by C. A. Kunz
“Thanks, Coach! I promise I won’t let you down,” Cat exclaimed, as hope began to fill her heavy heart.
“I know you won’t, Cat. We need you out there, especially with our regional meet coming up soon. Now get your butt in gear and get dressed,” she said sternly, smiling at Cat as she turned and walked out the door.
“Now don’t be mad. Hear me out before you respond, please.” Biting her lip, Cat faced her parents sitting across from them at the kitchen table. She waited until the dishes from dinner had been cleared and stowed in the dishwasher to tell them of her creepy Crawley situation. “I took a pop quiz in math today, and…I didn’t do too hot,” she murmured.
“What do you mean, you didn’t do too hot?” Rachel asked confused.
“Well, I’m kind of, in a way…failing,” she replied sheepishly. “No, wait, I haven’t finished! Please, listen,” Cat pleaded as her parents looked at one another and then faced her again, both looking grim. “I talked to Coach Hutchins today and she informed me that she’s going to arrange for a tutor to help me. I’m going to meet with a counselor tomorrow so that I can start ASAP. She also told me that I’m still on the swim team as long as I agree to get a tutor.”
“Cat, why is this the first time we’re hearing about this? Have you not been doing your homework? Did you not study for your tests? I know math has never been your favorite subject, but you never had trouble at your other school. Why now?” Rachel asked, looking at her with disappointment written all over her face.
“Mom, I do my homework every night, but Mr. Crawley keeps giving us pop quizzes on problems we haven’t even covered in class yet! He doesn’t explain anything! He tells us to read our books, but if we have questions he won’t answer them,” she expressed, looking intently at her parents.
“I can’t believe a teacher won’t help if you don’t understand a problem. Maybe there are just too many students in the class. You see! If you were still in private school this wouldn’t have happened. I told you, Sam. Public school isn’t for her,” Rachel glared accusingly at her husband.
“Now ladies, let’s look at the problem rationally and not jump to conclusions. Rachel, yes, the classes were smaller at her old school, and yes, many a time children can fall through the cracks in public school. But I think that with help, Cat can bring her grade up. This is a great idea,” he stated confidently, placing his hand on Rachel’s shoulder.
“You’re clueless, Sam! If she’s doing everything she should be, then why is she failing?” she asked in frustration, shrugging his hand off.
“Mom, I told you, creepy Crawley doesn’t teach. He tells us that if we don’t get it the first time then forget it. He’s a mean and spiteful man who loves to see people fail,” she spat out. “He especially hates me!”
Sam chuckled, “Creepy Crawley, that’s a good one, Cat.” He flinched as Rachel gave him a love tap on the arm.
“Don’t encourage her, Sam!” Rachel chastised. “Cat, why would he hate you? Teachers have always raved about you. They always say they wish they had a classroom full of students like you. I think you’re wrong about creepy, I mean, Mr. Crawley.” Rachel glared at Cat and Sam as they chuckled. “Anyway, as I was saying, I think you shouldn’t put the blame on others when clearly it’s your fault. You should be grinded until you bring up your grade,” she said, crossing her arms angrily.
“Grinded? Don’t you mean groused?” Sam asked.
“It’s grounded! That’s the word you’re looking for,” Cat interjected and rolled her eyes at the fact that her parents, even though they were well educated, didn’t know the word grounded. In all their years of parenting, they never had to use this form of punishment on her or Taylor.
“Well, whatever it is I think you should be it until we see improvement in your grade and that’s my final word.” Rachel stood up, “I knew public school was going to be trouble, and I was right. Now, I’ve got a women’s meeting tonight so I’ve got to go get ready,” she announced, leaving the room and not making eye contact with either of them.
“Dad, that’s so unfair! Even you said Mr. Crawley couldn’t get a teaching position anywhere else. He’s evil!”
“I’ll talk to your mom. Maybe you can be grou…grounded, right?” Cat nodded. “For this weekend so you can study ahead in the chapters. I’ll help you, as will this tutor person. I know you can do it. I believe in you. Your mom didn’t want you to go to school here in Astoria. So she’s just a little upset now. Run along and I’ll talk to her, okay?”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said and bent down and kissed his cheek.
