A Hidden Picture

Six

~ Annalise

"Okay, I get it, you're seventeen." Benny lifts his hands in defense. "But last time I checked, age is just a number," he shrugs.

I stare at him as he speaks, a tired look most likely staining my face at the moment.

He continues, "You know...my mama told me that I'm quite a handsome young man."

This conversation is making me regret agreeing to this job.

"I got options all over the place. So me going after you is a compliment. Because I got hoes everywhere tryna hit on me." He uses his hands as he speaks.

Hoes...hoes? My mouth falls open slightly. He is literally in third grade. In third grade I thought the word hoe was referring to the tool for gardening.

I stay quiet, just continue staring at this kid, completely bewildered.

He raises his eyebrow. "Just think about it, you could have all this." He uses his hand to gesture up and down his body. He's really skinny and wearing clothes that make him look like he's about to go play golf.

I try to think of a way of turning down this kid in a nice way. But I can't think of anything. "No." I should feel bad for being blunt. Emphasis on the should.

When he stands there staring at me unmoving and unsure of how to take the decline, I stand up and walk over to Ro whose helping some boy with reading, leaving Benny there.

"Anybody need help?" I ask him.

"Little dummie over there." He uses his pencil to point to his little cousin Gracie sitting on the other side of the long wooden table.

Her big pink framed glasses make her eyes a little bigger as she stares at her paper. There's a crease between her eyebrows and the long pencil she's holding makes her small hand look even tinier. Through the library's large windows, streams of light shine through, making her green eyes look kind of like glass.

I saunter over and take the seat across from her.

She doesn't realize I'm there until I clear my throat.

When she finally does see me she flashes me a warming smile.

"Hi Anise!"

My eyebrows furrow from the name. Anise?

"Hi Gracie. My name's Annalise, by the way."

"Well...can I call you Anise?" She tilts her head to the side, a hint of some sass in her tone.

Hm. I've never been given a nickname before or anything.

"I..." I start. "Sure. Yeah you can." Her face lights up.

"So I see that you look a little confused there." I point to her empty notebook page.

She sighs. "I hate math. It doesn't make any sense. Why are there so many numbers? And why do I need to know how to divide? Who cares about dividing?!" I can see she's starting to get frustrated so I carefully pull her worksheet and notebook across the table and take a look at what kind of work it is.

Oh. It's just simple problems. Nine divided by 3. Twenty five divided by five.

"How about I try to help you?" I offer.

I'm not a good teacher. But if I know how to do the work usually I can manage to create some sort of explanation to help.

She nods sadly.

I stand up and take the seat next to her.

Grabbing her pencil, I start to explain how to do it by drawing pictures of items on her notebook.