When I got home, my mother and father were there, standing right inside the door. They were identical in posture: arms crossed tightly over their chests, mouths set in firm frowns, toes tapping. Just seeing them together when they should have been at work was enough to make me nervous. Somehow, I was in trouble.
“Got a call from the school,” Dad started. His stature was nearly as short as his sentences. I obviously got my height from my mother, who was a head and a half taller than him. Dad also had this habit of not speaking in full sentences. It drove his co-workers crazy.
“Apparently,” Mom said, acid in her voice, “you are close to failing in half of your classes.” Mom was all angles, not a curve on her. Her tongue was just as sharp, although she’s usually gentle. I suddenly had a flash of what one of her underlings at work must go through when they get berated. The blood drained from my face and my mouth went dry.
“I, what?” I rasped out. Not like I didn’t know. I sort of had an idea, since it was midterm and I’d seen my reports from my teachers. Not like I was going to admit that to my parents though. I might as well be an accessory to my own murder.
“What’s going on?” Mom asked. “You’ve never had this problem with your grades before.”
“Drugs?” Dad asked.
“Are you getting bullied? Are you worried about being bullied?”
“Alcohol?”
“Is it a girl?” Mom asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“You guys!” I said, raising my voice. “You’re in the completely wrong ball park.” If you wanted to get close to the real reason, I thought, you’d have to go to a completely different ball park. Or planet. Or dimension. “I’m just a little distracted, that’s all. I know it’s bad but it’s not like I don’t care.”
Mom and Dad’s hard faces and stiff bodies relaxed after a moment of study and contemplation. No doubt they were looking for signs that I might be doing drugs, or drinking, or whatever. When they couldn’t find any, they switched tactics.
“Find a tutor,” Dad said.
“The school doesn’t have a tutoring service,” I said, which was true. It’s a cheap school.
“Then find a friend to study with,” Mom said. “We expect results by the end of the week.”
“Yes,” I mumbled. I’d never been talked to by my parents about my grades before. Honestly, it felt terrible. But who would tutor me? Natalie was failing worse than I was. Some of the guys I hung out with were in sports, which meant they had to be above a certain GPA. But because they were in sports, most of their free time was devoted to the sport or to the practice. They’d do homework somewhere between ten and midnight. That seemed too late for me. The other guys that came to mind didn’t have inspiring grades, at least not enough to please my parents. And then I thought of Laura. She had had the highest grade in the class on our midterm. Yes, Laura would be perfect. Not to mention I would have a reason to talk to her now. There was no downside.
Even so, it almost took me the entire week to work up the courage to actually talk to her. I mean, we’d talked. Small talk. You know, like, “Hello,” and “It’s a really nice day today,”—stupid stuff. This was different. I was taking things to a new level and I was nervous. It was only until Thursday, and the impending doom that my parents would rain down upon me if I didn’t have results by the next day, that got me going. It was with jerky steps that I came up next to her chair in first period.
“Um, Laura?” Laura turned her eyes upon me and I suddenly felt awkward standing over her. I sat. “You do okay in classes, right?” A little color came to her cheeks and she nodded.
God, she was cute.
It took me a moment to remember what we were talking about. “Um, I was wondering, if it’s alright with you, if we could maybe study together? I’m not doing so well in my classes right now and my parents want me to study with someone.”
Now, how would I word this so it didn’t sound like I decided to ask her just so we could hang out? I mean, that’s part of the reason, but it’s not the whole reason.
“You were the first person I could think of who wasn’t really busy in the afternoons…Or are you?” It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea what Laura did after school. I’d always imagined she just went home but she could have a job, or a club, or maybe she volunteered at a shelter or a food bank…
“Sure.”
“Sure?” I repeated, uncertain I’d heard right.
“We can study together,” she said. “After school; we’ll meet in the square.”
“Okay. Thanks!” I was exhilarated. Was I dreaming? Being able to sit with Laura, and talk, and study—it was too good to be true. I was stuck in some sort of euphoria all day.