The next day, Cat made her way to the front office after third period. Mrs. Starks, a rosy cheeked, portly woman smiled as Cat walked up to the counter. “Miss Colvin, Mrs. Brooks is on the phone at the moment, but as soon as she becomes available I’ll take you back.” Cat looked at her, confused at the fact Mrs. Starks knew who she was. “Oh yes, I know who you are. My daughter Shannon will be coming here next year and she loves to swim. We attend every meet so she can watch and learn. You’re a wonderful swimmer, so graceful. You make it look so easy. Shannon talks about you all the time,” she said peering at the phone. “Oh great! She’s off. Follow me.”
Cat couldn’t have said a word if she wanted to, as Mrs. Starks continued talking about her daughter until they reached the end of the hall and knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Mrs. Brooks looked up. Her red glasses perched on the tip of her nose. “Thanks, Joan. Hi Cat, have a seat. This shouldn’t take long, just waiting for your tutor to show up.” Cat sat down, just as someone knocked at the door. “Come in. Ryan, please have a seat.” Cat didn’t turn around. She felt Ryan’s eyes staring at her back, and then heard him move and sit down beside her. “Cat, I’ve picked Ryan Beckford to be your tutor since he had Mr. Crawley last year. Surprisingly, he was the only one who received an A. Which I’ve heard is hard to do in his class.”
Cat kept her eyes on Mrs. Brooks. Oh great, the one person I wanted to avoid at all cost is going to be thrust upon me every day!
“Cat, are you okay?” Mrs. Brooks asked.
Cat looked up, “Sorry, what?”
“I was just saying that if Ryan could spare an hour after practice Monday thru Wednesday. And then maybe a few hours on other days, which you can work out amongst yourselves. We could get you back on track by the end of the semester finals.”
“But Mrs. Brooks, I don’t think that’s fair to Ryan. I’m sure he has a full schedule with practice, games and playoffs-”
“It’s no problem,” Ryan said, interrupting Cat and forcing her to turn and look at him for the first time since he came into the room. “We can meet after our practices and on Thursdays, after your meets. I try to make every one of them.”
Cat groaned inwardly. Of course he did. How could I miss him staring at me from across the pool? I need to get a different tutor. I just have to!
“So it’s settled, today’s…Wednesday, so maybe you two can have your first study session today after school?” Mrs. Brooks said, scanning her calendar. “Where does the time go? Anyway, you kids skedaddle. I know we’ll get great results from this union. After all, Astoria High can’t afford to lose one of our best swimmers now, can we?”
Embarrassed, Cat stood abruptly and moved toward the office door. Ryan, grinning at her discomfort, stood to the side as Cat exited and then he followed closely behind.
“Don’t forget to fill in that schedule I gave you. When you have it worked out, drop it by the office and we will make a copy.” Her voice filtered down the hall.
What schedule? She didn’t give me a schedule. Turning and bumping into Ryan, Cat saw that he had a paper in his hand.
As he steadied her, Ryan’s grin seemed to grow. “You forgot this.”
“Oh.” Cat’s legs felt weak at his touch. She caught herself gazing into his eyes and she blushed. Quickly glancing at the floor, she nervously brushed her hair over her ear and took the schedule from his hand. After leaving the offi
ce she noticed the hallways were empty. Ryan reached out and put his hand on Cat’s arm. Startled, she turned to face him.
“I get out of practice at five today, how about we meet in the library? It doesn’t close until seven.”
“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you later then,” she said quickly. He began to say something else, but then decided to just walk away. Cat leaned against the lockers as Ryan walked in the opposite direction from her.
What a fool, Cat! You looked so dumb! Why didn’t you speak up and tell Mrs. Brooks you didn’t want him for a tutor? No, you just gave in. Well, maybe after one session, he’ll get to frustrated that he’ll quit. Yeah, like that’ll happen. He enjoys watching you act like a total moron!
“Young lady, aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Cat turned to face a teacher whose face looked familiar, but she didn’t know his name. “Just came from the front office. Heading back to class now,” Cat replied, striding down the hallway and calling over her shoulder. “I wish I could run, but I’ll only get in trouble for that,” she mumbled to herself.
