Special Tutoring

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

*Happy Valentine's Day to all the babes and hunks reading Special Tutoring! Sorry for the super long hiatus! I've been traveling and working hard. On a positive note, we seemed to have caught up with the storyline's timing, haven't we? *

Qin had left me stranded in front of a rustic looking farmhouse, cobblestones and all, which I studied with a critical eye. She had certainly achieved her objective of something quiet though I wasn't sure how she intended to end my misery, unless her intention was to fall over the crumbling cobblestones with their sharp edges and break my good leg.

Ivy sprawled over the building like a nasty mess of green armpit hair. Where was Ethan? Frustration and impatience were provoking me to have a good lash out on... nobody.

No. Stop it. Qin was right. My leg would heal and Daddy would reconsider letting me rejoin cheer again. But was that all I wanted?

Actually a huge part of my misery wasn't because I didn't have cheer anymore, but rather than other than cheer, I had nothing at all. Cheer was my entire being and now that it was suddenly taken away from me, it seemed that I have lost my purpose. Like I was nothing without my pompoms. What did that say about me as a person?

A cheerleader with shallow interests. Scratch that, I was a girl with 0 interests.

Ethan was a brilliant violinist, great at ice skating and everything he did. Plus he spoke at least four languages fluently. Qin was a chess prodigy, entrepreneurial and now had a support group. Emily had cheer, her excellent academic record, and her prolific reading. Even Amy had (way too much) drama. Me? I had only cheer. And now I didn't even have that anymore.

I studied the scenery before me. Perhaps it was time to reassess what I wanted in life. Becoming cheer captain seemed like a long ago dream. But I was only seventeen going onto eighteen. There was still time yet, right? Was it too late to carpe diem?

The gentle rustle of leaves carried the whisper of promise in the wind. I breathed in deeply. The air was clear, crisp, restful. The other side of the farmhouse looked over a lake. Maybe I should take a closer look. Better than standing around aimlessly.

I trudged through the grass with my crutches. Being temporarily incapitated made me realize how much I have taken my mobility for granted all the time. Maybe Daddy was right. What if I had broken my spine instead during the fall? Or worse, snapped my neck? A familiar chill ran down my aforesaid spine at that thought. I kept reliving the fall during my sleep, often waking up screaming. I could understand my parents' worry, even though they hadn't said much (other than banning me from cheer).

What did I want? To Cheer or not to cheer?

Where was Ethan... I was scared of being alone with my thoughts.

I was arrested by the sight of the gorgeous cerulean blue of the lake before me. Beyond the lake, stood a craggy mountain in the distance, its harsh lower edges broken by the nestle of trees. I was about to sit down on the grass when I noticed a blond head I knew so well darting about in a glasshouse nearby.

What was Ethan doing?

Curiosity burning, I hobbled over.

Panting a little from the exertion, I leaned against the door frame for support. This wasn't a typical glasshouse, I realized. Instead of stacked piles of fertilizer and ramshackle arrangements of gardening equipment, pots of flowers adorned the earth floor of the glasshouse. In the middle of all this floral plethora of loveliness, stood wooden boxes, one larger, three smaller. Ethan with his back towards me, phone clamped between his neck and ear, as he busied his hands with something at the bigger box.

"Nein, not a good time to talk now. I'm in the middle of something. Like I said, I'm sorry I can't be there to see you break a leg." - I have to admit, I tensed up when I heard that - "But best of luck for your performance and I see you soon."