Page 10 of Midnight
Chapter 8
Nate
"Whatifshe'sjustlike my teachers back in school?"Harper wrings her hands nervously in her lap as we sit on the couch and wait for the tutor I hired to get here.
"Then we find a different one.I don't for one minute believe that you can't do this and if I have to, I'll teach you myself," I tell her.
I want to give each teacher that has made this wonderful creature think that she is worth nothing, a lesson that they will not soon forget.I know this girl can do anything she puts her mind to.
"I'll stay here and make sure everything goes smoothly.If anything, I'll be in the next room but I'll be listening to everything, okay?"Even though I reassure her, she still looks nervous.
"What if we use a code word?I'll listen in and if I hear the secret word, I will know that you don't like this tutor and I'll get her out the door.And then we'll have a code word for if you do like the tutor, so I know to invite her back.How does that sound?"
Her eyes go wide for just a moment.Then she nods her head, and seems to calm a little with our plans in place.
"What word do you want to use if you don't like her?"
"If I don't like her, I'll say she reminds me of my math teacher, Ms.Gossling."
"Perfect.And if you do like her?"
"Then I'll compare her to my art teacher, Ms.Reba.She was the only teacher that ever gave me compliments, and I promise you I was not that great at art.But I did try because it was one of the least stressful classes I had."
"Perfect.Remember today she's just coming in to talk to you, get to know you and see where you are so she can devise your learning plan.She will probably be giving you a test or asking your questions to see how far along you are.If you finish before the end of May, you'll be able to graduate from high school here with a high school diploma and everything."
A small smile graces her face and I know she wants that, even if she won't admit it.She doesn't get a chance to answer because the doorbell rings.I lean over, kissing the side of her head, and giving her thigh a squeeze in an attempt to give some of my strength to her because I know she's going to rock this.
Then, opening the door, I find the tutor that was recommended by several of the guys from my work.She's an older lady, maybe a little bit younger than my mom.She's dressed professionally and gives me a warm smile.
"Mrs.Wellington," I greet her, opening the door.
She looks me up and down before looking past me at Harper.
"Dear, you must be Harper."She greets her and pretty much dismisses me.
"Yes, it's nice to meet you, Mrs.Wellington," Harper says ever so politely.
"You may call me Gloria.Where would you feel most comfortable while we chat?"she asks.Harper looks at me.
"Anywhere that you'd like.I'm just going to answer some emails and I can do that from anywhere."I tell her nodding my head.
"Oh, um, here in the living room, I guess?"Harper says.
She sounds really unsure and is still looking at me.
"That's fine.If you need anything, I will sit at the dining room table," At my words, Gloria effectively shoos me out of the room.
Even though I settle at the dining room table and open up my computer, looking at my e-mail, I'm not paying much attention to anything in front of me.Instead, I'm listening to the conversation between Gloria and Harper.
"Now dear, tell me about how far you got in school, the subjects you did well with, and the ones that you didn't do well."Gloria says gently.While I appreciate Gloria’s tone, it's not hard to see that Harper is very uncomfortable with all this.
"I was in my senior year of high school, and I'm pretty sure my math teachers passed me so they didn't have to deal with me again because I just didn't get it.Though, I enjoyed history, language arts mostly for the reading, and art.I was passing biology but the whole dissecting of frog thing lowered my grade quite a bit."Harper says,
Even from here, I can tell she's grossed out about it.
"They are still doing that barbaric experiment in class?I hated it back in my day.All right then.I have a test for you to take.It will cover everything that you need to know to graduate.It's online, and I will get you the link you take it tonight.But I'm not going to stand here and stare over you.This isn't a graded test, but it’s simply to know where we need to begin," Gloria says.
They go on talking and she asks questions about this or that and slowly Harper starts to relax.I'm waiting to hear one of our code words to know if I need to go in and save her or not.
