Little by little*

By the end of the week, after film night, Liv (Olivia) stayed with us. The following morning, the sun rose, and we had breakfast before heading to school. Throughout the walk to school, Liv kept inquiring about Oliver and the study sessions that had taken place at his residence. I could not get her out of my mind. I kept reiterating to her that Oliver was simply a study partner, and that I was simply helping him out, and nothing more. Nevertheless, she gave me a 'Yes, sure, I'll trust you' look and departed for her first period class.

I attended English, Literature, Algebra, and History with my friend Olivia. Upon the conclusion of the period, I was delighted to hear the bell signalling the beginning of lunch. After placing my bags in my next class, I joined my friend Liv in the school courtyard. We were walking around, greeting a few people, when I noticed Oliver. He caught my eye and gave me a dazzling smile, which I reciprocated.  Unfortunately, one of his friends distracted his attention, and he went over to them. Despite the fact that Oliver and his group of friends has been known to bully and harass other students, I am pleased to note that none of them have been doing so.

It was the 7th period, and I was in my art class with my classmates Olivia, Oliver and Marcos and a few other students I talk to. A few minutes passed, and I noticed Oliver approach me and Liv. Olivia smiled at us, and switched seats with Oliver so that he could sit next to me. I groaned and turned over a new piece of paper to begin our task of 'drawing/sketching the person seated next to you'.

I was engrossed in my sketch when I felt a sudden, intense look on my face. I turned to find Oliver looking at me intently. I glanced down at the sheet of paper he had drawn of me, and was taken aback by the skill of the artist. Oliver smiled at the sketch of himself, then looked up at me. He asked, "Alexa, could you come over later and help me out? I have a test coming up next week and Mr Cameron said that I need a minimum of B+ to pass his class. Can you please come over?" I thought back on how he's been putting in some effort lately, and I appreciate it that he wants to continue to improve." I responded, "Sure, I'll be happy to come over, and we can go over the materials you need to learn." 'Thank you so much, Alexa."

At the end of the 45-minute period, the bell rang, and we all started to walk toward our professor. We presented our papers and started to leave the classroom. At the end of the hour, I met up with Liv again for our final class, Advanced Algebra. She gave me a folded piece of paper and walked away to her locker, laughing as she went.  I rolled my eyes and opened the folded piece of paper.  It was a photocopy of the drawing that Oliver had done of me.  At the bottom of the paper, he signed, ‘See you later, Oliver.’  I smiled as I folded the folded paper, so it could fit in my phone case.  It was very kind of him.

......................

It was a few days later that the Principal celebrated his birthday. During the first year, classes were held for the initial four periods and the remainder of the day was free. Today, however, we had the whole day off. I anticipated Oliver to forget the upcoming test and enjoy the day. However, he surprised me by requesting to use the initial four periods to study and summarise what he had completed for his examinations. We reviewed four of his examinations, one period for each, and planned to study over the weekend for his final examinations. Having practised and ascertained that he understood at least eighty per cent of what he had to learn, we packed our bags and set off to savour the day.

SATURDAY NIGHT

A day prior, Oliver had informed me that his father had departed on a "business trip" with the woman (whom he still does not know the name of). He had come to study that day, confident that he would not be discovered. His father had departed for a period of two weeks. For the first forty-five minutes or so, he was complaining about the difficulty of the exercise and was easily distracted. He was frustrated and angry at one paragraph. I understand the intricacies of paraphrasing, but he should be able to summarise 10 to 15 sentences.

I observed that he was lagging behind in a number of subjects, which was deeply concerning. He has the potential to achieve outstanding grades if he is willing to dedicate himself to his studies. After demonstrating how to paraphrase, I provided him with a few phrases and a dictionary to assist him. He went over the phrases in a considerable period of time, and I knew I had to be patient. While I was attempting to demonstrate to him the potential for paraphrasing the sentences in an improved manner, I heard the voices of Olivia, Amanda, and Amber outside my door.

Occasionally, they would enter the room with apologies for having forgotten their pencils or notebooks, or for needing to borrow from me. However, I was aware that they were only doing this to observe me and Oliver. I was not particularly fond of the attention, as I preferred my solitude to absorb information. Nevertheless, I could observe that Oliver was taking advantage of the situation. He would look at my sisters, who were seated on my bed, and inquire as to why I was so exasperated with them. He observed that having a sibling seemed to be a source of amusement., "Why do you feel irritated with them sometimes? It seems like having siblings can be quite enjoyable."

I was about to reply when the thought occurred to me that he does not have any siblings. I let the question hang in the air, and we continued to study. This time, he started to pay attention after I had pushed my sisters out of the room. It had been five hours and Oliver was getting bored. I gave in to his desire to stop studying, and the girls came into the room handing Oliver our father's raincoat, and we dragged him out into the rain.

A few minutes later, Oliver's friends arrived, courtesy of Olivia. It was evident that Olivia and Marcos, one of Oliver's friends had formed a strong bond since their time together in art class. Amber and Amanda went inside to prepare for their sleep-over at a friend's house. The friend was Hillary's younger sister. I had informed Hillary of the necessary measures to be taken to care of Amanda in the event of her gaining illness while at the sleep-over. After confirming for the seventh time that she had my phone number, she left the house, reassuring me that my sisters were safe with her.

I returned inside to find everyone in their dry clothing, snacks and beverages placed in my room on air mattresses, and Olivia dragging me inside and telling me that we must not let all this go to waste and that we must have a sleep-over, and that we would stay up all night watching movies and sipping on snacks and beverages.

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