Tutor Me (8 page)

Well that was awkward.
It was the day after the Epic Kiss, as Tina called it, and I was sitting in Calc. I’d been all set to give Callum back his quiz, but not only did he ignore me, he walked down another aisle to get to his seat. What the hell? I wasn’t expecting hearts and flowers but some acknowledgment of his sometime kissing partner seemed only fair. But I played it cool, never so much as tilting my head in his direction. Then after school, I saw him drive off with Noelle. That was a real kick in the gut. I vowed to ignore him outside of our tutoring sessions in future.

This was just the final event in what had been a shitty day. Lacey was home ‘sick’, actually having a spa day with her mother, and I kind of missed having her to talk to. At lunchtime I sat with Bryce, Kai, Chloe, Charlotte and Alex.

We were finishing up when Kai remarked idly. “Heather Drake has sure packed on the pounds since freshman year.”

Bryce nodded. “She just gets bigger and bigger.”

Everyone at the table snickered except me and Charlotte. Charlotte spoke up in Heather’s defense. “She’s nice and really smart.”

“Yeh,” said Alex, “taking AP classes in five different sandwiches.” The table erupted in laughter. Heather was a decent, inoffensive girl who didn’t deserve their judgment. I should have said something to shut them up and support her, but the kicker was, I didn’t.

I talked to Tina about the incident that evening. “Jenny, don’t be so hard on yourself. What could you have done? That’s the real danger of hanging out with that crowd: you need to be nasty to stay in the group. They’ll accept nothing less.”

“
Now
you tell me! You’re the one that encouraged me to make myself popular!”

“You’re the strongest person I know, Jenny. If anyone can be a force for good there, you can. Just follow your moral compass. ”

“OK wise sage, I’ll see what I can do.”

As for the fall-out from the kiss, Tina was matter-of-fact. “He’s scared by how stellar it was so he’s pushing you away. He’ll be back, don’t worry.” I appreciated the vote of confidence but I wasn’t so sure.

The next day was Wednesday, so I drove to Callum’s house after class as usual. But everything was different now. What had been relaxed before now felt incredibly tense. I made sure the conversation was all Calc, all the time. We sat at his kitchen table and still shared my textbook. I had by now given up on his ever remembering to bring his. I felt the usual magnetic pull- hell, even more so after that kiss- but I kept my head and my emotional distance. Nothing like my pride for keeping me well behaved, and Callum seemed focused on the lessons too. His body was rigid and he sat very upright the entire time. Clearly he was regretting the bet big time. Well he had nothing to worry about: I would pretend it never happened. We certainly got through the material a lot more quickly that day than ever before, with no idle chitchat distracting us.

It was about 15 minutes before the end of the session when we heard the sound of drums and an electric guitar coming from somewhere close by. I looked up startled and Callum sprang out of his chair, glancing at the wall clock and muttering “sonofabitch”.

“What’s going on?” I asked, still seated with the textbook open.

“My band mates seem to have arrived early for once in their lives. We’re having an extra practice session today but they’re not supposed to be here for another half hour. Hold on.” He strode over to the back door in the kitchen, which apparently opened into the garage. He flung the door open and the noise was even louder.

“What the fuck? We said 5:15.”

A male voice replied over the sound of the drums. “Dude, Arj and I just wanted to warm up a bit, that’s all. We’re not disturbing your tutoring session, are we?” The tone was innocent but someone snickered.

“You sure as hell are. Come back later.” Callum sounded pissed.

Curious, I peeked out the kitchen door around Callum into the garage. Callum had his back to me, facing the guys, so he didn’t see me, but they did. The guitarist stepped around Callum to approach me, extending his hand.

“Hey, I’m Matt. You must be Jenny. Nice to meet you.” Matt was very tall and lanky, with a scruffy beard and straight dark blond hair tucked behind his ears. He looked like the quintessential 1970s rocker.  He had a humorous, good natured face and I liked him immediately.

