“You know, if you could talk to me

“You know, if you could talk to me at some point in the foreseeable future, that’d be greeeeat, mkay?” Shane imitated the guy from Office Space as she trailed me in the school hallways Monday morning.
“Why are you even here?” I asked, sounding just as annoyed as I felt. It was eight o’clock in the morning on my first day of tutoring, but Shane was on summer vacation with no reason to be here other than to be a pain in my ass.
“I’m transitioning the new cheer captain.” She smiled. “I’ll be around tons.” The snarky arched eyebrow was meant as a threat, and that was when I finally noticed the spandex shorts and sports bra she was wearing.
Ugh. Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn. I thought I’d be safe at school at least.
Ever since the party last Thursday, she’d been on my case to give her the scoop on what had happened with Jax.
No comment.
I’d buckled down, prepared for tutoring, and spent my remaining days of freedom at the gym or lying out tanning in the backyard, although that was uncomfortable, since the brick wall made it easier to see through. Jax had come out in the backyard yesterday and immediately shoved all his friends back into the house when they interrupted my tanning. It wasn’t like Jax to do anything to make me comfortable, but I appreciated it, even though I promptly got up and went inside anyway.
Luckily that was the only time I’d seen him, though. I’d heard his car in the mornings and in the middle of the night, coming and going at odd hours, but that was the thing. It was constantly coming and going. The guy hardly sat still and once he was home, he’d turn around and leave again minutes later.
I’d resisted the urge to peer out the windows, and I’d been avoiding Shane and texts from Tate and my roommate, Nik.
“Look,” I said, grabbing the doorknob to the chem lab. “I’m sorry I’ve avoided you. I’m nervous, okay?” And that was true. I was practically squeezing the life out of the strap of Tate’s messenger bag. “Just give me a couple of days to get settled in. We can do dinner Wednesday night. Sound good?”
Shane twisted her full lips to the side, looking displeased, but I couldn’t help it. Jax’s hateful words from the other night were still flowing through my mind, an ever-present whisper, and to make matters worse, I masturbated to him the very next day. Seriously?
Right now a nice, long walk with Tate’s iPod sounded like heaven. It was really the only company I wanted.
“All right.” Her mumbled answer took some weight off my shoulders. “Do you want a ride home? I get done at eleven. I’ll stick around,” she offered.
“No.” I shook my head and smiled. “I’m actually enjoying the walks.” Looking forward to them was more like it.
She gave me a playful sneer, her hazel eyes amused. “But it’s so hot. Really?”
“I like the heat.”
“Do you?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she backed up, walking away.
I smiled. Yeah, I guess it was weird. At first I thought that living in Phoenix got me used to the high temperatures, but Shelburne Falls was a different kind of heat. The thickness of the air saturated everything with moisture. It was wet, and it made every pore on my skin sensitive and aware. I was constantly conscious of the way the hem of my coral-colored skirt brushed across my thighs and the heat pouring off my chest made my shirt stick to my skin. The back of my neck was already damp, and although I was glad that I wore a light white sleeveless blouse, I wished I had pulled my hair up instead of leaving it down. Brushing it over one shoulder to lie on my chest, I turned the knob and walked into the classroom.
The smell hit me right away, causing me to stop. I hadn’t been in a classroom in this school in two years, and that smell took me back to bittersweet memories. The whole school smelled the same. Like basketballs and construction paper. I inhaled, suddenly feeling alone but at home. I had nothing I had the last time I was here. No boyfriend. No best friend. But it was here that I was last happy.
“Hi, Ms. Penley,” I said right away, trying to appear less nervous than I was.
“K.C.!” She smiled one of those smiles where you can see both rows of teeth. “It made my summer when I heard you’d be helping me out.”
I nodded, looking around the nearly empty lab. A few other students—or possibly tutors, judging from the fact that they had files like mine—sat at tables around the room.
It was weird to see Ms. Penley in here, since her literature and writing classes were always in a standard classroom. This room made my legs stiffen with fear, whereas Ms. Penley’s usual classroom made my toes curl with comfort. Chem lab was my least favorite place, because I hated science. Luckily I’d had Tate to get me through those classes.
“Well.” I shrugged. “I just hope I can be of help.”
She waved me off. “It’ll be fine,” she assured me. “I’ll be in the room, and there are three other tutors here as well. That’s why we’re in the lab. Lots of room.”
