Nick, Martin, and Nick were in English class. Nick and Chris were goofing off, but Martin was paying close attention. He did notice that Mary was missing from class, though. Strange. He had seen her in the halls earlier in the day.

"Nick, Chris, pay attention!" The teacher snapped. Just then, the speaker clicked on.

"Martin Vincent to the office, Martin Vincent to the office," Someone announced before it clicked off.

"Oooooooooh!" The entire class went. Martin frowned and stood up.

"Dear me, why is my presence required in the office?" He asked, walking out the door, "Perhaps it's just a tutoring assignment."

Well, he wasn't wrong.

As Martin walked through the halls, lots of situations ran through his mind as he listened to his footsteps echo.

Did they figure out that it was Nick and Chris who spray painted the building?

No, they would have called them down.

Is it Father? Does he want to see me?

No, science is my next class. He would have waited until then. Besides, he would never want to remove me from class.

Perhaps it's Nick and Chris. Maybe the principal just wants to talk to me about them.

Martin reached the office doors and pushed them open.

"E-excuse me, I was called down?" He said.

"Yes, Principal Antonucci would like to speak with you," The lady at the front desk said. Martin knocked on the principal's door and entered, sitting down in front of the desk.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Martin said.

"Yes, I have a tutoring job for you," Principle Antonucci said.

Thank goodness!

"Oh, I'd love to take the job," Martin smiled, "Who would I be tutoring?"

At that moment, a loud pop sounded from the corner of the room. Martin turned around and saw Mary sitting in the corner.

"Hey honeybun," Mary said. Martin frowned nervously.

"H-hello, M-Mary," He said.

"Mary here needs some help in her classes," Principle Antonucci said, "Her grades aren't very good, any neither are her cousin's, June. I know it might be difficult teaching two different students, and you don't have to take the job, but-"

"Oh, no sir, I'll take it," Martin said quickly, "I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Very well then," Principle Antonucci smiled.

"So, where is June?" Martin asked, "Surely she'd be informed of this."

"She didn't come in today," Mary said, blowing a bubble with her gum, "Out sick."

"Oh," Martin frowned. Right, of course. She hadn't been in any of the other classes.

"But Mary will tell her about you being their new tutor, won't you, Mary?" Principle Antonucci asked, looking at Mary.

"Yeah, sure," Mary shrugged.

"Alright, you two may leave now and go back to class," Principle Antonucci said. Martin and Mary left the office and headed into the halls. Mary pinned Martin against the wall as soon as they rounded the corner.

"Listen, I'm kinda busy after school, and I've been banned from the library, so how about you stop by the trailer later?" Mary suggested, "Maybe, say, five thirty?"

"Oh, um, a-alright," Martin said nervously.

"Thanks honeybun," Mary smiled and gave Martin a kiss before walking off to class. Martin quickly followed after her. They were in the same English class, so they were both going the same direction. They arrived at class and took their seats. Chris and Nick looked at Martin.

"What was that all about?" Chris asked.

"Oh, just another tutoring assignment," Martin said, "I have to tutor two people this time."

"Jeez, two?" Chris asked, "Sure you can handle it?"

"I'm sure I can," Martin said, "I handle you two, don't I?"

"But Martin, what about us?" Nick asked, "You'll still be able to help us, right?"

"Of course, Nick," Martin smiled assuringly, "Just because I'm tutoring someone else doesn't mean I'm not tutoring you."

"Good, cuz I still don't understand science," Chris said.

"Well, we'll work on that tomorrow," Martin said.

"So, who are you tutoring now?" Chris asked.

"Ah, well, that's the thing," Martin frowned again, "The two students are Mary and June."

"Sheppard and 2x4?!" Chris and Nick cried, and the teacher shushed them.

"Yes, Sheppard and 2x4," Martin said in a quieter voice, "They're grades are sinking and Principle Antonucci asked me to help them."

"But Martin, these are daughters of Kankers we're talking about," Chris said.

"Yeah, they're mean and scary, especially June!" Nick said fearfully.

"For your information, June is not all that bad," Martin said, feeling a bit defencive, "She's actually very nice once you get to know her, and as for Mary...well...I'll be ok, guys. Don't worry about me."

"You sure?" Chris asked, "Cuz we'll come over to protect ya if you need it."

"I assure you, I do not need protection," Martin said. Chris snickered slightly but kept that thought to himself.

"But Martin, what if something happens?" Nick worried.

"I'll be fine, Nick," Martin smiled at him, "It's nothing I can't handle."

Martin was gathering up his tutoring supplies and his books. He set everything into a suitcase and headed out the door over to the trailer park. He walked a little slowly. He was excited he got to tutor June, so he wanted to get there quickly. But he was scared of Mary, so he wanted to postpone his arrival as long as he could. He was confused.

Eventually he did arrive, at exactly five thirty, and knocked on the door. The door opened to James and Justin leaning against opposite sides of the doorway. Martin paled and started sweating nervously.

"O-oh, um, h-hello, g-gentlemen," He stuttered, "Uh, I-I'm here f-for Mary and J-June's t-tutoring."

The two brothers glanced at each other before pulling the nervous Martin inside by the front of his shirt. Martin gulped as James slammed the door shut behind them.

"Hey Mary, June, your nerd is here!" Justin called up the stairs. Footsteps were heard as June almost ran down the stairs, stopping at the bottom.

"Oh, hey Martin," June smiled, "Mary told me you were our tutorer."

June swirled her skirt back and forth a little, smiling shyly.

"Ah, well, y-yes, that's what I'm here for," Martin smiled lightly, relieved it was June who had come down to greet him and not Mary, "I hope you're feeling better."

