This time the morning was crisp and brisk like autumn should be. I sat with jenny at Mr. Chau's, eating pocky and drinking ramenade. I pulled out the slip of paper he gave me and stared at it. " are you actually going to go, or just stare at that piece of paper all day?" Jenny said sipping her bubble tea. I sighed deeply.
I wasn't they type to go out alone, with no one else pushing me to be out going or to make me come out of my shell more. so even if it is to benefit me, to go out of my way to go somewhere for tutoring just makes me feel.... uncomfortable.
"yeah." I said at the end of another deep sigh. it said 'Dorm block C, room 234' in cursive. what's worse is I'm bad with directions to a point. if you could've give me jsut a few structures around it, it wouldn't have been as hard to find it. and to ask someone for directions seemed.... ugh.
"do you need help finding it?" jenny asked.
"of course." I replied.
jenny snatched it out of my hand and looked at it. "hey yeah. it's just a dorm building down from ours. it should be fine." she handed it back. "hey guys. what's up?" cherri said sitting next to us.
"hey." we replied in unison.
"sarah had asked for tutoring from the hermit but she's too socially awkward to actually go to his tutoring session." jenny said.
"sarah..." cherri said putting simpathetic hand on my shoulder, "I know how ya feel. but sometimes, you just have to grit and bear it. if it's so bad you went out of your way to even ask him... it must be bad. I care about you, and I wouldn't like to not see you because you got expelled due to poor grades."
"I know, I know...." I said with a heavy sigh, " I guess I'll stop percracstinating and go."
I stood up and started to head in that direction. after getting some paper and pencils, I walked over to dorm block c and entered the building.
I felt so awkward because I knew, and the other people that normally stayed at the dorm knew that I didn't belong there. some of the people in the entry hall looked up for a moment but then focused back on what they were doing before they did. I looked around, trying to find which side had his room when I heard an upitty, welcoming voice calling, "HEY!" I looked behind me to see Hikaru.
I knew a lot about him since we had become friends and I'd forgotten he'd lived in block C. he was born in america with one japanese parent and one american parent, but he decided to get into the street fashion of japan, so he kind of had a different look every week. he was also the same height as me, so I didn't feel that intimidated around him ( even though I know I shouldn't compare my hieght to boys because they're supposed to be naturally taller than girls.)
"hey hikaru." I said warmly, glad to see a familiar face.
"what are you doing here?" he asked adorned in the decora style.
"um.....tutoring. I'm looking for room 234. also, love your style!" I replied.
" aw thanks! :) and ji yong's room?" he said scratching the back of his head, " you're close. see?" he then pointed to the door I was standing next to when he stopped me. "oh yeah. thanks!" I said smiling.
he requited the smile, "when you're done. come hang out with me! I'll be in the entry hall if you need me!" and he then left me to find ji yong. it was about a door or two down. there was a small white board stuck to the front that said 'DO NOT DISTURB' in basic blue dry erase marker. I was hesitant about knocking, given the sign, but I did it anyway. I heard shuffling and the creak of the door knob. I saw him peek through the crack that he made as he opened the door to see who it was, then opened it more when he saw it was me.
"I didn't expect you to be here so early. come in." he said walking back inside his room.
I entered and closed the door behind me. "where's your roomate?" I asked.
"out." he replied, " so what do you want to start on first?" he said heading to a full bookshelf of chunky books with big words.
"uh...." I was kind of unerved by his side of the room as I looked around. it was disturbingly neat with formulas, among other scientific looking things, pinned to the wall.
"how about math?" he said monotonely, pulling out a 'Calculus for Dumbies' book from the shelf and handing it to me.
he must have seen that I looked like I was about to cry from confusion because he said, "despite as simple as this thing makes it, I will be right here by your side to explain it to you. please sit down." he getured to his bed. I nervously sat on his bed, stiff as a board. he sat in his spin-able desk chair and scooted over infront of me. "nervous?" he asked as if he understood the feeling. I nodded, "I'm just not used to this place."
"you will eventually, if you decide to continue coming to these sessions. just try to relax. if you're too tense, you won't be able to absorb the information properly." he said taking the book from my hands, scooting his deck chair closer to my left side, and flipping through the front to see where to begin. I glanced over to see him in side profile... he's admitably good looking. for about 5 hours, I sat there trying to solve problems and him explaining what I did wrong on the problems I did incorrectly. finally, he slipped a book mark into the spot we stopped at and closed the book. I fell back on his bed. my brain hurt. I closed my eyes and felt something press and stick to my forehead. without even opening my eyes, I asked,"what did you do?"
"I put a gold star on your forehead cuz you did so well. you seem to resond well to positive reenforcement and a rewards system." he said.
that explains why he gave me an almond pocky stick everytime I got one right.
staring at monotinous problems for so long is tiring. I think I must have passed out, because the next thing I know, the sky looked like a spectrum from red to orange from out the dorm window, and my phone was going of with a part of the song "threw it on the ground' by Lonely Island was playing-
~there are so many things to throw on the ground. like this and this. and even that. I'M AN ADUUUUULT!~
that was jenny's ringtone. I answered it.
"hello?" I asked.
"how long is that studying session going to last?" she asked.
"it's over. I must have just dosed off." I replied.
"well, undose off. there's a big party in a few days and I need to fill you in!" she replied.
I hastily got up. "thank you." I told him, "I'll be back tomorrow."
"alright." he said.
I then hastily left after snatching hikaru, and scurried back to my dorm to chat with jenny about it.