While drying her hair with a towel and sitting on the bench in front of her gym locker, Cat thought about what transpired an hour ago. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire as she recalled the way she had acted in front of Ryan. Damn those baby blue eyes of his, damn them!
“Hey Cat, what’s up?” Hannah’s soft voice broke into her thoughts.
“Nothing much, just a little tired after all those laps.”
“Why were you late?” she asked, smiling at Cat as she began to pull her things out of her locker.
“I was getting a tutor for math. Why does it have to be him?” she groaned.
“Him, who?” Hannah asked.
I didn’t say that out loud, did I? Cat thought to herself. “Oh, Ryan,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Well anyway, Mr. Crawley is purposely flunking me, so my only option was to get a tutor. So I was given one,” she rambled.
“Oh, I hate Mr. Crawley! He’s so mean!” she said and then fiercely slammed her locker closed. “I was having a lot of problems with him, always picking on me, because he knew I hated being called on. So when I told Isaac, he went to talk to Crawley, and I haven’t had any trouble since.”
Cat looked at Hannah with surprise. Wow, I’ve never seen Hannah mad before.
“Wait…did you say Ryan’s your tutor?” Hannah asked. Cat nodded. “Ryan Beckford?” Cat nodded again not making eye contact with her. “That’s awesome! Ryan’s really good at math, he’s very helpful. He’s such a great guy once you get to know him. He’s shy at first, but he grows on you,” she said, noticing Cat rolling her eyes.
“Well, I don’t doubt he’s a good guy, Hannah. But the whole shy thing, I just don’t know. And he hangs out with your brother…no offense,” she said, quickly turning to face her.
“None taken. I know my brother and his group can be a little…much, but Ryan’s different. He hangs out with them mainly because they’ve been friends since they were in diapers,” she said with a smile. “And he is shy. Have you ever seen the girls falling all over him? He avoids them, but they don’t seem to get the hint. I think it’s funny.” She giggled.
Good, well maybe I can get him to avoid me, Cat thought.
“So, I heard Isaac warned you again about speaking to me. I get lectured almost every day,” Hannah said with a sigh. “But, if he hasn’t convinced you otherwise, I’d like to continue being friends.”
“You are my friend Hannah, and your brother can just…go screw himself for all I care,” she declared, seeing the sadness in Hannah’s face. After grabbing their bags off the bench, Cat gave Hannah a quick hug. “Let’s go to lunch, I’m starved.”
Lunchtime was an unusually peaceful affair. Hannah followed Cat through the lunch line and then sat at the table with her and her group. She blushed when Matt said hello to her.
Looking around, Cat noticed Isaac’s group was absent from their regular table. She kept an eye out during lunch just in case they showed up. She didn’t want to be blindsided.
After walking into Earth Science, Cat stood by her desk, closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. “Bad day, huh, Cat? You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. And your aura’s not too happy either,” Miss Amaya, said frowning at her.
“No, just Creepy Crawley problems.” Cat sighed.
“Can’t be all that bad. I know Mr. Crawley is difficult. But I thought you of all people could handle him.”
“He’s failing me. And now I’m stuck with a tutor. Which just complicates things even more,” she replied as her shoulders drooped.
“Ryan’s a complication?” Miss Amaya asked.
“How do you know he’s my tutor?” Cat’s shocked eyes met hers.
“I just know,” she said, smiling mysteriously. “Now how can I help?” Miss Amaya asked, placing her hand on Cat’s arm.
“I know you perform spells. Do you have one that can turn Mr. Crawley into a frog? Only for 7th period, of course?” she asked, noticing the amused look on her teacher’s face.
“Now you know our creed is to harm no living creature, and that would be a little harmful, don’t you think?”
“Well, it was worth a shot,” she replied, laughing as the bell rang to start the period.
“Everyone take your seats. I’m going to have Steven pass out a little packet I’ve put together on today’s material.”
Steven stood abruptly and took the papers from her. He turned and the class could see the bemused look on his face. It was a look Cat had seen on many of her male classmates when they were called on by their beautiful teacher. She giggled to herself wondering if Miss Amaya knew of the effect she had on them.
