Yeah, I can honestly and utterly say I did not expect this much feedback. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts!
I still own nothing.
It was a beautiful day outside. Light grey clouds were edging the horizon and a soft breeze filled the school. And as Rachel stared out the window she wished she was out there instead of waiting for her advanced Calculus teacher.
"Rachel I'm sorry to ask you this but would you tutor Dave Karofsky?"
"What?"
"All the others have declined. David is a smart student but calculus goes over his head. He needs a tutor and everyone else is too scared to teach him. I know you'll probably decline but I have to ask."
"You want me to tutor Dave Karofsky." The guy who had been throwing slushies in her face since what felt like the beginning of time Dave Karofsky? The one who frightened Kurt to the point of transferring to a new school Dave Karofsky?
"Okay."
Her teacher heaved a sigh of relief and suggested Rachel have someone chaperone her sessions just in case. Neither of them wanted to think about what 'just in case' she was talking of. And so it was that two hours later, she found herself in the local library sitting in front of the boy who had made her life hell and more for the past years.
She shot him a tentative smile, confused by the strange face he was making. It seemed like a cross between shock and awe and anger all at once.
"So what part exactly are you having problems with?"
"You are going to tutor me."
"Well yes, my academic standing allows me to-"
"Why?"
"Because apparently you're horrible at calculus. And I'm not. Surely the line of thought is not that difficult to follow?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"I'm sorry, did I not answer your question correctly? You did ask why I am tutoring you and I did answer. Hn maybe you didn't ask the right question then."
He looked up from where he had buried his head in his hands once she started talking. Rachel Berry wasn't just targeted for being the daughter of the most prolific gay couple in Lima but also because she just wouldn't shut up. But sometimes in those long diatribes she wound up making a point.
"Okay then why didn't you refuse to tutor me when you had good reason to?"
"Excellent work framing the question David! I can see you don't need tutoring in Language arts. And I agreed to tutor you because ...and you have to promise not to get mad at me for this though?"He rolled his eyes and nodded."Well because I kind of felt sorry for you."
"Sorry? For me? You're the one that everyone hates, not me Man-hands."
"If you say so." She said smiling in a sickening sweet way, reminiscent of the way a mother smiled when indulging her child. He frowned wondering if Kurt had told her about what had happened in that locker room. "So what part of the calculus sums do you find most difficult? I went through some of your work and-"
"It was Hummel wasn't it! I am going to kill that bitch!" He got up and halfway through the door, storming off in a dramatic fashion that even Rachel was jealous of. Where did she get off, feeling sorry for him?
"It wasn't Kurt."Her words stopped him in his tracks and he turned back. "It wasn't anyone. I didn't even realise until I saw your notes. Your X's are very distinct. You wrote them the same way on the gifts you donated.
You're a good person. I don't know why you're so afraid to be who you really are."
He snorted and turned to her. "Be who I really am? Berry, have you seen the way they treat you? Every single day you get slushies thrown in your face, your own boyfriend wouldn't stand up for you and your precious Glee club hates you. All for what? Because you come in everyday like yourself. As if you aren't afraid of them hating you, like it means nothing that you get thrown into dumpsters and pushed around, hated for being yourself.
This is High School not some Broadway show where everyone accepts you for who you are. You have to fit the mould or they break you. This is real life."
She continued to smile magnanimously and something in him just snapped. He sat down next to her and slumped over in his chair.
"How do you do it? How do you take all the abuse and still come back the next day? How do you not hate yourself for being so different?" He asked her though it sounded more like he was asking himself.
"Did you watch the news yesterday? A teenage boy in Columbus died from a car accident. He was hit by a drunk driver who lost control of his truck. He was sixteen years old. Same as us." She took a deep breath and steeled herself before saying the next words. "Life's too short to spend it pretending to be someone else. Even if only for a day."
They sat in silence then, the bully and the bullied. In the eyes of all the people in school he was the strong and she was broken. But in that moment, in that haven surrounded by walls of book the sworn enemies bared their souls to each other as only they could.