The Tutor

“Sadie, did you hear anything I just said?”

Ruby Horrace raised her eyes from the math book and spiral three subject she awkwardly balanced upon her knee and gazed at the girl sitting beside her. “Sadie?” She spoke in an annoyed sing-song style.

Sadie’s eyes, fixed straight ahead, glazed over with lust, followed the moves of a shirtless football player.

Ruby let out an exasperated puff of air, closed the books, and set them on the bleachers.

“At least I’m getting paid,” she thought to herself and remembered why she tutored in the first place … college credit.

She swiped a hand over her face and glanced at her watch. They were all like Sadie. Every kid she had ever helped. They didn’t want to learn, they wanted her to do the work for them. And once she had thought, she wanted to be a teacher. No way! She didn’t have the patience and didn’t understand why they didn’t catch on as easily as she did.
She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and enjoyed the light wind whipping through her pony tail. It softly brushed her face and for a moment, she felt calm. Ruby didn’t take a breath very often. There was too much to do, too much to worry over, and too many goals to achieve.
She stared at the practice field. The boys lined up. A line with shirts facing the ones with bare chests. The coach blew a whistle and they crashed into each other. Shoving and pushing, trying to break free. Barbaric. Ruby groaned. She didn’t understand the game and had no interest in learning. She didn’t care to watch either, but Sadie liked to study in the stands. Her brother Seth was on the team and her ride home.

“Okay … tomorrow we’re studying in the library.” Ruby snatched her backpack and shoved the books inside.
“I can’t.” Sadie shook her head. “Seth will leave me if I’m not ready to go when he is.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “You’re never going to pass Algebra if Darren Anders is anywhere around. He’s a distraction.”
“He is. Isn’t he?” Sadie sighed wistfully.
“Only for you.” The guy was the class clown who only took football seriously and he never combed his hair. She didn’t understand the attraction. “Why don’t you just go down there and talk to him? Then maybe we can get this homework done.”
“He’s my brother’s best friend.” Sadie sighed. She propped her elbow on her knee and laid her cheek on her hand. “I’m not allowed to like him.” She turned to face Ruby. “I’m trying not to be obvious about it.”
“Well, you’re failing miserably.”
“And as my friend you are sworn to secrecy.” Sadie grinned. “You can’t tell a soul that I’m breaking the rules.”
“I’m your friend?”
“The only friend I got.”

Ruby squinted eyes and pierced her lips. Did Sadie really think she was that gullible? They did not travel in the same circles. Sadie wore designer jeans and name brand shirts. Just like the popular kids. Her blonde hair, styled in the latest fashion fell soft and shiny down her back and her accessories were genuine gold. Just like the popular kids. Friends? No way.

 “You don’t have to call me your friend for me to keep your secret, Sadie.” Ruby stood up and started away. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“But you are my friend,” Sadie insisted.
“Oh, please. I see you every morning surrounded by the “It” girls. This is the only time you talk to me and if you weren’t failing math you wouldn’t be talking to me now.”
“They are not my friends.”
Ruby stopped and stared daggers at the girl with the perfect complexion.
“They only hang around me because of my brother. We just moved here a couple of months ago and Seth is already just as popular as he was in our old school. Do you know who I was at my old school? I was you.”
“That sounded like an insult.”
“I miss who I used to be and I really miss my old sweater Seth made me throw out and I miss my glasses. I’m a nerd and I hate hiding it.”
“Did you just insinuate that I am a nerd?”
“You know you’re a nerd.”
“Yes. A nerd that doesn’t need a tutor.” In that one moment, Ruby started to like Sadie. She seemed different. Or maybe Ruby was sick of having no one, not one friend to talk to in school. “What kind of a nerd are you anyway? I already know you’re not the smart kind.”

“Ouch!” They sat back down on the bleachers. “That stings.” Sadie rolled her eyes. “I like art and I write. I have no problems in any subject except this one. I hate math.”
“And it’s the one thing you need for everything.”
“Not for a paintbrush.”
“You need it to know how much one costs.”
“I understand adding and subtracting just fine, Ruby.” She stared at the cheerleaders who waved and beckoned for her to join them. She sighed. “Seth’s old friends used to pick on me. He wanted me to change so I wouldn’t have to put up with it here. I think he’s just tired of being embarrassed by me, but … I can’t be like those girls. I don’t care if the wind messes up my hair. I don’t cry when I break a nail …”
“Do they really do that?” Ruby asked, believing only fictional characters did those things.
“Yeah. And they cry if they drop something on their clothes at lunch. If I went down there, picked up that hose and sprayed them, they would have a total meltdown. I’ve tried to find a friend in one of them, but so far they’re just, shallow. All they talk about is hair and clothes and makeup and parties and boys …”
“Okay … okay.” Ruby laughed. “I’m your friend. Just stop talking about the “It” girls.”

“So, what am I gonna do about Darren? How do I stop liking him?”
“You could stop drooling over him, for starters.”
“Oh, come on, like your eyes don’t follow my cousin everywhere he goes.”
“You’re cousin?”
“Brandon Cross.” Sadie pointed at the guy who sat alone on the other side of the bleachers. He rested an arm across a bent knee and stared at the players on the field through strands of long black hair.
He didn’t resemble Sadie or Seth. He had a much darker tan complexion than his cousins. And features that made Ruby believe he was a foreign exchange student when she had first saw him. And she did watch his every move when he was near. He was the most dangerous guy in school and she didn’t want to be on his radar.

