The Art Of Loving Lia

the one with the tutor

Once again I sat with a open book in my lap and gave nasty looks to whoever tried to interrupt me. My fingers caressed the worn pages and a faint smile spread on my lips as I remembered the day I got it. I had been six, my life hadn't gone terribly wrong yet and a smile had always been plastered on my freckled face. It had been such a beautiful day, the sun had made the sea look like a bowl of glitter. I could faintly remember myself asking all the adults at my birthday party, if there was mermaids in the sparkly water, the only one who said yes had been my aunt. She had also been the only one who got me a gift I wished for, a book. She had gotten me a new copy of the first Harry Potter book and my six year old heart had been so overwhelmed that tears had fallen from my big green eyes.

I shook my head at the memory, I hated them, hated the thought of a life that never really was. I hugged the book closely to my chest and took a few deep breaths to calm my roaring heart. I got up from the chair I was sitting in and started roaming through the schools library. Gently letting my small finger stroke the back of the books, ignoring all the dust I got om them. The library smelled like old people and coffee, but from all the time I had spent her during my school years, it was a comforting smell.

"Hey! " I turned around with a spin and lifted my eyebrows at the boy in front of me, it was angel boy and he was smiling at the sight of me. I shuddered. He walked closer and I intrinsically backed closer to the shelves on my right side, you could use a book as a weapon right? 

"Hey, I've been looking for you." Red tint spread on his golden cheeks and he ruffled his brown curls with one of his hands. 

"Well that's unfortunate." I muttered and fiddled with the hair tie on my wrist.

"It's really not, It's great because I am supposed to tutor you." My green eyes shot up to look at him. I had to admit I was a bit surprised that angel boy was the one I was going to torture for the following weeks until Ms. Branwell realized that there was nothing she could do that would make me change. This was the person I was, and that would never change. Unless someone wiped my memory and I had to start over, I guess some thing would change then.

"You're the best she's got? Well Ms. Branwell must really be running low on tutors." A smirk spread on my lips when a baffled look took place on his face.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You look like someone straight out a model magazine, not exactly brain material." He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, and shook his head which made his curls bounce up and down.

"Well I am the best she has got because I'm the best in our year, so you will sit down and study with me." I scoffed at his words but followed him to a table nevertheless. 

"Ms. Branwell told me that you were failing almost every class."

"She really did huh?" He nodded and then continued rambling about his plan for our tutoring lessons, I was only listing with half a ear. 

"Do you have a name angel boy?" I was almost embarrassed about the fact that I had called him angel boy out loud but why should I be embarrassed when I simply didn't need to give a single fuck. It wasn't like it wasn't true either, and he surely knew it. His face turned a bright shade of pink when he heard my question and I snickered quietly.

"Uh yeah, my name is Nathaniel but my friends call me Nate."

"Lovely Nathaniel." I said while took a pen from his pen case and started drawing flowers on one of the math papers he had given me.

"You can call me Nate." He said and gave me a small smile, I grinned brightly at him "But we aren't friends, are we Nathaniel?" He turned his face away from me and started to sort papers instead, and I smiled triumphantly at myself. Angel boy zero, Lia one.

After a while I actually started doing the math problems, it was a bit therapeutic really. I was almost finished with the first page when Nathaniel's voice broke through the comforting silence. "Is your name really Lia?" He asked and I looked at him through my eyelashes and nodded.

"You are lying." My head shot up in surprise and I narrowed my eyes at him "What do you mean?"

"Well I know for a matter of fact that your name is Cordelia." I silently cursed Ms. Branwell and sent her a telepathic middle finger.

"Well Nathaniel why ask such stupid questions when you already have the answer?" He gave me a small smile and then returned to going through whatever papers that were laying in front of him. I tried to ignore the wave of annoyance that riddled through my body and tried to focus on the problems that covered my paper instead. It worked, track of time simply vanished and I almost forgot that Nathaniel was sitting beside me, that was until he decided to open his mouth once again.

"Cordelia we are done for today, I need to get home." He said while gathering his things togheter and putting them in his blue backpack.

"Lia, my name is Lia." I muttered and handed him my math papers. 

"My name is Nate and you don't seem to care about that do you, Cordelia? Therefore I do not care whether your name is Lia or Cordelia." 

Angel boy, one, Lia, one.