Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [15]

Chapter 15

Jae's head lolled forward as tiredness seeped into every inch of her body. She was supposed to answer a set of mathematical questions that Sam had given her to test what she learned from his lessons. He was right, though. Sam was very serious in terms of tutoring someone. He made sure Jae was focused and wasn't daydreaming. Jae had asked a lot of unrelated questions at first, but when he made it clear that he'd leave the moment she stopped being attentive, Jae tried to listen as hard as she can.

They've already gone through three books along with notes about the subjects. And now, Math time. Math has always been Jae's weakness. She's not bad at it, but she's definitely not the best. She always maintained a passing score on her tests. But she was definitely walking on a thin line. One mistake can lead to a failing score.

But it was almost 10 p.m. They've been working on this since 6. They've never talked about how long this review would take but Sam would most likely stay here if Jae still insisted on continuing their lessons.

Sam watched Jae half-asleep while working on the questions. She pitched forward, her head closely hitting the desk but she managed to stay upward once again. A yawn escaped her lips and her eyes twitched as she stole a look from Sam. She quickly averted her gaze to the questions when she sees him watching her with a blank look.

Despite the blank look, Sam had been watching Jae with amusement. He respected Jae. Especially the first time he met her. He was the outcast and the new kid, but Jae still sat with him that lunch. His first impression of her when he found out she was his seatmate was that she loathed drama and would be satisfied living in her own little bubble. He thought she'd be avoiding him because that would mean lesser drama and lesser connection with afflictions but she proved him wrong the moment she sat down to eat lunch with him.

She was tougher than she looked. She valued her opinions the most, disregarding what others think of her. So even if she favored a less dramatic school life, she opted to dive headfirst into the mess, just because she thought he was lonely and needed a friend.

A soft knock on the door completely woke Jae up. Her spine straightened as she focused more intently on the questions in front of her. Sam quietly snickered. The door opened and Pauline stepped in, a tray in hand. "Hey there kids. Don't overwork yourselves, ok? You still got school tomorrow. Here, I prepared some snacks."

Jae clapped once. "Thanks, mom!" She momentarily put down her pen as Pauline set the tray on the table.

"By the way, Sam. Wouldn't your family be looking for you? It's already late. You don't have to stay here until Jae says so, you know. You guys can continue this tomorrow," Pauline said.

Jae grabbed a freshly baked cookie from the plate and pushed the whole cookie into her mouth. After chewing several times, she grabbed the glass of milk and chugged down half of it. "I didn't realize it was already late. You can go home, Sam. I'll keep working on these questions."

Sam eyed the plate of cookies and the second glass of milk on the tray. "No, I already texted my brother that I'll be staying at my friend's house for the night. It's already too dark to drive anyway." The truth was he didn't want to go home. He didn't want to face any of his family after what he learned tonight.

Pauline smiled mischievously. "You can stay in our guest room. It's the room beside Jae's. You guys should finish up and sleep early if you want to wake up early."

Jae noticed the glint in her mother's eyes. "Mom!" she said in warning.

Pauline shrugged innocently. Then she winked towards Jae. "I wish you two the best of luck. Hope your lessons don't come to waste, Sam."