Tutoring

Source: https://twitter.com/Mofu07519/status/1520931076394299392

You checked the watch Kronii gave you for your birthday.

…That took a while. Damn… You thought. Gotta hurry.

Some friends nearby were yelling at you to get a move on. You evaded classmates and teachers that were starting to leave while you made your way to your classroom.

I’m sure she hasn’t left… You stared at the door. But she’ll be angry.

Whether it was for your club activities or Kronii’s student council duties, the both of you would wait for the other to finish before going back home. It became such a habit everyone in the classroom would tease the both of you.

“Kronii? You still here?” You called out after flinging the door open.

You found her in her seat close to the window. Instead of looking outside she was more than happy scrolling down her phone. She had earbuds on, so she didn’t hear you.

I swear if she started another manhwa… You thought while going to your seat in front of her.

You sat down and waited for her to notice you.

Nothing, as expected. You shook your head and looked outside. Some kids were starting to leave while others stayed to hang out. Orange leaves were being carried by the wind and more were strewn all over the school. Watching that scenery only made you regret you didn’t bring your jacket. You turned to look at Kronii thinking she’d finally realize you were there.

No response. Just a chuckle from whatever she was reading.

“Sigh…” You reached out to poke her cheek. “Kinda rude to ignore your friend, you know?”

“GWAK!” She jumped from the surprise. “What the!? ...Oh.”

Kronii paid you back with a real soft pinch in the cheek.

“OW!” You yelled out in pain.

“That’s what you get.” She took one of her earbuds off and put it on your ear. She was listening to “emo” music a friend recommended to her. “So, what was the hold up? We’re both free today.”

“Uh…” You pulled out your own phone to message your parents. “You know how I’ve been doing kind of okay with my grades?”

“Not any better than me but go on.” Kronii laughed at her own boasting.

You smirked at her. “Yeah, how’s math treating you?”

BAM

You kept smiling, hiding the pain from the kick in the shin your friend just gave you.

“Don’t talk about that.” Kronii frowned at you.

“M-moving on…” You rubbed your leg. “The teachers asked me to tutor some classmates to help them out.”

“Huhhh…” Kronii narrowed her eyes. “They could’ve asked me, too.”

“Said the girl who gets stage fright in presentations.” You bobbed your head along with the music, you made a mental note to ask for the playlist later.

“I mean…” Kronii started pouting and rested her head on her hand. “I think I’d do okay… Maybe.”

“Suuuuuuure.” You laughed. “After practicing with me a million times.”

You reached out to your bag to grab some snacks you’ve been saving. You put them on the table to share with her. Kronii still had a pouty face, but she grabbed some food anyways.

“And are you getting anything from tutoring?“ She asked you. “I don’t think you’d do that from the goodness of your heart.”

“Wow how did you know?” You took a swig from your water bottle.

“Well, duh.” She smiled. “I know you.”

“What an honor.” You told her. “I’m getting some extra credits and stuff like that.”

“Oh niiiice.” She sounded happy to hear that. “And you’re gonna give them like once every couple of weeks, right?”

“What? No.” You replied. “It’ll be a few times every week.”

She stared at you. “What.”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s how tutoring goes.” You tried to explain.

She frowned and started pouting. “I see.” She said. “You’ll be busy, then.”

“Kind of.” You leaned back on your chair and looked at the ceiling. “Gotta study a bit more and I’ll have to take some time after classes to actually help out.”

You looked at her, she was still frowning.

“…Is something wrong?” You asked her.

She turned away from you to look outside.

“Nothing.” She bluntly replied.

She’s upset.

“Oh, c’mon,” You tried bribing her with a chip. “I’ll be using this classroom so you could still wait here when you don’t have council duties.”

Kronii ate the chip you were offering and quickly packed her bag.

“Let’s just go.” She told you as she walked away.

Oh, man… You thought.

You followed her and went back home together. She shut down all of your attempts to make small talk. You watched her as she went into her house after saying goodbye.

“Didn’t think she’d be that upset…” You said.

You didn’t have much time to think about her while you prepared for your classes. Your classmates told you about the topics they were struggling with, so you weren’t completely lost on what to study.

It was already nighttime when you finished your work. You quickly ate dinner and took a bath. After taking some time to catch up on some games, you looked outside your window. It directly faced Kronii’s bedroom window, making it easy for you to chat with her before going to bed. This time, however, her window and the curtains were closed.

You stopped yourself from calling out to her, that would have made things more awkward. You slowly closed your window, hoping she’d suddenly appear.

Nothing happened.

You gave up and did a few more things before going to bed, still stealing glances at the window every now and then.

“Maybe she’ll be alright tomorrow.” You closed your blinds and went to sleep.