“Today, we’re going to learn a little about Mother Nature’s little natural wonders. Stones and crystals, their meanings, and how they can be used in your daily life.”
The hour seemed to fly by, filled with knowledge of agates, crystals, geodes, and their uses. The bell rang and the class collectively groaned. “Okay, if you like what we did today, tomorrow I’ll bring in some of my stones and show you their magic!” Chatter filled the room, making it clear they definitely wanted to learn more.
Dreading her next class, Cat slowly collected her books and shoved them one by one into her bag. “Cat, your aura looked wonderful in class, now it’s a little off again. I want you to think positive, don’t let him get to you,” Miss Amaya said as she walked Cat to the door.
“Thanks, I’ll try, since I can’t count on the frog thing,” Cat murmured and then trudged down the hall with her teacher’s delightful laughter ringing in her ears.
Miss Amaya sat in the chair behind her desk. She closed her eyes, mumbled a few words, and then turned her head to watch her next class filtering in.
As Cat walked into algebra, she ignored Mr. Crawley, who was standing at the front of the room. After dropping her books on her desk, she saw a pair of scuffed shoes and a multi-pleated pair of pants standing next to her. Restraining herself from looking up, she opened her book and pretended to read.
“What are you going to do with all your spare time now that your swimming career is on the shelf?”
“Whatever do you mean, Mr. Crawley?” Cat asked, smiling innocently.
“Your inability to participate in your favorite pastime,” he said in a triumphant tone, as if he had just won a battle.
“I’m at a loss, Mr. Crawley…Oh, I see, you think I can’t swim anymore. Well, apparently I can. According to school policy, a student who is failing a subject can still participate in school sports as long as they show they’re making an effort to improve. You’ll be happy to know I now have a personal tutor. I’ve been told he’s one of the few students who has actually made an A in your class. Ryan Beckford. You must remember him from last year?” Cat said sweetly as she watched his eyes widen.
Mr. Crawley narrowed his eyes angrily. “You haven’t won yet,” he whispered, bending over so only she could hear him. He the
n turned abruptly and stormed back to his desk, filling the room with his anger.
I might enjoy today’s class, she thought as she watched Mr. Crawley grab the chalk and began writing furiously on the board.
As Cat was blow-drying her hair after practice, something she hadn’t done before, she thought about why she was doing it now. Its cold out, I can’t afford to get sick this late in the swimming season. Okay, so that explains why I’m drying my hair, but why am I putting on lip gloss too? I admit it. I don’t want to look too hideous when we study. I do have pride in myself. It’s not like I’m doing it for him, but for me. Yes, that’s it. Oh, who are you kidding, Cat? She looked around to make sure she hadn’t said the words out loud. Good, no one’s looking in my direction. I’m safe. After grabbing her messenger bag, she said goodbye to the stragglers, and then left the locker room.
It didn’t take Cat long to reach the library. First thing she noticed was the absence of light behind the two huge glass windows. As she walked closer, she saw a sign taped to the door stating that due to a leak in the roof, the library would be closed until further notice. Groaning, she turned and spotted a chair sitting off to the side. Tired from her rigorous practice, she plopped down onto it. The hallway was quiet. In fact it was a little spooky. Looking out the window opposite her, she noticed the sun had all but set. All she could see was the outline of the forest at the back of the school.
Tapping her foot, Cat looked at her watch. Where is he? It’s past five. Maybe he’s forgotten. I’ll wait a few more minutes, then I’ll call Taylor’s cell to see if he’s still here. She knew Taylor often stayed late after practice talking to the coach. All of a sudden, Cat heard a noise coming from the library. It sounded like someone shuffling around inside. She stood and walked toward the door, clutching her messenger bag tightly. You’ve had a dark figure stalking you, and now you want to go investigate a strange noise? Go the other way! Her inner voice yelled. She hesitated, her curiosity getting the best of her. She began thinking about all the movies she had seen where people had gone to investigate a noise, instead of running the other way to get help, and ended up in trouble. A loud bang on the door startled her. Screw this! Enough weird things have been happening to me lately, I don’t need this too! Cat thought as she hurried down the hall away from the library.