Sweet Charlotte

「 eight: fainting courage 」

Friday's quizzes were the worst, but it seemed like they were extremely so for Seth.

It was a small quiz, one they did at the beginning of class, corrected, and then handed in for marking. Judging by the way Seth's shoulders tensed as he was marking his, from the back of the room Willow could tell he was struggling.

She could sense it even more when she went to pop her finished quiz on Browning's desk and his paper sat below hers — a self-graded 7/30 sitting in his top right corner.

As she left class, starting immediately for her locker, Willow swallowed her pride, and ripped out for her phone.

'Tutoring session?'

It was all she said — it was all she needed and wanted to say — then hit send.

She had very little motivation to see Seth after their last session and suspected Seth was in the same boat. Truthfully, if Seth hadn't failed the quiz, she probably would've given up on working the Charlotte case with Seth and instead would've worked alone. Seeing his dejection in class, his disappointment at getting a taste for good grades before falling back into failing, hurt her to see. It was her job to prevent that from happening, and she too was failing. Even if she didn't want to help Seth anymore, she would be letting Mrs. Evans down by not helping him keep his grades minimally high enough to stay on the football team. She owed it to Mrs. Evans, not Seth.

And Charlotte. She knew Charlotte would appreciate her looking out for her brother.

She could feel a buzz in her pocket as she grabbed hold of her lunch. After she swung her locker shut and clicked the lock into place, she tugged her phone out of her back pocket.

'After school?'

She had to admit, she felt somewhat surprised she'd received a response.

If he chose not to respond, she was going to approach Mrs. Evans and say that she did her best but Seth had locked her out and there was nothing more she could do. She suspected a part of her wanted that to happen so the obligation would go away.

But, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't thankful for the response. Working the Charlotte case on her own would be a nightmare if her only connection into Charlotte's family hated her.

'Sounds good' she responded, and stuffed her phone back into its home. Then she started for the guidance area to eat her lunch.

-

"Why aren't you at practice today?"
Seth raised an eyebrow, not expecting to be grilled by his tutor when approaching her in the student parking lot - as per his request. He shrugged. "We have Mondays off."

Willow didn't question it.

She felt like a bad kid leaning against one of the brick walls of the school overlooking the lot, the ground brimming with cigarette buts, fast-food bags, and potholes. It was the area where students came to smoke between classes, and that held the infamous dirt pathway wedged between the parking lots of two nearby office buildings where students who skipped class went to smoke weed. If they were off school property, it didn't matter. Frankly, even if it was on school property it wouldn't matter. The teacher's didn't care enough to heckle the students for what they did out and around the school. As long as it wasn't disrupting their classes, they couldn't care less.

"Let's drive to my place to work," he said, starting into the lot with a sigh. "It'll be quieter."

Deep down, Willow was thankful, but didn't show it. After their last session, she was somewhat anxious to go back to the coffee shop she'd been mortified in. A part of her was skeptical, partially because she was worried he wanted to work in private so if he had an outburst there wasn't an audience bearing witness, but also because it felt oddly intimate. Public settings were neutral ground and felt safe for something as casual and distant as a tutoring session. His house? His living room? His room? It felt far too close for comfort.