Life as Shania

Chapter 26: Monday (Part 2)

After breakfast with the family, Shania went to her classroom early to get settled. Her bottom was sore and she was trying to get comfortable in her seat when Colin entered the classroom to begin the day.

"It's officially the start of week 2. Starting today, there won't be leniency in missed homework or a bad grade in class. You have me as a private tutor and I'll be here for any questions you may have. I'm not penalizing you for being ...less smart. What I don't tolerate is when you say you understand and we move on but then you do badly for tests," Colin explained as he sat down on his desk and took out his MacBook Pro out of his bag. "And yes, you will have a bi-weekly test so that we know that you really understand what is being taught. You are a bright girl and you've proven that by getting 86% for last week's test even though we only had 4 days of school," Colin walked up to Shania passing her the test papers.

"What do you mean? There was a test last week?" Shania took the papers feeling confused.
"Just because I call them a test, it doesn't mean that you need to be stressed about it. See, you didn't even know you took one," Colin replied.

Last Saturday, Colin gave Shania a bunch of worksheets in different subjects and told her that she has 2 periods to do them all. He sat on his desk typing away on his computer while Shania just sat and filled up the papers. 

"The point of the tests is to gauge your understanding of the various subjects. So I am able to curate a better curriculum based on your strengths and weaknesses," Colin explained.
"And Shania, I'm really proud of you for your performance so far. Keep it up," Shania grinned as Colin complimented her.

Lunch

"Look at my clever sister!" Chris hugged Shania who was already seated in the dining room.
Shania couldn't stop grinning. She's been struggling with the worst grade possible when she was studying in Singapore. So the fact that she's actually getting something above 20% is a huge feat. 

"So, today would be day one of tennis. Marcus should be here at about 3.30pm?" Mama Lee checked her phone to confirm.
Shania was smiling as she sipped her soup.
"You finish 6th period at 3.30pm, so take about 10 minutes to prepare cos you should be at the tennis court at 3.45pm," Mama Lee briefed Shania.

"How long is tennis?" Papa Lee asked.
"2 hours," Mama Lee replied.
Shania was still smiling to herself and Chris saw her.
"Marcus is so busy that he almost turned down coaching you," Chris said. "But we managed to work things out," Chris nudged his sister and winked at her when she looked up at him.

Marcus is 3 years younger than Chris and Shania has always had a huge crush on Marcus since he joined Chris's university tennis club. Although Shania picked up tennis voluntarily, she mostly did so because Chris was her role model growing up and Chris played tennis competitively since he was 9 all the way till he graduated university. But Marcus was the reason why Shania end up enjoying tennis more than she used to. The Lee siblings' affinity to the sport is also the reason why Papa Lee built a tennis court in their backyard. 

"Since you would probably only finish tennis at 5.45pm and dinner is at 6pm, we'll start dinner at 6.15pm instead. So you'll have time to shower and freshen up," Shania nodded to acknowledge Papa Lee.
"Actually, maybe we should just move dinner to 6.15pm everyday. Since Naya ends at 5.45pm on tennis and piano days. We'll just streamline it so it's easier for everyone," Mama Lee suggested.
"That's actually a brilliant idea, Sayang (Dear), no wonder I married you," Papa Lee reached out for Mama Lee's hand and smirked as he said that.

By 1pm, everyone was done with their meal. Mama Lee looked at Shania fiddling with her phone and made another suggestion, "Naya, you still have 30 minutes of lunch break left before 5th period. Maybe you can use this 30 minutes every day after lunch to practice piano. Since you probably will use your time after dinner for homework."

"Another brilliant idea from my brilliant wife," Papa Lee replied.

"But ..it's my break," Shania replied whining as she is reluctant to spend 30 minutes of her lunch hour on something she disliked.
"Maybe we can try it for a week and see how it goes?" Chris suggested as the parents are starting to look annoyed from Shania's whining.

"I really don't want to continue piano lessons!" Shania raised her voice as she was exasperated.
"Shania!" Papa Lee snapped as he glared at his daughter.
"Come on Naya, I'll sit with you as you practice," Chris grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her out of her seat trying to diffuse the situation.

Chris sat Shania down at the grand piano by the living room and sat beside her. He grabbed Shania's shoulders to make her look at him. 

"Hey, I know doing something you dislike is frustrating. I also hated piano lessons," Chris told Shania.
"You did?" Asked Shania.
"No kidding, you know how strict Mrs Ivanov is," Chris shuddered at the thought of his piano teacher.
"But honestly, right now, I'm glad Mama insisted that we take piano. Besides the fact that she's making sure we're all rounded - we speak 3 languages fluently, we play tennis competitively, and we play one instrument - she's also giving us the opportunity to use music as an option of escape. And I think we should appreciate the fact that we even had the chance to do all these."
Shania knew that what Chris said was right and the perspective given made sense, but she it didn't change the fact that Mrs Ivanov was a tyrant.
"A lot of my university friends told me that they wished they were privileged enough to get music lessons," Chris continued.
"But I really dislike Mrs Ivanov, and the fact that I have to spend half of my lunch break practicing the piano," whined Shania.

"Like I've proposed, let's try this for a week and see if it works. If it doesn't, I'll speak to Papa and Mama on your behalf. But that also mean that we'll have to move it till after dinner. So, the choice is yours," Chris patted Shania's head and lifted her hands to put it on the piano keys.

"Come on, we'll do scales together," Chris started playing and Shania followed his lead.