The Nerd <<ON HOLD>>

Troubled Child

I sat on the corner of his bed. It was really awkward. I didn't know if it was considered rude to sit on someone else's bed, but he had insisted. I gazed around his room, looking up at the ceiling's stars. They really did twinkle.

"Done!" Jonah exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air as a sign of victory. I sighed in relief. Thank goodness. That was one stupid worksheet. One worksheet. One. Freaking. Worksheet. It would've taken me ten minutes, max, to finished it. But, guess how long Jonah took to do it? Twenty-seven freaking minutes. Gees. I was so bored.

I compared his copy with my copy. None of the answers matched. Oh. My. Gosh. Did I just spend twenty minutes of my life, explaining math to a boy who wasn't even listening?!

"What the hell, Jonah! You got nothing right!" I snapped, flustered that I had just wasted my time.

"Really?" Jonah replied, confused. I thought he was playing dumb, so I asked him.

"What did I just say?"

"You, uh," he began, "You said that I have to, um, factorise the brackets?" He asked, finishing his sentence with an up-beat, as if he were asking me.

"And?" I prompted him, knowing I had said so much more in the past twenty minutes.

"Then, you have to simplify the, uh," he stopped, looking at me for help.

"Like terms." He nodded, sincerely. Wow. He had been listening. Gees. Then I felt bad. I had just snapped at him for not listening to me. I mean, it wasn't his fault that he was naturally, uh, bad at maths...

I sighed. I had to make it up to him. "Look, Jonah. Your test is tomorrow, and I've done this test. You're no where near prepared for it, so," I inhaled deeply. I can't believe I was going to do this. I've literally never done this before. If I got caught, my grades would be instantly pulled down to a F.

"You can copy my test."

Jonah's eyes lit up for a second. It was like he couldn't believe what I'd just said. And it was true, I was still in shock that I had just made that stupid offer. I'd just put my reputation on the line. Stupid Nicole.

Jonah didn't reply for a while, until he finally did. It just wasn't the answer I was expecting. Slowly, the glow in his eyes faded, and then he finally spoke.

"No, I can't. That's cheating. It's my fault that I didn't study for the exam and that I left it to the last minute. And I should pay the consequences, even if it means that I have to loose my position on the team. I deserve it. I'm sorry Nicole."

My eyes literally popped out of my head. I swear to God, that if I had given that offer to any other person in my school, they would've accepted it without a second thought, not caring if it was considered "cheating". But no. Not Jonah Bright.

The rest of the tuition session was dead serious. Jonah was studying hard. He even shh-ed me when I wanted to talk. It was like, he was hard-core studying.

By the time the hour was done, he looked exhausted. He took me downstairs, and Mrs. Bright gave me another glass of water. I have to admit, he home was very accommodating. When I was walking out of the door, my eye caught a glimpse of a family photo. There was Mrs. Bright, Mr. Bright, a boy that looked older than Jonah, Jonah, two boys younger than him, and a little girl.

That night, Jonah wanted to take me home, but I said I was alright. After a while of negotiating, he finally let me go. Thank goodness.

When I got home, I checked my phone and saw one unread message.

"Thanks again Nicole."

I smiled, but didn't reply. Mr. Popular, Jonah Bright was just full of surprises. I went to my room after eating dinner, and looked through my old papers.

"Math exam, math exam," I muttered to myself, as I waded my hands through the stacks of papers. Bingo! I pulled out the test and looked at my result. 100%! I quickly scanned through the paper, looking at the questions. I'd taken this test two weeks ago, and it was easy peasy. I had a bliss going through these questions. Jonah should be fine, I thought to myself, until I remembered his results for the worksheet. I looked at my text message again, and sighed. There was no way he would get over a C for this. Only a miracle could do that.

So, that night, I when I was laying in my bed saying my night time prayers, I quickly added, "And please help Jonah with his exam tomorrow." I thought about him, that cheesy annoying smirk, that always-happy-and-bubbly expression would be gone. And I can't believe I'm going to say it, but, I felt bad. "Amen," I added, before doing a quick sign of the cross.