I nodded, it finally making sense.
She continued talking as she organized files on her desk. “You’ll be sitting at a table with four students. We’re going to spend the first half hour or so reviewing the basics: gathering and organizing their ideas, main idea and supporting details, and the revision process. Most of these students still need a lot of practice on forming a thesis statement. You already have their diagnostic assessments.” She stopped to look at me. “So when we break into groups, I want them to each share a sample paragraph and discuss how it could be made better. I simply want them to analyze their work today, and I want them to see how their work compares to others’.”
That sounded easy enough. “Got it.”
Scanning the room again, I noticed all the other tutors seated on their own, so I headed for an empty table and unloaded my bag. I glanced up at the clock next to the door and counted down three hours and fifty minutes until I could leave. I’d have two sessions, each lasting an hour and forty-five minutes with four students in each session. Some kids were here for more than just writing, so they’d rotate to physics, English, or whatever math class they needed. And as icing on the cake, we’d all get our fifteen-minute snack or Facebook break.
One of the tutors—I think his name was Simon if I remembered him correctly from when we were in school together—smiled at me, and I nodded a greeting back.
Students trailed in, most of them later than the eight fifteen start time, and I let my eyes wander as some took their seats. I recognized a few kids, but I didn’t know any of them. They had just been finishing their freshman year when I’d graduated.
Did I look that young only two years ago? Did I wear that much makeup?
As Ms. Penley began her lecture, showing examples over the classroom projector of what excellent papers looked like, I noticed that barely any of the kids paid attention.
This must be hard for her. Some of the kids clearly just didn’t care. They covertly played on their phones under the table. They whispered to one another, ignoring Penley. They doodled in their notebooks.
And I remembered that that was what I did in my science classes in high school. It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I’d just gotten tired of struggling.
So I stopped trying. I did enough but no more.
Now I wished I tried more and wasn’t so afraid to put myself out there. Maybe if I had reached out for new experiences, I’d know what I wanted to do with my life. Now my options felt limited, because I’d held myself back in high school, and I was two years into college political science classes that I couldn’t just throw away.
I wanted these students to know that their education gave them choices. It was a valuable time.
Penley wrapped up her lesson and then directed the students to their tutors. I stayed where I was, leaning my elbows on the table and forcing a relaxed smile as one boy and three girls came to sit down.
“Hi, I’m K.C.,” I greeted.
The guy held up his pointer finger but didn’t make eye contact. “Jake.” And then he buried his face in his hands and let out a loud yawn.
Jake might be on drugs.
I looked across the table to the three girls. I knew one of them. The younger sister of a somewhat friend from high school whom I no longer kept in touch with. The other two were strangers, but all three of them looked at me as if I were the hair in their soup.
That was one thing that didn’t make me nervous. I had no trouble standing up to women in my own generation.
I kept staring at them, eyebrows raised in expectation.
The dark-haired girl finally spoke up. “I’m Ana. This is Christa and Sydney.”
Sydney I knew. Her sister was sweet. She looked like a little shit, though.
She had long auburn hair, parted on the side and hanging in big, voluminous curls down her back and over her chest. Her stunning brown eyes brought out the red tint in her hair, and her makeup and nails were perfect.
Ana’s beautiful Asian complexion glowed alabaster and her long, shiny black hair and dark eyes were flawless.
Christa had short blond hair cut in a bob with a severe angle. Although the wallflower out of the group, I knew from knowing Tate that those were usually the ones to show their awesomeness later.
All of the girls were dressed the same. Shorts and tank tops.
I smiled calmly. “Nice to meet all of you.” I took out their diagnostic assessments—compositions they wrote at the end of the school year, including their outlines and rough drafts—and handed them their own papers. “So we’re supposed to each share a sample paragraph and discuss what improvements we could make. Who would like to go first?”
No one budged. Jake sat next to me, looking as though he was ready to fall asleep. Ana looked away while Christa and Sydney smirked, challenging me.
“Anyone?” I asked, a grin tickling my face. I remembered my classes when no one would volunteer. Now I knew what being a teacher felt like.
