An American Nightmare

𝟶𝟺|𝚃𝚞𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐

Chapter Two

Tutoring

Alilaleigh

I thought I was going to hate everything about staying after class during what was supposed to be my dinner time, but I was wrong. I realized this walking into my last class, English 201, seeing a smiling Mr. Charnas. He was sitting on the end of his desk with his hand outstretched to take everyone's homework assignments. I handed him my printed-out version of the creative writing assignment he gave us. He smiled a little wider as I walked past him toward my seat. He quickly took roll then began telling us about the assignment for today.

"For today and the rest of this week you all will be reading, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen." I perked up in my seat as the rest of the class groaned. I absolutely loved this book; the writing style really keeps you wanting more. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get over it, you're in college. You'll be reading." I raised my eyebrow at his words. He spoke so...not what I was expecting. "I expect you all to be finished with it by the end of the week, so we can begin working on your research papers." He smirked as the class groaned again. "The more you groan the more work you will receive. You'll learn to stop groaning eventually when you're buried in work. Now I took the liberty to get the book from the campus bookstore for you." Mr. Charnas then began passing out a copy of the book to each of us. "And don't even think about watching the movie." He handed me my book with a smile then returned to his desk. Everyone opened their books and began reading.

The final bell of the day rang, and everyone bolted for the door. I had told my sister that I wasn't going to be coming home with her, that I had tutoring after class. She didn't seem to care or question me too much. I zipped my bag and moved to the front of the class where Mr. Charnas was sitting reading over one of the assignments from yesterday. "You can have a seat, Alilaleigh. I'm almost finished." He said making a few marks on the paper. I sat down at the desk that was directly in front of his, waiting for further instructions.

When he finished, he looked up at me and grabbed another piece of paper. "Alright. Let's see what your weakest subject is." He scanned the paper and his eye landed on something. "Identifying parts of speech." I could feel my face heat up from embarrassment. "Honestly I don't blame you. That was something I struggled with all through my school career." He shrugged picking up his laptop, he stood up from his desk and made his way to the desk next to me. "So, basically, I can get some worksheets for you to do I'll help you on them of course, then at the next nine weeks I'll test you on the parts of speech and see where you are. Does that sound good?" He asked turning his head to look at me.

I watched his computer screen as he emailed Mr. Armellino who was another English professor that work mainly with seniors and graduates. He asked for some of the parts of speech worksheets. After he sent the email, it took about five minutes for Mr. Armellio to bring them. In the meantime, I sat staring at the wall as Mr. Charnas typed in some grades. "Here's the worksheets." Mr. Armellio said as he entered the classroom. Mr. Charnas smiled and took the worksheets from his co-worker.

"Thanks man." He left leaving us alone, Mr. Charnas handed me the different sheets of paper and explained what he wanted me to do. I did the first one and he took it then graded it. 71%, I hate everything at this point.

With this next worksheet, he helped me get through the questions that I didn't know.

"Shit." I heard Mr. Charnas curse as he looked at his gold wristwatch seeing the time. I raised my eyebrow. He is a different person after school hours. "I have a dinner to get to. Do you have a ride home?"

"I'm walking." I said packing up my stuff along with him.

"No, you're not. It's dark, I'll give you a ride. I did keep you after." He said packing away his laptop and papers.

"Are y-you sure, Mr. Charnas. I w-would want to k-keep you any longer."

"You can call me Spencer after school, and I don't mind." With that we made our way to the staff parking lot. Spencer's car was a blacked-out Camaro. When we climbed in, I gave him directions to my house, and we were off.

Spencer

Something must be going on...this is just too easy. She's trusting enough to let me give her a ride home, to know where she lives. There must be something more to this. Maybe she's not as innocent as I originally thought? Maybe she's more like me than I first anticipated? This could work, I could use this as my vantage point.

"So, uh, Spencer. What made you move here?" That sweet, sweet voice asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I just needed a change of scenery. Being in one place too long really isn't my thing. I like to move around." I explained, trying not to seem too suspicious. "Have you lived her long?" I asked glancing over at her. She had her head down, her hair cutting me off from seeing her face.

"All my life. My dad's the mayor."

Mayor? Fuck sake. That's going to be an obstacle. I'll just have to work harder, to get her brainwashed. It shouldn't be that hard, she seems to really like me already. After these tutoring sessions are over, we'll be as good as gold. With as much progress as I've already made, I'll have her sooner than I thought.

"That's nice. Being the mayor's daughter and all." I heard her scoff. Okay, touched a nerve. Noted. Pulling up the driveway, I noticed that no lights were on in the house. After putting the car in park, I glanced at my phone. It was only a little past seven. "Is there anyone home?" I asked turning my head to look at her.

She sighed as her phone lit up. "No, but I'm fine. It happens a lot." She gets out and grabs her bag from the floor. "Thanks for the ride." Before I could respond, she was shutting the door in my face. Shaking my head, I backed out of the driveway and started my journey back to my house.

On my drive I made mental notes about what I've learned so far. She's the daughter of the mayor. They obviously live in a big house, so there's going to be security cameras. That's going to be an issue. The upside is that they seem to leave her alone a lot. I can't just take kidnap her like the others, this one's going to take time. I need her to trust me enough to go willingly.