Hopelessly Devoted

Chapter 4- Tutoring

I get home after school feeling giddy. I mean, Sean wants to hang out with ME! The little nerd boy who hangs out with two girls and literally no one else. There are tons of way cooler people he could have asked to tutor him, but he chose me.

"Hey, Dad! Great news!" I yell into the house. 

"In the kitchen!"

I follow the voice into our small kitchen. Dad was drinking a cup of tea while grading some papers.

"Hey, can I borrow the car tonight? I got a job!"

Suddenly, Dad stops lifting the cup to his mouth. He looks up to me suspiciously. "What do you mean, a job?"

"I'm gonna be a tutor. You know Sean Jackson? He's in your class and he asked me to help him out with science and other subjects. He offered 25$ a session!" I'm talking so fast that even I can barely understand what I'm saying. I hope that Dad takes my enthusiasm as excitement to be earning money and not hanging out with Sean. "But yeah, I need the car in an hour so I can meet him at his place for our first session."

"No."

I do almost a double-take. Wtf? "What, why?"

"It takes too much time away from your schoolwork. You don't need to be focusing on teaching this... guy what you ought to be learning yourself!"

"But, Dad! I've had straight A's throughout high school! I'm taking all AP Courses! If I can handle all of that, I can handle tutoring another kid. A kid who is ALSO in AP chemistry!" I say in pure disbelief. I can't believe he still doesn't trust me.

Dad stands up from his chair at the dining room table, shaking his head. "I don't know, Luke. I don't want you to fall behind."

"PLEASE, Dad. I promise I'll keep up. I'll even do my homework while I'm over helping Sean. After all, we have science together and we can work together for those assignments. You said yourself that your class is about collaborating on assignments." I plead with my Dad. "I could really use the money to start saving for college. Besides, it won't look bad on an application."

That's when I knew I had him. Being a huge Tiger Dad, my father was completely focused only on me getting into a good school. He knows that having extracurricular activities will make me stand out. 

He cringes a bit, recognizing the fact that he's cornered. "Fine. Just be back before 8, OK?"

A smile breaks across my face as I envelop my dad in a huge hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Thanks so much, Dad, you won't regret this."

He smiles slightly before awkwardly patting my back. My dad's never been affectionate, I should have known this would be weird for him. "Th-that's ok son. Just so long a-as you get the experience."

I release my father from my hold, not failing to notice the wave of relief over his face. Looking at the clock, I realize it's already 3:00. "I'm gonna head upstairs and get some work done before I gotta go. Thanks, again!"

Running up the stairs, my smile fails to leave my face.

----

I pull up in front of Sean's house, feeling a lot more nervous than I did earlier. Parking alongside the curb, I get out and get my first look at Sean's house.

Dang, this boy is rich.

Sean's house is almost mansion-like. From what I can tell, it's three stories tall and sits on about an acre of property. High hedges obscure my view of the backyard, but the front is immaculate. Save for a beautiful stone walkway leading up to the front door, the yard is covered in greenery. Every color of flower you could imagine sits perfectly placed on the grass. You'd think all of those colors would look tacky, but they were arranged in such a way that they left envy in anyone who saw them. 

I am left utterly speechless as I slowly walk along the path to meet two great white doors. There are bronze knockers on the front of them, like something out of a movie. Unsure of what else to do, I raise my right hand and rap the heavy piece of metal against the wood.

After a few seconds, the door opens to reveal a small girl in a bright pink dress. Her striking blue eyes looked at me with amusement and mirth. She had the cutest pink bow in her long black hair, but that didn't stop it from extending to her waist like Elizabeth's.

"Hello, mister. Are you my brother's bunny?" She asks me in the cutest voice I've ever heard. 

Bunny? What's she talking about?

Heavy footsteps echo down the hall behind her as a wet-haired Sean bounds toward us. I perk up, trying to look good for him.

"Hey, Rabbit! I see you've met my baby sis!" He says as he picks up the tiny girl. 

"Rabbit, meet Aurora. Aurora, meet Rabbit." I swear my heart almost melted as he used such a sweet voice.

"N-nice to meet you Aurora," I say, causing her to giggle. 

"What's so funny?"

She shakes her little head. "Seanie's right. You are like a bunny-rabbit! As soon as Seanie came, you bounced up just like a bunny!"

Sean and Aurora laugh, leaving me to suppress the blush quickly arising. 

"Sorry, Luke. She's only five, she hasn't got much of a filter yet." Sean smiles as he runs his fingers through his damp hair.

If only those were my fingers.

Sean opens the door a bit wider for me. "Come on in. We can get set up in the Kitchen." He says as he carries the girl deeper into the huge house. 

I follow him into the kitchen, gasping a bit at its beauty. The room was immaculate, every surface blindingly white. Stainless steel appliances adorned the far wall and marble countertops glistened in the sunlight that came in through the windows. The kitchen looked big enough to feed a small army and still not be pushed to its limits. At the huge island in the middle sat a stack of textbooks and Sean's notebooks as well as the obligatory pencils and pens. 

Sean sets Aurora down on the floor, squatting down to get on her level. "Now, Princess, I need you to do me a favor. Rabbit and I have some boring stuff to do, so why don't you go play upstairs 'till we're finished? I promise I'll play with ya later."

She pouts for a second, thinking. Still, it doesn't take long before her adorable smile is back and she wraps her arms around Sean's neck. "Ok! Have fun, Seanie!"

Aurora bounds off to a different room of the house, leaving Sean and I alone. "Sorry about her," He says in a breathy laugh. He sits down at the island in front of his books, gesturing me to sit near him. "I know she can be a bit loud sometimes."

I immediately shake my head. "No need to apologize. She's done nothing wrong. Besides, even if she was annoying, she's so cute she could easily get away with it."

Sean gives me a polite smile before turning to his books. "Alrighty then! Ready to get started?"

"Of course."