"I told you to call me Rory," She points out quietly as we approach the library.
"I know." I nod. We're quiet for a moment before I repeat, "Aurora?"
She turns to look up at me, slightly exasperated but also amused. "Yes, George?"
"Why did you agree to tutor me?"
She shrugs as I step past her to open the door to the library for her. Glancing up, she gives a soft, "Thank you," Before stepping inside before me. "I've tutored before. And biology is my favourite subject. Tutoring is good for my revision too. Besides, it looks good on university applications."
Nodding quietly, I follow behind her as she walks up to the main library desk that the school librarian is sitting behind. Aurora stops in front of the desk and smiles brightly. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Hunter."
The woman looks up and gives Aurora a big smile, "Rory! My favourite student, how are you, dear?"
"I'm doing good, thank you. Just here to do some tutoring for the period. Mr. Johnston sent us."
"Oh, of course!" Mrs. Hunter points towards the back of the library, "There's some free desks at the back there where it's quiet."
"Thank you so much," Aurora gives her a wave as she starts heading in that direction. I follow behind her quietly, obediently.
She winds her way through the shelves of books expertly, as if she's spent a good deal of time here. I can probably count the number of times I've stepped foot in this building on one hand. At the very back, there's an array of desks, some occupied by students, some not. Aurora walks straight to a free desk and takes a seat, pulling her bag into her lap.
I sit across from her, dropping my bag at my feet. My focus is solely on Aurora as she gets her textbook and notebook out as well as her pencil case. When she glances up at me, her cheeks turn pink again. Then her gaze falls to the desk in front of me and she tilts her head, "Do you have your textbooks?"
Nodding, I bend down and get out my textbook, notebook, and the singular pen that rolls around in my bag. I dump them on the desk in front of me, eyes back on her.
She flicks open the textbook and begins talking, "Okay, how about we start from the beginning of the plants and animals topic? We only just started that topic, so—"
"Actually, um," I cut her off gently, ducking my head. I'm suddenly very embarrassed to admit this to her. "I need to resubmit the last assignment by next week."
She tilts her head at me and I finally meet her eyes again. She's patient, as she asks, "The one on human evolution?" I nod. She hums softly. "Okay, no problem. Do you have your assignment with you? I can have a read over it and see what we need to work on."
Nodding, I dig around in my bag for a moment before I find the crumpled piece of paper. I hand it to her and she takes it, smoothing out the edges as she starts to read.
My focus is stuck on her the whole time. Watching her eyes dart across the page. The little furrow between her brows. The way she chews on her bottom lip a little. Ten minutes ago, when I first found out about this tutoring thing, I never could have guessed my tutor would be this painfully beautiful.
"I think I see what's happened," She murmurs after a few minutes, glancing up at me. "Did you miss a lesson or two at the start by any chance?"
"Uh, yeah... There was a rugby comp so I wasn't at school for a couple days. I never properly caught up because... I'm not that great at self-teaching." I rub the back of my neck sheepishly.
She nods, "Thought so. The main problem is that you missed a lot of the foundation for this topic. So when you try to go into more detail, you get a bit stuck." She sets the page aside and opens up her notebook, flicking through neatly colour-coordinated notes. "But now we have a starting point, which is good." She stops at the start of topic, spinning the book around to face me. "We can go off of my notes. I make them pretty detailed, but we can refer back to the textbook for examples or for anything that I might be missing."
I furrow my brows slightly, "We wouldn't just go straight from the textbook?"
"Well, I write my notes in a way that's easier for me to understand. I'm guessing you already tried to work from the textbook to fill in the lessons you missed, but it didn't work too well. Maybe this will work better for you."
"Okay," Swallowing thickly, I meet her gaze, "What should I start with, Aurora?"
Her eyes soften, "I'll talk you through these notes and ask some questions to make sure you're understanding. Does that sound okay?"
At my nod, she looks down at the notebook and begins speaking, explaining from the start of the topic. I keep my eyes on her, only dropping my focus to the notes when she glances up at me. I'm listening as best as I can. But I get distracted by the lone curl that curves against her cheekbone. Or the freckles that are scattered over the bridge of her nose. Or the way her pink lips shine.
"So, you'll need a basic understanding of some key species that lead to the evolution of Homo sapiens." She glances up at me and this time I get caught staring at her instead of the page. She tilts her head at me, "Is this making sense, George?"
"A bit," The way her lashes flutter captures my attention, "Maybe."
She sighs softly. Tucks some of her hair behind her ear. "You seem a bit distracted. What's distracting you?"
You. "It's nothing. I just find it hard to concentrate sometimes."
"Do you want me to start from the beginning?" She asks politely.
If she starts from the beginning, it will take longer for her to get through it all. So she'll have to talk more. "Yes, please."
She flicks back a page and points to the first line of notes, starting her explanation again. I feel a bit bad, so I pay more attention this time. When she asks a question to test me, I actually get it right. Her proud smile is enough to make me sit forward in my chair, listening raptly, hanging onto every word she says. Another question.
"Uh..." I rack my brain for a moment, "Homo erectus."
Her smile blinds me. "That's right, George."
My chest feels all light and fluffy. The bell ringing overhead distracts me from her.
Hearing it as well, she shuts her books and stacks them neatly as she says, "Well, I think you did quite well today. We didn't get too much done, but that's okay. Maybe, if you could read the first chapter of this topic in the textbook before we meet up on Thursday?"
I'm nodding before I've actually processed her question. "Sure."
She smiles, "Great." Slinging her bag on her shoulder, she stands from her seat. "I've got to run to calculus. I'll see you back here on Thursday, yes?"
"Of course, Aurora." I nod, staring up at her. I'm frozen in my seat.
"Okay," She hesitates, lingering for a moment before she walks past, "See you then, George."
~ Pink Flamingo <3
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