"Miss Manning," professor Leekie said as she was leaving class. "May I have a word?" She wanted to say no, because the man's a creep, but the last time she did that she got detention. So she responded with a sure and shrug of her shoulders. "Have a seat?" He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. "Miss Manning, you and I both know you are failing this class and if you fail you will have to repeat this year again." Sarah rolled her eyes at the old man. "And neither of us want that." She had to agree with that. "So I am assigning you a tutor. She will help you pass this class. You will meet her in the library today at noon, understood?" She didn't really have a choice so she nodded her head in agreement.
Algebra was not her favorite subject, in fact she hated it. When will she use it in real life? Which is why she had been held back a year. She hated school and the people in it avoided her at all costs. Maybe it was because she always looked so angry. Or because she had been arrested for drugs. Or maybe it was because two years ago she had hospitalized a football player because he bullied her brother. Maybe it was all of it, but either way they were all scared of her. So she guessed whoever was supposed to be her tutor would run away when they saw her or not even bother to show up. Which is why when she was greeted by none other than captain of the cheerleading squad- Delphine Cormier- she was very surprised. "Hello Sarah, I'm Delphine and I will be tutoring you for the rest of the year." She introduced herself so formally.
"You're my tutor?" Sarah asked, surprised.
Delphine just smiled. "What, just because I'm a cheerleader I can't be smart?" Sarah just shrugged. Delphine led them to a nearby table. Sarah sat her bag down and stared at Delphine. There was awkward silence for a few seconds. "So, where would you like to begin? Division, multiplication, addition, subtraction, fractions?" Sarah looked up at the last word.
"Fractions it is then." Delphine smiled at her. They spent the rest of the hour reviewing fractions. Delphine explained it in a way that didn't make Sarah feel like an idiot. She was treating her like an actual person, it was refreshing.
During one of their study sessions Sarah had become so frustrated that she just wanted to drop out. "I can't get this Delphine, maybe I would be better off just quitting."
"Sarah, no, come on you've come so far." Delphine reassured her. "I know you can get this."
"Why do you even care?" "Why are helping me?" She had asked with a genuine curiosity.
Delphine had taken her hand and stared into her eyes. "Because I believe in you."
Sarah scoffed. "No one's ever believed in me before. They're all just scared of me." She wouldn't admit it, but being feared hurt.
"Well I do and I'm not scared of you." Sarah gave her a look of disbelief. "Look, everyone makes mistakes. You're not a bad person, Sarah. What happened in the past doesn't define you." Sarah wiped a tear from her eyes. "You have so much potential, Sarah. You just have to believe in yourself, like I do." Delphine looked at her with genuine care and it was a little overwhelming.
She leaned forward, burying her face in Delphine's neck. "Thank you." Delphine wrapped her arms around her. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll- I'll-" She stopped, knowing she couldn't really hurt Delphine.
"Don't worry, it will be our little secret." Delphine whispered back.
A few weeks and study sessions later, Sarah received her first test back since being tutored. She got a B-, she was so excited that she actually hugged Delphine the next time she saw her. It was in the middle of the hallway, right in front of Delphine's friends. They scoffed and one even gasped. Sarah let go and felt humiliated, but Delphine congratulated her and even took her out for some ice cream after school, promising to get her an A on the next test.
After that, they started hanging out more, not just during study sessions. Sarah even took Delphine to a party one night. Despite being popular, Delphine had never actually gone to a party, so Sarah convinced her to go to one. They danced together for hours, somehow ending up with their lips meeting in a drunken embrace. That was the night Sarah realized she had fallen for Delphine. Although Delphine didn't remember because she had been incredibly drunk. So Sarah had taken her home leaving a drunk Delphine and determined to somehow win her over.
She decided that her best chance was to ask Delphine to prom. They were lying on Delphine's bed just talking when she decided to bring it up.
"Hey, are you going to prom?" She asked nonchalantly.
"I was thinking about it, why?" She pushed herself up on her arm, so that she was looking down at Sarah. "Wait, are you Sarah Manning actually thinking about going to prom?"
Sarah looked away, not meeting Delphine's curious, beautiful eyes. "I was thinking that maybe I would have fun," she looked back at Delphine, "if we went together."
Delphine smiled down at her and Sarah swallowed loudly, wanting nothing more than to lean up and kiss the beautiful blonde. "Then yes, we can go as friends." Delphine was afraid of losing her best friend if she told Sarah how she really felt, she so resolved to make sure Sarah never found out, no matter how much it hurt her.
That last word broke Sarah's heart. "Yeah, friends." She made an excuse to leave quickly after that, not wanting to cry in front of Delphine. She couldn't believe she had fallen so hard for someone who just thought of her as a friend. Unbeknownst to her, Delphine was crying over the same thing.
Felix comforted her when he saw what a mess she was. He then declared that he would help that French willowy arse see the rainbow or so help him. He took Sarah out shopping, buying her the nicest suit he could find. Felix assured her that wearing a suit would make Delphine question things a whole lot quicker.
By the time prom rolled around, Sarah was ready to bail out. She was so nervous she was going to be sick. But Felix stuck by her side, encouraging her not to bail. Then Delphine had arrived at her house in a beautiful black dress. Sarah's mouth went dry. Delphine seemed to be just as stunned as Sarah was because the two stared at each other for an awkwardly long time, until Felix cleared his throat and broke the two out of their thoughts. After some quick pictures, the two headed to prom together. They arrived and after mingling with Delphine's friends, who still didn't like her, Sarah pulled them to the dance floor. It wasn't like the first time they danced, last time was filled with loud music and alcohol. This time they were sober and the music was a little more relaxing. Soon enough a slow song filled the room. Delphine and Sarah stared at each other for a second, not sure of what to do. So Sarah, summoning all the courage she had, offered Delphine a hand. Delphine took it and Sarah pulled her in close.
They danced slowly, eyes from all over the room focusing on them. "Everybody is looking at us." Sarah said.
"Just ignore them."
"I feel like a fish in a bowl." Sarah's nerves were starting to surface again.
Delphine took a pause, thinking about whether or not she should tell Sarah about the locker room gossip. "They think we are a couple, or that you at least like me."
Sarah looked away then, the butterflies in her stomach were surfacing themselves again. "Maybe they're right." She looked back at Delphine, trying to gauge the taller girls' reaction.
Delphine cupped Sarah's cheek and rubbed her thumb across Sarah's lips. She leaned down slowly and kissed Sarah softly. Sarah kissed her back just as softly, her arms wrapping around Delphine's neck. The whole word disappeared then, leaving just the two of them locked in an embrace. When they pulled away, Delphine pressed her forehead against Sarah's. Neither of them cared that the whole school was staring at the unlikely couple in disbelief. "I like you too, if that wasn't clear." Delphine said.
They ended up leaving prom early in favor of Delphine's bed. They explored each other's bodies slowly that night with the tenderness from their earlier kiss ever present.
The rest of the school year passed by quickly, with the two wrapped up in each other. Before they knew it, it was graduation day. Delphine graduated at the top of the class and Sarah graduated in the top ten percent, passing her algebra class with flying colors.