“Do you have any extra chairs? For our meeting?”
“Right.”
I return to my office, extra chairs in hand, and see Jake standing alongside a brunette who has a stack of assignments in one hand and coffee in another. I set the two chairs down and settle back into my seat. Eliana walks over without a word, taking the chair closest to Violet. From the scowl on Jake’s face, I can assume he’s going to make this meeting as painful as possible. Before I can ask Jake to sit down so we can get this over with, Eliana turns and gives him a menacing look, eyeing theempty chair. He rolls his eyes and takes a seat next to her, a scowl still permanently etched onto his face. I am going to take a wild guess and assume tutoring has not been going well.
“Alright, so why don’t we get started,” Violet offers. “I’d like to first hear from you both about how tutoring has been going, and whether any changes need to be made. Then we can discuss Jake’s eligibility for the rest of the semester.”
Violet hands me Jake’s reports. This fucker’s grade was in the toilet a few months ago. Coach Jameson will be happy to hear it has much improved, but we were still not fully in the clear yet. One missing assignment and he’d be out for the rest of the season. Westchester took their GPA cutoffs very seriously and if his GPA dipped any lower, he’d have to spend the next semester bringing it up from the sidelines.
Eliana is the first to speak. “We had a bit of a rocky start—” Jake snorts, “—but over time, we came up with a mutual agreement on what it would take for us to stay on track. And things have been better since then.”
“‘Mutual agreement’is a very nice way of saying she threatened me several times saying she'd let me flunk if I didn’t do all these assignments on her hellish timeline.”
“Part of my responsibility as your tutor is to make sure that you complete all your assignments in a timely manner. It’s not my fault you have issues with planning and prioritizing your responsibilities.”
“And it’s not my fault they gave me adrill sergeantfor a tutor. Seriously, could youbeany more uptight? I don’t respond well to authoritarianism.”
“You can get snippy with me all you want Jake, but that doesn’t change the fact that my methods have been working.” She looks smug as she turns her head away from him. “You’re welcome by the way.”
“You are so full of yourself,” He seethes.
“Just giving my student a dose of his own medicine.”
“You know what?” He leans over his chair to bring himselfcloser to Eliana, who doesn’t cower away. If anything, she looks just as ready to go off as he does. And either I’m completely misreading this situation or there is some…heat behind all this anger.
“Okay,” Violet interjects. “I hear that some things have been effective. Jake, from looking at your assignment grades before you started tutoring to now, you’ve really turned things around.” Eliana beams from her chair while Jake rolls his eyes. “But maybe we can work on being a bit more flexible when it comes to scheduling?” Jake perks up, watching Eliana’s disgruntled face as she gives Violet a small nod. I don’t know how, but Violet has managed to find a tutor whose even more stubborn and hot-headed than Jake is. Maybe that’s why she picked her in the first place.
“So, he can keep playing?” My question seems to frustrate Eliana. I know his education is important and all that shit, but we are here for one specific reason.
Violet looks at the grade book on her laptop for a few seconds before turning her attention back to me. “He can keep playing.”
“Thankfuck,” Jake exhales.
“But I do recommend he keeps up with his tutoring. At least until the end of the semester. And maybe for next semester too if he plans on taking more psych classes. Pending Eliana being available. She’s our best psychology tutor and tends to be in high demand.” The latter comment is not-so-subtly aimed at Jake, who seems to get the message.
He flashes Eliana an apologetic look. “You are a really good tutor, that acts like a drill sergeant.”
She rolls her eyes before saying, “Thanks.” She turns her attention to Violet. “I have to head over to lab if that’s okay? I’m helping Maya run a scan soon.” Ah, that explains Violet’s protectiveness. I didn’t realize Eliana was also one of her research assistants.
“Yes definitely. We’ll talk more later.” Violet gives her a wave as she heads out of my office.
Once Eliana exits, Jake turns his attention to Violet. “Have you considered giving her a day off or something? She practically lives in that lab.”
Violet looks as caught off guard as I am. “I’m sorry?”
“It wouldn’t kill her to have some fun. All she does is school, tutoring, and research.”
“Research can be fun,” Violet challenges.
“God, no wonder you hired her. You’re like, the same person.” He shakes his head and turns to me. “So, am I good to go?”
“Yeah, you’re all set. I do want to finalize some things with Violet, so just shut the door on your way out.”
I wait until I can no longer hear Jake’s footsteps before I stand up from my desk and lean over to Violet’s chair, pressing a kiss to her temples and then a longer one to her lips.
“What was that for?” She smiles.
“I just missed you from all the way over here.” I kiss her again.
