I got to my locker and started putting my stuff away when I felt my phone buzz again. Not having any friends really helped narrow things down – getting a text right before class either meant Kevin forgot a book again and needed to borrow one of mine, or…
hey, so what did your mom say?
Taylor. I felt myself blush a little, still feeling so very childish that I was so beholden to my mother. Thinking for a second, I began to tap on my phone’s keyboard.
She understands. I’m able to help you study. I just need to make sure I don’t stay out too late again.
I sent the message, read it to myself (a habit of mine), and finished collecting my school supplies. By the time I was finished, Taylor had responded.
cool! Are you working today? I think we should study again 🙂
Taylor sure was eager to ace her classes. Well, at least it was better than being tasked to tutor someone who hated studying. I replied, telling her I was free but outlining when I’d have to go home, and she promptly agreed.
I felt more nervous than usual in my English class, remembering what Kevin told me. If Mr. Jefferson knew, he was clearly not going to bring it up. He didn’t look at me any more than he usually did – which was to say, he didn’t look at me at all, and like always, like with all of my other classes, I seemed to blend in with the scenery. And, hey, that suited me just fine, especially today of all days.
Taylor seemed to really be taking what I told her seriously, since she didn’t look at me once in our entire data management class. We weren’t exactly best friends or anything, but ever since we started studying together, she at least gave me a polite smile when she came in, unless she came in halfway through a lesson. Today, she just took her seat and seemed to be glued to her phone, as were most of the students that weren’t chatting each other up. The lesson went as it always did, with me being reminded of how similar and yet how different my life had become since Mrs. Li asked me to tutor Taylor.
After school, Taylor instructed me via text to wait for her signal to start walking towards her car. So, instead of doing anything productive, I just stood at my locker like a big dumb pillar, staring a hole into the locker door in front of me.
“Long day?” the voice of Kevin took me out of my thoughts.
I nearly jumped. “Um, yeah,” I mumbled. “Kinda. I was scared during English.”
Kevin leaned suavely on the locker next to mine. “Hey, like I said, it’s over and done for you. You’re welcome.”
“Yeah, thank you,” I admitted. I still had no clue what he actually did, or who knew what, but knowing Kevin, he liked having that kind of power skewed in his favor. “Anyway, no need to wait up for me, I’ll be busy tutoring… the person I’m tutoring.”
“…The person you’re tutoring?” Kevin repeated with a slight chuckle.
I looked around me to see if anyone was paying attention. “Yeah, you know… Taylor,” I replied in almost a whisper.
“No, I know who it is, but… don’t you think you’re acting a little… paranoid?”
I was mostly just following orders, but hey, if it would make him stop talking about it. So instead, I shrugged. “I guess.”
“No worries, I got plans anyways,” he replied. “Just wanted to give you this back.” He reached around to his open backpack and fished out a textbook.
“Oh, thanks,” I mumbled, opening my locker again and sticking it inside.
“Cool, thanks. See ya!” He waved to me and off he went, doing whatever shady stuff he was doing. He wasn’t even walking towards the exit of the school. Part of me was tempted to follow him just to see what the heck he could possibly be doing where he accidentally found out some clearly sensitive info, but Taylor was likely going to ask me to come to her car soon.
Deciding to save time, I decided to walk towards the parking lot and then walk specifically to her car when she asked me to. It was nice going outside anyway – with the school year’s end in sight, there was warmth and the rustling of leaves on the trees and a nice smell to the outside air. I may have been a nerd that spent most of his time indoors, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the outside when it was available to me.
Once outside, Taylor’s car was immediately noticeable, even at the end of the parking lot. I don’t know if it was the color or just her popular aura, but there it was, sticking out like a rich, vibrantly painted thumb. I could see Taylor there, as well as three of her other friends. It looked like Crystal, Morgan, and… Milo. Poor Lexi.
I dawdled around as the crowd outside thinned and cars and buses drove away, until eventually, the group of four dissipated and the other three walked away. A solid minute later, Taylor texted me, telling me it was okay to come to her car now and apologizing for the wait. When I got there, she gave me a slightly disturbed look.
“That was fast,” she commented. “Did you run or something?”
“No, I just was over there,” I replied, gesturing to the place in the parking lot where I was standing.
“Oh,” Taylor replied, clearly not satisfied with my answer.
I was accustomed to not getting social cues, so I guess that wasn’t good of me to do that or something. I cleared my throat. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing. It’s fine. Come on, let’s go! We probably have a lot to get through.” Her chipper demeanor returned in no time. She sure seemed stressed about the upcoming finals, but I guess outside of my perspective, that made sense. We made a quick stop at Starbuck’s, because of course, but we arrived at her house in no time, chatting about finals and things along the way. Before long, we were in her basement again, which was starting to feel like a familiar place.
“I wish I got Jefferson. I’ve heard, y’know, good things about him. Jackson is not making English any easier for me,” Taylor finished her thought.
“I’ve had both, and honestly, you’re not missing much,” I replied. “Their teaching style is basically the same. If anything, I’d say Jackson cares more about students.”
“Still,” Taylor pouted, “English sucks.” Her little chipmunk face was just as cute when she pouted as when she smiled. I had no clue how she did that. “I don’t suppose you had the extra time to help me with English too? To be honest, I don’t need any, like, tutoring, but just if you had any notes you could share…”
“How’d you hear about that?!” I immediately blurted out.
Taylor gave me a weird look. “What? Um, I just figured you were as good at English as you were at data.” She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead. “Ugh, is this another stereotype thing? You’re kind of sensitive sometimes.”
Oh. Whoops. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about something else. I could-”
“What else?” Taylor interrupted.
“It doesn’t matter. It was just something unrelated.”
“No, come on, Quinn. If we’re going to do what we’re doing, it means you have to be completely honest with me, okay? No secrets.”
I blinked. “Wait, what do you mean, no secrets? You told me yesterday not to talk to Morgan anymore, and when I asked why, you told me to just trust you on it.”