The Tutor

(8) Staring Contest

Staring Contest . . .

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and sighed heavily. This is why I hate coming to class on time; it's always so boring and always too quiet. There's literally no one in here but like, two people. I stared up the ceiling, trying to hold in another annoyed groan that was willing to escape. Sighing again, I looked down and towards the front of the class.

The door to the class caught my attention as it swung open and someone walked in. My eyes followed her across the room as she made her way to her normal seat in the front of the class, closest to the teacher's desk.

She made no move to even look at me as she walked over there, which brought a small chuckle from my lips; I knew she wanted to look back here. She sat the books she was carrying on top of the desk and then put her bag down next to her chair. Running her hands through her hair once and then smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles from the skirt she wore, she finally sat down in her seat.

My eyes stayed locked on the back of her head, even as people continued to pour into class and take their seats. The bell sounded, and still no glimpse my way. My eyes trailed down her back and somehow ended on her thighs, making me want to just reach out and run the tips of my fingers on them.

I rolled my eyes away from her and towards Mr. Gore as he walked to his podium in the front of the class. Looking at the class from over the top of his glasses, he plopped his book open in front of him. He wasted no time getting started with his lesson for today.

I slouched down in my seat, already knowing what was about to come next for me. Folding my arms across my chest, I tried focusing on what he was trying to teach; it always started like this. At first I was following, recognizing the two formulas for a circle. Then he started mentioning some shit about "derivatives", which I could never fully grasp.

His voice became a series of murmurs as the numbers and letters he began drawing on the board swarmed together and my confusion deepened. I withheld the urge to just get up and leave, but what would that solve? Maybe a math tutor wouldn't be a bad idea after all.

Just as that thought entered my head, I looked back over to where Jennifer was sitting. As I looked over there, we made eye contact for a split second before she whipped her head back around to the front. I laughed quietly to myself as I caught her hair swinging, which helped prove that she was looking this way. A smirk curved at my lips as I continued to watch her.

Jennifer pulled a blue, spiral notebook from her bag and then got out a pencil. Digging around in her bag a little bit more, she pulled out a thick, tan-colored case thing and opened it. She pulled out a small pair of black wire rimmed glasses and then put them on. Crossing one leg over the other, she seemed to get comfortable, preparing to take notes.

I rolled my eyes away from her for a second time and zoned back in on Mr. Gore's voice. "An inverse of a function is a function obtained by switching its values with its arguments. For example the square function, usually written as x2, has the square root function as an inverse..."

I scrunched my face up. What the hell he is talking about? I brought the wrist carrying my black G-Shock up to my face and studied the time. I still had half an hour left in here. Propping my chin in my hand, I sighed inwardly and prepared for time to drag by like I knew it would.

I shifted my gaze back over to Jennifer as my mind began to think about what happened the other day, in the parking lot. My body tensed when I remembered that the guy, her mom's boyfriend or whoever, raised his hand to hit her. That sent heat through my body and I didn't like it.

I don't know why I wanted to defend her, even though she made it more than clear that she wanted nothing to do with me other than math. But I couldn't help it; it's an instinct I obtained long ago. No matter who she is, whether she likes me or not, I'm not going to just stand there and witness something like that happen to her.