Unravelled

[CHAPTER 24]

CHAPTER 24

Lara's POV

I spent my free period at the school library today. Well, every Tuesday, actually. My friends were having their classes and I was all alone. Not literally alone, if you included students that I didn't know.

I'd been stuck on this particular trig question for almost thirty minutes. I tried looking for some references but it was to no avail. Even the site I was on wasn't really helping. Seeing no other ways I could get the answer, I attempted the next question.

Another five minutes passed and I couldn't even get myself to write anything down. I stared at the blank space right below the question. I couldn't believe it was empty. I used to be pretty good at this.

I ran my fingers through my hair causing a few longer locks of fringe to fall and cover my face. I lowered my head down on the table, letting it rest on my arms. My head started to ache when I thought of the test on trig tomorrow. I am not going to pass, I thought.

A sudden knock on the table made me lift up my head reluctantly. Even through my tousled hair, I saw Daniel sitting right in front of me. He was grinning at me and I knew exactly what he was grinning at. I combed my hair with my fingers again and somehow it made its way back to where they belonged.

"Sorry I didn't want to wake you up because I thought you were asleep but I saw your head moving so...," he said in a soft voice but enough for me to hear him. His eyes then surveyed the table which was full of papers, pens and books.

I massaged my temples as my head started throbbing. "Oh it's okay. Yeah I wasn't sleeping anyway." I grabbed my pen again and gave the questions on the second page a try.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw him picking up a page and read through it. I punched in the numbers on my calculator, hoping I could get the correct answer this time.

I resisted the urge to scream in frustration. My answer was wrong by one digit. One digit! At this rate, I was going to fail.

"You pressed four instead of one," Daniel said, pointing at my calculator.

I checked the number on the calculator and then my paper. Indeed he was right.

I rested my chin on the table and said, "I can't do this anymore. I'm going insane."

He slipped the page back to me again and this time, the page was full of solutions and most importantly, correct answers. All clearly written in black, and neatly too.

"How do you people do this?" I whined, trying to figure out what he'd written. I still couldn't get how he reached the solutions.

He let out a short laugh. "Don't worry, I promised to help. We can start this weekend."

"Can we do it now?" I asked, my voice full in desperation. That was how much I needed someone's help badly.

He took a glance at his watch and frowned. "I'm sorry, Lara but I've got a class in five minutes. I just came here to borrow this," he patted a book on the table. "Don't you have class now?"

"I'm having my fr-," I stopped talking when I realized I did. "Holy crap, I've got bio now!" I swept my papers and books into a pile and deposited them into my backpack.

"I could tutor you after school, if you want to," he offered sincerely. "Are you having a test tomorrow?"

I felt a surge of hope so I said, "Yes, and I really need your help. So you're free after school?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I am."

Relief washed over me and I didn't feel so hopeless anymore. Maybe I could pass the test tomorrow, after all. "Meet you at the parking lot then."