Today, Tomorrow, and Forever || teacher x student

Chapter 6

I've had to wait one whole week for Mr. Grumpy to decide on a schedule for tutoring me. And in the meantime, I discovered that I got an 82% on our English test. How nice for me. Until I learned I got a 42% on a calculus quiz.

Mr. Grumpy informed me that he is willing to tutor me twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school. I told him that works for me, and then he didn't speak to me the whole rest of class.

I don't know what his issue is, but I'm starting to think he's bipolar, the way he's always acting friendly and then literally the next day acting like a stranger. I've decided to stop giving him so much thought, he's just my teacher, no one special.
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Now it's Tuesday, the day of our first tutoring session. We're officially halfway through October as well, only a couple more weeks until Halloween! As the date grows closer and closer, I'm scared of whatever party Ally invited me to. It's going to have other students, some of whom may not like me. I'm not a very social person.

As I walk into the school cafeteria for lunch, Ally waves me over to another table. I look at her, confused, and she just gestures again. I sigh and roll my eyes, but walk over there.

"Elaine! Perfect timing. We just got the plan for the party, it's being held on Saturday, 2 weekends from now, at a house near Jacqueline's place." Who the hell is Jacqueline? "Wait, you don't even know where she lives, let alone the host. I'll text you the address, or I could just pick you up?" I nod and smile, a ride would be nice, especially if it's a place I've never been.

After she gives me all the info, we sit down at the new table and eat. There's a few football guys, and some cheerleaders, one of whom I assume is Jacqueline. Grey is nowhere to be found, but I assume he's eating with the rest of the football guys. You think he'd want to eat with Ally, right?

The rest of the day absolutely rushes by, and in the blink of an eye I find myself standing outside of Mr. Grumpy's classroom. I already let my dad know about my tutoring, but he didn't seem to care. After his outburst, he's not really speaking to me. Fine with me, honestly.

I raise my hand to knock, but hesitate. Maybe I should take up Mr. Evans on his offer? He's way nicer... Ugh, no, Mr. Steele was kind enough to do this, and it's his class I'm failing the worst in... I'll just be tough, I can do it. I knock on the door and wait for a response.

"Come in." I hear from within.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Steele." I say, coming in and setting my bag at my desk.

"Afternoon, M- Elaine." He's getting way better about using my first name like I asked him to. It's a small thing, but it means a lot.

"So um... I just want to say thank you for tutoring me... I'm sure you're busy, this means a lot to me." I sit down at my usual desk and start getting my work out.

"Absolutely. I'd hate to see such a bright young girl as yourself fail, just because she can't focus in class." I blush, both because he called me bright and because he called me out on not focusing.

"Also," he continues, "why are you sitting at your desk? It's tutoring, not class. Come here where I can help you." I nod, and bring my chair and papers up to his desk. I hesitate, then decide to just sit next to him.

"Hopefully there's not a repeat of last time!" I joke, referring to when I fell asleep at his desk. Gosh, that was embarrassing. I thank the gods he didn't make fun of me for it, probably because I felt like absolute hot garbage.

"Too soon, Elaine." He says, but there's a ghost of a smile on his face. I missed that smile... I spent god knows how long thinking about it. I shake my head to clear my thoughts of his smile, and try to focus on my work in front of me.