I held up my hands.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

“You know, if you could talk to me at some point in the foreseeable future, that’d be greeeeat, mkay?” Shane imitated the guy from Office Space as she trailed me in the school hallways Monday morning.“Why are you even here?” I asked, sounding just as annoyed as I felt. It was eight o’clock in the morning on my first day of tutoring, but Shane was on summer vacation with no reason to be here other than to be a pain in my ass.“I’m transitioning the new cheer captain.” She smiled. “I’ll be around tons.” The snarky arched eyebrow was meant as a threat, and that was when I finally noticed the spandex shorts and sports bra she was wearing.Ugh. Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn. I thought I’d be safe at school at least.Ever since the party last Thursday, she’d been on my case to give her the scoop on what had happened with Jax.No comment.I’d buckled down, prepared for tutoring, and spent my remaining days of freedom at the gym or lying out tanning in the backyard, although that was uncomfortable, since the brick wall made it easier to see through. Jax had come out in the backyard yesterday and immediately shoved all his friends back into the house when they interrupted my tanning. It wasn’t like Jax to do anything to make me comfortable, but I appreciated it, even though I promptly got up and went inside anyway.Untungnya itu adalah satu-satunya waktu saya melihat dia, meskipun. Aku pernah mendengar mobilnya di pagi hari dan di tengah malam, datang dan pergi pada jam-jam yang aneh, tapi itu hal. Itu terus-menerus datang dan pergi. Pria nyaris tidak duduk masih dan sekali dia rumah, dia akan berbalik dan meninggalkan lagi menit kemudian.Saya telah menolak dorongan untuk mengintip keluar jendela, dan saya telah menghindari Shane dan teks-teks dari Tate dan teman sekamar saya, Nik."Lihat," kataku, meraih pegangan pintu ke laboratorium chem. "Saya minta maaf saya telah menghindari Anda. Aku gugup, oke?" Dan itu benar. Aku praktis yang meremas kehidupan dari tali tas kurir Tate's. "Hanya memberi saya beberapa hari untuk mendapatkan menetap di. Kita bisa melakukan makan malam Rabu malam. Terdengar baik?"Shane twisted bibirnya penuh ke samping, tampak senang, tapi aku tidak bisa menahannya. JAX's kata-kata kebencian dari malam masih mengalir melalui pikiran saya, selalu ada bisikan, dan untuk membuat keadaan menjadi lebih buruk, saya masturbasi padanya keesokan harinya. Serius?Tepat sekarang yang bagus, lama berjalan dengan Tate's iPod terdengar seperti surga. Itu benar-benar satu-satunya perusahaan yang saya inginkan."Baiklah." Jawabannya mumbled mengambil beberapa berat dari bahu saya. "Apakah Anda ingin perjalanan pulang? Saya mendapatkan dilakukan di sebelas. Aku akan tetap di sekitar,"Dia menawarkan."Tidak." Aku menggelengkan kepala dan kartu kredit saya. "Aku benar-benar menikmati berjalan-jalan." Looking forward untuk mereka adalah lebih seperti itu.She gave me a playful sneer, her hazel eyes amused. “But it’s so hot. Really?”“I like the heat.”“Do you?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she backed up, walking away.I smiled. Yeah, I guess it was weird. At first I thought that living in Phoenix got me used to the high temperatures, but Shelburne Falls was a different kind of heat. The thickness of the air saturated everything with moisture. It was wet, and it made every pore on my skin sensitive and aware. I was constantly conscious of the way the hem of my coral-colored skirt brushed across my thighs and the heat pouring off my chest made my shirt stick to my skin. The back of my neck was already damp, and although I was glad that I wore a light white sleeveless blouse, I wished I had pulled my hair up instead of leaving it down. Brushing it over one shoulder to lie on my chest, I turned the knob and walked into the classroom.The smell hit me right away, causing me to stop. I hadn’t been in a classroom in this school in two years, and that smell took me back to bittersweet memories. The whole school smelled the same. Like basketballs and construction paper. I inhaled, suddenly feeling alone but at home. I had nothing I had the last time I was here. No boyfriend. No best friend. But it was here that I was last happy.“Hi, Ms. Penley,” I said right away, trying to appear less nervous than I was.“K.C.!” She smiled one of those smiles where you can see both rows of teeth. “It made my summer when I heard you’d be helping me out.”I nodded, looking around the nearly empty lab. A few other students—or possibly tutors, judging from the fact that they had files like mine—sat at tables around the room.It was weird to see Ms. Penley in here, since her literature and writing classes were always in a standard classroom. This room made my legs stiffen with fear, whereas Ms. Penley’s usual classroom made my toes curl with comfort. Chem lab was my least favorite place, because I hated science. Luckily I’d had Tate to get me through those classes.