The Unexpected Tutor

• Chapter 5 •

*Picture of Brett Above*
After the food fight in the cafeteria, Summer found out that Colt, Cliff, and Dillian got in trouble. They got detention for after school, which means that I can't forget to thank them. The rest of the school day included either stares, disgusted looks, or comforting taps on the back. Today was definitely not what I planned it to be like. I just hope and pray that the tutoring session with Brett turns out ok and that I don't completely embarrass myself. As the bell rings signaling that school is over, I get a text from Summer. I pull out my phone and look at the text, it says:
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Good luck with Brett. Don't forget to tell me everything that happens😉😋
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Well, here goes nothing, I think as I walk out of the classroom door and towards my locker. I remember the conversation I had with the vice-principal about where to go for my tutoring session. He said to go to the library right after school. I put my books in my locker, grabbed my backpack, and started walking towards the library. The hallway is buzzing with students packing up to leave for the day. I still can't tell if I'm excited Brett's my tutor because I know myself, and I it is likely that I will say something completely bonkers. Will he reject me? I mean, I've never really had a conversation with him. I'm too scared that if I get within a 3 foot radius I will break out into a nervous sweat. Summer said that he is really easy to talk to, but it's probably different if you can't even form complete words when your around him. Maybe he won't should and forget about it. That would give me some time to prepare myself. Even if I could only strum one chord on my guitar, it would help calm my nerves down. You never know, maybe I'm getting worked up for nothing. My mom wouldn't make me do anything that made be uncomfortable, would she? I push all of the worry out of my mind as I push open the doors to the library. I look around at the familiar scene. Students are sitting at tables carrying on conversations in whispers. The librarian looks through the bottom of her glasses every once in a while. The librarian scares me ever since I watched Monsters University. I always think she is going to attack me if I say one word not in a whisper. I look around trying to find Brett, but fail to do so. I walk to the normal part of the library that I find myself in. The shelves are filled with all my favorite books. I pull out Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I leaf through the familiar pages, when I hear someone shift from behind me. I spin around, almost tripping over my own feet, but I catch myself just in time.
"Sorry, I was just admiring your taste in books," he says as he points to the book currently in my hand. Oh my goodness gracious, I think, it's him. I stare at him with my mouth and eyes wide open. I probably look like a complete idiot, but I can't seem to close my mouth. I look at his messy dark brown hair that lays freely on the top of head. His light brown eyes are my favorite shade of brown. Glasses with big lenses rests on his nose, and there is not a tooth out of place in his brilliant smile. "Oh, where's my manners? I'm Brett Wilson," he says with a kind smile and an extended hand for me to shake. I don't move an inch, too scared I'm going to run for my life. "Ok, not a hand shaker," he says with a slight laugh and moves his hand back. Oh my gosh, I think, He probably thinks I'm this awkward antisocial girl. Which may be half true. "You're Sky right? Sky Ferguson?" he asks. Say something. I nod. "Well, I'm your tutor for the rest of the year. Hopefully you can talk, otherwise this is going to be a long 6 months," he says with a light laugh. "I thought that because we are going to be spending a lot of time together, that we could go get something to eat and get to know each other," he suggests. Did he just say we were going to be spending a lot of time together? Oh gosh, I better get used to this fast and be able to actually talk.
"Sure," I mumble suddenly finding my shoes interesting.
"I'll meet you at 'Hannah's Chicken Corral' then?" he asks as I nod. I follow him through the hallway and to the parking lot. I start to take deep breaths trying to calm my thumping heart. As we approach the door to the parking lot, he walks quicker ahead and holds open the door for me. Such a gentleman.
"Thank you," I say with the smallest of smiles.
"And she speaks," he says with a look of amazement so that his eyebrows are almost in the center of his forehead. His hands are pressed against his cheeks (on his face) and his mouth forms an "O". The facial expression makes me lightly laugh. He joins me in laughing. I glance at him while he's laughing, and he looks so perfect. He tilts his head back as his eyes lightly close, and his perfectly white teeth are glinting as he smiles real big.
"Umm, Brett?" I ask.
"Yeah?" he glances at me with a look that tells me that he's listening.
"Umm, I don't have a car. Can I ride with you?" I ask my cheeks turning a rosy red fast. Since my family doesn't have a lot of money, we get cars whenever we turn 19. Colt isn't 18 yet for a couple months yet, so we all ride the bus still. Cliff and Colt will probably catch a ride with Dillian since they have detention together.
"Of course. You'll just have to excuse the mess. I'm not the neatest person," he says with a laugh as we approach his car.
"Thank you. I just hope I'm not being a burden," I say again looking down at my shoes.
"We're going to the same place aren't we? What's the harm in saving the air? Do you have something against the air? You do know that without air, you would die right?" he says, probably trying to make me feel better. "Come on, that was funny. Can you at least laugh?" he asks putting his face so it's right in my line of vision. He sticks out his bottom lip and gave me the puppy dog eyes. Aww, how could I say no to that. I try to hide the smile that spreads across my face, but I fail. "There's the smile," he says as I feel my cheeks heat up. He unlocks the car, and we climb inside. He puts the key into the ignition and pulls out of the parking lot. There was an eerie quiet while he was driving. I was tempted to say something, but decided to keep quiet. I stared out the window to keep myself from staring at him. He startled me by speaking out of nowhere.
"I'm sorry for what happened at lunch by the way," he says with a sad smile. I don't respond too busy picking at my fingernails. "That was a very jerkface move. I mean how old are they? Five?" he scoffs. He almost sounded like he was trying to protect me, like he cared for me. I replayed the incident that happened at lunch. How could I be so dumb? I should have seen them coming, I mean I even took a step forward. I stepped closer to them. Ugh, how could I do that? It makes the situation even worse. "Hey, are you ok?" Brett asks noticing how silent I've been.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lie.
"Look, it's not your fault. Some people are jus-" he starts, but I interrupt him.
"But, that's the thing. It is my fault. I choose to wear those old clothes when I could use every penny I own to buy new clothes. I need to get a stupid job, but I can't find anything open. My parents always seem to forget about the older kids in the family. I should be used to it, that's what happens when you have 7 siblings and you're in the middle. It's not their fault completely, I mean they did want a lot of kids. I just feel like I get overlooked in my own family all the time, and the only time people actually acknowledge me is to make fun of me," I blurt out. Crap, that's the most honest I've been with anyone, but he did kind of hit a sensitive spot. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have ranted on you like that," I say hoping that he will still talk to me.
"It's fine. I'm guessing that you haven't told anyone that before," he asks with a curious expression.
"Yeah, but it shouldn't have been unloaded onto you," I say with a sigh.
"How about this. When you need someone new to talk to, you come to me. How's that idea?"
"I like that idea," I agree with a smile. It turns out that I'm more comfortable talking to him than I thought I would be. Things are finally starting to look up.
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Sorry that this chapter didn't get published as early as I would have liked. I'm a pretty busy person. I hope you like this chapter😉