Tutoring for Eternity

Chapter 3: Brain Break

Danni

 I wake up the next morning at nine. I quickly shower and put on some sweatpants and a hoodie.

 I head down to the kitchen for some breakfast. Fruit will do.

 "So you're tutoring someone?" Mom says as she cooks bacon.

 "Yep."

 "Are they a boy?"

 I roll my eyes. She's been obsessed with the thought of me having a boyfriend.

 Although I'm not ready for one considering my last. He was a nightmare and I don't ever want to go back to those days.

 "Yes, he's a boy."

 "When are your sessions?"

 "Normally Friday but I had to cancel yesterday well because of Shadow. But I'm meeting him at the cafe at noon today."

 "Well you better get going it's 11:30 right now."

 I check the time and she's right meaning that I have to leave.

 I hop into my car and head over to the cafe. When I get there Zak is already there.

 "Hey," I say to him as I sit on the couch across from him.

 "Hey," He looks up at me. "Holy shit you look like crap."

 "That's so nice of you."

 "I'm sorry, so why'd you have to cancel yesterday?"

 "We had to put my dog down yesterday since he suffered from cancer and epilepsy." I will not cry in front of him.

 "Oh, I'm so sorry."

 "It's fine. Let's just start. Math first?" Composure is needed right now. Just breathe. I remind myself.

 "Sure."

 "Since you're taking algebra two/trigonometry this year it should be pretty easy to get through since I took that class last year. It wasn't too difficult."

 "Sounds good."

***

 "I need a brain break," Zak announces.

 "Zak, sweetie, we've been working for ten minutes," I reply.

 "Did you just call me sweetie?"

 "I call everyone sweetie."

 "I liked it."

 "Okay, sweetie. I'm not kidding when I say we have to get you caught up in at least one subject for today and with Math being the easiest, right now it's your best bet."

 "Five minutes for a brain break, please."

 "Fine." I sigh.

 "Do you want anything?"

 "Sure I'll have a hot chocolate."

 "Okay, I'll be back."

 I prep his next lesson for him while he's gone. With a seriously low D in his algebra/trig class, he could end up having to repeat this year.

 He's lucky he has me.

 "Here's your hot chocolate, Daniella." Zak's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

 "Don't call me that." I snap. I hate being called that. It reminds me of my ex. Eventually, I'll tell you all about him but for now, that story's for a different day.

 "That's your name, isn't it?"

 "Yes but I don't like being called by my full name."

 "Chill, I didn't know alright."

 I roll my eyes.

 "What're you doing?" He questions.

 "I'm working on your next lesson," I say as I continue to create multiple problems for him to solve based on linear equations.

 "Boring." He replies. I look up at him.

 "Do you want my help or not?"

 "I kinda need it."

 "Then quit your whining." I look back down at the papers in front of me. "By the way, there are only two minutes left in your brain break."

 "Wait what? I wanted to ask you some questions."

 "Are they math-related?"

 "No, but I still have two minutes until we start."

 "Okay, shoot."

 "What's your favorite color?"

 "Light blue," I respond without looking up from my work.

 "Mines orange."

 "That's great."

 "Do you have siblings? I don't have any, I'm an only child."

 "Older half-sister and a younger brother, you can count my brother-in-law if you want to. Wait you don't have any siblings?"

 "No. How old are your siblings?"

 "My sister's 25, brother's 14, and my brother-in-law is also 25."

 "That's cool that your sister is married. Does she have kids?"

 "Twin boys, who aren't even a year old yet." 

 "Do they live near you?"

 "Nope, they live in Florida."

 "You said earlier that your dog died. Do you have any other pets?"

 "Yep, another dog and a cat."

 "You had three pets, I could never."

 "Do you even have one?"

 "No."

 "You live a lonely life."

 "I'm used to it. Do you do any sports, other than cheerleading?"

 "No."

 "Have you in the past?"

 "Yep."

 "Which ones?"

 "Soccer, when I was five. Martial Arts for about two years and then Taekwondo for about three."

 "So you took Karate for a total of five years, that's awesome!"

 "Taekwondo is not the same thing as Karate."

 "What's the difference?"

 "Karate is more focused on your hands while Taekwondo is more focused on your legs."

 "So cheerleading's the only thing that's stuck, huh?"

 "Yep."

 "How long have you done it?"

 "Since I was five."

 "What made y-"

 He got cut off by the sound of my alarm ringing indicating his five minutes are up.

 "Brain break over. Try the first few problems." I tell him while I drink my hot chocolate.

 "Yes ma'am."

***

Another chapter down!
This chapter was pretty much just a bit of background info on these two.

I used a lot of inspiration from my life for Danni. A few things are hers and only hers but a decent amount of it is from my life.

For Zak, I just kinda came up with stuff.

818 words.