Dricki: What's Stopping Us

Prologue

It was an ordinary Thursday at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Students in the hallways, classrooms, home rooms and gym. It was all calm until you could spot a short person running down the hallways. Some knew her, some didn't. It was Nicki. She had overslept, that's why she was running late for her first period, Math. Luckily when she reach her class, the teacher wasn't there. Relieved, she went to sit near the window since a couple of seats were empty there.

A couple of moments later, the captain of the basketball team, Drake came in with his crew. He had on some sweatpants, a varsity jacket with the school colors, red and white, and a basketball under his arm. He was commenting with his friends about last night's game making his way to his desk, but stopped when he saw someone else there.

"Excuse me, but this is my seat."

"Excuse me?" Nicki turned to him raising an eyebrow. Last time she checked, no seat was assigned to anyone.

"You heard me. This is my place."

"I don't see your name written anywhere here."

"Everyone knows this is my place."

"This isn't your chair, this isn't your desk. This is school property."

"You're trippin'."

"Aww, did the poor baby lost his seat.." She pouted then laughed at his angry face.

"You're being such a b-..." he was cut off by a cough. When they turned, they saw Mr. Smith, their Math teacher looking at them. He simply shook his head and signaled to everyone to sit down. Annoyed, Drake and his crew sat in the back of the class.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mr. Smith."

"Sorry for the delay. I have brought your tests and they are already graded." The students sighed as he took the tests out of his briefcase. He started handing them in alphabetic order; Abigail Doyle, Andre Johnson, Aubrey Graham...

"See me after class, Mr. Graham." The teacher gave him a look. Drake couldn't care less. But deep down he was kind of scared of what will the teacher said. He knew his grades weren't the best but he also didn't want to be left behind in his senior year. He looked at his paper. He ran his hand through his face and shook his head. Nicki got her test. She had an A. She's such a teacher's pride.

And so the class went on for like half an hour. When the bell rang. The students gathered their things and walked out. Drake went to Mr. Smith's desk. Just as Nicki was about to walk out of the door, the teacher called out for her.

"Ms. Maraj, I need to talk to you also." She had a blank expression. It wasn't usual for her to be called by a teacher. I hope I'm not in trouble, she thought. She slowly went to his desk.

"I have a special arrangement for both of you. I'm assigning Onika to be your tutor in Math this year."

"What?" Both Nicki and Drake asked simultaneously.

"Exactly what I said. You...." He motioned to Nicki. "... will to tutor him." He motioned to Drake.

"But, why me?"

"Because you are one of my best students, with an incredible level of tolerance and patience. Perfect to put up with Mr. Graham's behavior."

"Can't I get another person to tutor me?" Drake protested.

"I'm afraid not. The decision is made. You have to work with her until you get at least a B minus in my class."

"For how long?"

"Just until your grades are good enough. And don't think about changing tutors. This will count for your final grades, both of you." Drake and Nicki huffed. Bad enough they started off not in the best terms, now they are stuck with each other.

"If you don't have any further question, you're dismissed .have a nice day." With that, she just walked out of the classroom leaving Mr. Smith and Drake to talk alone.