The next day, you did your usual routine of getting ready early to go wake Kronii up so you could walk to school together. You were surprised when Kronii’s mother told you she had already gone ahead of you.

“She told me she still had some council work she didn’t finish.” She explained. “She didn’t even eat breakfast!”

You thanked her and walked to school by yourself.

“Council duties… huh?” You were confused. “But she didn’t have any… Oh.”

She was avoiding you.

“She even woke up early.” You rubbed your forehead. “Man…”

You stopped walking and turned around. You quickly went back home.

“This is the first time she’s been this upset…” You made a PB&J sandwich and packed some extra fruit. “It’s not like the tutoring is a permanent thing…”

You hurried on to school. You passed by some friends who were surprised you weren’t walking with Kronii. You tried to explain what happened and they just laughed at you.

“Your first fight in your relationship, I can’t believe it.” One of them said. “You’ll be fine.”

“The hell do you mean first fight? We’ve bickered plenty of… Oh, screw you.” You told them off and kept walking.

“You’re still gonna help out, right?” Another one called out to you.

“Yeah, but now you’re getting homework!” You replied. You went inside with a smile on your face after hearing their groans.

You went to your classroom and found Kronii talking with some of her friends.

Well at least she’s not giving everyone the cold shoulder. You thought.

You noticed Kronii was holding her stomach while trying to keep smiling. You went to your seat and put the extra food you had packed in her seat. She gave you a surprised look when she came back to sit down.

“Eat it before the teacher comes.” You told her.

“I have my own lunch.” She replied.

“But will that be enough?” You asked her.

She pouted as she grabbed the sandwich and started eating.

“…Thanks.” She told you with her mouth full.

“Mm-hmm.” You nodded as you looked over the door.

Kronii managed to finish the sandwich and some fruit before class started. After that one interaction, she still tried to avoid you the rest of the day. She also actually had council duties that day, so you went ahead and started your tutoring sessions with your classmates.

I’m kind of glad she’s not here right now… You thought. She’d be laughing her ass off.

It took a bit to get used to it. Even with the teacher’s pointers, you weren’t sure where to start. You tried going through the topics your classmates were struggling with but you decided to only focus on one of them for the day. It ended up being more of a discussion while trying to answer the questions they had.

At the end, you didn’t think you did a good job but your classmates reassured you it helped them a lot more than you thought. You took the chance to ask them how they’d like to continue with the tutoring sessions, and you took note of their answers.

After your classmates left, you went back to your seat to wait for Kronii, hoping she’d get over it by now. After a few minutes, one of the student council members dropped by your classroom.

“Oh, hey! I had a feeling you’d be here.” She said. “Kronii left a little while ago, she looked like she was in a hurry.”

“…Did she tell you why?” You asked her.

She shook her head.

“Sigh…” You facepalmed.

“Um… are you alright?” She asked you with a worried tone.

You smiled at her “I’m fine, don’t worry.” You started to pack your things “Thank you for telling me.”

With her job done, she said goodbye and left you alone.

“Why are you like this…” You said out loud as you pulled out your phone.

You could at least tell me you went back by yourself. You texted her.

She didn’t respond until after you left the school grounds.

I’m home.

You squinted at your phone.

Gee, thanks Home. You responded.

“If she’s gonna be like this I should just ride my bike.” You told yourself. “It’s been a while since I used it.”

The next day, you weren’t surprised Kronii did the same thing and left early, except this time her mother told you she did eat something. You rode your bike to school while getting some stares from your classmates. Some even wondered if something happened to you and Kronii.

Are we really that close to make people think that…? You asked yourself, completely oblivious of the situation.

Kronii kept her interactions with you at a minimum. There were a few times she started talking to you like normal, but when she noticed she’d stop herself and ignore you. It almost felt like punishment at this point, and you still weren’t sure why she was doing this.

After school, you went to the faculty office to have a quick chat with the teachers to get a few tips on how to improve your tutoring. Afterwards, you met up with your classmates and you all went together to your classroom.

Miraculously, Kronii was there. She was on her phone and playing with her fidget spinner, pretending she was alone in the classroom.

“Are you going to join us today, Kronii?” You asked her.

“Huh, what?” She looked at you then looked back at her phone. “Eh, I’ll think about it.”

The others laughed at how well you two were getting along. You tried to move on from that and started your class. You decided to focus on Biology for that day’s tutoring session so you wouldn’t get too confused. Your classmates ended up liking that method more and had a much easier time understanding you.

“You’ve gotten the hang of cells, right?” You asked your classmates halfway through your session.

“Kind of?” One of them responded. “I’m just not totally sure on the differences between eu… what was it? Eukaryotes and… the other ones.”

