Page 16 of Tutoring the Bad Boy
Ronnie: Hey. I stopped by your house and no one’s home. Where are you?
Me: Sitting at the beach watchingWarm Bodieswith Kaleb.
Ronnie:…
If I wasn’t watching a movie, I’d be busting out laughing. I can only imagine what she’s thinking.
Ronnie: Did you hit your head? Are you hallucinating?
Me: No, I’m sitting here, sand between my toes, watching a movie with the resident bad boy.
Ronnie: Is your mom sick?
Do I tell her what I overheard? Maybe if I wasn’t texting, but in print, where it could be seen later? No way.
Me: No, I told her the faster I get his grades up, the faster I’m done tutoring him. She agreed, and here I am.
Ronnie:…
My phone buzzes in my hand, and Dixie has joined the conversation.
Dixie: You have to be joking. I know your momma. There is no way she’d go along with that.
Me: Well, she did. Were you right there when Ronnie started texting me?
Dixie: No, she came here when you told her where you were. I think she wondered if we needed to call for medical attention.
“I thought this was your favorite movie?” Kaleb asks.
“It is,” I whisper my reply before shutting my phone off. I’ll have to explain later what happened. “Sorry.”
He scoots closer. “We need to talk after this movie.”
I nod, thinking we’ll discuss the movie for a few minutes and then I’ll go home. If we need an in-depth discussion, we can talk later. I don’t want to be late for curfew.
For the rest of the movie, I allow myself to be engrossed. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, and it’s easy to remember why I loved it. Connections brought people back to life. Humans are social, and technology can only offer so much. It can’t caress your arms, kiss you, or love you. Technology is a tool, but it can’t replace the emotional connections that people need.
A beating heart needs another beating heart to find its rhythm. When those two hearts sync, it’s music. I’m not saying its good music all the time, but when we find that person that complements our beat, it makes life easier.
When the movie’s over, I’m in no hurry to leave. My mom is waiting on me at home, and as much as I don’t want to confront her about the deal she made, there’s part of me that does. Actually, I’m still undecided about how I feel about it.
Kaleb twists to face me, and he hangs his head. “I want to be an architectural engineer so badly. There’s no hope for me to get into MIT because I’ve worked so hard to stick it to my dad.”
It feels like he’s warring with himself, and I wonder if he realizes he’s talking out loud. I don’t know what to say, so I just stay quiet.
He continues, “If I get into a good school, maybe he’ll support me. I think he wants me to go into law because he has connections and he doesn’t think I can get into college on my own.”
His voice grows softer until it breaks on the last word. The emotions he’s struggling with wrap around me, and my heart hurts for him. The desperation he’s feeling soaks into me, and if there’s nothing I understand more, it’s desperation.
I go to cover his hand with mine, and he jerks it away. “Don’t. I don’t deserve your kindness. I made a deal with your mom to break your heart in return for a letter of recommendation and a meeting with a friend of hers at MIT.”
My mom thinks Kaleb is the devil incarnate, but he’s just proved her wrong. Not saying he’s a saint, but part of the reason she hates lying so much is because my dad lied a lot. He’d tell her one thing, and she’d find out it was another.
“I know.” It’s not even a dilemma whether to confess that I overheard them.
His head jerks up, and his gaze finds mine. “You know? And you sat through this entire movie with me?”
Nodding, I say, “I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle it, and I didn’t want to deal with my mom or the recruiter from the college she’s trying to push on me.”
