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I had a couple of heartbeats to hope she'd
realized I'd been trying to help Britney with her homework, and
therefore not deserving of any punishment. "Britney, Adriana, I'll
need to speak with you both after the bell."

Apparently the whole justice thing was on the
fritz right now. It would probably start working again just in time
to punish me for whatever bad thing I did next. I tried to work on
my homework some more, but my heart wasn't in it, so I just sat at
my desk and tried not to look like I was pouting.

All too soon class was over, and I found
myself trailing Britney up to Mrs. Campbell's desk. She still
didn't look very happy, but there was a trace more self-control to
her face than a few minutes before.

"Britney, despite spending at least an hour
at the tutor lab each afternoon, the quality of your homework
hasn't come up in the slightest, so I took the liberty of talking
to your father yesterday."

Britney's gasp had all the dramatic effect
you'd expect out of someone who'd spent the last decade of her life
getting away with pretty much whatever she wanted. She was
obviously pretending to be sorry, all the while figuring her
current trouble would blow over quickly enough if she just played
her cards right.

"You're father agrees with me that your
studies should be your highest priority, so you'll be staying an
extra hour starting today, and ending once your performance
improves. Of course you can always continue to just waste your
study time, but if you choose to do that I've been assured that
additional penalties will follow quite rapidly starting with the
loss of your car."

The next gasp was less impressive, but
tangibly more genuine. Even my being next couldn't stop a flash of
satisfaction at the way Britney was finally having to face some of
the consequences of her actions. Mrs. Campbell dismissed her with a
wave, waiting until she'd left, shutting the door with a tad more
force than strictly necessary.

"While I can't for a moment understand why
you've chosen to befriend Britney, I can't fault you on your
willingness to help her despite her flaws."

I should have been overjoyed I wasn't in
trouble. Instead I felt guilty for being given far more credit than
I deserved. I opened my mouth to object, but was waved back into
silence.

"Obviously I don't want you to make
disrupting my class a habit, but that isn't why I wanted to talk to
you. Your studies are coming along nicely, and I've heard quite a
few good things about you from other sources, so I'd like to offer
you a job."

Now that I had a chance to talk, I wasn't
sure what to say. Nobody had ever wanted to hire me. Mrs. Campbell
gave me a tired smile, "The tutor lab is still understaffed.
Obviously you couldn't spend your whole afternoon tutoring, as that
would negatively affect your efforts to catch up. I'm thinking just
an hour or so per night. It would just be minimum wage, but I think
you'll find you quite enjoy teaching."

Still at a loss for words, I just nodded. I
started towards the door as soon as I was dismissed, but stopped at
the threshold. "Is everything ok Mrs. Campbell? I mean it seemed
like you were really worried when you left."

I trailed off, worried by the measuring look
that she gave me. "I don't suppose you're one of the gossipers, and
I guess it wouldn't really matter if you were. I got a call that my
daughter had been in a car accident. By the time I made it out to
my car she'd called to tell me she wasn't hurt, just shook up. So,
in answer to your question, yes everything's alright. I'm just a
little unsettled."

Lunch was an awkward affair. Britney was
still upset. I, on the other hand, was extremely happy I'd made a
good enough impression to get a job. I didn't like sitting there
while Britney badmouthed Mrs. Campbell.

I looked up during one of Britney's
infrequent pauses for air, and caught Alec staring at me. Staring
wasn't quite the right word though. Strangely enough, it didn't
seem like he was necessarily mad, but he didn't seem happy either.
I only caught his eyes for a few seconds before he looked away, but
even his normally-riveting blue eyes couldn't distract me from my
inability to identify the look.

I was used to people disliking me, ignoring
me, or even occasionally liking me, but this was the first time I'd
met someone who seemed to be still trying to decide what camp to
join long past the time when most kids our age would have either
made a decision or just decided I was weird and started ignoring
me.

