62 Tutoring

Spanish class was from eight to twelve every day from Monday to Friday, which meant that Roselle would be with Celio studying in the afternoons. For six hours. MINIMUM. She only hoped he wouldn't go overboard with the whole tutoring thing.

She knocked on the door of the place Celio was staying at, which was a dormitory at the university.

He opened the door. "Hola señorita. ¿Cómo estás? ¿Te gustó tu primer día de clases?"

Roselle blinked at him. "You said hi, how are you, and then . . . I have no idea." She came into the room and plopped down on a seat.

"I just asked how your first day of classes were." He came in and sat down next to her. "Um, are you okay? You seem down."

"I am down. It's only the first day of school and the teacher already hates me."

"What happened?"

"Well, I didn't tell you this before, but on the day I registered for class, it was full. Armani was there and he helped me get in. The teacher heard about it and said that since I was getting special treatment, he was going to be harsher on me. He even made me sit on the floor."

"That bastard!" Celio's eye widened. "Wait, do you have Professor Jimenez?"

"Yeah."

"Oh no . . ." He sank in his seat. "This is bad . . ."

"You know him?"

"He was here when I started going to university, but he retired the year I graduated. He teaches english and spanish. I've never had him myself, but he's very infamous at this college." He clenched his fist. "He doesn't believe in nurturing students, he believes in belittling them and humiliating them. I'm so sorry, Roselle. If only I had known HE was going to be the teacher, I would have looked for spanish classes for you to take somewhere else . . ."

Roselle's heart pounded. "Is he really that bad?"

"Yes. Do you know what he did to my sister when she was a student here?"

"What did he do?"

"When my sister first came to this country, she didn't know english very well, so she took his classes. He was very cruel to her. For some reason, he always picks a specific student to bully in each of his classes, and for that class he chose Josephina. He would always mock her accent, give her extra homework, and force her to insult herself in english whenever her grammar was wrong."

"Oh my God . . ." Roselle gasped and held her hand over her mouth. "That's awful."

"It really was. She cried to me every single day." Celio glared down at the dormitory desk. "I'd love to punch that guy in the face . . ."

"Why is a professor like that even at this college? That's totally unethical."

"His brother is the dean of this school, so he's untouchable. Every time students have filed complaints and tried to get him fired, the dean would always have his back. It's sickening." He gave her a sad look. "Roselle . . . I'm really sorry that I tried so hard to get you to take spanish classes. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to drop out. That man is a menace."

Roselle slapped her hand down on the desk. "No. I'm tired of running away from everything." She stood up. "I've gone through so much and had so many people help me so I could get to this point. I'm not going to let HIM of all people be the reason why I give up. Dropping out would be the same as letting him win."

Celio looked up at her for a moment. "Ro . . ." He stood up as well. "I'm fired up now too! I'm honored to be your spanish tutor. You're right. Let's not let that guy get away with all of the things he does to his students."

"Let the tutoring begin!"

* * *

Since it was only the first day of class, Roselle and Celio were just practicing basic words and greetings. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

Celio held up a picture of an apple. "How do you say this in spanish?"

Roselle stared blankly at the apple for a long time. She searched and searched, but she couldn't find it anywhere in her brain. "Uh, appleito?"

He facepalmed. "You can't just throw the word 'ito' on a word and have it magically become spanish, right?

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"That's okay. We just need to do some repetition. It's 'manzana'."

"Main sana?"

"Manzana."

"Main sana."

"Manzana."

"That's what I said!" Roselle groaned and slapped her hands over her cheeks. "Why do I suck so bad?"

"You're not that bad . . ."

She gave him a look as if to say, 'tell me the truth'.

Celio rubbed the back of his head. "Well, okay, this is honestly going to be harder than I thought it was going to be . . ."

"See?" She blushed. "I'm embarrassed to even try to speak it in front of you."

His face became red as well. "You don't need to be embarrassed in front of me . . ."

"Well, I am. You're like a linguistic genius. It's hard to not be intimidated by you."

He darted his eyes away from her. "Would it help if I told you I was intimidated by you too?"

She raised a brow. "Why?"

"I told you that I was afraid of pretty girls, right?"

"Are you scared of me too?"

"A bit . . ." He tugged at his clothes. "You're really nice, Roselle. I can handle having conversations with you. I don't know what it is . . . I guess it's like you said the day we met. I feel a connection between us. But still, even if I can tolerate being around you," he held his chest. "My heart beats rapidly whenever I look at you."

"I didn't know you felt that way . . ."

"I feel so humiliated admitting those feelings to you, but I tell you because I want you to know that even just being here alone in this room with you makes me feel panicked and vulnerable. So please, don't be shy around me. I'm shy around you too."

She nodded. "I understand." She gave him a warm smile. "Thanks, Celio."

He gave a small smile back in return even though he didn't hold the eye contact for very long.

Roselle got a text.

James: Little rose, can you come to the hospital please? It's an urgent matter.

She panicked upon looking at the text. "Hey, I'm sorry if I'm stopping our tutoring session a little early today, but I need to go somewhere."

"Oh . . ." Celio looked down. "I see . . ."

Aww, now she felt bad. "It's just that I need to visit someone in the hospital. They said they needed to see me."

"Well, can I come with you then? We can practice on the way there."

"Alright. If you want, but--"

Celio's spirit was already lifted upon hearing those words. He grinned and grabbed his coat, putting on his hat. "Let's go."

* * *

Roselle sprinted into King James's room and rushed to his bedside. "I got here as quickly as I could. What's the urgent matter."

"Oh, that." James put his book down and gave her a half-smirk. "I wanted attention."

She face-palmed. "THAT'S IT?!"

He frowned. "Well, yes. I've been lonely, peasant. No one comes to visit me." He stared out the window. "I've been alone with myself for far too long."

She heaved a sigh. "I would've visited you later if you had just told me. I was kind of in the middle of something."

"Oh? My apologies if I've inconvenienced you in any way. What were you doing?"

"Well . . . It's a long story, but I'm taking spanish classes now, and I was in a tutoring session."

He stroked his chin. "I see. And who is your tutor?"

"Well . . . Celio."

"Ah, the Treasurer of Mexico. The one who's smitten with you."

Roselle's face became hot. "Hey, I told you it's not like that!"

"I remain unconvinced" James grinned. "He's tutoring you now? How sweet. Tell me, how did he react when you left to come see me?"

"He's actually . . . kind of . . . here . . ."

"And you left him waiting outside? My, how rude! Invite him in."

She was startled. "What? No! Why?"

"I'd like to meet him. I'm curious."

"No way! What are you going to do?"

James frowned. "Please, peasant. I'm not going to do anything. I simply want to see him. I'm not petty, you know."

Roselle raised a brow.

"Honestly! I'd have no reason to be uncivil. I'm the one you like anyway. I just want to read his body language as he interacts with you."

"I NEVER SAID I LIKED YOU, DUMMY!"

He snickered. "If you say so." He turned to the door. "Guards?"

A guard came into the room. "Yes, my lord?"

"Bring in the man outside called 'Celio Escobedo'."

"Right away, your highness."

"Oh boy." The blood was rushing to Roselle's head already.

Soon after the call was made, Celio slowly walked into the room and gave a little wave. "Um, hi."