My Tutor From Hell

Jasmine

"Did you hear about that fight that happened this weekend?" Amber said. She slammed her locker shut and glanced at me. Unlike mine, no papers slipped out or blocked it from closing all the way. She leaned on the wall of lockers, waiting for my answer.

The stench of overly fruity perfume, spoiled milk and rotten bananas filled the hallway. The walls were covered in colorful posters to distract the student body from the lack of windows in the building. The peeled red and yellow paint on the walls only made me miss the windows more.

"Fight?" I asked, continuing to shove old notes and long overdue homework in the back of my locker, but Amber didn't answer me. I took my attention away from my locker and looked at her. "What fight?" I repeated

"Jasmine?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

After shoving at least three classes worth of old missing work in the back of my locker. With every fiber of my being, I slammed the locker shut.

"That fight with Grant Hale and Theo Kelly?" Amber said, placing her hands on her hips.

I gave Amber a double take before bending over and picking up my backpack off the floor.

"Receipts or it didn't happen, hoe." I smirked at her only to have her smile greet me back.

Amber pulled out her phone from her back pocket. With a couple swipes on her cracked screen, she handed the phone over to me.

No way.

My jaw hit the floor while I took the phone out of her hands. I grasped on the bulky case, facing the screen towards us.

Amber squeezed beside me, eagerly watching my reaction. She brushed some of her box braids out of her face as I leaned in closely to the screen than inhumanly needed.

We can't have everyone in the hall seeing this. Only I, the great Jasmine Taylor and my beautiful assistant, Amber Cassidy can see this content. It's our responsibility to review this clearly [sensitive] information.

My thumb trembled over the play button before quickly pressing it.

The video started out shaky like whoever's filming this is either scared as heck or running towards the fight so frantically, that they're about to trip and eat concrete.

The camera quickly panned to a crowd forming in a parking lot. It didn't matter where the heck they were, what matters is if it's really Grant and Theo.

Maybe, it's the words 'Queenstown High Warriors' on the back of someone's shirt. Or if it's the hideous red and yellow varsity jackets that some of the guys are wearing in the video that gives it away. But, they are definitely from our school.

The cameraman zoomed into the crowd exposing the two boys in the middle of it all. I immediately recognized Theo and Grant.

Grant threw a punch, but Theo quickly dodged him. Some people from the crowd tried to stop him but Grant just pushed them away.

Everyone at school knew Grant Hale. He's the local dudebro around here. I swear, he can't get a full sentence out without saying 'bro' or 'dude.' No one really had any beef with the captain of the Soccer team from my knowledge. No one messed with anyone from the soccer team, that's just asking for trouble.

I never had any grievances with Grant, except for his twin brother, who tried to put my training bra in a freezer once. But that's just my problem ... I guess.

Theo charged at Grant, tackling him to the ground. The crowd around them cheered at sudden turn of events. Even the camera guy was yelling.

Theo Kelly is a completely different story. He's nothing special, just a high school 'bad boy. He's that type of guy who acts like they're something because they hooked up with a cheerleader once and get scolded for walking in the hallways too fast.

Getting into fights aren't anything new for him.

But this Theo and Grant beef was definitely new. Everyone around school knew about them for being best friends. It was always Grant and Theo, You never saw one without the other.

Theo's fist slammed Grant's stomach, making me flinch on instinct. Grant fell to the ground. The camera zoomed into his face, red with cuts and bruises.

Yeah, Best friends have little fight here and there but whatever happened to have them escalate to this is beyond me.

"Screw you, Hale." The camera panned towards Theo staring down at Grant. His knuckles bruised, bleeding and his eyes shimmered in fury.

The bell snapped me out of my daze. Pure chaos suddenly flooded the hallways.

Scuff marks and discarded milk cartons littered the halls. Nobody bothered to picking up the empty milk cartons, if the teachers didn't care, then why should we?

"Amber, I've seen grandmas fight better than this," I groaned.I stopped the video and hand the phone back to Amber before tightening the straps on my backpack. "Not only did that fight sucked, it sucked eggs."

"Well, I thought it was good," Amber nibbled on her bottom lip. "Do you think we're getting our test back in History?"

"Yeah and I totally passed it" I announced as we started our walk to fourth period.

"Ow, somebody's feeling a little confident!" Amber smiled at me.

