The Tutor

Chapter 24

Christmas and New Year's had been a blur; already they were back in school from their respective winter breaks, lining up for lunch in the cafeteria. Rafe had had another meltdown after arguing with his father and was not welcome back home for Christmas. Nora knew there was no way he would spend Christmas alone, so they had him over for the entire festive season along with Benny. Simon went back to see his family in Scotland. Rafe had been taking cooking lessons from her grandmother and managed to cook a delicious dinner with Nora for New Year's Day.

"You know, when Rafe first came to this school, the last thing I imagined was the three of us spending the winter break together. I mean, we practically lived together." Benny said.

Nora nodded. "I know. I didn't think our tutoring deal was going to last this long."

"You know it's not just a tutoring deal anymore. It's like he is becoming a closer friend than I. You're definitely spending more time together."

"Yeah, but you ditch me now on the weekends to see Simon."

"Good point," Benny said, but there was a tension in the crease of eyebrows. Earlier that morning, she thought she saw Benny looking glum. He was hiding something. Though he didn't sound like he'd had a fight with Simon when she asked about him.

"Has your mum been questioning you non-stop about him?" Benny asked, changing the subject. Typical.

"Yes well, now that she has a boyfriend, she's more interested in talking about him."

"Did she come to Berk with him?"

"No, she visited alone for a couple of days and flew back to work," Nora said.

"That's nice..." Benny said.

Benny wasn't the type of person who would mope around over trivial things like complaining about his hair or getting sad over a movie or a book. However, when matters came to something more serious, when a problem truly bothered him, he retreated into himself and tried too hard to cover it up. He would fidget with the ties of his hoodie and repeatedly asked 'what else is new'. Like he was trying to distract Nora and avoid whatever problem was bothering him. Her father used to do that to her mother whenever she asked him about his work or brought up their marital problems.

But Nora wasn't fooled. She'd noticed the bags under his eyes that morning and how his lips were pressed into a line, either from concentration or sadness. One thing was certain -- something bad had happened.

She put her tray of food on the table, tucked the chair under her, and scooted closer to face him.

 "Benny. What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I just didn't get any sleep. All that excitement from spending the weekend with Simon," he said. It didn't get past Nora that he tensed when Jack entered the cafeteria.

The violent footballer didn't even look their way and joined his usual gang. Nora watched Rafe talk and laugh with Luke. The girls (always different ones) sat around listening to his every word. He caught her looking at him, and he nodded her way, and she gave a little wave. Hazel, who saw the gesture, scooted closer to Rafe, placed her head on his shoulder, and continued talking to Amber like nothing had happened.

Nora inwardly rolled her eyes. She really admired Rafe's patience. All the girls always yearned for physical contact from Rafe. She couldn't imagine how annoying that must've been. For that reason alone, she shooed Rafe away when he tried to sit with them at lunch.

Because of him, the rest of the people she'd never even talked to before swarmed around him. Nora and Benny liked their little corner and preferred to eat without getting harassed by excited girls and loud football junkies.