[Currently being rewritten and updated chapter by chapter]
Book One in the "Hard Love" series.
It's hard being knocked down. And it's even harder getting back up.
Thalia Carter grew up on the south side of Chicago with a dead-beat dad and never real...
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"Don't forget to pick up your tests on your way out," Mr. Barron reminds us, parking himself by the door as the bell rings. Papers shuffle and people stand, but I stay rooted in my seat out of fear.
Isaac catches my eye as he files in the line to leave. He flashes an encouraging smile, beckoning me to hurry up with a nod of his head.
I shake my head stubbornly. He mouths 'you'll be fine.'
Tutoring with him has been going surprisingly well. He's patient and understanding and knows the material well enough to reword everything so I can semi-understand it. The homework this week hasn't given me a migraine after five minutes of working on it, so I think I'm doing better than before.
Begrudgingly, I collect my stuff and head toward the back. I don't mind being last. I'm not particularly excited to see my grade.
My feet grow heavier with every step. Mr. Barron's face doesn't reveal how I did; he just gives me a fleeting glance as he passes me my paper and tells me to have a good day.
I wait till I'm in the hall to look at it, where Isaac's waiting for me leaned against the wall going over his own test. Fallon had to stop by the admin office, so I know she was in a hurry to leave.
"So?" he urges. He's more anxious to see how I did than I am. I grimace.
"Haven't looked yet. Here, you tell me." I shove the paper in his direction, keeping it facing away from me.
He rolls his eyes. "I'm sure you did fine. Well, better than before," he amends when I glare at him.
I shake out my shoulders, trying to clear the nerves. "Okay, hit me. How bad is it?"
Isaac flips the paper over to check, but his expression remains passive. After a few more seconds he turns it towards me, grinning. My mouth falls open.
C+. I got a C+. That's the best I've done all year. For only a week and a half of tutoring, I might as well have just found the answer to world peace.
Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch, but still. This is amazing.
"Oh my god!" I squeal, jumping up and down before flinging myself into Isaac's arms. He laughs and catches me with ease, spinning me around by my waist in the middle of the hallway. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I gush as he plants my feet back on the floor.
"For what? This was all you."
I scoff. "You're being modest. Before you started helping me, I couldn't scrape higher than a D+. This is a whole letter grade higher."
"You just needed some help seeing things differently. This proves you had it in you all along." He smiles down at me, and when he shifts to sling an arm over my shoulder as we walk to our next classes, I don't stop him.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help, so thank you. Seriously, you're amazing," I tell him, now scanning over my test with fascination as we walk side by side. Mr. Barron even wrote getting better in the corner next to my grade.
