startled when Lois started shouting and Francis stormed into the room, packing a small bag, the three watched in confusion. Francis got kicked out.

Sometime later, Malcolm came in and Dewey went elsewhere. Apparently Lois and Hal were making Malcolm tutor Reese so that he wouldn’t fail and be put into the remedial class. 

“Look, I don’t like this any better than you do. Let’s just get this over with.” Malcolm opened Reese’s bag and pulled out a destroyed book. “Dude, this book is totally wrecked. What did you do to it?”

“I threw it at a duck.” Reese replied casually.

Malcolm looked in his brother’s bag again. “Well, where’s your math book?”

“Which half?” Aria had to cover her face so they didn’t see her silently laughing.

“We’ll just start with geography then.”

“I don’t take geography!” exclaimed Reese.

“Yes, you do. You got a grade in it.” Malcolm looked at his brother in disbelief.

“Oh, that can’t be good.” 

“Clearly.” Aria said, sarcastically.

The rest of the night was spent with Malcolm trying to keep his temper in check and trying to keep Reese on task. Aria found the entire thing entertaining until Malcolm asked for her help and she joined his frustration. However, unlike Malcolm she had more patience with the older boy. School was not easy.

~~~

The next day the three sat in the same spots as the night before quizzing Reese on what they had studied.

“Come on. What’s the answer?” Malcolm pushed.

“You can do this.” Aria encouraged Reese.

Reese stared at the math homework and opened his mouth to answer but sighed and continued to stare at the paper. He repeated the action once more before Malcolm finally lost his temper.

“We’ve gone over this a thousand times.” Malcolm tossed the work onto the desk and stood. “You have to carry the tenths. Tenths have to go someplace. Tenths don’t just float around. Get smarter already! Think. Make your brain work. I could be outside doing anything other than this. But, no. I’m stuck in here babysitting this –”

“4.2.” Reese answered.

“That’s right.” Aria smiled and nodded.

“I mean. . . I actually understand this. The tenths have to go someplace.”

“Great. Let’s move onto the next one.” 

Unfortunately, the process repeated itself.

~~~

Aria went home that night and spent most of her night in the living room working on songs and hanging out with her dad watching TV.

“How’s that tutoring thing going?” Her dad asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“It’s going alright, I guess. Reese is slowly getting it but you know how Malcolm gets when you don’t get something as quick as him.” Aria shrugged, strumming a chord. 

“Yeah, that kid does have a bit of a short fuse sometimes.” He nodded. 

“I think Reese can definitely get his grades up if he puts his mind to it.”