When I started walking I realized that the address didn’t match any addresses that were close. I walked for at least 45 minutes before getting to the neighborhood that the address matched. It wasn’t anything like our neighborhood. The houses were really big, and they all had unique structures. “Why would a kid from this neighborhood go to a school like ours?” I wondered walking up to the entrance gate. I buzzed in to what looked like an intercom; the whole thing was really cool. The house was a stone, and it had a fountain in the front. There were statues at the door, and a long drive way. Walking down the driveway my stomach started to flutter. The entire seen was making me nervous, and for some reason I felt like I was meeting the queen or something. Before I could get to the huge door it opened, and there stood a woman with a sweater tied around her neck. She had short blonde hair and green eyes; she was skinny and pretty tall. She greeted me with a smile. “Hello Yara it’s so nice to finally meet you”, she said with her hand stretched out to greet me. “It’s pronounced Yahara; it’s nice to meet you too. Are you Christopher’s mother?” I asked looking at the folder to remind me of the boy’s name. “Yes I am, he’s in the game room so you can just go right on in.” She said this moving out of the way and letting me in. When walking in I tried my hardest not to have my jaw drop. “You have a nice house mam” I said politely, trying not to sound too excited. “Oh thank you, it does the job. I’ll have Maria take you to the game room.” She called over a Latino lady to guide me to the room. We walked and it was a bit awkward, I didn’t feel right making this lady walk me all the way to the room. It wasn’t like I wasn’t use to Latinos because I was always around them. When I would go visit my family in Brazil, I would have to speak in Spanish because they knew very little English. My dad helped me with that sort of thing and I’m pretty fluent now. When we reached the door the lady grabbed my arm before I entered and turned me towards her. “Cuidado con Christopher, que es un poco apagado.”When she said this, a confused look came over my face. She told me to watch out for Christopher because he was a little off. This made me a little scared but I walked in anyways with no emotion. The game room was really nice. It was blue, red, and yellow and had every game you could imagine. From foosball to ping pong, to pool you name it. He was playing a game over in the corner; it looked to be Pac man. He was pretty tall and skinny; he had a nice shape like a skate boarder. “Hey I’m your tutor” I said trying to get his attention but he didn’t respond. When walking up to him I then noticed that he had earphones in and was blasting rock music. He jumped as I tapped him on the shoulder and quickly whipped around. He looked really familiar and I stood there wondering where I’ve seen him before. “Jesus cant you knock?” He asked sarcastically but when he turned around to face me his expression was different. “You’re my tutor?” he asked as if he didn’t want me to say yes. “Yea my name is Yahara” I said sticking my hand out. He looked at it and then took out his I pod touch to turn it off. I lowered my hand slowly embarrassed and a bit angry. “Have I met you before?” I asked trying to help the awkwardness die out. “You helped me pick up my books” he responded looking everywhere but my eyes. “I’m really sorry about that-“he cut me off before I could finish my apology. “Don’t apologies, Michael was being an ass as usual. I hate him with a passion” he said this looking as if he was thinking about something. My facial expression dropped as I felt offended. Only I could call Michael an ass and feel comfortable with it. I mean if he’s such an ass then why does everyone act like they love him so much? “That ass is your boyfriend, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you” he said responding to my facial expression. “Thanks for defending me; no one has done that before especially against Michael.” When he said this a look of compassion came into his eyes, “don’t worry about it I was just doing the right thing.” He stared at me for a while and I started to feel uncomfortable, we were just talking about my boyfriend. “Well here’s the lesson plan, today’s just a meet and greet and we’ll get started Wednesday.” I tried to pretend like that long awkward stare didn’t happen even though it did. “Why not tomorrow?” He asked looking over the folder I handed him. “Well I’m in the Chemistry Club and we’re having our first show”. I responded getting my book bag and putting it over my shoulder. “That’s pretty cool, I never saw you as the type to be into science” he said curiously. He seemed to be opening up to me, which I thought was nice. “Well I have to go” I stated leaving out. He waved goodbye and put his head phones back in.

When I got home my dad wasn’t there. He hadn’t been home on time for a while and our friendship was deteriorating. I ordered his favorite Chinese food and when it came I sat his plate on the table and started to eat mine. I started to get emotional as I looked out of the window wondering where he would be. Crying wasn’t an option for me at this point. I did miss him though and it seemed like ever since we moved he has grown more distant. The front door opened and closed and my dad walked into the kitchen. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and sat in front of me but I didn’t say anything. “What’s going on with you? I got a call from your school saying that you got into a fight, you won’t talk to me” I looked up at him from my food trying to not get emotional. “It’s hard to talk to you when you’re not here” I said looking back down at my plate picking through my noodles. “Look okay I’ve been working, trying not to lose another house.” When he said this I felt anger burn in my stomach because I knew he was lying. “That’s a lie; you don’t work on weekends or at night for that matter. You come into the house and you either smell like perfume or food which tells me that you’re dating. I’m not stupid dad, I know when something is different I’ve known you all my life. Not only does it hurt me that you lied to me, but it’s also the fact that you’re spending more time with her.” A tear rolled down and I got even angrier at myself. I hated crying because it showed weakness. “Honey I didn’t know how you would take it. I guess I still see you as my little girl but you’re mature enough to know. I am dating a woman from work, and I want you guys to meet I really do. It’s just that I still don’t know if she’s the right one you know. I want to know that she’s good enough to meet you first.” I calmed down a little bit but I still didn’t look up at him. “I know that whatever happened at school wasn’t your fault, I trust your judgment. Is there anything new with you? I want us to be honest again, best friends like before.” I wanted that too and I felt as if I should be honest with him. “Well remember that guy I tutored, Michael? He’s my boyfriend” I said looking up at him to see his facial expression. His face showed complete confusion and he let the information digest. “You’re dating your bully?” He asked trying to rationalize the situation. “You could say that, he doesn’t bully me anymore though” when I said this he shifted in his seat and looked at me as if the answer was in my eyes. “That school is completely backwards” he said laughing. I started laughing too and I felt as if our old relationship was building itself back up. I went to my room and got my pajamas on. It was around ten o’clock and dad had already gone to sleep. He was never the type to stay up pass 9:30 on most nights. I sat down on my bed and got on my laptop. I listened to music and looked through the latest gossip on celebs. I was sitting up at first but when I started to feel a bit tired I laid on my elbows. My head started to feel heavy and my eye lids soon closed. All of a sudden I was woken up by a knock at my window. I got up and walked over to the window looking out of it. When I opened it Michael walked in front of the window which scared me a bit. He had a look of discomfort and without words he stepped in. “Michael what do you want?” I whispered locking my bedroom door. “I need you to do something for me” he said sitting on my bed holding his stomach. I looked at him concerned as I noticed blood in the spot he was holding. He looked up at me with eyes that showed pain and I didn’t know how to respond. I walked over slowly and got on my knew to be at eye level with his stomach. I slowly lift his shirt up and he put his arms to his side.