Britney seemed to be getting suspicious that
I wasn't really listening, so I had to make a lot of eye contact
over the next few minutes. When I finally got a chance to look back
up, Alec and his friends weren't at their table.

Cassie caught my eye before I looked down,
but she was definitely glaring. Not the typical, I hate you and I'm
going to do everything I can to smear your reputation and get you
in trouble because we're in high school and that's all I can really
do, type glaring. Instead her eyes seemed to warn me never to go
out alone at night because if she ever found me somewhere without
any witnesses, they were going to have to hospitalize me.

I felt a chill run through me, and dropped my
eyes out of involuntary reflex. I probably would've started shaking
if someone hadn't grabbed my shoulder and startled some kind of
twisted cross between a shriek and a gasp out of me.

I turned to give whoever it was a piece of my
mind, but Brandon's laughing gray eyes made the words tangle up
before they made it down to my tongue.

"Hey there. You still going to that tutoring
lab after school?"

I managed a nod that I thought probably,
nearly looked casual.

"Good, I need to start tracking your
movements so you don't keep running me over."

The rest of lunch and all of history seemed
to pass in a blur, my mind kept returning back to Brandon, and the
question of why he was taking such an interest in me.

It wasn't until I'd returned Mrs. Alexander's
reference book to its shelf and sat down at my desk in that I
remembered I'd had to do the entire 'group' project by myself. Alec
hadn't even bothered to come to Physics since the assignment had
been given. My entire life I'd had people try and sponge off of my
work, and I was way beyond sick and tired of it.

By the time Alec strode into class looking
like the inspiration for every romance novel ever written, I was
really mad. I hardly waited for him to sit down before I pulled my
desk a little closer and hissed at him.

"So very nice of you to come to class on the
day our stupid assignment is due."

Alec's expression was remarkable in that I'd
never seen anyone look so full of life while simultaneously failing
to betray even the slightest hint of emotion. He didn't even open
his mouth as he reached into his bag and pulled out a bundle of
densely-packed typewritten pages.

The arrogance of it all. He hadn't even
bothered to consult with me before typing up an answer that was
probably completely off base. I pulled out my shabbier, but
correct, answer and mirrored his action, tossing my bundle on his
desk before looking down at his report.

I skimmed through Alec's answer and felt my
anger joined by surprise and just the slightest touch of
admiration. He struck on exactly the same theory as I had, and done
at least as good of job explaining it. Maybe even better
considering that he took the time to review some of the underlying
theory we'd been taught in class. I'd just jumped right into the
answer.

"You're right. You never even came to class,
and you got the right answer. Did you cheat? Is the answer to this
problem out there somewhere on the Internet?"

Alec's face tightened with something I was
willing to bet was anger. "No, I didn't cheat. I did the research
to find the answer, presumably just like you did. Next time you
feel like insulting me, please suppress the urge."

I had at least one nasty comeback on the tip
of my tongue, but I swallowed it. I didn't like his tone, but he
did have a right to be mad.

Luckily, I was saved by Mrs. Alexander's
appearance at the door, a dry-erase marker behind one ear, a pencil
behind the other.

The rest of the class period should have been
enjoyable. My group had the right answer, which I'd come up with on
my own, and we were now learning about leverage, mechanical
advantage, and friction, all of which were actually pretty
interesting.

I studiously ignored Alec, even though I
could all but feel him glaring at me the entire time. When the bell
finally rang, Mrs. Alexander looked up from her white board with a
startled expression. "I suppose that's it then. Don't forget to
turn in your assignments on your way out."

Anxious to make sure I got credit for all the
work I'd done, I hurried up to the front of the class before Alec
could get to his feet.

"Oh, Adriana. It looks like you've been
busy."

She took my handwritten report, and then held
out a hand as Alec approached. "Somehow I rather suspect you both
have the same answer, Alec just used twice as many words to get
there."

