Visitor (Normila / Laurmani)

Chapter 4

East Central High School was in a more rural part of San Antonio, but it had almost 3,000 students. It was surrounded by farms and ranches, but had students from both urban and rural areas. Normani was one of the kids from the urban areas. Being on the dance team, she had managed to make a close group of friends, but hardly anyone outside of the dance team, pep squad, and cheerleaders knew her. She even went mostly unnoticed by the guys on the football, baseball, and basketball teams. During practice and when hanging out with her friends on the weekends, she was lively and could always be found laughing and goofing around. Contrarily, she kept to herself in class whenever her friends weren't around. She never volunteered to answer questions, and she dreaded the moments when she had to find a partner or group members for activities.

Normani absolutely hated her algebra II class. Not only was the subject boring to her, but the teacher managed to make it even more boring with his monotone voice and his own apparent lack of enthusiasm for the subject. The teenage girl struggled with a lot of courses throughout her school career, but this one had to be one of the most difficult for her. She was constantly afraid she was going to fail and be temporarily prohibited from participating in dance competitions.

The only thing Normani liked about her course was the girl who sat in front of her. Or, maybe she didn't like having the girl so close. She wasn't sure. The girl usually came in after Normani had taken her seat. Normani's heart would beat fast every time the girl gracefully walked through the doorway. She was beautiful, athletic, smart, and outgoing. Normani wish she had that girl's confidence and brains.

It was close to the end of the term, and the algebra II teacher informed Normani before class that she wasn't going to pass the course unless she scored at least a 90% on the mid-year exam. She was on the brink of tears as the teacher tried to explain a few concepts. Students were starting to come in to begin the class period, so the teacher offered to tutor Normani after school, which she declined. She didn't feel like she would ever understand anything past basic algebra and resigned herself to failing.

After the bell rung to mark the beginning of the period, Normani took her seat behind the pretty girl she admired so much. The girl must have noticed what was going on because she turned around to speak to Normani.

"You know, I have a pretty good grasp of this stuff. Maybe it would help if another student explained it to you. Mr. Baines isn't exactly the best teacher."

"Thank you Lauren, but I don't want to be a burden. This is something I'm just going to have to get on my own, or maybe my parents will pay for a tutor," Normani replied.

"No, it's cool. You can even come to my house after school today if you want. I could use the community service hours," Lauren grinned at Normani.

"Thank you for making me feel like a charity case," said Normani sarcastically.

Lauren brushed off Normani's quip. "So you'll be at my house at five?"

Normani conceded, "Sure. I'll tell my mom to drop me off. What's your address?"

"267 Hunter Circle," Lauren responded.

Normani quickly jotted down the address on the cover of her notebook. "I can't thank you enough for this, Lauren."

"Sure you can. Just be sure to bring a pizza with you when you come," she joked.

Even though Normani knew Lauren was half joking about the pizza comment, she thought that bringing one would be a good way to show her gratitude. She had her mother swing by Little Caesars for one of their Hot and Ready pizzas before going to Lauren's house.