Special Tutoring

O Mio Babbino Caro

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[German]

liebing : darling

lecker: delicious

hier: here

wie gehts: how are you? [informal]

Ethan sieht todmüde aus: Ethan looks dead tired [nicht wahr is more like not correct?]

Danke: Thank you

[French]

joie de vivre: love for living

[Mandarin]

小妹: little sister

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Note: Der Freak has changed to a string quartet. I hoped you guys like this chapter. I spent many hours researching on this chapter.  Luv, Vardin*

The hospital kept Trevor for observation for a couple of days. Thankfully he didn't break any bones, but it was still enough to get Sam Rhodes charged for simple battery. Amy was grounded by her parents for letting her party get out of control. In my humble opinion, it had more to do with the fact that Mr Coltram was infuriated to discover his stash of Cuban cigars and hard liquor decimated by the "invited" partygoers. Frankly he should be thankful that no one had gotten the bright idea to trash their place. Perspective, perspective.

Despite my sister's efforts, my parents caught wind about the eventful party, and I too was punished for my "role" ie drinking at that cataclysmic party. Qin naturally did not get into any trouble, though my parents did not appreciate her getting involved. "..do not get involved in others' business", "not grateful for the opportunities your father and I work hard to give you", "we should maintain low profile and achieve high esteem in society" were some of the lines thrown at us by our parents once my mother found out what happened through the PTA grapevine (she was still bent on getting me elected as cheer captain). Translation: both of us, especially me, have made them lose "face".

I was used to this kind of injustice from my parents. What maddened me more was that until further notice, (1) Ethan was politely but surely banned from coming to my house and vice versa; (2) we were put on a dating curfew. My parents couldn't outright rebuff him because he was an innocent party, and they still needed him for the upcoming concert. Qin pointed out that this punishment was cruel yet undoubtedly more effective than any other that they had meted out before to curb my behavior.

Despite longing to defy their strict control, any rebellious intent on my part was choked by Ethan's reaction, or lack thereof, to this punishment. He maintained his usual deadpan expression and was blandly polite whenever he encountered either of my parents.  He even adhered to the insanely early curfew though it wrecked havoc on his holiday work schedule.

The professor who previously hired him to do a small coding project, recruited him for a collaborative industrial project. "Not going home, might as well earn some money". That was Ethan for you, sensible and logical to a fault. If he, who was inconvenienced by the entire situation, abided by the unfair rules, who was I to complain?

I made it up by being extra nice to him whenever I could, making lunches with cute little love notes, learning how to bake his favorite Chocolate cake and failing miserably at it. The cake emerged from the oven looking like a brown frisbee but Ethan manfully ate it and pronounced it "lecker". 

"You're getting awfully domesticated," observed Qin drily, as she came through the kitchen on her way out. Dragging an errant strand of hair to order behind my ear, I looked up from my latest attempt at the cake (I have reached a point where I would run screaming in the night if I encounter a chocolate bar in a dark alley) to see my sister in my peach colored skater dress with understated makeup and espadrille wedges, her hair neatly plaited. She looked even better than I do in that dress.