Chapter 5 of my series

[Carlos1234]

Chapter 5 Tutoring lessons

 

Even though Leo and Luna were still going to the same school as before, it didn't feel the same. Like Akiza, they knew that they had to try keep living in the Satellite a secret. The story starts just as Leo, Luna, and Dexter are arriving at school.

 

"So, how come when I called you last night, it said that the number's not in service," Dexter asked.

 

"Oh, well, we had to disconnect our phone," Leo said

 

"Do you want me to come over and try to fix it," he asked.

 

"No, no, that's okay," Luna interrupted him, "We're busy, um, doing, um, cooking!"

 

"I didn't know you guys started cooking," Dexter noted.

 

"Well, see, you know, with Leo's appetite, I always have to keep him full. That way, he can concentrate on school," Luna said, trying to sound convincing.

 

"Okay," Dexter said a little suspiciously. He walked away.

 

When he was a good distance away, Luna pushed Leo behind a bush.

 

"Leo, please stop talking. You're going to give away our secret."

 

"What? I don't see why we have to keep lying about living in the Satellite," he replied.

 

"Leo, please, if kids find out, they won't want to be our friend anymore. They might even start to pick on us."

 

"So, I can take them on," Leo shouted, "I'm a Grade A fighting machine!"

 

He tries to imitate a movie ninja, but slips and falls into the bush.

 

"Grade A huh," Luna asked, "Maybe you should try getting an A in math instead."

 

"Hey, it's not my fault that Algebra's so hard," Leo replied.

 

They walked into school.

 

During class, the teacher, Ms. Popnfresh, reminded the students about parent/teacher conferences.

 

"Now, class, remember to sign up for a time for me to meet with your parents."

 

The bell rang and the kids walked up to sign their name. Leo and Luna tried to slip out.

 

"Leo, Luna, can I see you both after class?" she asked.

 

"Oooh," some of the kids said.

 

When all the kids filed out, Ms. Popnfresh put the sign up slips in a folder.

 

"Now, when I tried to call you about the conferences, it said that your number was not in use. I also noticed that your grades have slipped slightly for the past couple of weeks. Is something going on?" she asked.

 

"No Ms. Popnfresh," Luna tries to say.

 

She gives them a look and asks, "Okay, then can you explain the phone and the grades?"

 

"Well, our parents haven't given us money, like they had in the past, so we can't afford them," Luna replied, "If you want our new phone number, here you go."

 

She writes down the number to Martha's house.

 

"Okay, but I'll call later tonight to make sure this is the correct number," she warns.

 

She gets up to leave and gets to the door. Leo and Luna look happily at each other.

 

"Oh and by the way, I'd suggest finding new tutors. I don't want your grades to start to slip even worse."

 

She walks out.

 

Leo and Luna walk home with worried looks on their faces.

 

"What are we going to do," Leo asked, "If we don't find new tutors, we're screwed."

 

"Well, we can talk to Martha. She'll know what to do."

 

They get home and see Yusei and Akiza sitting at the dinner table doing their homework. Martha's doing the dishes.

 

Leo and Luna explain their dilemma to Martha and about the phone call that night.

 

"Well, I'll let you two answer the phone calls tonight," Martha said, "As for your tutors, I don't know what to do."

 

"Maybe you could see if any of your friends could do it," Yusei suggested.

 

"Yeah right, Dexter would probably spend all his time getting into conversations about technology," Leo said.

 

Akiza looks up.

 

"I have an idea. Why don't you let Yusei and me be your tutors?"

 

Leo and Luna look at each other.

 

"But Akiza," Yusei whispers quietly to her, "I don't know how to tutor people. I can't even tutor myself."

 

"Oh, it'll be fine Yusei. Besides, it'll be worth it."

 

"Great," Luna said, "How much do we pay you?"

 

"$5 a session," Yusei said quietly.

 

"No, that's okay Luna, you don't have to pay us anything." Akiza said.

 

"Thanks," Leo and Luna said.

 

"We'll start after dinner," Luna said.

