Tutor Session*

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P.S. I tried not to spoil much if you're interested in reading Frankenstein for yourself. Very good book! There is a lot more details and drama I didn't mention! I read it in high school, and I still recommend it to people! In other news, the view counter is still not fixed. : ( If you can, dear reader, I'd appreciate it if you left a short review, so I know my stories are being seen at all. Thank you!

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Hours later, Vi and Caitlyn were still in the microfiche lab, feeling free to laugh and talk over Caitlyn's series of notebooks spread out on the desk, away from disturbing anyone else. Caitlyn was an avid storyteller, even if all the details was a lot to take in at once and made Vi's head swim a bit.

"So, Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster?" Vi tried to clarify, walking around the room.

"Yes," Caitlyn replied, pointing her pen at her, "The monster doesn't have a name. He's just called 'the monster'."

Vi scratched her head. "So, the monster confronts Dr. Frankenstein for creating him…"

"Yes," Caitlyn nodded.

"… and then blackmails him into doing the experiment again?" Vi asked.

"Yes!" Caitlyn exclaimed proudly, "To make him a companion like himself! And if Viktor doesn't, the monster will kill Elizabeth-Skye."

"Jesus, who wrote this thing?!" Vi asked.

"Ah, Mary Shelley," Caitlyn sighed contentedly, hugging the book. "She's one of my favorites."

Vi huffed with an impressed smile, "Your favorite is dark and morbid. But she did write a decent book. I could stay awake for the action bits."

And Vi meant that with sincerity. The suspense and drama Caitlyn described kept her awake and focused, imagining it like a good movie playing in her head.

"She was so ahead of her time," Caitlyn said as she wrote in her notebook. "But the theme is more than just the monster vs creator. It questions the state of humanity. Should humanity be able to bring back the dead? Could science go too far? What makes a person truly alive or trustworthy?"

Vi sighed, shaking her head, "Seems like an awful lot of trouble to chase each other down, even to the Artic."

"But if you could bring somebody back from the dead, would you?" Caitlyn asked.

Vi blinked, the question hitting her like a ton of bricks, in a way she didn't expect.

"I… I can't say I would know," she answered, but it sounded shaky. Vi shifted and shrugged, half leaning, half sitting on the edge of the desk. "My parents died a long time ago."

Caitlyn stopped writing and her face fell as she looked up at her. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Vi merely shrugged, looking at the floor. "I've made peace with it…" but a lot more was still said in the silence that followed.

Caitlyn put her pen down and pushed her hair back behind her ear. She unconsciously played with a small, aquamarine earring on her earlobe. "I… understand. I lost my mother last year. Breast cancer."

Vi stared at her. That was the last thing she expected someone as cheerful as Caitlyn to say.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Caitlyn smiled a bit sadly, nodding, her eyes wet. "It doesn't really get easier, does it?"

Vi shook her head, empathetically, "Not really."

But when they looked at each other, Vi felt kindship. She finally met a girl her own age that could understand.

Caitlyn wiped her eyes, composing herself. "Of course, I have my father, but it just… isn't the same at home, without her."

Vi nodded, a tiny smile on her lips as she thought of Vander. "I get it."

"How did you cope?" Caitlyn asked as though asking for advice.

Vi took a thoughtful deep breath and sighed, "I tried not to think about it too much. And I just… focused on my little sister, I guess. I kept going for her."

Caitlyn smirked a little. "I wish I had a little sister. I'm an only child."

"Well, we're two of four foster kids, so, somedays, I'd consider you the lucky one," Vi grimaced.

Caitlyn chuckled a little, and Vi liked that her joke made Caitlyn smile.

A bell from a grandfather clock chimed and they both turned their heads, seeing the time.

"I didn't realize how late it was. The library is going to close," Caitlyn said, with what Vi thought was a note of disappointment as she closed her notebook and picked up her bag.

"Could we do this again? Maybe?" Vi surprised herself by asking.

"Of course! Can I text you?" Caitlyn asked, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Vi almost gushed with laughter. "Yeah! Yes, you can!"

No one else outside of her family had her phone number. This was the first time someone asked her. She didn't even feel embarrassed as she handed Caitlyn her outdated Motorola. Caitlyn just smiled at the phone and put her number in it.

"Here, take my notes," Caitlyn said, giving her the notebook.

"I-I can't just copy from you," Vi tried to argue.

"I think I trust you not to," Caitlyn teased with a wink.

As Caitlyn turned her back and packed her bag, Vi took the notebook, a little breathless.

They eventually walked out of the building together, laughing. It had thankfully stopped raining. When the two of them reached the top of the library steps, they heard a car horn honk. A silver car was waiting by the front.

Caitlyn groaned. "That would be my embarrassing, dorky, overprotective dad coming to pick me up himself instead of waiting for me to take the bus home!"

Vi smirked, glancing once at her phone before shoving it in her pocket. "Well, I already texted my dad. I'll see you around, cupcake."

"Why do you call me that?" Caitlyn asked.

"Just 'cuz," Vi replied, looking back. "You're so sweet, like a cupcake."

Vi couldn't help but laugh as Caitlyn flustered, "S-shut up!" her cheeks red.

And just to emphasis her point, Vi hopped on the metal stair railing and slid the rest of the way down the stone steps. By the time she hopped off, she looked back at the top of the stairs to see Caitlyn watching her with worry.

"Don't hurt yourself!" Caitlyn huffed.

Vi waved to her and headed back to her truck. She tried really hard to play it cool and not look back.

But even approaching her truck, she felt tingles crawl up her spine, as though she had to control herself from jumping with excitement. She liked this new feeling of a spring in her step. She felt bubbly and warm. Like new possibility was waiting around the corner. It was a feeling she never had felt so strongly before. As though it finally had a place in her life.

Hope.

…

It was well past dinner time by the time Vi came back to the house. It was dark and rather quiet when she unlocked the door. Given the hour, Vi figured the others were likely in bed. Vander had made dinner: chicken, (surprise, surprise) and even left a note on the table telling her it was in the fridge.

Trying not to make noise, Vi shut off the kitchen lights and gently climbed the staircase to her room.

"Where have you been?" grumbled Mylo, rubbing his eyes in the dark.

Vi's heart almost jumped out of her chest as she realized he was exiting the hallway bathroom. It took her a second to compose herself.

"Jeez! Don't sneak up on me," she hissed, trying to whisper. "I was nowhere. I went to the library to study."

"Study, huh? It's not like you to blow off dinner," he remarked, his eyes still narrow in the dark. "Or Powder..."

"What does that mean?" she retorted.

Mylo made a face. "Powder wanted to go with you, you know. You drove off before she could say anything."

Vi blinked, her eyes wide. "She… She did? Oh…"

Mylo waved his hand. "But that's not the point. I wanna know what kept you so late?"

Vi's eyes went steely again. "I told you, studying."

He looked at her like he didn't believe her, but he also didn't have any leverage over his big sister. She could twist him into a pretzel knot. He was the one that finally broke the glaring contest.

"Fine. Whatever. G'night," he grumbled, heading back toward Vander's bedroom.

When he closed the door, Vi caught a glimpse of Claggor's sleeping form hugging a pillow like a Teddy bear as they shared Vander's bed for the time being. She could hear Claggor's snoring become slightly more muffled.

Vander must be gone to work already then, Vi thought as she stood in the empty hall.

In her pocket, she squeezed her car keys in her hand, feeling the brass housekey.

"Right," she sighed, her jaw set just a little. "In charge…"

In the silence of the house, she went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, trying to leave her feelings outside in the hall.