Henry's POV
Saturday, October 25th. Today would begin the first day of history tutoring with Tori. I met her at the tennis courts, sitting under the shade of a tree.
Tori: Okay, you told me that you guys were learning about the events leading up to the American Revolution. Do you have your notes from yesterday?
Henry: Of course I do. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in class again.
Tori: How much did you get down?
Henry: Not very much. Mr. Avery was talking about section two of chapter seven.
Tori: How many blanks do you have left to fill in?
Henry: He doesn't give us fill in the blank notes. We have to hand-write everything.
Tori: Okay, then. Before we study the material, you have to uncover the past. Can I see your textbook? (she flips through the pages, then gets the book back on the page it was on before) Section 7-2 is three and a half pages long. Read the entire section thoroughly, don't skim, and write two to three five-sentence paragraphs covering the most important events.
I slowly read through the book and wrote the first paragraph about the Boston Massacre and the Gaspee Affair. In the second paragraph, I wrote about the Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party. In class, we already covered the Sugar Act and the Currency Act, both in 1764. The Stamp Act, Patrick Henry's "If this be treason, make the most of it!" speech and the Stamp Act Congress. We weren't studying every event that led up to the American Revolution, but a good number of them. After working on section 7-2 notes for twenty minutes or so, I was finished.
Tori: Alright. You've found the information. Let's see how much of that information you have retained. What was the Boston Massacre?
Henry: A street fight/riot.
Tori: Very good. Next question. When and why did it occur?
Henry: On March 5th, 1770. The Boston Massacre occurred because a Patriot group called The Sons of Liberty were protesting the stamp act. (Tori nods in agreement)
Tori: Next question. How many people were injured and how many were killed as a result?
Henry: Six were killed and five were injured.
Tori: Actually, five were injured and six were killed. You were close though. Next, what was the aftermath of the Boston Massacre?
Henry: The Royal Governor, who's name I can't clearly remember, evacuated the British army from the town of Boston.
Tori: That would be a man named Thomas Gage, although I don't think your teacher would expect you to know that for the test. Next question. What was the Gaspee Affair?
Henry: Since the laws of the Stamp Act were becoming harsher and more enforced, The Sons of Liberty took desperate measures. Lieutenant Duddington, who manned a vessel called Her Majesty's Ship Gaspee, was charged to patrol the waters of Narragansett Bay, off the coast of Rhode Island. A vessel from Newport was on its way to Providence when the captain baited the HMS Gaspee and led Duddington into swallow waters near Warwick. The ship was grounded and group of 55, led by John Brown, lead an attack on the ship.
Tori: So far, so good. What did they do when they attacked?
Henry: I think they killed the Lieutenant and wounded his crew, right? Then they sunk the ship somehow?
Tori: No. They wounded Duddington and captured his entire crew. After everyone was hauled ashore, the Gaspee was looted and then burned.
Henry: Define looted.
Tori: Past participle of loot. To loot means to take, steal.
Henry: So basically, they stole everything before burning the ship.
Tori: Exactly.
After a few more questions, Tori was done asking me questions about section 7-2. Then she calculated what my grade would be if that was a test.
Tori: That would be a 72%. Not bad.
Henry: Thanks. If I want to make sure my lies go undiscovered by my parents, I need to get a grade higher than a C minus by the end of the semester.
Tori: Do you know when your test over chapter seven will be?
Henry: I'm not sure. I know that there will be a quiz over sections one and two of chapter seven on Wednesday. Mr. Avery may even have a pop quiz before then.
Tori: Mr. Avery gives pop quizzes?
Henry: Sadly, yes.
Tori: Don't worry. If you pay enough attention, most of the teachers here have a hidden pattern of when pop quizzes will be.
Henry: They do?
Tori: Yeah. For instance, Mr. Williams, my biology teacher, has pop quizzes on every other Thursday and on the 3rd Monday of each month unless there's a test. Then he has it the following day. Keep a notebook with you and write down the dates each time you get a pop quiz in any of your classes that have teachers who do that. After a few weeks, you may notice a reoccurring pattern.
Henry: Good to know. Tori, do you have any tips for staying awake? Aside from trying to chug caffeine down my throat?
Tori: Hmm. Sometimes when I feel sleepy, I have a rubber band or hair band on my wrist. Okay, where are they? (she searches through her backpack) Well, I can't find a rubber band to use. Here... (she takes the black bow out of her hair, it tumbles down) use this.
Henry: Um, thanks. (he puts it on his wrist, then sees a vision of Tori in a graveyard)
Tori was standing in a graveyard. She wore a black ballroom dress that was sleeveless and strapless with a row of sequins under her bosom. Her shoes couldn't be seen, and her hair was still in its usual style.
(Tori is shown crying in the graveyard, she is then shown in her room in that same dress, playing the violin, the vision ends)
Tori: Henry? Are you alright?
Henry: I'm fine. I just got a vision or two.
Tori: Anything important that me or someone else should know about?
Henry: No, not really. I never even saw Elliot being heavily pelted with tennis balls. (Elliot walks by with a bunch of bruises on his face)
Elliot(muttering): Dang girl tennis players... (he walks away)
Tori: You were saying?
Henry: I stand corrected.
Tori: I gotta go before my dad panics. Try and figure out when your test will be, if possible. That way, I can prepare you for it. Meet me back here on Tuesday at four o'clock. (she puts a big book in her backpack and leaves)
Henry: Well, that could have been worse. (he writes a note to himself)
As I packed up my materials and put them in my bag, I thought that Tori's tutoring sessions might actually be helping me. To be honest, I thought she'd charge me for this. Or maybe she's just trying to be nice, I thought. I knew Reala thought this may not end well, considering that I have a crush on her, but I had to do something about my bad grades. If I didn't do anything, I'd never get myself out of my own trap.