“Oh. Um … I don’t have a crush on Brandon. I’m actually … scared of him.”
“He scares me too.”
“Really?”
“And I have to live with him,” Sadie admitted. “His parents sent him away. I don’t know what he did. My parents don’t talk about it but I know what he did here.”
“That was brutal.”
Ruby didn’t think anyone would ever forget the day Brandon put Brock Marlon in the hospital. Brock was a big nasty guy who found great pleasure in bullying his peers. Ruby had gone to school with him since kindergarten and had been his target many times. No one was tougher and Brock knew it.
Brandon arrived. Tall, muscular and dressed like a dangerous bad boy cliché … boots, long hair and a leather jacket.
Brock must have thought he needed to prove his dominance. It wasn’t the first time he had started an unprovoked fight. But Brandon snapped. Ruby was terrified just watching. Since that day, no one knew how to describe that fight except to say, “It wasn’t a fight. It was a massacre.”

“So, Seth is throwing a pool party this weekend. Do you want to go?”
“It’s December.”
Sadie chuckled hard. “I know. I’m sorry, I never told you. The house we bought has an in-ground pool. I am so excited. We have never had a pool before. Anyway, Dad and his friends built this glass house looking thing around it so we can use it all year round. And he said we can retract it in the summer. It’s going to be so cool!” She squealed.
“I don’t think I’ll fit in with all your cool rich friends, Sadie.”
“Girl, I am not rich. My parents just got a good deal on a house and I got these clothes from a thrift store. Besides, I’ve seen where you live. Your house is bigger than mine.”
“My uncle inherited it from his grandparents. He and my aunt have to work two jobs to keep it.” Ruby didn’t know why she told Sadie about the house. She wasn’t the type who talked about her private life. Especially with a kid she barely knew.
“You don’t live with your parents?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Mom’s dead. Dad lives on an army base in Germany.”
“Oh. Bummer.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you get to see your Dad a lot?”
“No … um, I don’t have a lot of extra time on the weekends. I have to work.”
“So come over when you get off.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think hard. Okay?”

“Yo, Sayd!” Seth approached and propped his foot up on the bench in front of us. His friend Darren, and a small group of cheerleaders, accompanied him. “Darren and I are gonna grab some food. I gave the keys to Brandon so you’ll have to ride with him.”
“Fine.” Sadie said then turned her attention back to her friend. “Do you want to finish that math now or I could drop by your house tonight.”
“Neither. I have to get to work.”
“Hey, you work at the diner on Main Street, right?” Darren laid an arm on Seth’s shoulder. “You always walk to work.”
“Yeah, that’s me.” Ruby hoisted her backpack over a shoulder knowing it was a set up for some kind of joke.
“That’s where we’re going. You want a ride?” He chuckled and exchanged glances with the three girls who stood near him.
“No thanks.” Ruby headed down the bleachers without looking back. She had fallen for the popular kids tricks too many times. Every time they offered something that seemed friendly, they were really setting up some kind of prank. This one would probably make her late for work.
She walked past Brandon who stood against the chain link gate with his arms crossed. Her eyes caught his. It was the first time she had seen his eyes at all. He always walked with his head down and his hair covered them. They were a greyish blue. Completely unexpected.
Ruby swallowed hard and felt a chill … all the way to her bones.
“Have a nice walk, Hore-Ass!” Sasha Banks yelled from behind and followed it with a giggle.
Ruby glanced back to see Sasha walking towards the gate with her cheerleader buddies, Alexa and Bailey. She had her arm threaded through Darren’s.
“You sure you don’t want a ride?” Darren offered again.
“No. Thanks anyway.”
“Thanks anyway.” Bailey mocked. “Awe, Darren, she thinks you’re serious.”
“Please, we werent’ going to take you to work. We were gonna take you to Ghost Farm.” Sasha smirked, scanning Ruby with a sinister flick of her eyes.
“Yeah. And strand your ass.” Alexa added. “It’s a good thing you’re brain wasn’t damaged like your face.”
Ruby lowered her head and pulled at the bangs that covered the deep scar on her forehead.
“Leave her alone.” Sadie walked pass them and stood at her cousins side. “She’s never done anything to you.” She paused at her cousin’s side. “Are you ready, Brandon?”
He answered with a nod.
“Don’t make the same mistakes you made at our last school.” Seth whispered to his sister as he passed.
“Asshole.” Brandon’s growled.
“What was that?” Seth turned on his heel and faced his cousin.
“You heard me.”
“Yeah. But I want you to say it a little louder. So I have witnesses when I talk my parents into kicking you out. Just take one swing Brandon. Just one. That’s all I need.”
“Why do you want me gone so bad, Seth? Do I embarrass you? Like your sister?”
“I’m not embarrassed by Sadie.”
“Sure. That’s why you didn’t invite her to go to the diner today, right?”
Ruby took advantage of the shift of attention and walked away, putting as much distance as she could between herself and that group of kids. Hearing their chatter until she stepped off the school property and onto paved road.
She had a thirty minute walk ahead, but at least it would be quiet and she wouldn’t have to hear what anyone else thought of her. Except her own. And even they were against her sometimes.