5. An Educational Decision
Yuna walked into her history class early the next morning to speak to Mr. Rin before everyone in the class walked in. She saw that he was at his desk, shuffling papers around. He looked up when he saw Yuna enter the room and warmly smiled at her.
"Yuna, you're here quite early this morning," he said as he motioned her to sit down by his desk. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh, I wanted to hand in all that make up work you asked me to do." She ignored the queer look on his face as she reached into her bag for her binder. She took out about a dozen papers and handed them to him. He blinked several times before he reached out his hand and took them from her.
"Yuna, I gave you a week to do all them," he said in astonishment as he leafed through the papers. "I didn't expect that you would do it all in one night."
"Well, I wasn't going to do them all, but I honestly didn't have to read the book." Mr. Rin continued giving her a perplexed look and she continued to explain herself. "You see, I learned all this a long time ago at Yu Yevon Academy. Those papers were pretty much review for me."
"You learned this all already?" He asked her as she nodded with a smile. "Hm. Well then, maybe I should talk to the administration about letting you take the advanced history class. It may result in your class schedule being shifted around, but it might be worth it. My class is boring enough as it is. I don't want you to be bored to tears listening to things you've already learned."
"Oh, Mr. Rin, you don't have to do that," Yuna said to him as he continued to look through her papers. "I'm kind of an overachiever, I always have been. I'm one of those nerdy students who will read chapters ahead in all of their books just to learn new things. It's kind of the way that I've been brought up."
"From what I've heard of Yu Yevon Academy, it's expected to do that," Mr. Rin said with a smile. "What made you transfer here anyway? I've only heard good things about your academic standings there; on your way to be valedictorian, I see."
"Yes," she said as she blushed a little. "School has always come easy for me. The reason why I transferred here is because my father's job moved him here."
"Hm," Mr. Rin said with a smile. "It's very rare to have a student like you, Yuna, and I am thankful that you're in my class."
"Thank you, Mr. Rin," she said as she continued to turn a deeper shade of pink.
"I know this is only your second day of class, but I have a question and a rather largefavor to ask of you." With a slight nod from her, he continued. "Have you ever considered tutoring?"
"I did some tutoring at Yu Yevon for community service and I loved it," she replied as her smile widened. Wow, I'm a nerd…She thought to herself as she felt her excitement build at the opportunity. "Why? Do you have some students who are in need of some tutoring?"
"I have one in mind," he nodded as he folded his hands on his desk. "He's a very smart boy, but nothing seems to motivate him but blitzball."
"Oh?" Yuna questioned as politely as she could. She knew exactly whom Mr. Rin had in mind, and her heart both sank and danced with joy. "And, um, who is he?"
"His name is Tidus, I'm sure you've heard about him." Mr. Rin started as he stood up to write some notes on the chalkboard for the day's lecture. "He's the star of the blitzball team, up for homecoming king, and he's in your class actually. He falls asleep, daydreams, or makes up blitzball plays on lecture days, and on test days he doesn't remember anything, so he does poorly on them. He would like to think that I'm clueless of his intellectual ability, but he's only fooling himself. If you're up for the challenge, I would love for you to tutor him."
"Um, sure, Mr. Rin." Yuna had to half force a smile, for she wasn't sure what her exact feeling was. "I'd love to give it a shot."
"That's fantastic. I'll let him know today at the end of class so you two can work up a tutoring schedule." Yuna slowly stood up as Mr. Rin continued to scribble notes on the board. "Just to let you know, if he doesn't maintain a 2.0 grade point average, he'll get kicked off the blitz team. I think if you ever need to remotely motivate him, you just need to remind him of that. Blitzball is that boy's life. I'm sure he'll pay attention to you then."
"I'll definitely try." She smiled once again as students started to flow into the classroom. "Thank you, Mr. Rin," she said as she walked to her seat.
"No, Yuna, thank you." Yuna smiled at Mr. Rin as she took out her lip gloss from her purse and applied it. As she pressed her lips together, she saw Rikku and Tidus walk into the class. Tidus gave Rikku a little push and she reluctantly walked over to Yuna and sat next to her.
"Hi," she said cheerfully as Yuna only blankly smiled at her. "I'm Rikku."
"Yuna," she responded as she put the gloss back into her purse. She looked over at Tidus who was obviously looking at the two of them, but when he saw Yuna look at him, he pretended to look at the ceiling. Hmm, that's not wicked conspicuous at all...Yuna thought with a slight giggle as she looked back over at Rikku. There was an awkward silence between the both of them and Tidus shot a glare at Rikku and motioned with his hand to get her going.
"So, um...have you ever seen a blitzball game?" Rikku asked Yuna. Yuna nodded and smiled at Rikku. Blitzball is Spira's only form of entertainment, so why would I have never seen a game? Yuna thought to herself, but continued to be polite toward Rikku. "Well, there is a big game next week against our rivals, the C-South Duggles. You should go."
"Are you going?" Yuna asked her as Rikku tapped her fingernails against the desk and nodded. "Ah."
"I'm the head cheerleader, so I have to be there. I have to represent A-East's spirit," she said with a big smile. She gasped and Yuna was pretty sure she could see the light bulb illuminate over Rikku's blonde head. "Hey, have you ever considered being a cheerleader?"
"Um, a big no," Yuna said as nicely as she could. She always thought that cheerleaders were phony and flighty. She could never do that to herself or her reputation. However, she slightly grimaced and asked, "Why?"
"Well, we're holding tryouts for a spot next week. You should come to the audition and try out." Yuna couldn't tell if she was serious or if she was just trying to be nice. "You get into all the blitz games for free, you get to hang out with all the blitz guys...it's your guaranteed ticket to popularity."
