The Tutor || S.M.

Chapter 14 || "Get Funky With It"

Shawn leaves an hour after my dad gets home, making plans with me to study together daily after school until my grade raises to a B. I agree and walk him downstairs, waving goodbye as he pulls out of the driveway. I run back upstairs before Dad has the chance to interrogate me about Shawn, running into my room and shutting the door behind me. Lucas comes home around 4:15, with Mom and Ava rolling in last together at 5:30. At six o'clock sharp, I hear a knock on my door and open it to find Lucas standing there.

"Come downstair, dinner's ready." Lucas says. I follow him downstairs, heading into the dining room.

"Why are we eating in here tonight?" I ask, sliding into a chair next to Lucas. "We only eat in here on holidays and birthdays or when we have company over."

"I thought tonight fit the title of a special occasion since Dad is home for once to eat with us." Mom replies, walking in from the kitchen with a pile of plates. Ava walks behind her, cups in hand. Mom and Ava pass out the items, and I thank them,

"Where's Dad?" Lucas asks.

"He's out in the shed I think. Can you go outside and call him in Luke?" Mom asks, and Luke nods, standing up and heading out into the living room to open the sliding glass door to tell deliver the message. Moments later, Lucas reemerges, only this time, Dad is beside him. Lucas sits back down next to me and Dad sits across from him. Ava sits down next to Dad and Mom settles into the seat at the head of the table.

We sit in silence for a minute as everyone passes around food, piling it onto their plate and pouring themselves a drink. Once everyone is situated and we're all digging in, the conversation starts flowing.

"How was your field trip today Luke?" Mom asks, taking a bite off her fork.

"It was cool, we went to talk to a Holocaust survivor since we're learning about the Holocaust and other genocides right now." Luke explains.

"Really? That's so cool." Mom smiles.

"We started a learning new choreography today at dance." Ava says.

"What class?" I ask.

"Miss Kate, so lyrical." Ava responds. "I have a solo part in it."

"Really? That's fun." Mom chimes in.

"Good job Ava." Dad praises.

"What abut you Helaina? How was school today?" Mom asks, and I shrug.

"Fine, I guess. Nothing eventful happened like usual." I say, lifting my fork to my mouth.

"Dad told me you had a boy over this afternoon. Is that true?" Mom asks suddenly, and I almost choke on my food. I drop my fork and everyone looks at me, shooting me a confused look. I hold a finger up to say One minute and bring my cup to my lips. I tilt my head back and part my lips, gulping down the drink. I put the cup back down and shrug again.

"Um, yeah. He's just my lab partner for physics and we had to finish a lab report that's due tomorrow so I told him to come over right after school since Dad was coming home early today and I assumed we'd be spending tonight as a family." I lie, not meeting her eyes. I can feel everyone's eyes on me, and I wish I could just disappear.

"Ooh, Helaina had a booooy over!" Ava teases, and I roll my eyes.

"Shut up Ava! We were doing a project for school!" I snap and she smiles smugly at me.

"I thought you said you two were studying for a test that's next week." Dad interjects, clearly trying to catch me in the lie.

"It was both, I told you that." I remind him.

"Just making sure..." Dad trails off, and I can tell he doesn't believe me.

"Helaina, I know it was last minute and it was for school, but next time I would appreciate it if you told me. I'm not too thrilled with the idea of you being home alone with some boy we don't even know, and I'm sure Dad isn't too pleased with it either." Mom says, her tone disapproving.

"I won't do it again because there won't be a next time. It was just this one time, I promise. We're not even really friends, more-so just acquittances." I say, and for the first time since we started talking about Shawn, I'm not lying. Shawn isn't a friend, but we're definitely not just acquittances. Acquittances don't kiss each other like that.

"Okay, I believe you." Mom says, and turns the conversation back around to Lucas. "Luke, I want to hear more about your field trip. What did the speaker have to say?"

I listen as Luke talks about his field trip, genuinely interested in what he has to say, but the whole time I can't help but feel like Dad is silently judging me and shaking his head from the little glances that come my way every now and then.

After dinner is over, I help clean up before heading bake upstairs into my room. I grab my phone off my desk and see I have two new text messages from Julia. I unlock my phone and open up my messages to read it.

J: Are you there?

J: Call me when you can. I wanna talk about you and Shawn

I begin typing back a reply.

H: Sorry, I was eating dinner.

H: I'm good now. Call me whenever you get this.

A few minutes later, my phone begins to vibrate in my hand with a new incoming call from Julia. I accept it and put my phone up to my ear.

"Hey." Julia says.

"Hi." I reply.

"So, tell me everything that happened."

"When?" I ask, and I hear her groan on the other end of the call.

"What do you mean when? In physics and at your house! I need to know everything!" Julia exclaims.

"I told you what happened in physics already. He just apologized and I said that I'll forgive him if he acts like he's truly sorry, but until then, I'm not accepting his apology." I say.

"What about at your house?" Julia asks, and I bite my lip, deciding if I want to tell her what happened over the phone. What if Ava or Lucas hear me and they tell Mom or Dad? Worse, what if Mom or Dad overhear me?

"I'll text you." I say, lowering my voice.

"What? Why can't you just say it now when we're on the phone?" Julia asks, and I can hear her getting annoyed. I sigh.

"Julia, please just text me. Don't question it, you'll understand why when I text you." I say.

"Okay fine, whatever. Text me now!" Julia yells, and the call ends. I pull my messages up with her and immediately begin typing.

H: I can't risk saying any of this aloud. I don't want anyone in my house to hear me because otherwise I'll be in deep shit.

J: omg Helaina what did you do!!!

H: Long story short, we hooked up.

J: Define hooked up

H: It went further than it did at Carson's party

J: OMG HELAINA

J: Did you???

H: Did I what

J: Did you do the do? The horizontal mambo? Did you get funky with it?

H: Lol what's wrong with you how do you have a boyfriend

J: Just answer the question

H: No we did not, who do you think I am? I barely even know him!

J: True

J: So, what's the long story? You told me long story short, now I wanna hear long story long

H: That's literally not a saying

J: I literally never asked. Now tell me!!

I begin to type, but just as I do so, there's a gentle knock at my door and Mom comes in.

H: Yikes my mom is in my room now I'll tell you tomorrow in the car on the way to school

I lock my phone and put it face down on the bed, looking up at Mom. She walks over and sits down on the chair at my desk.

"Sorry if I was being overbearing before, I just don't want you alone in the house with a boy, especially since you said you're not even friends with this boy." Mom says, and I knowingly nod.

"It's fine, I understand." I say, and begin to feel guilty for lying. The longer I stare at Mom, the worse the guilt becomes, and I look down at my hands. "Actually Mom, there's something I have to tell you. He wasn't here because we had a lab report due tomorrow. He was here because I'm failing physics and Mrs. Hernandez assigned him to tutor me."

Mom takes in what I said and nods slowly. I expect for her to scold me for lying and then yell at me for failing, but instead she just sighs.

"I appreciate your honesty. If I see an improvement in your grades, specifically on the test you have coming up, I won't tell your father about this and we'll just forget this happened. Understand?" I nod and she stands up, heading for the door. "I'll leave you to study. Goodnight Helaina."

"Goodnight Mom."