In Your Time

Chapter 20

"I'll cut to the chase. Phoenix is close to failing my class," my history teacher said to Elizabeth. A few weeks had passed, and the end of the first semester was near. After seeing my preliminary report card, Elizabeth was called to a parent-teacher conference, and this was the reason.

"She seems like a bright kid, and I think her past amnesia might be affecting her grades in my class. I don't want to count her out yet, so I wanted to talk to you about it first," my teacher continued.

"What can we do at this point?" Elizabeth asked. My teacher sighed as I shifted awkwardly in my seat.

"I'd say, get her a tutor to help her catch up, and dedicate at least an hour a day to studying the material," my teacher suggested.

"Do you have a tutor in mind?" Elizabeth asked. By her tone of voice, you would think someone was telling her I only had six months to live.

"There's a exceptional student in my senior class who just transferred here. Torin Rogers. Maybe you can get his contact information and see if he'd be willing to tutor Phoenix," he answered. That caught my attention.

"Torin? Torin is good at history?" I blurted before I could stop myself. My history teacher smiled slightly.

"It seems, Phoenix is already familiar with him. Call him and see if he'd be willing to help," he said.

Leaving the school, Elizabeth let out a huge breath of relief as she pulled her hair out of the bun she had it in. Braden and I followed closely behind her. She ended up going to twice the amount of meetings because of me. The whole time, she was professional and motherly. I knew it probably exhausted her. Braden nudged me gently.

"How were your meetings?" He asked.

"To be expected, except in history," I admitted.

"Phoenix, call that boy and see if he'll tutor you. Braden, I don't feel like driving," Elizabeth said as she pulled her keys out and tossed them to her son. I nodded to her as she got in the passenger side. I called Torin in the car and he gladly agreed. The first order of business would be to sit down with Elizabeth and create a plan for me.

Shortly after arriving to the house, the doorbell rang. I opened it to see Torin smiling and waving at me. I let him in and led him to where Elizabeth was waiting in the living room. I told Braden he didn't need to be there, but he insisted.

"Hi, I'm Torin," he introduced himself. Elizabeth offered him a seat before they started talking about me. After about ten minutes, they'd agreed on the times and a price. Torin would tutor me every day after school for at least an hour. Elizabeth, being the sweet person she was, wanted to pay him a hefty price for it. After everything between them was settled, I took Torin up to my room where we'd be studying.

"So you really do live with that Braden kid," Torin said absentmindedly as he looked around my room.

"My parents are in Australia, and the Parks are family friends," I explained automatically. It had become somewhat of a reflex for me at this point.

"So the engagement... it's fake, isn't it?" Torin asked as he sat in a chair as my desk. His words took me by surprise. No one had ever asked before. When Braden announced that we were engaged, everyone just took it as a fact. No one ever questioned if it was real or not. I hesitated before I looked at him.

"What makes you ask that?" I asked, caught off guard. He smirked before exaggerating a sigh.

"For one, you don't wear an engagement ring, which makes me think it was more of an arrangement than a choice. No family in this day and age would arrange a marriage like this for their 17 year old children unless they were royalty. Braden's family seem rich, but not enough to qualify as royalty. We're way past the age of arranging marriages for the hell of it. Relationships these days are based on the unreliable idea of love, and the generations have been getting married later in life due to personal goals we want to meet beforehand. Also, you two act like you like each other, but not enough to make a lifelong commitment. You, specifically, still look like you're hesitating," he explained. He saw all that just from watching our interactions? Although he hit the nail on the head, I wondered how much of the truth showed to everyone else.

"You got all that just by watching us?" I asked dumbfounded. He nodded.

"I've been paying attention to you," he said cheekily.

"You can't tell anyone the truth, or I'll have a hard time again. Remember how I told you about how that school treats scholarship kids?" I said quickly. He smirked before leaning back in the seat.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me," he promised. I pulled out my books before sitting next to him at my desk. We got to studying and Torin patiently explained what I didn't get. Braden came to check on us a few times, but other than that, we studied. I could tell that Torin being here, and in my room, bothered Braden a lot, but it couldn't be helped. After our hour was up, Torin helped me clear off my desk before he stood.

"Don't overdo it studying. We'll get through the material a little at a time, and eventually, you'll see that history is just a giant storybook," he assured me. Braden peeked his head in before crossing his arms and standing in the corner of my room. I chose to ignore him for now.

"Thanks, Torin. I'll walk you out," I offered.

"No need. I'll see you tomorrow," he smiled at me before leaving. Braden sighed as he closed the door behind him. The wariness and jealousy was written all over his face. I sat on my bed before Braden came to sit beside me.

"Did it have to be Torin?" Braden asked simply. I shrugged.

"He was the tutor my teacher recommended. It helped that I already know him. Plus, he's actually a good tutor. Why? Are you still jealous?" I asked bluntly. Braden leaned back on his hands as he looked at my ceiling.

"It just... seems like he's getting closer, faster. I want to be cautious," he replied.

"What's there to be cautious of? It's just Torin," I said before grabbing my towel and going for a shower.