Some Things You Can't Control

19: A Couple Ways To Make It Up To You

Chapter 19

A Couple Ways To Leave You Speechless

- EDEN GARCIA -

A scowl crosses my face as the teacher places the maths test down on the desk in front of me.

Well shit.

"Speak to me after class," she says in a low voice.

I slide further down into my seat, flipping the test over to hide the front. Mickie, however, catches sight of the mark from the desk beside mine and shoots me a sympathetic smile.

Like a plane that's doomed to crash, my math grades have been on a downward-spiral collision-course ever since the end of last year. As much as I would prefer not to acknowledge it, it would seem that the absence of Dylan as my tutor is one of the sole reasons.

That had been how we met, after all. I was the girl who couldn't do maths to save her life, and he was the sort of guy that could solve problems as easy as breathing. It was sickeningly cliché, but that was us.

The way Dylan taught me was with the same extent of patience and dedication as it takes to learn to walk. There was a lot of time and effort invested, but it was for a purpose. And as the tutoring continued, I didn't just learn to walk; I learnt to run, as well.

These days it felt like I was back to crawling. The minute Dylan and I cut ties, it destroyed whatever pillar was holding my math grades up. What pisses me off the most, though, is that I know my math grades are turning to shit and yet no matter how hard I try I can't seem to lift them.

Trapped in my own head swirling with thoughts of failure, I stare at the wall on the opposite side of the class for the remainder of the lesson. Even when the bell goes, I don't move.

Mickie shoots me an encouraging smile as she exits the class behind everyone else.

And then there were two.

  "Eden." The teacher's tone surprisingly lacks the disappointment I had been anticipating. "I can't help but notice that your grades have been steadily worsening these past couple of months."

"Yup." What else does she expect me to say?

"I know you are capable of doing better than you are currently; at the end of last year, you were achieving almost perfect scores. Do you agree with that?"

"Yeah," I mumble, slowly beginning to slide my belongings into my backpack.

"Look," she takes a seat on the edge of her desk, looking at me sincerely. "I don't know what's going on, and frankly I don't think it's any of my business. But what your grades are strongly indicating to me is a prominent change in your study habits. Are you still going to tutoring with Dylan?"

  "No."

She nods. "I expected as much." Then she stands up, beginning to pack up her own stuff. "I want you to go back to tutoring with Dylan. At this point in time, I see that as the only way for you to lift your marks, and in turn improve your grade point average in preparation for the end of this year. I will talk to Dylan today, but I'm sure he'd be happy to help you out again. What do you say?"

As much as I really would like to continue to operate in a different world to Dylan- and a different world to mathematics altogether- I don't have such a luxury. My GPA is important to me, and always has been. Especially with the end of my high school career fast-approaching, she's right; I need to lift my game.