Oh, joy...Yuna thought sarcastically as Rikku continued to babble on about it. "Um, I'll have to think about it." That was the most polite way Yuna could say, 'Yeah right, forget it.'
Rikku grabbed out her notebook and a pen and scribbled down something on the paper. As Rikku was doing this, Yuna stole another look toward Tidus who instantly looked away. Yuna had to shake her head and smile in disbelief. What is going on here? Yuna wondered as Rikku handed Yuna the slip of paper.
"This is my cell number. Give me a call if you have any questions, concerns, I don't knows about cheerleading or any certain members of the blitz team." Yuna tried not to bust out into laughter by Rikku's bluntness in that sentence. Okay, I understand what her motives are now…Yuna thought to herself as she wrote down her cell number for Rikku.
"Here," she said as she handed it to Rikku. "This is my number incase you want to drop any more 'subtle' hints about Tidus." Rikku blinked in surprise a couple of times as Yuna looked over at Tidus—who was obviously looking at her and Rikku—and mockingly waved at him.
Fuck, busted...Tidus thought to himself as he gently waved back and gave a small smile to conceal his guilt. He looked at Rikku and they exchanged looks that said that they were caught in action.
"Okay," Rikku said with a smile as she programmed Yuna's number into her phone. "I will."
Yuna couldn't help but giggle at the two of them. She knew that no matter how hard Rikku worked at trying to get her and Tidus together, it wasn't going to work. Yuna was too smart for that. Besides, Tidus was practically her student now, so that put the romance on a serious hold. She looked over at Tidus who was scribbling something down on a piece of paper. Probably blitz plays... She thought to herself as she shook her head and smile. She was going to ask Tidus if he wanted to sit over by her and Rikku, but he looked busy and Mr. Rin started to talk to the class so she refrained from doing so. She flipped to a new page of her notebook, and started to write down the notes for the day.
Who gives a shit who Lord Ohallandis anyway? Tidus thought to himself as he half listened to Mr. Rin ramble on and on. He rolled his eyes and continued to work on the new blitz play that he was thinking up. It was turning out rather well too. However, he was ready to get out of that class as soon as possible so the rest of the day might go faster.
What in the hell was I thinking when I scheduled Spiran History as my first hour class? Tidus sighed again as he watched the clock slowly tick away seconds of his life. There were definitely about a million things that he would rather spend his time on and most stemmed from blitzball and girls. Just when Tidus thought he couldn't take it any longer, the bell rang. He sighed a sigh of relief as he stood up, put his pen in his pocket, and grabbed his notebook. He was just about to walk over to Rikku when he heard Mr. Rin call out his name.
"Tidus, could you come here for a minute?" Tidus groaned softly due to the fact that this was the second day in a row that Mr. Rin wanted to speak to him. He didn't have a test today, so he couldn't be showing him another poor grade.
"Good morning, Mr. Rin," Tidus said pleasantly as he walked over to where Mr. Rin was standing. "What can I do for ya?"
"Well, remember yesterday when we had that little talk about getting you a tutor?" Mr. Rin asked as Tidus unenthusiastically nodded. "Well, I found one for you."
Great…Tidus thought as his face fell with aggravation. What member of the Sphere Break Club did he pick out to bore me to tears? "Oh really?" Tidus said out loud, trying to be enthusiastic, but his try failed miserably.
"You don't have to pretend to be interested, Tidus," Mr. Rin pointed out as he noticed the look on Tidus' face. "You don't get a choice in this. The blitz team needs you, and I'm not sure how you would cope without blitz in your life."
"It's my one true love, Mr. Rin," Tidus agreed honestly as he put his hand over his heart and patted his chest. It was the one thing that he actually could commit to, and he was conscious of that subject matter. "So, who's my tutor?"
"The new girl, Yuna." Tidus blinked a couple of times and gave Mr. Rin a perplexed look. "Have you met her yet?"
"Are you shi—kidding me, Mr. Rin?" Tidus had to prevent himself from cursing in front of his teacher, but he was so shocked at the news of Yuna being his tutor that he almost slipped. "I mean, yes, I have met her. She's a…very nice girl."
"And very brilliant." Mr. Rin added as he erased the board, causing chalk dust to fly everywhere. "I talked to her about this subject this morning, and she said that she would be more than willing to tutor you."
"Oh really?" Tidus asked curiously as a smile swept across his face. He lightly drummed his fingers over the top of Mr. Rin's desk in thought. Interested in tutoring me,is she?A chuckle escaped his lips and he looked up at the ceiling. "Hm. That's very...interesting."
"I told her that you two should talk about a tutoring schedule later on today, all right?" Tidus nodded rapidly as Mr. Rin put the eraser down on the chalkboard ledge. "All right. Good luck, Tidus."
"Thank you, sir!" Tidus said as he started to leave the room.
"Oh, and Tidus?" Tidus turned around when he heard Mr. Rin call out his name again. "I don't think I have to remind you that she's your tutor, meaning you have to learn things from her. If I find that you having a female tutor is too...distracting for you, I will find you a new one. Understood?"
"Mr. Rin, I think you misjudge me," Tidus said with a smile. Mr. Rin only smiled and shook his head.
"No, Tidus, I think I know you." Tidus chuckled along with Mr. Rin because he knew he was right. "Have a good day, Tidus."
"You too, sir," Tidus said as he walked out of the room to find Rikku. Having to spend alone time with Yuna? I couldn't have planned this more perfectly myself! Tidus thought to himself with a smile.