"What can I say? I got skills." I tried to run my fingers through my hair, like the girls in the movies, despite my tight curls trying to fight me back.

Before I could even think about where I was walking, I almost go face first into someone else's locker. The person apologized repeatedly before I walked away with my whole face turning red.

"How were you even on the cheer squad at one point. I'm surprised that you didn't get dropped on your head while doing a basket. Seeing how you can barely walk." Amber laughed.

If I wasn't red already, I'd be the whole rainbow.

I walked at a slow pace next to Amber in the crowd of hormonal zombies called our classmates. Conversations blended together as everyone walked shoulder to shoulder. I awkwardly bobbed and weave in between people, trying to stay beside Amber.

"Well, Anyways," I said, continuing from the conversation before. "I studied pretty much all night."

We greeted Mr. Day, our history teacher, as we walked into the classroom. We both dropped our stuff, taking our seats in the desk beside each other in the back. .

Soon the loud chatter became soft whispers as Grant Hale strolled in with his twin brother, Aiden, right behind him. His normally handsome face was currently swollen with haphazardly placed band-aids covering his cuts. One of his eyes was bruised making his green eyes stand out a lot more.

Grant kept his head down as they walked towards the back of the class. They both take a seat at the desks in front of us. Aiden greeted some of the girls in the room while Grant looked down at his phone in silence.

After a few minutes, the final bell rang while everyone else finds their seats. Mr. Day walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Good Afternoon, class. Exciting news." A smirk appeared on Mr. Day's face. He leaned over to his desk, picking up a stack of papers. His voice was slowly being drowned out by someone else's .

"Hey, Amby." Aiden turned around to Amber. His entire upper body laid across her desk, his hands are almost close enough to touch her.

Amber leaned back in her chair, trying to create some distance between them. A look of disgust appeared on her face.

Aiden is the complete opposite of Grant. He's a lady's man. As an every lady wants to stay away from him. This creep is always bothering someone.

The only thing that Grant and Aiden have similar are their looks.

"Can you please back off." Amber growled.

I could hear Aiden making slick comments under his breath about Amber until a loud knock took everyone's attention. Mr. Day walked across the room, opening the door.

"Late as always, Mr. Kelly." Mr.Day said before letting Theo in.

Theo smiled at him, entering the room. His short black hair falling into his eyes.

His messy black hair covered his bruised cheekbones and cuts. He walked with his hands in his pockets of his red leather jacket. He'd actually be kinda cute if he didn't look like a wannabe bad boy all the time.

Grant scowled at him as he walked passed.

Theo narrowed his deep brown eyes back at him before taking a seat at the desk beside me.

"Come on, Baby," Aiden continued on, getting on Amber's nerves in the process.

I looked over at Amber. She keeps her eyes to the front of the room, ignoring Aiden's comments.

"Can you shut the heck up?" I snapped at him.

Aiden's eyes darted at me but he quickly brushed me off and turns back to Amber. I opened my mouth ready to say something else but someone quickly cut me off.

"Dude, shut up." Grant finally turned around, his eyebrows knitted together. His green eyes meets Amber before shifting back to his twin.

Aiden squinted at Grant like he was ready to rip him a new one. His nostrils flared and teeth baring into his lips.

"Can you please use your last functioning brain cells and shut up?" Theo butted in.

Tension quickly shifted over from Grant to Theo. I looked at Theo as he cracked his knuckles, his eyes growing cold.

"What did you say?" Aiden turned to Theo, glaring daggers at him.

Theo's jaw tightened and he released a deep sigh. "Let me say it louder for you this time," Theo got up from his desk, gaining everyone's' attention. The tenison in the room is higher than ever. "Can please use your last functioning brain cells and shut up!"

Snickers filled the room, even Amber laughed. I looked over at Grant, who's covering his big goofy smile with his jacket sleeve.

Aiden jumped up from his seat, his face completely red. He jumps in a stance like he's ready Theo. Grant pulled his twin brother's shirt, forcing him to sit back down.

I looked up to see Mr.Day with a bleak expression. He glared at the three boys but his attention was mostly directed towards Theo.

"Sorry." Grant said, blush creeping up his cheeks.

"As I was saying, I finished grading your tests from last week." Mr.Day announced.

The entire class groaned outrageously.

I felt something vibrating in my back pocket. I quickly pulled out my phone and hided it underneath my desk. A smile appeared on my face as I read the text message.

