| General Fiction posted June 16, 2024 | Chapters: |
2 3 -4- 5... 
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The first tutoring session
A chapter in the book DUEL with the DEVIL
DUEL with the DEVIL - Chapter 4
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant young chemist creates a new opioid with unknown benefits and pitfalls. |
Recap of Chapter 3: 14-year-old Brian meets 15-year-old, gorgeous Sandi MacReady, while mowing her yard as she is sunbathing by the pool. He stops to talk to her, and she offers him a cold drink. While she’s getting the drinks, he notices her math homework filled with mistakes on the patio table. She had failed algebra and had to make it up during the summer. She is struggling with it, but Brian offers to tutor her since he is good at math. She readily accepts and makes arrangements for him to come over to her house that night. He tells his buddy, Derek, who he mows with, about it, and he has a hard time accepting that Brian will be spending time with a hottie like Sandi.
Chapter 4
I stewed about what to wear to Sandi’s house that night. I decided to put on my smallest T-shirt because it showed off my physique the best. I was pretty muscular for a 14-year-old from all the lifting I did with Fran. I threw on a pair of khaki shorts and my sandals and called it good.
Sandi answered the door when I rang the bell. She was dressed somewhat modestly, wearing an olive green shirt over cutoff denim shorts. She was also wearing glasses, which I’d never seen her wear before. She was so beautiful, though, that the glasses, if anything, accentuated her beauty.
After introducing me to her mom, she led me out to the porch, where there was a picnic table. The porch was in the shade, so it was very comfortable out there. Her notebook was open as well as her math book, and there were five or six sharpened pencils on the table.
“So, who’s your math teacher this summer?” I asked her.
“Mr. Brainard, and he’s terrible. He acts like he’d rather be anywhere else than teaching remedial algebra in summer school. He’s a terrible explainer, and I usually have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Yeah, that’s tough. Math doesn’t have to be as hard as people make it. I’ve found the teacher can make a big difference in how well you understand it. So, what are you working on now?”
“We’re learning to solve quadratic equations, but I just don’t really understand how to do it.”
“Okay. Well, let’s start at the beginning. Do you know what an equation is?”
“Yeah, it’s like when one side equals something on the other side.”
“Right. And there’s always an unknown that you have to solve it for. They usually use x for the unknown. Now, do you know what a quadratic equation is?”
She hemmed and hawed for a while before I defined it for her, as well as its attributes. Then I showed her how to set the right side to 0 and factor the left side and set each of those factors to 0 to yield two values for x. The hard part was the factoring, but after lots of practice, she finally got the hang of it.
Then we looked at her homework for that night, and she was able to get through it reasonably well with a little coaching. By the time we’d finished 90 minutes later, she said, “You’re a good explainer, Brian. I get it when you explain it. It makes a lot more sense than when Mr. Brainard explained it. Do you think we could do this again next week? We’ll be onto a new topic then.”
“Sure, but maybe it would be less confusing for you in class if we tackle the next topic before he gets to it in class. Then you might understand it better when Brainard explains it.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea. He really makes me feel stupid. I’m having the test on Wednesday. Maybe you could come over on Wednesday night before he starts on the next topic on Thursday?”
“Sure. That would be great. Why don’t you find out tomorrow at class what the next topic will be, and then we’ll know what to study.”
“Okay. Hey, would you like something to drink? I should have offered it to you before this, but we got so into it, I just forgot about it. I think we’ve got some lemonade. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that’s great.” She left then to get the lemonade. Wow! I get another “date” with her on Wednesday night. Being so close to her left me semi-aroused the whole time, and it was a little hard to concentrate. She smelled really good too. I hoped I didn’t sound too dorky. We laughed a lot, and I felt pretty comfortable because we were sticking to a topic that I knew a lot about. God, I liked this girl. I wondered if she’d ever go out with me. I didn’t have the courage to ask her yet, though.
She returned with the lemonade and a bag of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies—those ovals with the chocolate in the middle. I loved those guys. We sat there for a while just eating and drinking and talking about stuff. She told me she likes to draw, and I asked her to show me some of her work.
“How about if I just sketch a picture of you?”
“What, like now?”
“Sure.” She went to fetch her drawing supplies. When she returned, I said, “What should I do?”
“Just sit there is fine. This won’t take long. Don’t look until it’s finished, though.”
“Okay.” So, I just watched her as she drew me. She worked for about five minutes, then tore off the sheet and handed it to me. It was a caricature. She had drawn me with huge, bulging muscles in my arms and with a broad chest that tapered down to a slim waist. She’d made a deep cleft in my chin with a very square jaw. Everything was exaggerated, but it looked strikingly like me. It was actually very flattering, especially with all those muscles.
“That’s really good. Love what you did with my physique. You ought to set up a booth and sketch people at the Dixie Fair. You could make a lot of money.”
She smiled coyly. God was she adorable. “Thanks. Maybe I will. Hey, Brian, will $20 an hour be enough to pay you for tutoring me? My mom suggested it.”
“Sure, that’s plenty.”
“Okay, then here’s $30 for tonight. So, I guess I’ll see you again on Wednesday. Same time? Seven o’clock?”
I took the money from her. “Yep. Sounds great,” and I got up and headed for the front door. We said goodbye and I left.
Oh, man! Was this going to be a great summer with me getting to be with Sandi MacReady one or two nights a week. I was still grinning as I got home and went inside. Fran was in the family room watching a show when she saw me.
“Good movie?” she asked me, knowing that I had planned to go to the movies with the guys tonight.
“I didn’t go. I was over at Sandi MacReady’s house, tutoring her in algebra. Made $30.”
“How did you swing that?”
I told her all about how I’d talked to her this afternoon while mowing her lawn and how we’d arranged for me to tutor her.
Fran digested this for a second. “By that grin on your face when you came in, I have a feeling the money was secondary. Sandi MacReady, huh? She’s quite the looker, if I recall. Bet you had a pretty good time tutoring her.”
“Yeah, you could say that. I’m thinking of asking her out sometime.”
“No shit. She’s older than you, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, but only a year.”
“She’s what, then, a sophomore? She probably goes out with juniors and seniors. She may not want to date a freshman. I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. I think she likes me. She drew this picture of me,” and I showed her the caricature.
“She made you pretty buff. I guess she noticed. You think you wore a tight enough shirt tonight?” she said, grinning at my choice of T-shirt.
“That was the general idea.”
“Well, if you do ask her out and she says no, don’t forget I warned you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I sat down and watched the show with her. I spent the rest of the evening in a great mood.
 Recognized |
CHARACTERS
Brian Kendrick: The narrator of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is 12 years old and in 6th grade in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Francine (Fran) Kendrick: Brian's older sister. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and goes to junior college, where she studies law enforcement.
Chloe: Brian and Fran's cat.
Sandi MacReady: She is a pretty blond and Brian's crush in high school.
Derek Shafer: Brian's best friend and lawn mowing partner.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Brian Kendrick: The narrator of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is 12 years old and in 6th grade in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Francine (Fran) Kendrick: Brian's older sister. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and goes to junior college, where she studies law enforcement.
Chloe: Brian and Fran's cat.
Sandi MacReady: She is a pretty blond and Brian's crush in high school.
Derek Shafer: Brian's best friend and lawn mowing partner.
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