airports // 5sos au

v.

[emily]

I don't know what made me go to my first tutoring session. Maybe it was the fact that I am beyond tired, maybe the universe has a reason, whatever the cause is, the point is, I'm here and freaking out.

I see the number my Dad gave me flash on my screen. Sitting alone at terminal five, I hover my thumb over the green "answer call" button. I hold my breath and click on it.

"Hello?" I ask quietly.

"Hello, is this Emily? Emily Smith?" A boy's voice answers. His voice is cautious and deep, it's kind of a calming sound.

"In the flesh," I confirm, "Is this my tutor?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way for our session, but I was confused."

"About what?" I ask blankly.

"Well, the address you gave me is for the airport. I think you typed it wrong or something."

"No, it's correct."

"What? You're telling me that you're at the airport right now?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like it," I say sarcastically, "I have my reasons, and I'm sorry but I don't feel like telling a perfect stranger about them right now."

"Fair enough, I guess. I'll be there in ten minutes. What terminal are you in?"

"Five." I answer.

He thanks me and then we hang up.

True to his word, ten minutes after overthinking the situation, I see a tall boy walking towards me. He's lanky and his hair is styled into a quiff, but his warm features are inviting.

"You must be Emily," He smiles.

"I am," I nod.

"I'm Luke, Luke Hemmings."

"It's nice to meet you." I say as he takes his grey knitted beanie off of his head.

We sit at a glass cocktail table towards the edge of the terminal. I struggle a little at getting onto the high chair, but somehow me and my five-three height manage. Luke, however, sits easily on top of the chair.

"Okay, so it's kind of mandatory that you take a quiz to show me what you know. I have mixed opinions about this system, but the school board requires it, so I guess we'll just have to go with it," Luke begins to ramble as he hands me a two-paper long quiz.

"It's on what you've been taught up until the third six-weeks," he explains, "There's a front and a back, and you're time starts now."

I begin to focus on my paper as he sets a timer on his phone.

Reading over the page, I begin to take deep breaths. The questions make sense, but there's a lot of them. I can feel his eyes watching me, and my breathing begins to speed up.

"Slow down," Luke says.

I look up with a raised eyebrow.

"Take it one question at a time," He says quietly.

I nod slowly and focus back on my test. Slowly, I begin to remember what I've learned in class, and I start answering the questions.

An hour later, I sigh and slide the quiz across the table to Luke.

He begins going through the test and comparing my answers with the answer key he made.

"Okay, so you didn't do bad," he announces.

"I didn't?"

"No, you got fifteen out of twenty five correct, which means you got a sixty."

"I still failed," I groan and bury my face into my hands.

"Hey, don't think of it like that," Luke says softly.

"How else am I supposed to see it?" I stare at him blankly.

"Well a one hundred means that you've mastered the material perfectly, right?"

"Mhmm."

"And a zero means you have no mastery of the material whatsoever."

"Yeah," I say slowly.

"So, a fifty is halfway mastering the material."

"What is the point of this?" I slump in my seat.

"The point is, you got above a fifty, so you've mastered more than half of the material. That's really good."

"I guess." I shrug.

"Now let's go through what you missed and pinpoint your weaknesses." Luke says as he slides the quiz over to me.

"No thank you." I shake my head.

"What?"

"I said no thank you. I don't need a stranger to tell me what I suck at," I stand up and sling my backpack onto my shoulder, "See you next session."

Walking off, I hear Luke calling my name, but I choose to ignore him. I don't want to deal with this tutor shit right now, and I'm not going to.

"Emily!" Luke calls.

"Forget it," I shout back.