I beam. “You did. Amazing job.”
He holds the paper in his hands and stares at it, still smiling, like he can’t believe it.
He looks up at me. “It’s all because of you. You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had, Poppy.”
I start to shake my head, but he stops me.
“I’m serious. You’re better than any math professor I’ve had, Poppy. You’re so good at this.”
I beam at his compliment. “It’s probably just because we’re working one-on-one together. Most people perform better with one-on-one instruction.”
He shakes his head. “Professor Wilcox could teach me all day one-on-one, and I still wouldn’t get it. You’re a million times better than he is.”
We take a break to grab a snack. Nick brings in some fruit for us to share. He sips a protein shake he just made. “Have you thought about going into teaching?” he asks. “I know you’re a tutor at the college, but what about after you graduate?”
I shake my head as I finish a kiwi. “My plan is to go to law school and be a lawyer. I won’t have time to teach.”
“That’s too bad. I mean, you’re going to be a badass lawyer, but it sucks that you can’t be a teacher too.”
There’s a faint tug in my chest when I think about how much I’ll miss teaching once I’m in law school and practicing law.
“Maybe I can teach at a law school after working for a few years,” I say, a little sad. That probably won’t be for several years, though.
“I just think people would love to learn from you. You’re so smart and patient,” Nick says.
I take a bite of an apple, smiling as I chew. Hearing Nick shower me with compliments is the boost I didn’t know I needed.
“I have a YouTube channel where I teach random stuff,” I say quietly.
Nick beams at me. “You do?”
I nod.
“Can you show me?”
Nerves flicker in my tummy as I pull up my channel on my laptop, even though he’s already so supportive of me as a tutor.
But he’s never seen my channel. It’s pretty nerdy. He might think it’s so lame.
The second he sees the homepage, his eyes go wide. “This is awesome,” he says, grinning.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He scrolls through the videos, fixated on the screens. “Damn, you cover every topic. History, math, literature, politics, science.”
He turns to me, his gaze bright, like my channel is the most impressive thing he’s ever seen. That warm feeling inside of me spreads.
He clicks on a video and starts watching it, but I close my laptop screen.
“Hey. Why’d you do that?” He lets out a surprised laugh.
“You’re not watching that in front of me. I’m too self-conscious.”
He just grins. “Fine. I’ll binge-watch all of your videos tonight after you leave.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I’m gonna make some popcorn and watch all of them.”