I smiled and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you too, Matt.”

The drummer stayed by the drums but gave me a wave and said, “Hi, I’m Arjun.”

I waved back. Arjun looked South Asian, with a slim build, dark skin that was heavily tatted, and short cropped black hair. He gave me a shy smile, black eyes twinkling.

Meanwhile Callum, clearly fuming, was motioning me back into the kitchen. “Let’s finish up and try to ignore these jackasses.”

“We are pretty much through the material so why don’t we just stop now so you can start the practice?” It was clear nothing was going to get done in the next 15 minutes with these guys around and I’d had enough of the tension anyway.

Surprisingly Matt and Arjun both spoke up hastily, with Arjun saying “Wait a sec” and Matt talking over him: “No, don’t leave early on our account.” They kept glancing at Callum, who was looking if anything, more pissed than before. His friends were certainly more polite than he was.

But my decision was made. “No we’re done. Good to meet you guys.”

I turned to head back into the kitchen with Callum close on my heels when Matt called out, “Jenny, would you like to stay and watch us practice for a little while?”

I stopped so quickly that Callum ran into the back of me going into the kitchen. He sprang back fast. I swung around to look inquiringly at him. I was very curious to watch them practice but only if it was ok with him.

Callum shrugged. ”Stay if you want to. We can always use the practice playing in front of an audience.”

It wasn’t the warmest invitation I’d ever received but then again he hadn’t said “Scram” so I’d take it. “OK I’ll stay for a few minutes. I’d like to hear you guys play.”

Matt grinned. “Great! There’s not much in the way of seating I’m afraid but you can sit over there,” he said, gesturing to a weights bench along the side wall of the garage.

While Callum went inside to get his keyboard and some music, Matt chatted amiably. He told me that he and Arjun had graduated over a year ago from Scottsdale High, so we hadn’t overlapped there. Arjun worked at a music shop and was going to community college. In his free time he played a lot of music, and was in another band, a heavy metal one. Matt went to ASU. The missing band member, Theo, was the lead singer and bass player.

Callum reappeared with the keyboard, and the boys began to warm up. All three guys’ phones pinged with a text. Apparently it was from Theo, saying he was running late.

“Figures,” Callum sighed, mildly exasperated. “You guys show up early and now we have to wait for Theo.”

It was Matt who said, “While we’re waiting for Theo, how about getting started.” He turned to me. “We have a job lined up to play at my uncle’s 50
th
birthday party, and he gave us a request list. Jenny, how familiar are you with classic rock?”

I answered modestly, “I know some”, although my knowledge was actually pretty extensive from years of listening to it with my parents and Ben.

“OK great, you can sing along to any of the songs if you want to, since we’re short a singer!”

“Thanks,” I said, having no intention of making a fool out of myself with my mediocre singing voice. But then they started with Bad Company’s “Shooting Star” and before I knew it, I was singing along quietly to the instrumentals of the song.

Matt heard me and whooped “Get up here and sing!” He gestured me to come over. “Please, fill in for Theo.”

“I can’t carry a tune,” I protested.

“Doesn’t matter at all,” said Matt. “We play so loud, it’s just nice to hear the lyrics.”

My eyes flicked to Callum. He raised an eyebrow and took his hand off the keyboard to wave me towards them too. I stepped up shyly, and turned my back to the band as if we were on a stage facing a crowd rather than the inside of the garage door. 

Next up was Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight”, and I sang more confidently on that one. Singing was not my forte at all but I did love to perform. I grabbed my water bottle to use as a fake microphone. “This feels like a really elaborate karaoke night,” I giggled.

Arjun was looking at me suspiciously. “So far she’s two for two, knowing every word to these songs. I’m starting to think her classic rock playlist is deeper than she’s letting on.”

I smirked. “Like I told Callum the other day, cheerleaders have wicked musical knowledge. Test me by playing one without saying the name.”

