Clearing Misconceptions

The one thing I love about Fridays is that it was the day that students would leave school rather than hang around. They would either go shopping, to Starbucks or just go somewhere to hang out and celebrate the fact that it was the weekend.

That fact came quiet clear as soon as I stepped into the school's library. There was only a handful of students in here. Normally, it would be packed with students doing homework, but they knew that they have the entire week for homework, so not much students stayed over. The students that were in here were either reading a book or a few book worms, studying. I, on the other hand, was coming up here to pass time.

Today was the day that Sarah and I were going shopping. I was looking forward to spending time with her and seeing what kind of person she was. I actually felt bad that it took a year for us to do something like this.

Sarah told me that she was going to pick me up from school at 3:30. I had an hour to spare, so I decided to go up to the library to wait. I walk over to the reading books section and took up a book to read. The book that I chose was Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. This was one of my favourite books, so I know it will help me pass the time. I took a seat at a table by myself and began to read.

A few minutes later, I was so engaged in the book that I did not notice someone standing in front of me. The person was there for a few minutes, until I heard my name loudly. "Emily!"

I was pulled from the book and I looked up instantly. My eyes widen in surprise as I saw Tyler standing in front of me with an amused look on his face. "Wow, you sure do block out when you are reading. I've been clearing my throat and calling your name for the pass two minutes."

"Tyler, what are you doing here?" I asked after my shock dissipated a little. I didn't expect to ever see Tyler in a place like this. "How did you know I was up here?"

"I saw your friend Victoria before she left. She told me you were on your way up here." He sat in the seat in front of me and look around. "So, this is the library."

I wasn't surprise that he hadn't been up here before. "Yes, Tyler, this is the library." I teased, gesturing around me with my hands. "This is where books are kept and also where you do your research."

"Are you mocking me, Samuels?" Tyler asked, a smirk on his lips.

I gave him an innocent look. "Nope." I took up the book I was reading and put a page marker inside before closing it. "Now, how can I help you?"

Tyler shook his head before resting his hands on the table. "I need a favour."

I looked up at him, raising my eyebrows curiously. "What could you possible need now?" I asked, not sure I would like the answer.

"I need help with my maths homework. Ms. Dildo says that if I don't do well on this homework, I'll have to come over in the Christmas holiday for extra lessons. I'm not really down for that, because I have better things to do with my time." He said.

I looked at him confused. Who the hell was Ms. Dildo? As soon as I asked myself, it came to me. "Are you referring to Ms. Delendo?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, her." He answered and I shook my head. Most student in the school calls her that behind her back. This is because when her name is pronounced, it sounds a lot like 'dildo' and once students picked up on the underlying naughtiness of her name, they started with it.

"How did you know that I'm any good at maths?"

"Because you're in advance maths class." He said in a voice that says 'clearly, that's the obvious answer'.

"And this couldn't wait until tomorrow, because....?" I asked, hoping he will wait until then, so I could get back to my book.

"I want to get it over with, so I can have the weekend to myself." He answered.

I sighed. "Okay then. Let me see the homework."

Tyler got up from the seat. A few seconds later he returned with a book in his hand. He opened the book to a page and place it in front of me.

I glanced at the homework, before looking back at him. "This is what you are having problems with?" I asked, baffled by the simple math problem.

He grinned sheepishly. "I'm really bad a math."

"You mean you don't go to classes." I gave him a look. I brought the book closer to me and looked at the problems again. "So, what do you understand?"

"Nothing." I looked up at him, so he added. "I skip her classes. Maths just doesn't make any sense to me." He answered.

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a delinquent."

"Hey! I'm good at other subjects. Maths is the only one I have problems with." He defended.

"And which subjects are those?" I asked curiously.

"Chemistry, physics, biology and English sometimes." He replied.

"Right." I said, not believing him. There is no way a boy like him was good at chemistry and biology.

I took out a paper and began to help Tyler with the problems. I knew all the formula for math solutions out of my head, so I wrote the ones for these problems on the paper, to help him solve the problems.

Helping Tyler with the simple math problems would've been easy, if he wasn't on his phone most of the time.

"Are you even hearing a word I'm saying?" I asked, after his phone ping for the fifth time and he took it up.

"Of course." He replied, not taking his eyes from the phone.

"Well, would you mind putting the phone down. I thought you needed my help." I reply, glaring at him as he text away. "What are you doing over there, that is so important?" I asked.

He finally looked at me and grinned. "I'm sexting."

"Really? I'm trying to help you and you're busy over there doing your own thing." I asked, crossing my arms on the table.

"I'm a guy. I couldn't just ignore the messages." He said, smirking.

"You're unbelievable!" I said, then my eyes widen as a thought hit me. "Wait a minute, you're not texting a girl at this school are you?"

"Of course not. I'm not stupid. She goes to a different school from us." He replied. Then wriggling his eyebrows, he added. "I met her at a party last night."

"I don't care where you've met her, Tyler, as long as she doesn't go to our school. I wouldn't want to lose my reputation at this school if people found out that we are fake dating." I replied, sitting back in my seat. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to my book."

"Wait, aren't you helping me again?" Tyler asked.

"I've already told you everything you need to know. You are on your own now, buddy. All you need to do now is follow the formula and solve the problems." I took up the book from the table and continued reading.

++++++

My stepmother and I had a great time shopping. She spoke to me and I spoke to her and surprisingly it wasn't awkward. I wish that I'd done this a long time ago. She helped me pick out a costume for Halloween and a few more clothes and when we were finished, I was tired and hungry.

Sarah decided that we get something to eat at the food court on the mall. So now we were sharing a table with hamburgers and fries in front of us.

"I'm so glad we went shopping together, Sarah." I said to Sarah when we were finished eating.

She turned to me and smiled. "Me too. It was great getting to know you more."

"Yeah," I laughed. "I wish we had done this a long time ago."

Sarah's smile left her face and she looked down guiltily. "The reason I hadn't tried spoken to you before was because I thought you hated me. I thought you didn't like the idea of your dad marrying again."

I looked at her, my eyes widen with surprise. "What? No way. I thought you hated me."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm glad my dad married again and I'm glad it's you. You are a great person and he is much happier since he have met you."

Sarah's smile returned as she looked at me. "Your dad was right. You are smart and you are a wonderful person as well."

I chuckled. "It's funny how we both got it wrong, huh?"

"Yes it is." She replied, then added. "I'm really glad I did this with you, Emily."

"Me too." I said, happy that everything was cleared up.

"And I want you to know that there is no way I can take the place of your mother, but I'll always be there for you and you can talk to me about anything. Okay?" She asked.

I nodded. "Okay." My eyes then caught a familiar person standing at the far corner of the food court. It was Logan. He didn't see me because he was busy checking his watch as if waiting for someone. I really didn't want him to see me, because I really didn't want to deal with him today.

What was he doing here anyway? It didn't seem like Logan's style to come to the mall. Well, not that I knew of. He wasn't really interested in going to the mall when we dated. He used to say that he hated the crowd.

Sarah, realizing that my attention was focused somewhere else and also the change in my mood, turned to look at me. "What is it?" She asked. She then followed the direction of my gaze. "Isn't that your boyfriend?" She questioned, when she saw who I was looking at.

"He's not my boyfriend anymore." I said and she turned to look at me. She knew Logan, because he would come over to my house a few times when we were dating. "He cheated on me." I added, answering her unasked question.

"Oh," she looked in his direction, before looking back to me. "You want to leave?"

"Yes." I said, giving her a grateful smile. She nodded her head and stood up.

I stood up too as Sarah gathered our trays and went to throw away our garbage. She came back and we left the mall.