The Tutor

Part 1

"Will Karla Cabello come down to the principal's office?"

Camila had just signed into her study hall. She walked over to the moderator of her study hall and asked if she could go to the principal's office. Her moderator wrote her a hall pass and Camila made her way to Mrs. Lovato's office.

When she arrived, the door was already open and Mrs. Lovato waved her in. Camila quickly stepped into the office and sat down in the closest chair.

"Do you know why I called you in here?" Mrs. Lovato looked up from her computer to look Camila in the eyes. Camila shook her head, "You failed pre-calculus this quarter. You need to get a tutor to raise your grades."

Camila had a worried look on her face, "Ma'am, I don't think I can afford a tutor."

Mrs. Lovato removed her glasses from her face, "Don't worry, we provide in-school tutors for free," She put her glasses back on and looked at her computer, "Starting next week, you're going to be meeting with Lauren Jauregui in the tutoring center during this period."

"Tutoring center?"

"It's the room in the back of the library," Mrs. Lovato explained before she took her glasses off again, "If you fail pre-calculus again this quarter you know what's going to have to happen."

Camila began to shake her head quickly in reassurance, "Don't worry, ma'am. I will do the best I can this quarter."

Mrs. Lovato sat back in her chair, "Okay, that is all. I will also be calling home about this," She pointed to the door, "Please close it on your way out." Camila nodded and quickly made her way out the door.

Today was her first day tutoring, and Lauren didn't know how to feel. She's never tutored anyone before so she doesn't know if she'll be good at it. Her friends have been no help either; they all think it's dumb she's doing this, but Lauren needs the community service hours.

Lauren got to the tutoring center first. There was no one in the room except a nun who was sitting at a desk in the corner playing solitaire. Lauren chose the desk closest to the window and began to set up her materials. She brought her precalc textbook, notebook and flashcards with important equations. For their first session, they're working on matrices.

The girl Lauren was tutoring was Karla Cabello. Lauren didn't know her very well because they didn't run in the same friend groups. But they have had classes together and Karla always seemed pretty nice, if not a bit showy. Also, most people in their grade seemed to like her so she couldn't be too bad.

It took Karla another ten minutes before she entered the tutoring center. Lauren was a bit annoyed. The tutoring was for Karla's benefit, not hers.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late," Karla plopped down at the table, dumping her bag on the ground, "I got distracted." Karla started laughing and Lauren couldn't figure out why.

Nonetheless, Lauren forced a smile, "It's fine." Lauren looked around the room as she waited for Karla to take out her books and get ready. There weren't many people in the tutoring center. There were about ten tables in total, and only three of them were occupied; but that just helped make the area feel more private.

"My matrices test is on Thursday and Mr. Mendes gave us this review sheet to work on. I started it, but I don't think I did it right."

The two spent the rest of the session working on the worksheet. At first, Lauren struggled to explain the different concepts involving matrices to Karla in a way that made sense to her. However, Karla made it easier by asking a lot of questions. Even though the questions annoyed her slightly, it helped her grasp a better understanding of what was confusing Karla.

By the end of the session, Karla was able to do the last ten questions by herself and only made two minor mistakes. Lauren had to admit, she was proud.

"Thank you so much!" Karla had a bright smile on her face.

"It was no problem, Karla," Lauren smiled back.

Karla laughed, "Only my mom calls me Karla. Call me Camila."

Lauren continued to smile, "Sure."