“Rivers!” I could smell Mr. Boydon before I could see him. Booze and one of those horrible cancer stick he permanently had lodged between his lips. “Rivers!”
“Mr. Boydon!” I yelled turning to face the wrinkled man.
“Don’t start young lady, you are in enough trouble.” Mr. Mei says pointing a warning finger at me from behind Mr. Boydon.
“For what? What did I do?” I ask, dropping the pencil in my hand on my desk.
“For the stunt, you pulled last week. Remember? You dumped gallons of paint on one of our most promising investors.” Mr. Boydon strains trying his best not to yell.
“I didn’t dump paint on him, it slipped,” I say trying my best not to burst out laughing at the huge vein bulging out of Mr. B’s forehead.
“Yeah, and your grades?” Mr. Boydon asks holding out a piece of paper.
I groan, great now they’re sending letters to my bosses. “So I’m slipping, so what. It’s nothing to worry about.” I say tossing the paper onto my desk next to my long-forgotten pencil.
“So, the only reason you are able to work here is because of your grades. If they so much as slip from an A++ to an A+ they could take you away from us.” Mr. Mei says walking out from behind Mr. Boydon.
“You act like I’m not an adult. They are my parents, not god or the government. What are they going to do? Ground me.” I say with a laugh. The older man frowns, he knows that’s not something they’d do. No, they’d do worse. They wouldn’t harm me physically, well they haven’t yet. Their more…take away punishment people. You know, those parents who take away all of your electronics and toys when your miss behaving. Well, there’s that then there are the threateners, and then my parents. The parents who take everything you love. And they mean everything. Not just your electronics but your pets, friends, family, everything. Even as an adult, they will take everything and you can’t do a damn thing about it. They never leave a trace. The only way you know it's them is that stupid smile they get when you inevitably go to yell at them. God, I hate that stupid smile. “Just, please, be careful.” Mr.Mei sighs giving my arm a gentle squeeze before waving Mr. Boydon along with him. Mr. Mei and Mr. Boydon are the only reason I know what a real parent is. How a parent is supposed to treat their child. They’re the only reason I’m not as bitter as my parents.
“Ms. Rivers!” Uh oh. “Ms. Rivers!”
“Yes, Ms. Dowdie?” I ask, shoving the rest of my things into my backpack.
“Your parents asked me to talk to you about your grades.” Ms. Dowdie says, stopping in front of my isle before I can swiftly maneuver out of it.
“My parents?”
“Mr. Boydon and Mr. Mei.” Ms. Dowdie smiles, she knows Mr. Boydon and Mr. Mei are more my parents than my biological parents. She was the person who introduced me to the two men. I still have yet to think of a way to thank her enough for that. “They’ve asked me to arrange a tutor for you.” Ms. Dowdie says waving over a group of boys, with most of their backs to us.
“Uh, thank you, ma’am. But I don't do groups very well.” I say grimacing at all those people.
“I know, I also know you prefer quiet that is why I have asked Ms. Lille to tutor you.” Ms. Dowdie says smiling as the group of boy part to allow a girl to emerge and walk toward us.
“Ms. Lille, this is Ms. Rivers. She will be your tutee.” Ms. Dowdie smiles as I giggle.
“Tutee?” I ask with a chuckle.
“It’s what you call someone who is being tutored.” The Lille girl says clearly unamused at my reaction.
“Huh, good to know,” I say turning to Ms. Dowdie with a face she knows well. The I hate this face.
“Well I’ll leave you two to get to know each other, call me if you need anything.” Ms. Dowdie says turning to the Lille girl and pointing at me.
“I saw that,” I say as Ms. Dowdie turns and almost runs away.
Midway down the stairs of the aisle, she yells back, “I know, I wanted you to.” I can’t help but smile, she always knew how to make me do that, smile.
“So, hi. I’m Ainsley,” I say reaching out for a handshake only for her to stare at it before saying.
“Look, I’m only doing this because I owe Ms. D. I wanna get this done and over, fast.”
“Okay-”
“What subjects are you failing?” She asks swinging her bag onto her shoulder.
“Uh, I’m not sure. Math definitely and probably science, oh and Spanish.” I say, smiling when she looks at me with a weird look, “What? I barely know how to speak English.”
“Do you know where Tj’s cafe is?” The Lilles girl asks.
“Uh, yeah. Everybody does-”
“Good, be there. Saturday, three pm.”
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