"Yeah, I'm all good," June waved it off, "It was just a sore throat."

James shoved Martin forward and he nearly fell, but steadied himself just in time. James and Justin snickered.

"Um, yes, well, let's head upstairs, shall we?" Martin said. June lead him up the stairs. There were two doors, each leading to a bedroom. June explained that the other door was all of their parents' room as she entered the one door. The room they were entering was messy and cluttered and had four beds.

"All the siblings share a bed," June said, "It's really cramped. And we share a closet. Oh, and ignore the mouse traps."

"M-mouse traps?" Martin said fearfully. Mice were illness-infected creatures that could spread disease easily. He would hate having to sleep in a room where he knew mice were inhabiting.

"Yeah, we have a bit of an infestation," June said, "But they don't come out during the day, so we're alright."

"Oh, well, ok then," Martin said, "So, um, w-where's Mary?"

"Be out in a sec, honeybun!" Mary called from the closet. She soon came out dressed in a white tight half-shirt and jean shorts.

"S-so, um, l-let's get started, s-shall we?" Martin said. June and Mary sat on either side of him on the bed, leaning into his 'personal space', "Oh my."

Chris and Nick were at Chris's house on the couch. Neither of them were doing anything or saying anything. The only sound in the room was the tick tick tick of the clock on the wall. Chris looked at it.

"I can't take it!" Chris said suddenly, surprising Nick, "Martin could be in trouble, we have to go after him!"

"Yeah, he could be being attacked by evil Kanker daughters!" Nick said fearfully. The two of them got up and headed out the door.

"Ok, so, let's start with some simple math problems," Martin said, "Twelve times twelve?"

Both girls thought for a minute before looking confused.

"Alright, um, six times eight?" Martin tried. Nothing, "Hmm, this'll be harder than I thought."

He thought for a minute before coming up with an idea.

"Let's try this," He said, "Mary." The blue-haired girl looked at him, "You have twelve cars, and each car needs four wheels. How many wheels do you need in total?"

"Easy, forty eight," Mary said.

"June, a cake takes twelve tablespoons of flour to bake," Martin tried with June, "You want to bake twelve cakes. How much flour do you need?"

"144, but no cake needs that much flour, and-" June was cut off by Martin.

"I know, June, but pretend," Martin said, "And congrats, you two, you just did twelve times four, which can also be seen as six times eight, and twelve times twelve without even thinking about it."

"Hey, yeah!" Mary said, "Wow, you're so smart, honeybun!"

"Thank you," Martin smiled.

"Do you think you could help me with science?" June asked. She had learned from that times they met at the library, Martin loved to talk about science.

"I don't see why not," Martin smiled at her.

"Science confuses me," Mary said.

"Well Mary, that's what I'm here for," Martin said.

Meanwhile, Chris and Nick had just arrived at the trailer. Chris knocked on the door and James and Justin answered, leaning against opposite sides of the doorway.

"We're here to see Martin," Chris said.

"He's busy," James and Justin said shortly.

"I don't care, we want to see him!" Chris said angrily.

"We don't care," James and Justin glared at Chris.

"If we say he's busy, that means he's busy, now scram!" James snapped.

"Not until we see our friend!" Chris snapped back, "Right Nick? Nick?"

Nick was hiding behind the nearby trailer.

"Right behind you, Chris!" Nick called fearfully.

"Nick! Get your ass over here and help me get Martin back!" Chris yelled at him. Nick hurried over and stood behind Chris. Before Chris could turn around to face James and Justin, the two boys pulled him in by the back of his shirt. Justin grabbed Nick before he could run off.

"Listen Pound Cake, you can stay until the nerd is done tutoring our cousins, but you're not interrupting them," Justin said. Chris growled angrily.

"Like hell we aren't!" He yelled, trying to shove past James and Justin.

"So when the solute and solution mix like this-" Martin was explaining to the two girls (June looked interested but Mary looked bored out of her mind) when they heard the commotion downstairs.

"Hey, they started a fight without me!" Mary pouted angrily. She rushed downstairs, "Hey, Freak and Chicken!"

"DON'T CALL ME FREAK!"

"Oh dear," Martin frowned. Freak and Chicken, those were Mary's nicknames for Chris and Nick, "Uh, maybe I should go see what's going on."

"I'll come with you," June said. She followed Martin downstairs, where James was holding Chris with his arms behind his back with Nick hid behind the couch.

"Hey, you're just in time, Mary," Justin said. He was over by Nick, to keep him hiding, "We were just about to beat down these two. Wanna help?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Mary smiled and cracked her knuckles. Chris flinched as she prepared to hit him, but she never did.

"Mary, don't!"

Mary whipped around to see Martin rushing over and standing in front of Chris.

"P-please, don't harm my friends," Martin said nervously, "You've made a nice improvement on your work, and I'd love to stay and tutor you and June some more, but I must be leaving now, with my friends."

"Oh, alright," Mary huffed, "Let 'em go, guys."

James rolled his eyes and let go of Chris, who jumped forward a little. Nick, Martin, and Chris quickly exited the trailer and walked back to the second cul-de-sac.

"Wow Martin, that was so brave of you," Nick said.

"Well what was I supposed to do? Let my nearest and dearest friends get beaten?" Martin smiled, "Why'd you two come, though?"

"We couldn't help it, we were worried," Chris said, "We came to save ya."

"I didn't need saving, Chris," Martin frowned, "I was handling it fine on my own. In fact, neither Mary nor June tried to kiss me."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Chris said, "Sorry, Martin."

"It's alright, Chris, you were just concerned," Martin said, "Well, it's still light out. How about we work on your science?"