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 Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:40 pm
It was 4:50pm on a Wednesday afternoon, and Jada Chamberlyn was sitting in the library, organizing her papers in front of her. This was going to be her last tutoring session of the afternoon. All that was on the sheet was a single scrawled name. B. Price. Well, that was vague enough to satisfy nobody. Her hair was pinned up tightly, very businesslike, and she was wearing casual clothing. She'd been lucky enough to have had time to switch out of her school uniform before her first tutoring session because the first person of the day had canceled. As had the second. And the third. By this time, her good attitude was souring. If this B. Price canceled on her as had the three in front of them, that might be the end of her pleasant attitude for some time.
She tapped her pencil on the table thoughtfully, and went back to scribbling on the 8x11 piece of printer paper in front of her, the landscape book in front of her wide open to a print of the French countryside, all hills and green, trees and grapevines. And though she would never admit it, to anyone, Jada was no artist. The pine trees looked like little skeletons, and the hills did not roll. They rather resembled very fat, tree-covered stalagmites. Still, her purple eyes were narrowed with determination as she rubbed her pencil oh-so-carefully over the paper.
Minutes likely trickled by, her entire focus on the piece in front of her. Just a few more trees, and voila! She was done. She beamed proudly at the image in front of her before glancing at the clock again and glancing around the library. Which of the people lurking was her student?
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:55 pm
Now make no mistake, Barnaby loved his mother, perhaps more than anything in the world (though his dog was a close second). But there were times when he wished she would just honest-to-God take two steps away and stop trying to help him. He was doing fine in school, he was passing, and still she felt the need to arrange for a tutor. To make matters worse it was an after school tutor, in the library, at 4:50 pm. Talk about 'how many more ways can you torture Barnaby Price?'
The redhead crinkled his nose as he stared down at the equally crinkled paper in his hands, looking at the name for the third time. What did a Jada Chamberlyn look like anyways? How was he supposed to know who this person was if they didn't even give him a picture or a description? Clearly they thought he was some kind of wizard who knew everyone by name. From what he understood, the girl wasn't even from his school anyways.
Sliding one headphone off of his ear he peered around the library, eyes falling on a girl whose hair was pinned so neatly she just had to be a Crystal Student. It was almost a default. Barnaby weighed his options carefully before sauntering over and asking, "Uh… are you Jada Chamberlyn or do you know where I can find her?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:10 pm
Jada glanced up as she heard someone speaking to her. She'd heard the footsteps approaching, but had been so busy inserting her artwork carefully into a clear plastic protector that she'd had no opportunity to look up. "Are you B. Price?" she answered a question with a question, looking the young man over, head to toe. "I am Jada Chamberlyn, volunteer tutor." she brushed off her hand on her black jeans, making sure to get off the graphite leavings from her pencil before extending it towards him, very businesslike. "Pleasure to meet you."
At least this person had shown up to talk to her. It was a step in the right direction for her day. Though she had been able to finish the art piece that had been haunting her for the last several days.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:26 pm
"Yeah. Barnaby Price." Cue horrible name jokes.
The redhead at least had the decency to remove his headphones completely now that they were talking, reaching into his pocket to shut off his IPod as well. There were certain kinds of people you could just expect sass from if you were being impolite, and he had a feeling that Jada was one of them. Best not to get in the bad books of his tutor just yet. He had plenty of time to do that later.
Pulling the chair out with his foot, Barnaby settled down plunking his school back next to him. "You're a tutor then? What subjects did I get signed up for?" Anything other than math, probably. Did his mother know how badly he was doing in English? Maybe, judging by the picture on the desk, she was an art tutor. That would be interesting.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:38 pm
No jokes here. Jada nodded with some satisfaction when Barnaby removed the headphones, giving him a bright smile. "I'm so pleased that you managed to make it." cue the bitterness at having been ditched by her last three 'dates' for the afternoon. "It is a good sign that you are so willing to work with me." She glanced over the paper that she had been provided.
"You weren't signed up for anything in particular, Mr. Price. That means you can tell me which class you feel you need the most assistance with, and I will be more than happy to assist you." She opened the spiral notebook to a clean sheet of paper and wrote his name across the top in neat calligraphy. It was habit to take some notes on the people she taught, just in case they would come in handy at some point.
