Glory Days

Chapter 22: Bad Grades

-Henry-

Mrs. Austen hands back our tests on World War One. I check my score... 60%. Great, my dad is not going to be happy. I really tried to study, but all the facts were scrambled when I actually took the test. After class, I walk up to Mrs. Austin, who is sitting at her desk.

"Mrs. Austin, will there be test corrections for this unit?" I ask her.

"Yes, but here's the thing. I need you to do it after school, and I need to see that you know your stuff before you do the corrections." She says, looking up from her computer.

"How would I do that?" I ask her.

"Well, the easiest way is maybe a tutor. Sometimes one on one is better for others. I wish I could do it more, but as you know I have 32 students in one classroom so sometimes it can be hard." She says.

"How do I... find a tutor?" I ask her.

"Well, maybe someone else in class could help you. I know Rylee and Leslie scored very high, so you could maybe ask one of them." Mrs. Austin says. "The test grade will go into the gradebook in about a week because my other class is a couple of days behind, so I would start working soon."

"Ok, thanks." I say and she nods. I walk out of class and to my locker. When pulling out my baseball stuff, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and see a smiling Rylee. I give her a small smile back.

"Why do you look so blue?" She asks, noticing that I'm not my usual happy self, I guess.

"Um, I didn't do well on the... history test." I say and look down, knowing she did well and that's why she's in a good mood. Does she have new vans?

"Oh no, is there any way I can help?" She asks. I look up at her, her eyes caring. I know she's being honest; she would help anyone.

"Um, yeah. I could use a bit of, um, tutoring." I say, mumbling at the end.

"Really? I can do that!" She says, smiling. I smile in relief.

"That would be great!" I say. Then I remember Physics, and how I'm not doing too well in that class either. "Are you taking Physics, by any chance?"

"Yeah, I'm taking AP Physics. Do you need, um, help in that class too?" She whispers the last bit. I nod. "Um, how about lunch on Wednesday?"

"Yeah, that would be great! Could we first work on history, I want to get the history stuff done before the test grade goes into the gradebook... and my dad sees it."

"Yes, of course. So, meet in the library?" she asks.

"Yes!" I say. "You're the best Rye." I say and grab my things. She chuckles and walks to the buses.

--

It's Wednesday, and lunch time. I quickly grab my lunch from my locker and walk to the Library. Rylee is standing at the doors, whispering to Kiki. I awkwardly stand far away from them and hear Kiki giggle. Ugh, this reminds me of my little sister and her friends. Kiki walks away and waves to me when she walks past me.

"I'm watching you, leather boy." She says and does the 'I'm watching you' hand movement. Leather boy? I look down and realize I'm wearing my leather jacket, right. I walk towards Rylee and smile.

"Sorry about her, she's a little...how do you put it?" Rylee says.

"Protective?" I ask.

"Yeah, protective." Rylee says and opens the door to the library.

"Yeah, I get it. My little sister is very protective of her friends."

"Oh, what's your sister's name?"

"Ariel, like the princess. She loves to point out that she was named after a princess." I say and chuckle. "Ariel is 13 and is a lot. But she's adorable, and I love her, as siblings do, I guess."

"Does she play any sports?"

"She does gymnastics. She's actually really good. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, a younger brother named Solomon and an older brother Xavier." She says as we sit down at a table. "So, history. Can I see your test?"

"Yeah." I say and hand her the test from my backpack. She looks at it and takes out her own test, comparing answers. I glance at her score, 95%. Man, she's smart.

"Ok, so it looks like most of the questions you got wrong were on the generals and their contribution to the war, and a couple of dates." She says. She pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me. I take out a pencil. "I want you to write the names of all the generals or important people we studied, without notes."

"Ok." I say. I start writing the names of the ones I can think of; After thinking of 7, I stare at my paper, thinking about the palace Versailles and how weird it's spelled. Wait, it's French. Why am I thinking about Versailles?

"Um, Henry are you done?" Rylee asks.

"What? Oh, um... yes?"

"Ok, well, you got 7 out of 8, but it took you 2 minutes to write those 7, then you spaced out for 2 minutes." Rylee says.

"Oh." I say and look down at my paper. "Oh wait, I know who I'm missing." I say and write the last general we studied.

"Ok... now write what they are known for."

I write the quick facts that Mrs. Austin told us that I remember, which is facts about two of the eight generals and important people of the war.

"Is that all?" Rylee asks.

"Yeah." I say sadly. I can't remember anything.

"Do you just not remember, or do you not pay attention?" She asks.

"Um... both?" I say. I sigh and look down. "I have ADHD, so sometimes it's hard to focus and remember things that Mrs. Austin taught because she's such a fast teacher.

"Oh, I understand." Rylee says.

"You do?" I ask her and look at her.

"Yeah. Not to stereotype, but a lot of percussionist have ADHD, and I've noticed how you are always moving and zone out often when noting happens."

"Oh, is it obvious?" I ask her.

"Only if you are... looking." She says and looks away for a second.

"Oh." I say. She was looking?

"But it's nice that you told me. I can figure out some ways to help you study better, Kiki's brother has ADHD as well, so I can ask her."

"Please don't tell her." I say, my eyes open wide. "No one, really knows except for my teachers."

"Of course I won't tell her. I wouldn't do that to a friend, talk about them behind their back." She says and smiles.

"Ok, thank you. I know that's a lot, but really, thank you." I say.

"Of course, it's really no problem." She says. Mrs. Austin said the grades will go in next Friday, when the corrections are due."

"Ok, that's good. We can study for a week then I can do the corrections afterschool on Thursday." I say.

"Sounds like a plan!" Rylee says.

"Do you want to study over facetime on Saturday?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I can do that." She says.

Maybe this will really help my grades. Actually, I know this will help my grades.

And I get to spend my time with Rylee... which I'm actually really happy about. Really, really happy about.