Not Your Expectation (#Wattys2015)

23. Tutoring, Shopping and Waffles

"Okay, so the centrifugal force is only for particles at rest in a uniformly rotating frame. And what force do we use for particles moving in a uniformly rotating frame?" Adam asked me.

I straightened, racking my brain for an answer. I wasn't paying attention. "Umm...um...pseudo forces?" 

Adam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lisa." He said in a warning tone. 

I sighed. This wasn't going to end well. Adam may be my boyfriend but he was a strict tutor. 

"Can you tell me why you aren't listening to me? Your attention span is rubbish. Is it because I'm your boyfriend? I'm going to talk to Mr. Stradian and tell him to fix you up with someone else. This isn't working Lisa." Adam sounded annoyed.

I shook my head vigorously "No no Adam, you've got it all wrong. It's not because you're my boyfriend. It's because...well...I've a lot on my mind and I lose focus on the lesson at hand. Adam, I promise not to lose concentration again. Please don't tell Mr. Stradian, you're a good tutor. Please please Adam. I don't like showing my weakness to people. Please." I nearly begged Adam.

Adam looked at me for a long time before he gave up and looked away "Okay, just this one time Lisa. You've been losing concentration many times and I've excused you but one more time and it'll be the last straw. You're not gaining anything from this tutoring if you don't concentrate on what I'm telling you." 

I gave him one of my winning smiles, feeling relieved. "Okay, I promise to clear my head and pay my full attention to you Sir." Saying so I closed my eyes, inhaled a deep breath, shook my head as if to clear all my thoughts, exhaled and opened my eyes. "Alright, I'm good to go now. Everything's all clear!" 

Adam bit his lip trying not to smile and proceeded to teach me about circular motion in an inertial moving frame. 

"Okay so centrifugal force-" Adam began.

"Is only for particles at rest in a uniformly rotating frame and coriolis force is used for particles moving im a uniformly rotating frame." I completed his sentence.

Adam raised his eyebrows, pleased " And the characteristics of coriolis force are-"

"It is perpendicular to the velocity of the particle and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the frame." I completed his sentence again.

Adam's eyes glittered with pride and he let out a small force. "Glad to see you've been listening Brooks." 

"I said I was going to concentrate, didn't I?" I smiled. 

"Good to see you've kept your word." Adam looked at the watch, "It's already 5, let's head over to town to shop for decor. I think this is enough for today."

I put my books away and followed Adam out of the school carpark. 

************

An hour into shopping for decor and I felt exhausted. Honestly, we should've put Adam for decor instead of me because he seemed to know exactly what to buy and how we'd place it. I just nodded my head following him into different shops, my stomach rumbling and my feet begging for some rest. Adam was lively, he was the only guy that I knew who actually liked shopping. I didn't mind shopping but I was not the typical shop-till-you-drop-dead kinda girl. 

"Okay, so let's go have some tea yeah?" Adam asked me.

No! Let's go have a three course meal or an extremely greasy, extra large, double patty burger. I could honestly eat an elephant now!

"Yeah that'd be lovely." I said, ignoring the tirade going inside my head. 

Adam lead me to a cafe, it was a retro looking place. The counter were made up of black, shiny marble and the ceiling was black and pink with pink lights on them. The booths had black marble top counters and pink seats. I liked the feel of the place. They were playing some pop music but the cafe had a warm, cosy feel to it.