“Well.” I shrugged. “I just hope I can be of help.”She waved me off. “It’ll be fine,” she assured me. “I’ll be in the room, and there are three other tutors here as well. That’s why we’re in the lab. Lots of room.”I nodded, it finally making sense.She continued talking as she organized files on her desk. “You’ll be sitting at a table with four students. We’re going to spend the first half hour or so reviewing the basics: gathering and organizing their ideas, main idea and supporting details, and the revision process. Most of these students still need a lot of practice on forming a thesis statement. You already have their diagnostic assessments.” She stopped to look at me. “So when we break into groups, I want them to each share a sample paragraph and discuss how it could be made better. I simply want them to analyze their work today, and I want them to see how their work compares to others’.”That sounded easy enough. “Got it.”Scanning the room again, I noticed all the other tutors seated on their own, so I headed for an empty table and unloaded my bag. I glanced up at the clock next to the door and counted down three hours and fifty minutes until I could leave. I’d have two sessions, each lasting an hour and forty-five minutes with four students in each session. Some kids were here for more than just writing, so they’d rotate to physics, English, or whatever math class they needed. And as icing on the cake, we’d all get our fifteen-minute snack or Facebook break.One of the tutors—I think his name was Simon if I remembered him correctly from when we were in school together—smiled at me, and I nodded a greeting back.Students trailed in, most of them later than the eight fifteen start time, and I let my eyes wander as some took their seats. I recognized a few kids, but I didn’t know any of them. They had just been finishing their freshman year when I’d graduated.Did I look that young only two years ago? Did I wear that much makeup?As Ms. Penley began her lecture, showing examples over the classroom projector of what excellent papers looked like, I noticed that barely any of the kids paid attention.This must be hard for her. Some of the kids clearly just didn’t care. They covertly played on their phones under the table. They whispered to one another, ignoring Penley. They doodled in their notebooks.And I remembered that that was what I did in my science classes in high school. It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I’d just gotten tired of struggling.
So I stopped trying. I did enough but no more.
Now I wished I tried more and wasn’t so afraid to put myself out there. Maybe if I had reached out for new experiences, I’d know what I wanted to do with my life. Now my options felt limited, because I’d held myself back in high school, and I was two years into college political science classes that I couldn’t just throw away.
I wanted these students to know that their education gave them choices. It was a valuable time.
Penley wrapped up her lesson and then directed the students to their tutors. I stayed where I was, leaning my elbows on the table and forcing a relaxed smile as one boy and three girls came to sit down.
“Hi, I’m K.C.,” I greeted.
The guy held up his pointer finger but didn’t make eye contact. “Jake.” And then he buried his face in his hands and let out a loud yawn.
Jake might be on drugs.
I looked across the table to the three girls. I knew one of them. The younger sister of a somewhat friend from high school whom I no longer kept in touch with. The other two were strangers, but all three of them looked at me as if I were the hair in their soup.
That was one thing that didn’t make me nervous. I had no trouble standing up to women in my own generation.
I kept staring at them, eyebrows raised in expectation.
The dark-haired girl finally spoke up. “I’m Ana. This is Christa and Sydney.”
Sydney I knew. Her sister was sweet. She looked like a little shit, though.
She had long auburn hair, parted on the side and hanging in big, voluminous curls down her back and over her chest. Her stunning brown eyes brought out the red tint in her hair, and her makeup and nails were perfect.
Ana’s beautiful Asian complexion glowed alabaster and her long, shiny black hair and dark eyes were flawless.
Christa had short blond hair cut in a bob with a severe angle. Although the wallflower out of the group, I knew from knowing Tate that those were usually the ones to show their awesomeness later.
All of the girls were dressed the same. Shorts and tank tops.
I smiled calmly. “Nice to meet all of you.” I took out their diagnostic assessments—compositions they wrote at the end of the school year, including their outlines and rough drafts—and handed them their own papers. “So we’re supposed to each share a sample paragraph and discuss what improvements we could make. Who would like to go first?”
No one budged. Jake sat next to me, looking as though he was ready to fall asleep. Ana looked away while Christa and Sydney smirked, challenging me.
“Anyone?” I asked, a grin tickling my face. I remembered my classes when no one would volunteer. Now I knew what being a teacher felt like.
I held up my hands.