[Finn]: Guess who's back in town :]

I quickly replied back to Finn, telling him I'm in class right now but that we'll hang out later.

"Phones away." Mr.Day said while in front of the room. I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

Mr. Day started handing back the tests. I can feel a knot building up in my chest as I painfully waited almost years for mine. I watched some of my classmates high five each other after recieving theirs, only making me more impatient .

Soon, Mr. Day handed me my test.

It felt like the whole world stopped. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from falling as I slouched down in my chair.

"Um, Jasmine? Is everything okay?" Amber asked, looking deeply into my eyes.

"Oh Yeah, Everything's fine." I said, slouching even lower into my seat.

Everything is definitely NOT fine. I completely bombed the test.

My test, face front on my desk, had a big freaking 'F' on it with the words 'See me after class.' scribbled across the top in red ink.

"Miss.Taylor and Mr. Kelly, I would like to see both of you after class." Mr.Day said, his back turned away from the class.

Fudge.

I slouched even lower into my chair than before. Keep this up and there'll be a Jasmine puddle on the floor any second now.

My face fell into my hands. Tears stinged my eyes as a lump sat in my throat. I felt a tap on my shoulder, looking up to see Amber.

She patted my back and gave me a calm-down-you're-scaring-me look as class continued on.

I don't know, if it was the stress or exhaustion of a long school day but class moved rather quickly after this.

Despite the tension between Theo, Grant and Aiden being so thick, that everyone in the room could choke on it. No, everyone in the entire school could choke on it.

Soon, the bell rang as everyone rushed out the room. Everyone except Mr. Day, Theo and I.

Mr.Day walked back to his desk that sat in-front of the classroom. I walked up to him with my backpack on my shoulders.

"It has come to my attention that you are struggling in this class." Mr. Day said casually, stacking up papers on his desk. "You barely passed the first marking period and you've bombed several of my tests."

I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead, my stomach turning like I drank spoiled milk. This isn't my first 'F' in this class or the first time I was asked to stay after for anyone.

I'm just not that great at school.

Mr.Day looked at me solemnly. "I'm going to be assigning you a tutor."

Whoever's watching from above clearly can't get enough of my suffering.

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull at the word 'tutor' but something else caught my eye.

I glanced over at the young man sitting across the room.

I completely forgot Theo was still here. He stood by the empty desks with his arms crossed against his chest. His black hair contrasting with his red leather jacket.

"So, that's why I'm here." Theo walked over to Mr. Day's desk. He brushed his bangs away from his face but his bangs fall back into his eyes. "You have over 100 students and you think it would be a great idea for me to tutor someone?"

Theo began to size me up like I'm date option #2 . After he gets a chance to see what he likes, he gave me a half-smile. He didn't do one of those cute half-smiles that models do but looks ugly on everyone else . He did one of those 'oh, I have to tutor this airhead.' half-smiles.

I can feel my eyebrows knitting together, stopping myself from overreacting.

"I guess, I can make this work." Theo said.

I take back that comment about him being cute now.

"Miss. Taylor, Theo will be tutoring you from this point forward." Mr.Day said, completely ignoring Theo's comments

I can't hold it anymore. Mr.Day is basically making me sell my soul to the devil himself.

You're joking, right ?" I asked.

"He rarely jokes." Theo said, leaning on Mr.Day's desk.

"Okay, but why does it have to be him? I thought I needed a tutor, not a future criminal." I said.

"Ouch." Theo placed his hand on his heart, acting like my comment hurt his feelings. We all know it barely scratched his massive ego.

"Jasmine," Mr. Day stood up, placing his hand on my shoulder. "You need a tutor and Theo is one of my best students. If you don't get the assistance you need now, then I am afraid that you will fail my class."

My eyes stared down at the floor in defeat. There's no point in arguing, if I fail this class then I have to stay a sophomore again next year. My chest tightens at that possibility.

Summer school cost more than college tuition half the time, my dad wouldn't be able to afford it. I can't put that burden on him, I'm already a handful now.

"Fine. When's the first session?" I turned on my heels, gazing at Theo.

He looked down at me through his long eyelashes. He leaned back on the desk, thinking to himself.

"Tomorrow at the library. Is three-fifteen cool?" Theo asked. He shoved his hands in his red jacket before standing up straight.

"Sure."

"Okay, three-fifteen."