"I can help with that. How about grammar? Like putting together a sentence. Is that hard for you?"
"Yeah, I hate that shit."
"Well, why don't we start with what you've done so far. Have you had any assignments yet?"
He slides a notebook over to me and opens it up. There's a sheet of paper in it with a giant red D in the corner.
"This was a paper you did?" I ask.
"It was just a writing assignment. Dean helped me with it."
And he still got a D? Now I understand why Dean hired me. He can't help Jacob with English if he struggles with it himself.
I go over the assignment, sentence by sentence, pointing out both the good things and the bad. A teacher at my old school used to do that and I found it really helpful. Instead of just saying what I did wrong on something, he'd point out what I did right, which always made me feel better. And I learned more that way. It gave me confidence that I could do better next time.
"Do you have any questions?" I ask after we're done. I spent almost an hour going over the assignment. I didn't want to rush through it. I wanted Jacob to understand and stop me if he didn't.
"I can't think of any," he says, looking down at the assignment. "What you said actually kind of made sense. No one's ever explained it that way."
"So it helped?"
"Yeah." He gets up and stretches. "I'm tired."
"We can be done for tonight. We covered a lot."
"Can I go to my room?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
He's a good kid. And smart. He catches on fast.
I wait in the living room. Dean comes out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
"Do you guys share a room?" I ask.
"No. It's his. I sleep on the couch."
"You don't even fit on it," I say with a laugh.
He shrugs. "It's good enough. Or sometimes I'll sleep on the floor."
That makes me sad. It shouldn't. He seems fine with it, but I feel like it's not right. He needs an actual bed. How does he get any sleep on that tiny couch? He's an athlete. He needs his rest.
"So how'd it go?" Dean asks.
"I think it went okay. Guess you'll have to ask Jacob."
"I did. Just now. He said it went good. He wants to do it again."
"Really?" I smile, feeling a type of happiness I've never felt before. It's not the happiness I used to get from buying a new dress or having a spa day. It's different. More genuine. Like it's coming from deep inside me.
"Is something funny?" Dean asks, eyeing me with a slight smile.
"No. Why?"
"You're smiling like you're thinking of something funny."
"It's not that. I'm just happy. I'm happy I was able to help Jacob. I've never helped someone like that before. I didn't think I could tutor someone but I guess I can."
