Special Tutoring

Ethan and the Lady Tennant

"You two drive me mad," pronounced Qin under her breath. I nearly banged into her, trying to span the distance between Mrs Schmidt's and ours in quick, urgent steps. She was making a  vain attempt to hide from the cold by huddling into the hedge separating the two properties. 

I was almost surprised by the.instant twinge of guilt I felt. A few weeks ago if you had told me about anything that happened to my sister,  I would have probably said nothing more than an indifferent "oh really". But now she mattered as much to me as Amy does.

Speaking about Amy, where was she?

"Where's Amy? Isn't she supposed to come back with you?"

"Your best friend," Qin didn't mask her chagrin. "Just simply dashed out of Stella's the second she saw your boyfriend. Didn't even bother to remove her coat or answer the guy who spoke to her."

"Who's that guy?"

"Not sure. I've seen him around town with the two of you. Good looking but a bit of overgrown pumped up gorilla."

Sam Rhodes.

"That's her boyfriend."

"Really? Sure didn't act like he was. Did your boyfriend do something to her to cause such a reaction?"

Only prevented Trevor from doing something really stupid. I crossed my fingers and prayed heavenward that Amy didn't do something really stupid either, like get together with Trevor. Sam wasn't used to being the dumpee in relationships...

"Let's go in," Qin interrupted my thoughts. "Mom and Dad kept calling me the whole time, asking when were we coming back. I wasn't about to tell them I let you go off with your boyfriend without asking where you were going."

Sure sucked being the older and therefore the de facto responsible one. Times like this I was glad I was the youngest. We ambled into the house where we were immediately ambushed by my irritated mother. Dad who was used to being the good cop, remained ensconed in his study.

"Qin!  Mai! Where did you two go the whole night? It's nearly one now. We called you two umpteen times. I have half a mind to ground you, young lady." And then there was the disadvantage with being the youngest.

"Time just got away with us, Mom," said Qin smoothly. "We went to the bookshop to browse around." She held up the package in her hand.

Mom gave us both a withering look. She knew that book shops and I were like cat and water. But she wasn't going to call out my perfect sister for being a liar, even though she could clearly see that I wasn't exactly dressed for a sojourn to the book shop.

"Mai, you're not allowed to go out for the rest of the holidays until you finish your ACT. We cannot have you cavorting around town, wasting your future."

I heaved a sigh of relief, thinking I got away easily. The ACT was only a few days away, so it was not really a problem, especially since Ethan had finished his exams and could tutor me at our house. Now if I timed it just right, we'd be able to finish what we started just now. Hmm, I almost licked my lip in anticipation.

"By the way, Mai," Mom continued, "when is Ethan coming over to tutor you?"

"Not sure, his exams just ended."

"Your father and I would like to work out with him some payment for tutoring you. I don't understand why you must find someone else to tutor you when you have an excellent tutor - meaning my sister - at home."

"He isn't someone else, he's my boyfriend." I spoke with mixed annoyance and pride. "For god's sake, Mom, don't go offering him cash. It's so crass."