The Tutor

Chapter 19

This particular Sunday started with a visit to the church. Nora's grandma sat on her right side, quiet, reminiscing about her husband, who had died on this very day thirteen years before.

Nora wasn't a religious person and never really prayed, so as the church choir sang her mind drifted to the memories of her school back in London. She'd skip chapel for cigarettes and hide in the washroom with her posse of popular girls. The nicotine was her breakfast and killed the hunger for a couple of hours. She'd read somewhere that's how the models stayed so skinny. In between their fashion castings, they'd go for their only meals - black coffee and cigarettes. It all sounded so chic and glamorous back then.

Shaking her head at her stupid former self, she listened to the church choir. Ever since coming to Berk, accompanying her grandmother to church had become a form of meditation for Nora. It was spirituality, not the religion itself, that attracted her to it. Hearing whispered hopes and prayers, understanding that everyone was fighting their own battles or counting their blessings, was comforting. As much as she hated religion for its bloody history, it created a sense of community. Understanding church and religion helped her get her first 100% mark on her essay on Paradise Lost, an epic poem she could lose herself in for hours.

She used to think that her father losing all their money, the family falling apart, her battle with weight, and the forced move to Berk were her way of losing her paradise. But as time went on, she questioned whether it was actually hell she left behind and found paradise in the form of her grandma's cosy knitted sweaters, the purr of Luna at her side in late evenings and the seclusion of village life away from the materialism of a high flying city. To this day, she didn't know whether she wanted to go back to London at all. Her grandma had said it was way too early for her to retire in a small village and urged Nora to go back. She would go back, because she wanted to earn money and have the ability to treat and take care of her grandma. It was the least she could do.

As they returned home, the sky began to darken and the sound of thunder reverberated throughout the whole house. With relish, Nora threw open the windows, enjoying the sounds of the thunderstorm and the smell of rain on freshly cut grass. Whilst heavy rain was not unusual in this part of England, thunderstorms were.

While her grandmother was busy getting the fancy wine that they had saved for a special occasion, Nora began setting the table for guests. Today, Benny was going to bring his new boyfriend to meet them.

"Should I check on the chicken?" Nora asked, rolling up her sleeves. They always made a lot of food together on Sunday, with plenty of leftovers for Monday.

Her grandmother looked at her watch. "I just did... It should be ready in about twenty minutes. You look a bit restless. Weren't you supposed to tutor Rafe this morning? Usually, your Sundays are the longest sessions," she said with a wink, opening the bottle of wine with a pop. It was hard to convince her grandma that really all they did was study who said it was not possible for two good-looking teenagers to spend so much time together and only study.

Once, she even put condoms in Nora's school bag. 

The last-minute cancellation had taken Nora by surprise, too. She scrolled through their earlier conversation on her phone. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He just said, 'Today's not a good day for me.'

Was he sick? Hungover? With a girl? The last thought she pushed out of her mind. It was none of her business. She trusted him enough by now to know that he wouldn't cancel the lesson if he didn't have a legitimate reason. She no longer hunted him down. But his message was too cryptic even for a spontaneous guy like him. Maybe, he had had another argument with his father again?

She shouldn't pry.

She put the phone down.

"Maybe he just needed a break," she said to herself with a shrug.