The pen was marked with the name of one of her father's sub-companies, Chamberlyn Imports. It was kind of like a Pier One, just with better quality paraphernalia to sell. It was less wholesale. Still, for all that the pen looked like a typical blue-or-black ink ballpoint, the ink that came out was a dark purple. She'd harassed her father for a small stash of them for almost a week before he caved.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:46 pm
The redhead had to resist the urge to start fidgeting, getting the impression that he's somehow managed to find a tutor who was far sterner than any of his teachers. Sure his English teacher liked to threaten to kick him out, and his Art teacher stuck him in the back of the class so she didn't have to deal with him, but they never said things like 'it is a good sign you are so willing to work with me.' Barnaby was almost scared.
Almost. (At least, that was where he currently stood).
"Okay, well uh… The only thing I'm doing really well in is math." And by really well it meant he was getting a B-. Seeing as the majority of his marks seemed unable to rise about the C range, this was clearly a big improvement. "This semester I have English, Algebra, Art, and Geography." He ticked the classes off on his fingers as he spoke. "I don't really get Shakespeare, so maybe English then? Whatever you're good at is fine."
Of course he didn't stop to think she might be good at all of them.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:56 pm
She nodded, neatly writing down his words. If Barnaby took a look at the notebook, he would see that it was almost verbatim.
Doing well in math. Has:
English -
Algebra -
Art -
Geography -
Doesn't get Shakespeare.
Personally, assistance in regards to his art course was going to be out. That was not something you could really tutor someone in. However, if Mr. Barnaby Price truly needed aid, perhaps she could try and educate him about color palettes or something of that nature. Unless he was color blind.
Oh dear.
"Well, if you are having issues with Shakespeare, we can certainly start with your English courses. If you are doing well in Mathematics, I won't worry about that until we've started filling in other gaps. What sorts of things are you learning in your Geography class?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:02 pm
… Did she really just write "doesn't get Shakespeare"? Huh. Barnaby was suitably intrigued. He had never met a tutor who wrote things like that. Usually they liked to put comments like 'currently unable to understand Old English' or 'does not appear to grasp the excellence that is Shakespeare.' Clearly this girl was trying for a different approach.
Fortunately for Jada, the redhead wasn't colourblind (or at the very least he didn't think he was). The only reason he was doing so poorly in art was because he 'couldn't appreciate different styles of art.' It wasn't his fault, really, that his teacher loved Picasso and he couldn't replicate his art. He wasn't Picasso Jr. after all.
The question almost stumped Barnaby, and he screwed his face up in a thoughtful frown. "Uh… hrm." When was the last time he'd been to geography? Today? No, he'd bailed after lunch. Monday? Oh, yeah, he had gone then. "We're studying earthquakes. I think." He fished a rather beaten textbook out of his bag and set it out on the table. "Whatever's in chapter 4." Which he hadn't read.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:10 pm
An eyebrow went up as he pulled out the book, and she reached across the table, pulling it towards her. Chapter 4... Chapter 4. Ah, yes.
Volcanoes.
The eyebrow went back down and she flipped through the chapter. It was very basic information, and chapters 1-3 had been equally boring. No wonder the boy was having problems if his Geography teacher was as bland as the textbooks that his school apparently provided. According to the inside front cover...
Ah, Meadowview High. Enough said.
Geography - Volcanoes. Earthquakes are Ch.5.
"And what exactly is it that you aren't understanding about the Shakespeare? Is it the 'lingo' or is it the actual content of the stories?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:26 pm
Barnaby tried to look nonchalant when Jada opened the book to Chapter 4 and found that it was on volcanoes, not earthquakes. Oops. Maybe he hadn't been to class on Monday. The days all sort of blurred together when nothing exciting happened. It wasn't like he liked volcanoes or earthquakes either, but he liked them more than anything the chemistry class had to offer.
He pretended he didn't see her check the front cover of his book too. Hey, not everyone could go to Crystal Academy for the privileged girls.
The redhead gave a sort of one-shoulder shrug at the mention of Shakespeare. "All of it really. Like I don't get the language, first, and so the story makes no sense, and then I don't even know what to look for if they want a simile or a metaphor or foreshadowing. Especially foreshadowing."
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:50 pm
"Alright." she said finally, and jotted down another note in her notebook, closing it behind her pen so quickly that he may or may not have been able to glimpse it. Doesn't get Shakespeare. Hoo-boy.
"I know this is only our first meeting. As such, I'd like to get to know a little bit more about you. It might strike you as silly, but I feel I am better able to help people learn if I know a little more about them first. What may work for one person won't work for someone else. You know that, of course, or else everyone in your class would be on the same page." Or chapter. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions before we get started on anything?"
