Chapter XXVI:

"The Freak Magnet"

'Seriously, man. You can't find the nouns in that sentence? It's really not that hard.'

Little Pedro De La Hoya looked like he was ready to burst into tears. He wiped the back of his hand across his nose and shrugged his shoulders. 'I did my best!' he insisted. 'I was trying to remember what you told me yesterday but the bigger boys were kicking my door and I couldn't concentrate and then I heard Russell…'

Elliott massaged her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. 'Okay, okay.' She said, trying her best not to repeatedly bang her head off the wooden desk. 'We'll just have to go over what we did yesterday again. I'll mean we're even further behind schedule but…'

'I'll remember this time, I swear.' Pedro insisted, looking up at her with wide, puppy-dog eyes. 'I'll do my best, ma'am.'

'And stop calling me ma'am.' Elliott sat up again and flicked through the file for the sheet they had been working on yesterday. She put it on top of the sheet they had supposed to be working on and circled the first sentence before handing the pencil to Pedro. 'Okay, let's see how much you remember.'

Pedro squinted hard at the sentence, eyebrows straining to touch in the middle. After what felt like a full minute, Pedro asked, 'I'm looking for the nouns, right?'

Elliott slapped her hand on her face in exasperation. 'Yes, Pedro.'

Pedro turned back to the sheet and tentatively put his pencil on the first word. He hesitated, and then circled the second word. Elliott breathed a sigh of relief.

'See? You can do it. You just need to concentrate.'

'Yes, ma'am.'

She started to tell him to stop calling her ma'am again, but decided that there was no point. She pushed herself up out of the chair and patted him on the shoulder. 'See if you can do the rest. I'm going to get a soda.'

Elliott left her crutch leaning against the desk and hopped across to the soda machine by the door. She had been tutoring little Pedro for nearly three full days now and her patience was beginning to wear thin. It didn't help that she had never really liked kids and that she absolutely hated repeating herself. But she couldn't back out of this even if she wanted to. Crabblesnitch had said if she decided to give up on tutoring the little kids then she would have to tutor some of the older kids; more specifically the Jocks. Elliott may have been getting sick of the little kids, but she certainly didn't have a death wish.

She scooped the few coins out of her pocket and poked at them glumly. Great, she didn't even have a dollar left to buy a drink. And now that she knew she couldn't have one she was even thirstier.

'Greetings!' Melvin beamed as he stepped up beside her. 'Do I see a damsel in distress?'

Elliott looked at him strangely. One thing she had learned since spending more time in the library was that the Nerds were practically a different species. They had their own weird language and everything. 'Oh. Hey Melvin.' She mumbled, returning her attention to the money in her hand.

'Doth thou require assistance?' Melvin enquired, gesturing to the soda machine.

Elliott shrugged. 'Not really. Although thou could doth with a dollar if you've got one handy.'

Melvin blinked at her, as if not understanding what she said. Then he managed to regain his flimsy grip on reality and put his hand in his pocket. 'Oh, yes. Of course. Anything for a fair maiden such as yourself.'

Elliott smiled wanly and deposited the dollar in the machine. 'Thanks.' She muttered, and took the soda can and hopped back to the desk where Pedro was waiting.

'I think I did it.' Pedro said unsurely, pushing the sheet to her.

'Let me see,' Elliott replied, and scanned the page. After checking the second sentence she closed her eyes for a moment. 'Pedro… Look, I want you to be honest with me, okay? Because at this rate we'll never get done. Are you just pretending you understand because you think that's what I want to hear?'

Pedro cowered a little. 'No, ma'am! I swear I know, I just…' He trailed off under her stern frown. 'I might pick it up if you go over it again.'

Elliott shook her head. 'Gimme that pencil.'

Pedro handed her the pencil and watched as she went through the whole sheet, circling the words where appropriate. When she had finished that one she did the next sheets that were supposed to be kept for the next three days and then handed them all to Pedro.

'There.' She said, putting the pencil down. 'Done.'

Pedro beamed happily as he gathered up the papers. 'Oh thank you, ma'am! I really appreciate it! You're the best!' With that, he scampered off to the door, stumbling once due to his untied laces on his way out.