With the first few chords of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” I rolled my eyes as if to say ‘puh-lease’, and sang on cue after the opening instrumental part. I played my role to the hilt, my eyes closed, clutching my water bottle mike. It was fun to pretend to be a rocker. The guys were chuckling. I’d like to think that what I lacked in tunefulness I made up for in enthusiasm.

“That’s it.” said Matt. “We need to make the next one tougher.”

They launched into “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger. All three watched me to see if they’d stumped me. I made a perplexed face, frowning as if trying to work it out throughout the opening stanza. When Arjun started the drum swell towards the first break I held my hands palms upwards and shrugged as if I had no idea. Then when he crashed down on the drums, I bobbed my head rocker style, and belted out, “Motoring, what’s your price for flight?” All three burst out laughing.

Next up was Outfield’s “Your Love”.

At the first bars I squealed, “Awesome song, please do it over so I can start at the very beginning.”

They obliged and I sang all the way through. The guys all sounded great playing and I was having a ball.

Theo walked into the garage halfway through the song, looking surprised. He had very blond hair in almost a crewcut. From what I’d noticed at school, he was brash and extroverted, and seemed to go through girlfriends on a weekly basis. He’d been the one leaving the gym with Callum when I’d been on the date with Bryce.

Matt called out while they were playing, “Hey Theo, we’ve replaced you. Trying a Blondie kind of thing with the band now.”

I stopped singing and walked over to introduce myself. “They’ve been letting me practice my blindfold karaoke skills. They’ll be ready for some tuneful singing now though.”

Theo’s eyes were friendly and curious. “You’re a cheerleader this year, right? I’ve seen you around. And you’re tutoring Lumpy huh? Good luck with that.”

I arched my eyebrow at his nickname for Callum.

We chatted for a few moments until Callum cleared his throat loudly. “Ahem, Theo, you’re late and now you’re wasting more time hitting on my tutor. Get your ass over here and start singing.”

Theo fired back, “It’s not my fault we have to meet today, you’re the one who gave us a shitty practice on Monday.” But he didn’t seem in the least put out, unpacking his guitar and heading up to where the band stood.  I went over to the bench, my job done.

“Wait a sec, Jenny. Do one more.” Matt’s voice was coaxing. I knew he didn’t want me to feel summarily dismissed just because Theo was now here.

“Let’s do a duet,” said Theo. “How about Human League, “Don’t You Want Me Baby?”

“Ooh I love that song!” I said. Callum was probably rolling his eyes but I didn’t care. “Is this really something you guys cover regularly?” I asked as I came to stand next to Theo.

“Well no,” Theo admitted, “but I’m sure the guys will know the chords.”

“We’ll muddle through it,” Matt reassured me.

I heard a snort from Callum but I didn’t look over.

Theo had put the guitar down and now stood next to me, looking every inch the lead singer, oozing charm. He had the first verse, then I joined him on the chorus, then it was my turn.  We hammed up our parts, him looking longingly while I mimed pushing him away. It was a blast. Theo and I high fived at the end of the song, smiling.

“I’m outta here, guys. Thanks, that was so much fun.”

“You haven’t heard our own songs yet though,” Matt protested.

I looked at Callum uncertainly.

He nodded at me, saying, “You should stay a little longer. We just have a few songs so it won’t take long to hear them through once.” He seemed to have relaxed and I got the feeling he wanted me to stay. I took my seat on the weights bench and listened.

The songs were good, though with a raw sound that would get lost in overproduction. The four of them had a lot of chemistry together, I guess because of the tight friendship. And no doubt about it, Callum was a very talented keyboardist. I was surprised and impressed, and I told them so, clapping and whistling. I should have trusted that Callum would be this good.

I left between sets, because I wanted them to have a chance to practice on their own and I had a history test the next day. “You guys are terrific. What do you call yourselves anyway?”

Matt spoke first. “We’re the Chrome Diplomats.”

“Cool.” As I started to walk back to the kitchen, Matt called out, “Wait, I have one really important question for you.”