Fell On Black Days (A School for Good and Evil Fanfic)

The Tutor

Anadil took a deep breath, steeling her nerves as she looked at the girl across the hallway. She hadn’t expected Sheeks to force her to ask the student about tutoring herself, but apparently the school couldn’t get a hold of her family, which, according to the teacher, was “typical, for types like her.” Anadil wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded rather derogatory. 

Eventually, Anadil gathered her courage, stepping across the traffic of the hallway and getting only a few odd looks. She reached the girl’s locker and cleared her throat, waiting for her to emerge. From what Anadil could hear, she seemed to be muttering some rather vile lyrics under her breath. Eventually, she closed the locker, playing an imaginary guitar, then tripped backwards when she saw Anadil lurking behind her locker door. She removed her headphones. 

“God, don’t scare people like that! What, did you take a class in being spooky as hell?”

Anadil held her head high, trying to show how unaffected she was. She could already tell that this girl would be rather averse to tutoring, and she couldn’t afford another bully.

“Sheeks asked me to talk to you,” she started in a matter-of-fact tone. “You are Hester Ray, are you not?”

“I am…?” she said hesitantly. “I literally started at this school yesterday.
What could a teacher possibly want out of me? If this is one of those prestigious schools where they flip out if you don’t do your homework one time, I am running away. Not that I wasn’t already going to do that, but—”

“That’s not it,” Anadil interrupted. “You see, your step-mother spoke to administration…” She trailed off as Hester let out a long groan. 

“So that’s what this is about. She wants to make sure I’m behaving, so she has the principal sic a student prodigy on me. I get it now.”

“I’m not a student prodigy,” Anadil clarified, a bit miffed. “And it’s not about behaving. Your mother thinks you may be able to pass AP Calculus, so she hired a tutor.”

“A tutor?” Hester snorted derisively. “Seriously? I’ll pass. I don’t need a tutor.”

“Your grades say otherwise,” Anadil shot back, taking a step closer. “Listen, I don’t want to do this either. But extra money is extra money and time away from home is time well spent. Come to tutoring or don’t, I don’t care. Just know that I’ll have to report your progress to Sheeks, who in turn will report it to your mother.”

She shoved past the other girl, stalking off down the hallway.

“She’s not my mother!” Hester yelled after her just as she rounded the corner.