Chemistry

Chapter 1: Tiara

Tiara nervously walked down the steps of Jackson Hew High School. Her Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Ordeniro, had told her that her counselor wanted to have a word with her. For fear that it might be about her family again, she hesitantly grabbed the door handle of the office.

Tiara had been in and out of the counselor's office since the beginning of her sophomore year. Now a senior, things were not getting any better. Her dad was sentenced to prison for eight years when he was found in the passenger seat of a stolen vehicle, that possessed a small amount of illegal drugs. Her dad was unaware of these illegal actions, and did nothing wrong but simply ask his co-worker for a ride home. Yet, he was still convicted, and pled guilty by association. She lived with no one other than her mother and her younger sister, and brother who was three years her senior. Due to the low income of the family, Tiara usually borrowed her best friend Kendra's clothes, or used her weekly paycheck to buy a new shirt every once in awhile.

Tiara walked in and sat down on the burgundy cushioned chair that awaited her in front of Mrs. O'Connor's desk.

"Hey, Tiara," Mrs. O'Connor said after the door closed shut.

Tiara gave Mrs. O'Connor a cheap smile that soon faded her face out of anxiety.

"How is everything going?"

"Good," Tiara replied. "Nothing new."

Mrs. O'Connor could tell Tiara was becoming slightly agitated, so she cleared her throat and pushed her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. "Tiara, are you aware that you need at LEAST 250 hours of community service to get into ITU?"

Tiara sighed in relief at the fact that she wasn't called down about her parents.

Mrs. O'Connor shuffled some papers around on her desk. "It says here that you only have 123 hours. You need to get-"

"-127 more hours. I know. I've been trying but it's kind of hard to do that when I'm either at work or at school twenty-four seven," Tiara interrupted.

"Well that's why I called you in here," Mrs. O'Connor stated putting the papers down and intertwining her fingers together. "I have two options for you. Either you can join Key Club, FCCLA, or any of those other clubs again," Tiara shook her head in disapproval. She never got along with anyone in those clubs, and it'd always end up being a waste of time. She's been in one or more of those clubs since her freshman year and she still only came out with 123 hours. "OR you can be a peer tutor. Since you're so smart, I thought maybe you would be a great person to learn from."

It was true, Tiara was very smart. She made straight A's every year of her high school career. She insisted on making her self work hard in order to get her family out of poverty, and make sure her future family doesn't have to struggle the same way hers did.

"Peer tutoring..." Tiara repeated. "What's that like? What's the agenda?"

Mrs. O'Connor grinned at Tiara's interest. "Well do you have any elective classes or any free periods that you're willing to give up?"

"Third period is my free period," Tiara answered.

"Excellent," Mrs. O'Connor said, "Starting Monday your new class for third period would be Peer Tutoring. You would meet with Mrs. Lathum in the media center to find out who you'll be tutoring this semester. So basically half the class are tutors, and the other half are students that need to be tutored." Tiara thought she must have looked a little confused because Mrs. O'Connor added, "Do you understand?"

"Yes." She answered. "But wait- we don't get to choose who we tutor?"

"No. Everyone will be assigned a person to tutor. And remember that joining this class is not voluntary for the students being tutored, but is voluntary for the tutors."