Part Seventeen

The next day, I was back at the Alodias’ mansion.

Had I made a huge mistake?

Instead of dealing with Bridget’s smugness the other night, I hung up on her immediately and called Annabelle instead. I wasn’t able to wait however many hours it was going to take for her to call me. Getting right to it, I offered my tutoring services for free as well. I was so heated from Bridget doing the same thing for the sake of taking away my job, that I didn’t stop to think about what I was giving up. I mean, Annabelle may be bright and fun to text with about mathematics, but the main draw for coming back had still been the high payout for each session. Until Bridget was added to the equation.

Two years after high school graduation, she still had a way of getting under my skin. Objectively, I should have just given her the job. Whether I was Annabelle’s tutor, or Bridget was, I still wouldn’t be getting paid after mirroring Bridget’s tactic. Honestly, I don’t even remember what I said when Annabelle asked why. That she was a promising young mathematician and I wanted the best for her, that the experience from our sessions and my prep work was all the payment I needed, that I could potentially count my tutoring as a credit? I had been tilted and frazzled from Bridget’s call, and could have babbled out any number of explanations. I just wanted to ‘win,’ and have the tutoring job all to myself.

Annabelle must have suspected something, as I had called to drop my price to nothing just minutes after she spoke with Bridget about the same. Thankfully, she didn’t press. Instead, she expressed her appreciation for the discount, then went on to tell me about her co-tutoring idea. Since I was so busy during the week, Annabelle scheduled things with Bridget for Monday and Wednesday evenings, and I could still have the Saturday slot I preferred. But since Annabelle would be learning at a more accelerated rate with a session every few days, Bridget and I would probably need to coordinate so our lessons didn’t overlap.

With Bridget’s lilting voice and obnoxious overconfidence still echoing in my head, I ended up blurting out, “I can do Monday and Wednesday!”

Just like that, I signed myself up for three tutoring sessions with no pay. Annabelle had even asked if I was sure, to which I insisted that I was. I didn’t want to deal with Bridget, and I was clearly the better young mathematician. Plus, Annabelle would learn the most efficiently if just one tutor was planning out and connecting all the lessons without trying to alternate with someone else.

So, the following evening, I was pulling around to the side of Annabelle’s house.

I had to cancel last minute on my Wednesday night study group, which was going to be another whole thing to worry about later. Hopefully there would be another day that worked for everyone else to get together. I was also indefinitely giving up my Monday movie nights with friends, but I was more concerned about losing the study group that I had literally started if they weren’t able to permanently reschedule around my new conflict. There was also the matter of adjusting my personal study/homework time that used to be perfectly spread out over the course of a week, but that would be more manageable than everything else. The tutoring sessions themselves weren’t that long, but the prep time and the commute was really going to eat into my formerly balanced schedule.

This time around, I was going to have to be more committed to the job. During the call with Annabelle, she expressed how she really enjoyed our first session and the subsequent texting about all the things she had learned and was continuing to figure out with my help. Or, in other words, she didn’t want to get her hopes up only to have me quit again. I understood where she was coming from. Consistency is often important when it comes to academics, and it wouldn’t be fair for me to change my mind after setting up a schedule with her.

As for the money, I’d just have to mentally stretch out the first $900 over the coming weeks. Because, though the insanely high rate would have been nice, I could see $100/session being what a reasonable household would offer. So I had already been paid for three weeks, technically. Then I could potentially mention things like gas money and prep work later on, and see if Annabelle would be open to paying me again once Bridget was out of the picture. Or, worst case scenario, maybe I could turn the excuses I made over the phone into a reality. Preparing creative problems was good mental exercise, and who knows? Maybe the Alodia family could be a good source for networking opportunities down the road, as wealth tends to pair with connections and influence.

The one thing I hadn’t tackled yet was changing our tutoring location. I hadn’t planned on seeing Annabelle again until Saturday, which would have given me a few more days to see if there were any coffee shops near her house before casually floating the idea over text. Or, I could have skipped the research entirely and let her suggest somewhere we could go. Today, however, would be at Annabelle’s house again. Hopefully I could at least keep us downstairs for a more professional (as in, clothed) session.

Familiar with the outdoor layout from my first visit, I pulled my car around to the back. Parking in the small lot mostly concealed by greenery, I grabbed my things and made my way to the side door. Unlike last time, Trixie wasn’t there to greet me immediately. There was no doorbell button in sight, so I just gave a tentative knock and hoped that she’d be nearby to let me in.

And then I waited.

Check out my website: www.ladyluciastories.com

And read more of "The Tutor" (75 parts) and other stories on my SubscribeStar: https://subscribestar.adult/lady-lucia