The square was just a concrete square in the middle of the school courtyard. It had some boxed-in trees and a few benches. It’s a pretty nice place to hang out in good weather. After dropping off my textbooks in my locker, I made my way to the courtyard. Laura was sitting on one of the benches, waiting with her ankles crossed.
“You’re actually here,” I blurted when I drew up in front of her.
“You didn’t think I would show?” she asked, turning her face up to me. I laughed nervously, running a hand through my hair.
“I guess not. It’s not like we’re good friends or anything.” Laura cocked her head to the side and kept her silence. I sat down next to her, conscious to keep a space between us. “Thanks,” I finally said. “I really appreciate this.”
Laura nodded. “Which subjects did you want help on?” I listed three subjects. Laura spent a moment riffling through her backpack and then pulled out some papers. “Let’s just focus on Political Science today. We’ll work on one subject a day, so we’ll meet three times a week. Is that okay?” She turned towards me.
When I realized I had stayed silent for a second too long, I jumped. “Yeah, that’s great!” I said.
Laura studied me with deep grey eyes. They flitted over my face several times and then up and down the rest of my figure once or twice. Was she checking me out?! I was painfully aware of how hot my blood was but I still felt nervous cold sweat break out on my skin.
“Have you lost weight?” she asked.
The gravity of how bad my grades were and my tenuous future came crashing back on my head. I swallowed the despair that automatically filled my throat. Just remember the silver lining, I told myself. You’re studying with Laura three times a week…. It’s the best silver lining you could ask for!
“Erm, yeah,” I said, trying not to look crestfallen.
“You look good,” she said, and gave a small smile.
Yep, this was the best silver lining ever.
“T-Thanks.”
To my intense relief and joy, no outer-dimensional beings showed up for several whole weeks. I continued to study with Laura after school. At first it had been hard. I couldn’t help looking at her when she was explaining her notes. She was practically magnetic. I took more care to pay attention when she caught me staring and asked if there was something wrong. Eventually I became more comfortable in her presence and we even had small conversations, on occasion. My grades of course improved in leaps and bounds. One of my teachers mentioned how impressed he was with my progress in such a short time. For the first time in months, I was actually feeling optimistic about my academic future.
It was no particular surprise that I didn’t see Natalie much during this time. She showed up on a Thursday and was obviously grumpy from lack of paranormal activity.
“I’m so damn bored!” she growled, arms crossed across her thin chest, stamping her feet.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in gym right now?” I asked, biting into my sandwich. It was my lunch break and Natalie normally had P.E. at this time but she’d obviously cut out of class. She was dressed in her gym clothes. She grabbed one of my carrot sticks and bit into it with a hard snap.
“Yeah but it was too easy,” Natalie said, staring out across the courtyard. “No fun at all.”
“I thought you liked P.E.,” I said. “You were so athletic.”
“And I’m not now?” she retorted, glaring down at me.
“You’re athletic, just…in a different way, I guess,” I said. “I mean, you used to compete in gymnastics and now you don’t.” I paused. “Don’t you miss that?” I asked. “Don’t you miss your life when it was normal?” A sort of pleading tone crept into my voice, as if I was trying to convince her. And maybe I was. “Don’t you remember the days when you used to do cartwheels and bends out here when we had lunch together? Sometimes you’d forget to eat lunch, you were so into practicing. Hell, you’ve got a freaking regional placement medal hanging in the hall for gymnastics. You wanted to shoot for the Olympics. Don’t you remember?” I asked again.
Natalie didn’t even look at me. She muttered something like, “That’s all stupid,” but it was hard to hear her, even though she was right in front of me, leaning against my table. “I gotta get out of here,” she said out loud, pushing away from her perch. She walked away, taking another of my carrot sticks.
This normality and peace was lasting so long that I got to thinking that maybe things were changing. Maybe all this sci-fi nonsense that had come barging into my life would disappear. Maybe things would go back to the way they had been, where I was making good grades and Natalie was striving for the Olympics. Maybe Laura and I could get closer. Was that too much to ask? Yes, this could be the turning of a new leaf. I’d never felt so optimistic in my life.