She crossed her wrists on the wooden table, looking over at the young man in front of her. He didn't seem like the typical student that came to her for help. In fact, if she were to put money on it, he hadn't signed up for the tutoring at all. She would need to know a little bit more about him or her attempts at teaching him were going to land on ears as deaf as those he turned towards his schoolteachers.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 3:29 pm
Barnaby cocked his head to one side when she closed her book, idly wondering if she had written some kind of nasty message in it about him. If she had, it certainly wasn't unexpected. Nobody was perfectly objective, not even girls from Crystal who volunteered to tutor failing Meadowvale students. It was refreshing to know that, if anything, the girls from Crystal were human. (Sometimes he was honestly banking on aliens).
Her change in topic surprised him a little, not used to having the focus put on his person. No tutor had ever asked him if they could learn more about him. Most of them just went straight into the school work and kept it strictly professional. The only person who'd ever really asked him some personal questions was Jude, and that had only been to see if he was up to snuff on his fighting. Hopefully this Jada girl didn't have similar intentions.
"Sure, I guess. I've got nothing to hide." Man that totally sounded like something out of a spy movie. He loved it.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 4:18 pm
"Well, hopefully I won't be stripping you bare." Jada gave Barnaby a sweet smile and rested her arms on the table. "I just want to know a little about your hobbies. Give me a rough approximation of your grades. Books you've read, movies you've enjoyed, just tell me about yourself." She opened the notebook back up, on second thought, to the very last of the spiral-bound pages. "Do you drive?"
She gave him an even look. "If you have any questions for me, Mr. Price, I fully expect you to ask them, please. Also, at the end of the session I will be giving you my cellular number so that if you need to set up another session you can contact me directly." Now that she'd thought of it, she tore a neat square off the top of the paper and jotted her number down on it in the purple ink. "Please dispose of this properly when you have saved it."
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Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:56 am
The redhead drummed his fingers on the table as he considered her questions.
"Well… I like baseball, most of the time, but I've been in at least every club in the school once just to see what they do. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't. It depends on how I'm feeling. I don't generally read books." He tried to sound as offhand as possible, but he had a pretty good idea what kind of reaction that would get him. But reading books meant sitting for long periods of time and waiting for things to happen, which was a lot less fun than sitting and playing video games where stuff happened instantaneously. But he had a feeling Jada wouldn't be too pleased about his lack of literary knowledge.
"I sort of just watch whatever's on TV, movies or otherwise." That way he could flip the channels. It was better like that. "And yup. Bike and car. I like my bike better, but the weather sucks so I've gotta leave it in the garage." Barnaby made a face at that. Leaving the bike at home was one thing. Leaving it there and having to deliver pizzas in the shitbox cars that Larry provided was another. There were times he wished he could just shove the little car hat on his own car and drive that. "I work at Larry's Pizza most nights…. Um… I dunno, I think that's it? Oh, marks. Marks. Uh, I can't say values for sure, but I think everything's a C right now. Maybe not English, that might be a D. But math is a B-. Probably."
He gave another one shoulder shrug at her comment about questions. Jada would have to get used to the fact that he didn't ask questions he didn't want to know the answers to. It was a good avoidance strategy. "Gotcha." He slid the piece of paper in between the two sides of his phone and then returned the phone to his pocket. Hopefully he'd remember to put that number in once the session was over. With any luck, it would fall out into his pocket and he'd spend weeks searching for it, only to end up having to rescue it from imminent doom in the drier.
But that was Barnaby Price for you.
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Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:19 pm
Jada listened to B. Price carefully, considering what he said as she tried to refrain from chewing on the inside of her lip thoughtfully. He'd be a tough one to tutor; she wasn't really used to trying to tutor someone who was so obviously uninterested in his own grades. The young woman gave a wry smile before elaning back in her chair just a bit, ramrod back touching the chair just a bit.
Delicate hands started to cross in her lap; eyes caught on a spot of lint that made her give a faint scowl. She brushed it away, head tilting back to her student. "Answer me this, Mr. Price." she said finally, after he had finished talking and she had finished processing. "Are you here because you want to be, or because your mother is making you? I don't want to waste our time, and I say our because it would be as much a waste of my time as yours, if you aren't interested in improving your grades."
She was direct and frank, businesslike as she met his gaze with the directness of an animal. Honestly, she didn't care what his answer was. If he was interested, she would tutor him with the same effort she gave all of her students. If he said it was all his mother, then she'd be just as content to let him go and spend the time he'd normally be granted with another student.
Still, one thing he'd said had really caught her attention. He had a bike? She'd have to ask him about that, one way or another. Hopefully by bike he meant motorcycle. She'd never known anyone with one before, and the thought of riding one was actually rather thrilling.
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