“Prokaryotes.” You told him. “The differences are pretty simple, like the biggest one is—"

“The eukaryotes have a nucleus with a membrane.” Kronii interrupted you. “And the nucleus of a prokaryote doesn’t have one.”

You were taken aback by Kronii’s sudden interjection.

“Yeah, that’s exactly it.” You said.

“I know.” She sneered at you. “You were taking too long.”

You stared at her.

“If you want to help out you can.” You told her while writing down what she said on the whiteboard.

“Nah, I’m good.” She quickly shut you down.

“Could the couple stop their fight so we can keep going?” One of your students asked.

“…Yeah, sorry.” You stopped yourself from writing. “Wait, no, we’re not—”

“Oh my god.” Kronii got up and left the classroom, leaving you dumbfounded.

“I… I guess I’ll just keep going.” You tried to brush it off.

After that hiccup you finished up the session without much trouble, though you did feel a bit tired by the end. You asked what topic your classmates wanted to study next.

“Why don’t you let us study tomorrow and we can talk again the next day?” One of your friends asked. “At least I’m feeling more motivated to study now.”

The others agreed with him.

“Sure, we can do that.” You said. “But make sure you actually study.”

After you dismissed your students, you waited for a bit. Kronii never came back. A group of classmates told you they saw her going to the faculty office before leaving.

“Maybe she wants to teach too?” You asked yourself. “...Nah, she’d think it’s too much work.”

You packed your things and rode your bike back home. It almost felt like someone was watching you when you went inside.

She kept sending short replies whenever you tried to message her. It was starting to get a little frustrating. You tried to move on by preparing for the next day.

“Math…” You opened your textbook. “Gotta explain some formulas and…” You grabbed your notebook. “There’s also statistics… Hm?”

Once again you felt like someone was watching you. You got up and looked out of your window. Sure enough, you didn’t notice anyone, though you could’ve sworn the curtains on Kronii’s window were swaying.

“But the window’s closed…” You tilted your head. “Eh, doesn’t matter.”

You continued preparing for your class and also worked on your homework. You finished up for the night and went to bed, still feeling eyes on you when you turned off the lights.

By some miracle Kronii was waiting for you the next day. You slowly approached her, fully expecting her to run off by herself.

“…I’m not some animal, come here.” Kronii gestured at you to come closer.

“Me neither.” You smiled at her. “You good?” You asked.

“Yeah.” She replied.

“Alright, then.” You felt she would leave early again so you got your bike just in case.

You walked to school together, but Kronii kept some distance between you. She kept her head down avoiding your gaze whenever you looked at her. It was awkward but it was better than her outright ignoring you.

“…How’s the tutoring going?” She suddenly asked.

“I thought you were watching yesterda—” You shook your head. “Ehh, could be better.” You responded. “It’s hard managing so many people, I kinda get why the teachers get frustrated sometimes.”

“No kidding.” She said in a monotone voice. “That really sucks…”

You almost laughed at how much she still disliked what you were doing.

“If it really bothers you, I could talk to the teachers to stop tutoring.” You told her. “I don’t have to do anything today, so I have time to—"

She quickly shook her head.

“Noooo, no, haha…” She clutched her school bag. “It’s fine, don’t worry about me…”

“You sure?” You noticed she started walking faster.

“I’m okay. Don’t worry, man.” She told you as she walked ahead of you. “Uh, I gotta grab something I forgot at the student council room, see you.”

You stared at her as she almost broke into a sprint.

“I could’ve... given you a ride with my bike…” You said, but she was too far to hear you. “Alright, bye…”

You kept on walking alone, but you didn’t feel too bad about it.

“At least she’s talking now.” You said. It seemed Kronii treating you like a stranger really did a number on you.

Your classes went by normally. During lunch you watched your classmates actually study, that made you feel a little bit proud. Still, you were considering talking to your teachers to see if you could change your schedule a bit.

You decided to go to the faculty office once school was over. When you arrived, your teacher was already waiting for you.

“…Did I do something wrong?” You asked.

“Oh no, not at all.” He responded. “There’s just a special something for today.”

“Special what?” You were confused. “I kind of agreed with the others we’d take a break today.”

“Yeah, they passed by to tell me that during lunch.” He told you. “But one of your classmates asked for a private tutoring session.”

He laughed after seeing the confused look on your face.

“It’s just one classmate, okay?” He continued, “I noticed you were struggling with so many students so maybe it’ll be easier like this.”

“I see…” You were both glad and embarrassed when he noticed your problem right away. “Did they ask for any specific topic?”

“Yeah, statistics.” He answered.