I shot Alec another dirty look, but it seemed
to slide right off the armor of his arrogance. He nodded to Mrs.
Alexander, and then slipped out of the classroom.

"Run along young lady, we wouldn't want you
to be late for your next class."

Spanish went about like I'd expected. There
was a brief discussion on a new grammar concept, some vocabulary,
and a whole lot of television. Britney caught up with me at my
locker, still complaining that she was going to have to start doing
her homework instead of trying to flirt with football players.

"It's completely unfair. Nobody else's
parents get called. It's like I'm back in grade school and have to
deal with parent teacher conference every month. I thought the
whole point of high school was to give us the chance to start
making some of our own decisions."

I grunted something noncommittal as we turned
the corner. It probably wouldn't have been good enough to save me
from having to actually say something, but Brandon was leaning
against a wall.

"I thought it much safer to stay in one place
and wait for you rather than wander around and risk getting knocked
down."

I felt my skin flush with embarrassment. It
was fairly gentle teasing as teasing went, but it was still
teasing. I hated how my skin looked when I was blushing which meant
I blushed more than any two other people. Not only that, I couldn't
ever come up with anything good to say when someone teased me.

Brandon seemed to sense my unease, and
flashed another gentle smile. "I just wanted to find out if you had
a way home tonight after you finished up with your math stuff."

Britney was almost jumping up and down. "Oh,
don't worry Brandon, I'll give Adri a ride home. The poor thing
lives all the way out in the Anderson home. I've been giving her a
ride into school and home almost every day since she moved."

Brandon was still smiling, but I got the
feeling that it was a little more forced.

"Perfect. I'm going to go take care of some
stuff then, but I'll see you both tomorrow."

Mrs. Campbell looked up from the plant she
was watering as we walked into the tutoring room. "Ah, there you
two are. Britney, you'll be sitting over there from now on.
Adriana, go ahead and get started on your homework. When you finish
come find me and we'll get you situated."

As always, Rachel was sitting at her table in
the middle of no-man's land. She looked up at me and smiled as I
took my usual spot and started on my homework.

For the first time all day I felt like I
could relax. The few times I looked up, I saw Britney, who seemed
determined not to give in and actually do her homework.

I finished my two assignments about the time
I normally did, and walked over to where Mrs. Campbell was trying
to explain a story problem. The sophomore she was helping looked
like he wanted to be anywhere other than trying to figure out how
long it would take Sally to mow the lawn given a certain width of
lawn mower moving at a given rate of speed.

"Oh, Adriana. Go ahead and walk around
looking for students who need help. Most everyone will leave in the
next ten minutes or so, but we're actually open for another
hour."

She was right, nearly everyone left over the
next little while as they either finished up their assignments,
gave up, or finally filled whatever quota of study time they'd been
given by their parents. I did get to answer a couple of questions,
which was surprisingly fun.

When there was only half an hour left Mrs.
Campbell walked over. "Good job so far. Albert, the other tutors,
and I are all going to head out. Stay here until closing time, and
then you're free to go. We'll see you tomorrow."

I watched as my new co-workers trickled out,
and then looked around at the nearly empty room. Rachel was still
sitting at her desk in the middle of the room, and Britney was
still pouting from her new, assigned seat.

"Let's go."

I shook my head. "I told Mrs. Campbell I'd
stay the whole time. I'm not lying for you or anyone else."

Rachel piped up unexpectedly, "It's ok,
Britney. If you want to leave we'll give her a ride home."

I could see the wheels turning in her head.
If I really did have a ride, she could leave without ruining things
with Brandon; but if I wasn't going to lie, then there was a good
chance that Mrs. Campbell would find out she'd left early.

Parents were relatively easy to fool. Leave
the tutor lab early, go somewhere else and kill some time until you
were supposed to come home, and they'd never know the difference.
Teachers were a little harder, but if you didn't have the help of
your 'friends', then they became an insurmountable obstacle.