Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 68

A/N - Just cuz I felt like having a chapter in Corey's POV, here ya go :) 

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COREY 

"Office might be better," I suggested, gesturing for Kate to follow along behind me.

"Are you sure your parents would be okay with that?" She asked behind me, sounding unsure.

"Yeah," I replied, opening the door to the room and shutting on the light. "They never use it."

I walked in, putting my bag onto the floor and moving a few things off the desk so that we'd have more room to study.

My parent's office was more used by my mother since my father was barely ever home, but it was even rarely used by her. Most of the time, it just sat empty, silently begging for someone to come in and use it.

The office itself was small, only containing a wooden desk and shelves for books and coffee mugs that my father had left behind and forgotten to clean, leaving the room to smell like old coffee and books. Thankfully, my mother had bought the desk that was built for two people, so there were two chairs at each end. I looked over to see Kate sitting in the chair my father always did whenever he'd use the office.

"Are you totally sure your parents wouldn't mind us in here?" Kate asked once again, taking out a pencil and a light gray college-ruled notebook.

"Yes, now stop worrying and tutor me, child genius," I said, taking out my math textbook and a pencil.

With a sigh, Kate slipped my math textbook over to her and scanned her pencil down the first page of practice problems. "Okay, in order for me to see what you need help with, I'm going to have you do problems one through nine, okay?" She asked, sounding almost like a teacher.

I smiled, instantly knowing that it would've been a perfect job for her. She was just a natural. Her love of helping people made it even more obvious that it was what she should do.

"Yeah, sure. But what are you going to do?" I asked, taking the piece of paper that she'd torn from her notebook.

"I'm going to do them too so that I'll know which ones are right or not," she replied, writing down the first problem. "Just let me know when you're done."

I did as she said, answering each problem until I was finished.

"Okay, I'm done," I declared, looking over to see her scrolling through Instagram on her phone.

"Oh, okay," she said, taking my paper and scrolling through my answers.

It only took her a few moments before she said, "Corey, you got these all right. I don't know what you're so worried about," she said, handing me my paper with neat check marks next to each problem.

"Yeah, I understand 6.1 just fine. It's 6.2 through 6.4 that I'm confused about," I admitted.

"Oh," Kate said, flipping through my textbook until we reached 6.2.

"Do problems one through nine then tell me when you're finished," she said and the process continued up until I heard the front door open and my mother's voice.

"Corey!" She called from the kitchen.

"In here!" I yelled back, dropping my pencil into the seam between the pages. "Kate, would you like some water?" I asked, getting up.

Kate nodded. "Um, yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

I nodded, leaving the office to head into the kitchen.

"Did you just come from the office?" My mom asked me, sounding a bit surprised and confused all at the same time.

"Um, yeah, Kate's here. She's helping me study for a math test that I have tomorrow," I explained getting two water bottles out of the fridge.

"Oh, that's nice of her," my mom said, draping her purse on the edge of a kitchen chair. "How is she?"

"She's great! Mom, she's so smart, like you wouldn't believe-"

I was interrupted by Kate's small voice. "I figured I should come out and say hi," she said, her face bright red, most likely overhearing what I'd been telling my mother.

"Hello, Kate, how are you doing?" My mom asked, handing Kate one of the waters that I'd gotten out of the fridge.

She took it gratefully. "I'm doing good thanks," she replied, unscrewing the cap and taking a small sip. "How about you?"

"I'm okay, a little tired, though. I just got out of school not too long ago."

Kate nodded slowly. "Is being a teacher hard?" She asked, sounding curious.

My mother looked surprised by her question.

"I mean," Kate coughed, "I was just wondering because I want to be a teacher myself when I grow up."

My mother smiled, the surprise draining from her face. "Oh, really? What kind?"

Kate smiled shyly. "I want to be a math teacher."

My mother glanced at me before turning back to Kate. "Is this why you volunteered so kindly to help Corey?"

Kate shook her head. "Not exactly, I used to tutor a few kids at my old school. It gave me extra credit and the benefit of getting a little extra math practice. I hadn't done it in a while since I moved here and Corey needed my help so I agreed to help her," Kate explained.

My mom smiled. "Thanks for helping, Kate. That was really sweet of you."

Kate blushed shyly. "No problem, Mrs. Woods."

"Kate, please, call me Jen."

She blushed harder, staring at the marble counter before saying, "No problem, Jen."