 

They ran to their room.

 

Yusei looks over at Akiza.

 

"Akiza, we need money. We'll probably spend hours, if not days, in total, for nothing," Yusei begged.

 

"Don't worry," Martha said, "I'll give you both a reward at the end of each week. You deserve it."

 

"Thanks Martha," they replied.

 

After dinner, Yusei was helping Leo on the dinner table and Akiza helped Luna in the twins room.

 

We start, with Yusei and Leo.

 

"Okay Leo, so what do you need help with," Yusei asks.

 

"Algebra," Leo shouts.

 

"All right let's look at what you have."

 

They open the book and look at the first problem.

 

"Okay, what is the square root of 64," Yusei read, "Use your calculator to figure it out."

 

"That doesn't sound hard," he thought.

 

"Here's my calculator," Leo said.

 

Yusei studied it.

 

"Well, this is different than the one I have," he said, "But the square root sign should be around here somewhere."

 

They look for it and can't find it.

 

"Why don't we use your calculator," Leo asked.

 

"The only problem is that you won't know how to do it on a test," Yusei replied.

 

"Good point. Hey, Yusei, you're old enough. What's the square root of 64?"

 

"Uh...uh..." Yusei said. Leo just stared at him.

 

"Aw nuts," Yusei thought, "I always used a calculator for them."

 

After a few more minutes of Leo staring and Yusei going, "Uh...uh..."

 

"Let's try and find the button," Yusei replied, "Where are the instructions?"

 

"I threw it out. It was like 20 pages long and in some languages that I don't know."

 

Yusei slammed his head on the table.

 

In the twins room, Akiza and Luna were working on her Geography homework.

 

"Luna, you don't have to get so specific with the answers," Akiza said.

 

"Yes I do! If I don't, I might miss something! Then, I'll get points off and then, bam! I fail," Luna replied.

 

"Luna, your taking this way to seriously."

 

"No way! I can't fail! If I don't get an A or A-, I freak out! I need a good GPA, then I can get to a good college, and get a good job and..."

 

"Luna, calm down," Akiza said. She wrapped an arm around her.

 

Luna took a few deep breaths and Akiza spoke up.

 

"You know, you remind me of myself when I was your age."

 

"I do," Luna asked.

 

Akiza nods. "Yes. I use to spend much more time on homework than I needed. I stressed out over test and couldn't sleep at nights."

 

"How did you get over your fears," Luna asked.

 

"Well, I still stress over school, but the thing I learned most was that once I got done, with homework or studying, I don't need to worry about it anymore. Sure, I like to double check if I had covered everything and such, but I learned to find something fun to do after. Something to reward myself of my hard work."

 

Luna looked down at the desk.

 

"Also, I still have trouble with this, but I'm not perfect. No one is. I'm not going to get 100% on every test or every assignment. As long as you put the effort in, study, and turn things in on time, you'll pass. That's most important thing," Akiza said.

 

"But what about GPA? Good college," Luna started.

 

"GPA doesn't mean everything. Some of the best students I knew were excellent students, but didn't get the best test scores. Plus, there are many two year colleges that you can go to that will accept almost anyone. At that point, it just really matters if you pass a class."

 

Luna looked up at Akiza. She gave her a hug.

 

"Okay Akiza, let's do our best on this assignment, so we can go do something fun," Luna said.

 

"All right," Akiza replied.

 

Once they were done, they went to the kitchen to see how Yusei and Leo were doing.

 

"What about this one," Leo asked.

 

"That's the parenthesis sign," Yusei replied.

 

"What are you looking for," Luna asked.

 

"The square root sign," Yusei and Leo said.

 

"Oh, that's easy. You hit the second button," Luna said.

 

"And then hit this button," Akiza replied.

 

Leo typed in the problem.

 

"8," he said.

 

"We spent 15 minutes on that one problem," Yusei noted.

 

They all stared at the calculator.

 

"At this rate, Martha's going to have to reward me with a new car, with all the tutoring time I'm going to be giving," Yusei said.

 

They all laughed.