The Tutor

4 - Dictionary

Later that day, Jacob takes the bus to Sam's house again. Once there. He knocks on the door. This time when Sam opens the door, he's in a different outfit. Full black tight clothes. It looks like some kind of workout outfit or something, but it has a long-sleeved shirt and black leggings, not short stuff or anything like that. Why is Sam wearing that? It also does NOT go with his glasses.

Jacob doesn't know what to say as he looks at Sam. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Confusion has left him tongue-tied.

"... Are you okay?" Sam asks, tilting his head. It doesn't even cross his mind that Jacob could be confused by the outfit change.

"What are you wearing?!"
"Oh! This? There's no time between your tutoring session and my dance class today, so I'm going to wear this for the session. It is still clothes, so I don't think it's inappropriate- That's why I needed to get homework done during recess today and couldn't talk much."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? This kid takes dance classes? Why?! Do his parents force him to do it or something?

"Come on, we can't start late!" Sam gestures for Jacob to follow him inside.
He snaps out of his thoughts for long enough to be able to follow Sam inside, staring at the outfit in disbelief. He can't help it. He can't wrap his mind around this new piece of information.

"Is there anything you can't do?"
"I can't swim," Sam offers up as he brings Jacob to the living room and sits down on one of the couches. "And as you already figured out, I can't pick up on sarcasm sometimes."

So, his parents get him dancing lessons but cheap out on the swimming lessons? The objectively more important skill to have.

"Also, I was thinking next time, we could go to your place, that way you're not tempted by the TV. You will have a week to think about it since you scheduled for only two days a week."
How thoughtful...

Jacob takes a seat next to Sam on the couch, setting his bookbag down and opening it up. "Does that mean you would have to take the bus~?"
"What? No."
"... I don't want you pulling up in a limo or something." He doesn't want him mother to see that and start worrying about if she's providing enough for him to have a good life.
"A limo? Absolutely not. I'll be traveling via private jet." Sam's tone does not change, it is just as blunt as normal. Jacob cannot tell if what he said is a joke. And what does 'via' mean?

He looks over at the blond for a few seconds, trying to see if he's being serious.
"... That was sarcastic..."
"You are not good at being sarcastic, sorry."
Sam shrugs, not really affected by that. He just accepts it. "What did you want to work on today?"

Jacob returns his gaze to his bag to take out a folder and a pencil, which he sets on the table. "You seem to know a lot of big words. So... Can you help me with English? Wait, no, I still don't have a real answer to my question. If you're not taking the bus, how will you get to my house?"

"A normal car. And yes, we can work on English." He leans forward to open the folder and see what's in it, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "What does me knowing big words have to do with using -ing verbs in a sentence?"

"You probably know some really impressive -ing verbs!"
"I mean, I don't like acquiescing."
"See! What does that mean?"
"To accept something reluctantly but without protest."
"Why do you know this?"
"I read the dictionary."

... Is that a joke? Sam's tone is still the same again, there is no hint of this being a joke. It sounds completely serious, like normal. "That's a joke... Right?"

Sam tilts his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "Why would that be a joke?"

"What is an eight-year-old doing reading a dictionary?!"
"I was bored! I didn't memorize every word, only the ones I found interesting! And I thought it would be helpful when learning different languages in the future."

"You were bored so you read the dictiona- No." Jacob shakes his head with a sigh. "No, this is a joke. You're getting back at me for earlier today. I said I was sorry!"

Sam hops off the couch suddenly and runs over to a nearby bookshelf to take a book out. Then he comes back and hands it to Jacob. It's the dictionary.
"Owning a dictionary proves nothing-"
"Open it."
The brunette looks at the younger boy skeptically before opening to a random page.

There are notes. Very messy handwriting, but there are notes. And some words are highlighted. This man took notes in the dictionary. He is a menace to society, someone needs to stop him.

"Now, can we get to work?" The blonde asks as he sits back down, taking a paper out of Jacob's folder so they can get started on that worksheet.

Honestly, Jacob wants to keep learning more about this kid, not work on English. He would like to hang out without having to pay for the time spent with him. But he doesn't know how he should ask about something like that.

He closes the dictionary and sets it aside. "Sure~" He smiles, deciding to focus solely on academics for the rest of his time with Sam today. Don't think about the new outfit and the extreme clash it has with those Harry Potter glasses, don't think about that stuff. Focus on English. Surely there isn't too much more about this kid that could surprise him.

For the rest of the hour, Sam helps Jacob with identifying what -ing verbs and how to use them properly, as well as why they're important; how they add action and flow to a sentence. Why they're better than using passive voice. Jacob doesn't really know what passive voice means, but he sort of started to see how having an action 'in action' is more interesting than if the action has already been completed or is about to happen.

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A/N

This one is a little shorter, but whatever. Soon, we will be getting into who Jacob really is and what he's like. Right now, he's being cautious about talking about himself.