“That, huh?” You felt relieved you were already prepared. “Alright, then.”

“She’s already waiting in the classroom.” He said, leading you outside the room. “Have fun!”

“…Uh… thanks?” You were bewildered but managed to reply.

You went to your classroom reviewing in your head what you’d work with your classmate.

“About time you got here.” You heard an all too familiar voice inside. “Is that how you treat the others?”

You stared at Kronii while she scrolled on her phone.

“…What are you doing?” You asked.

She turned to look at you and scoffed. “I’m here to learn, obviously!”

“Sigh… No wonder the teacher was like that…” You sat in front of her and got your things ready. “Whatever, let’s start.”

“You’re not using the whiteboard?” Kronii asked you.

“It’ll be easier this way.” You opened your notebook. “So, what do you want to work on?”

“Um…” She looked away from you. “…Stat… statistics…”

“Pft…” You started laughing. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not, man!” She kicked you. “You already know how… how good I am at that…”

“Yeah, I do…” You remembered how badly she’s done with homework.

“Alright, fine.” You grabbed your notebook and started writing. “Try to pay attention.”

Kronii got her own notebook and wrote down all your explanations. You were surprised she was paying you more attention than your actual teacher. You smiled at her while she had her head down noting down the exercise you were doing.

In the middle of explaining you remembered Kronii’s interruption during your last class.

That was kinda rude. You thought. She won’t mind a little payback.

You started making small mistakes here and there, waiting to see if she would notice them. Slowly but surely, she told you about them as you taught her more.

“Okay, so if we want an estimate of the sample standard deviation…” You wrote the formula. “You’ll need the square root of the unbiased sample variance…”

“Why do I even need to do this.” Kronii sighed.

“To pass your exam.” You told her.

She looked up at you and pouted.

“…Fair enough.” She ended up saying.

“Now we take what we got earlier…” You continued, intentionally putting something wrong. “And we just use our calculator because screw doing this manually.”

“Wait…” Kronii grabbed your notebook. “This is wrong.”

“What do you mean?” You asked her.

“…Yeah, it’s wrong!” She erased your mistake and corrected it. “This isn’t the unbiased one! You have to subtract from this one!”

“Oh, so you do know!” You teased her. “How come you’re doing so badly then?”

“That’s…” Kronii’s ears turned red as she put her head on the desk. “Cause…”

“You’ve corrected me enough times it’s almost like you’re the one tutoring!” You laughed.

“Ugh…” She stomped her feet. “It’s cause you’re good at teaching…” She finally said.

“Wait.” You realized something. “Did you really go to the faculty office yesterday just to… ask for me to tutor you…?”

Kronii stayed still for a few seconds then quickly packed her things. You grabbed her arm right before she bolted out of the classroom.

“No you’re not.” You brought her back to your desk and made her sit down. “Did your really need to do that? I could’ve always helped you after school.”

“No, just… it’s just…” She stammered.

“Or were you jealous?” You randomly asked.

Kronii slowly turned to look at you. Her face was completely red now.

“It’s cause…” She grabbed her arm and looked down. “Waiting for each other… and chatting after school is like, our alone time… you know?”

You could feel your blood rushing to your face.

“I’ll…” You covered your mouth, trying to hide your blush. “I’ll talk to the teacher to change my schedule.”

You slowly packed your things and got up to leave. Kronii followed you, grabbing you by the hem of your shirt. Neither of you could talk for a while.

When you reached your bike, you didn’t know if you should walk with Kronii or ride it. Kronii helped you decide by getting on the back of your bike. You got on and left the school.

You took the longer route home to try to calm your nerves. Instead of that, all you could feel was Kronii’s hand holding onto you. After a while you noticed Kronii was trying to say something.

“…Thanks for teaching me.” She leaned on you so you could hear. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Pay me back by passing your next exam.” You told her.

“You didn’t teach me enough for that.” She laughed. “Guess I’ll never pay you back.”

“I guess that’s fine.” You laughed with her.

After that exchange the both of you were silent again. All you could hear was the wind and your pedaling. You started to wonder what kind of face Kronii was making. Maybe she was looking at the scenery. Maybe she was looking at you.

“Hey.” You called out to her.

“Yeah?” She responded.

“Wanna stay over and play Smash?” You asked her. “We don’t have anything due tomorrow.”

She leaned on you again and wrapped her arms around you.

“You can’t pick Kirby.” She said.

You laughed. “Fine, whoever loses buys snacks.”

“Make sure to get caramel popcorn.” She told you.

You were smiling from ear to ear. The warmth you felt made you believe things were back to normal.

Guess I’ll put more effort into tutoring. You thought. For our alone time.

t. Name