Elliott leaned back in her seat and rubbed her forehead. She sat there for a few moments, wondering why she was even still doing this, when she suddenly got the feeling that she was being stared at. She stopped, and then peered over the top of her hand.

The scrawny, slightly frog-like Nerd who sat opposite her smiled sheepishly at her and waved a hand. 'Hello.' He said, voice breaking and hitting a high note halfway through. He swallowed, blushing slightly, and tried again. 'I… I mean hi. I don't think I've had the pleasure of seeing you around in the library all that often…'

Elliott groaned, unable to hold it in. Fantastic, she was being hit on by a Nerd.

'I couldn't help but notice your injured foot,' the Nerd went on, fidgeting with his jumper. 'May I enquire to what happened?'

'I tried to throw myself off the bridge after finding out I had to do tutoring in here.'

'Um… oh. Well, I…'

'I didn't.' Elliott sighed. 'I kicked something and broke it. My foot, I mean, not the thing I kicked, unfortunately.'

'Right. I'm Earnest, by the way. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you…'

Elliott picked up the can and cracked it open. 'Spare me the pleasantries, please. Is there something you want?'

Earnest looked at her with a kind of boy-like awe as she took a drink from the can. 'Well, I uh… Beatrice has told me a lot about you and it was my idea to get her to sign you up on the tutoring list…'

Elliott lowered the can and scowled. 'Your idea?'

'Please, just hear me out.' Earnest pleaded. 'You see, Beatrice was very angry and I didn't want her to do something she would regret so… well, I suggested adding you to the tutoring list and… well, you see… Basically it's a favour. For you.'

Elliott glared at him. 'You can't seriously believe that you thought you were doing me a favour signing me up to this… this torture?'

Earnest shook his head and his hands. 'No, no, no! You've got it all wrong! I heard you have been having a lot of trouble with the Jocks. You see, this is the only place where the Jocks won't tread. While you're here, they can't touch you! And also with you working hard doing this it means Crabblesnitch will look upon you with a newfound respect. So, let's say you were aiming for a high position in the student body…'

Elliott looked at him thoughtfully. 'Have you been talking to Gary?'

Earnest shrugged. 'He may have mentioned… something.' He seemed to straighten up and smiled smugly. 'He asked me to watch out for you.'

Elliott stifled a laugh. 'Oh well, thanks.'

He missed her sarcasm. 'You're extremely welcome.'

'So…' she paused to think it through a moment. 'Gary asked you to add me to the tutor list?'

'No, that was all my idea. Well… he may have inspired me somewhat…'

Elliott rolled her eyes and then surprised herself by realising she was slightly annoyed by the turnout. Why hadn't Gary just told her to join the tutoring group instead of setting it up like this? Perhaps he knew she would have laughed in his face and told him where to go. Well kudos to him.

'And anyway, I'm sure you'll very much enjoy life in the library. It can be quite exciting, you know. You should come and join us for a game of Grottos and Gremlins one night. When your foot is better, I mean. And if you wouldn't mind joining me, that is.'

Elliott looked away from the flustered Nerd and looked up in annoyance. 'Yeah, whatever.' She pushed herself out of the chair. 'Well I'm done tutoring today. Pedro suddenly had a stroke of genius and finished all his worksheets, which means I won't be back until Thursday…'

'Oh no,' Earnest shook his head. 'If you have finished with Pedro's English you have to move on to Biology.'

Elliott stared at him, and then laughed humourlessly. 'Uh, no. I helped him. The next kid I have to help is Melody.'

'No,' Earnest shook his head. 'It's Pedro. As well as English he needs help with Biology, Chemistry and History. I believe the timetable states that the two of you will be doing Biology tomorrow.'

Elliott could almost see how slowly the next month was going to crawl by. 'Well if that's the case then I'm going to bed now.' She put the crutch under her arm and shuffled to the door. 'Hopefully I won't wake up again.'

'Well, nice to finally talk to you, Elliott!' Earnest called after her. 'I'll uh… I'll look forward to our next meeting!'

Elliott shook her head and continued to the doors. Why the hell was she such a freak magnet? A month of hanging out in the library with Earnest's wandering eyes?

Gary better be right about all of this. If something good didn't come out of it, heads were going to roll.