[Gavin] Blah Blah Blah

[charlotte arcadia winchester]

Being told that she was failing her classes was something that Charlie had become pretty used to. She sometimes wondered why the teachers and everyone else at the school kept telling her, because whatever effect they wanted them to have on her wasn't happening. She wasn't even phased by their words anymore. They told her that she had some serious work to do if she wanted to graduate. She nodded as if she was taking in their words, although she never actually took them in. And then two weeks later she was in the same situation. If their words were going to have any effect of her, wouldn't it have happened by now? Maybe the staff at the school were still hoping that Charlie would come into school one day and be the hardworking girl that she'd been before high school.

This time was different though. Keeping her behind after lessons was one thing, but here she was sitting in one of her classrooms which was now completely deserted except for herself. She twisted a pencil between her fingers as she listened to the people outside the door, trying to get through the flow of the rest of them to get home. She wanted to be out there with them, but she'd found with previous experience that it was better to hear whoever was telling her off out. If not they'd find her tomorrow and it would only be worse. Her eyes were fixed on the pencil in her hand though, since there was nothing else in the room she considered to be more interesting.

After a few minutes she heard the door open and close signaling that someone had decided to join her finally. She didn't know - or care all too much - which teacher it was because she hadn't looked yet, since their message wasn't going to be any different to the other million or so that she'd heard. "Miss Winchester," The feminine voice said, which finally caused her to look up and face them. That was when she realized that Mrs Watts - Charlie's English teacher - hadn't entered alone. He stood a little away from Watts, away from Charlie, away from everything except the classroom door. She thought she recognized him, but let's face it, Charlie's memory was adequate at best. Names really weren't her thing. She did however recall that he was nothing like her. He was one of the ones that always seemed to get full marks on tests... Often referred to as a geek or something. Why was he here? Had he only gotten 90% on a test or something. Charlie couldn't think of a reason why Watts would be telling them both off. "Miss Winchester," Watts repeated. "I'm sure you're aware that your grades right now are... lacking." Ha. Lacking was an understatement and she knew that Watts knew that. Everyone at this school knew that. "With that being said if you wish to continue your education here at WWHS then you need to get your act together." Well, at least she was straight to the point. "Yeah I figured as much... But how come he's here?" She asked, her thumb jerking at him. Her teacher looked between the two students in the room before answering Charlie's question. "Ahh yes, Gavin is here because I asked him to be here. Miss Winchester, we have a proposition for you..."

[gavin james crisholm]

Being the smartest kid in school had it's perks: Gavin whizzed through homework, meaning he didn't stay up all night trying to finish it like most other kids; he naturally didn't have to study hard for tests because he just knew the answers, and the teachers loved him, meaning it was easier to get away with things (even though he didn't act out, he just figured that's what would happen). It made Gavin feel good about himself, knowing that working hard now would pay off in the future when he got into an Ivy League college (preferably Harvard) and away from this town and his parents.

It wasn't that he didn't like them. They were great: they always encouraged him, made him feel good about himself, and let him grow-up without much discipline. They were, in short, probably the best parents a boy could ask for. Yet Gavin knew that he wasn't as loved as well as it looked on the outside. He'd been a mistake, stemming from his parents mourning the death of his older sister four years before he was born. She was nineteen at the time, fresh home from her first year at college. She'd changed during her first year, developing a liking for drugs and alcohol. Gavin's parents had no idea. She told them she was going out with friends for a bit one night, and that's the last time they saw her. She had overdosed on heroin, and Gavin's parents were devastated.

They loved their daughter, no one could deny that. It was hard for them to move on, but they had to after Gavin was born. They were much older than most parents by then and they vowed that they'd raise Gavin to know the dangers of drugs. He grew up going to church, involved in activities, and hearing about the sister that he never met. Just hearing his parent's stories made Gavin realize how much they loved her and how much they were never going to get over her death.

Which was why, at a young age, Gavin learned that he had to do good in school if he wanted to get away and let his parents mourn his sister like they had probably planned to do. He got good grades, volunteered, and was basically a teacher's pet, all of which would be mentioned on his college applications (well, probably not the teacher's pet part). He took every opportunity that was presented to him to add more to his resume. Like the opportunity Mrs. Watts presented him with: tutoring Charlie Winchester in English, and possibly other subjects if other teachers asked. He met with his teacher after class one day, and the two of them went to go tell Charlie of the situation together (although he hoped he didn't have to do much talking).

They entered a classroom to find her sitting alone, looking rather disinterested like she always did. Mrs. Watts explained how Charlie was in danger of failing out of school if she didn't change her attitude, quickly. "Yeah, I figured as much," she said, before pointing at him. "But how come he's here?" she aksed. Gavin thought her tone was rather rude, but he held his tongue, listening to Mrs. Watts explain something before turning to him.

I'm supposed to break the news? he thought frantically as Mrs. Watts stared at him. This isn't what he had signed up for. He took a deep breath, swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat before turning back to Charlotte. "I'm going to be tutoring you in English," he said, "And other subjects if teachers ask,"

[/color] he added, holding her gaze.

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[charlotte arcadia winchester]

She really hoped that this wouldn't take that much longer. She didn't have anything better to do, but seriously, sitting in this classroom was getting old already. Of course, being at home wouldn't be that much better... What with her crazy ass brother who seemed to have it out for her and her over the top sister who would probably end up head cheerleader and start yelling the WWHS cheers down her ears. Oh joy. At least when that day came, Charlie would already be out of that school and they might sound somewhat new to her. She didn't make a habit of listening to them, but it was hard not to in this place. Of course, this was only if she graduated and actually made it out of this school in the first place.

Her patience was growing thin as she noticed the look between Gavin and Watts. What weren't they letting her in on?! She had to admit, they had her attention now. Her curiousity was peaked. Why would Gavin need to be here to hear Charlie getting told off - again. Was this some sort of way of getting him to stay like the teacher's pet that everyone knew he was? Because if it was, it was a lousy attempt, they should have chosen to tell someone else off it they wanted to get that message across, because Charlie couldn't care less what they said to her. They should have chosen someone that this would actually work on. Charlie was not their girl.

Finally Gavin spoke. It seemed like an eternity between his words and what had been said before. That was probably because she was intrigued. Damn. This had to be the first time in a long time that school in general had managed to capture her interest. Hats off to them for doing it, even if it was in nothing that was going to help them get her better grades in the future.

Or so she thought. I'm going to be tutoring you in English," He told her, sounding a lot more confident than she thought he was capable of. Her eyes widened and she tried to read his face to see if he was messing with her or something. Sadly she wasn't too good at that sort of stuff and so she came up blank. She was still processing his words though. He was going to be tutoring her? Didn't she get some sort of say in this? Apparently not since the look on Watts's face suggested that she'd known that Charlie would react like this. Charlie had come up with a list of scenarios about why he was here, but tutoring her? Oh god. "And other subjects if teachers ask," He tagged on afterward, as if it was nothing. Well it sure as hell wasn't nothing to her. She didn't want a tutor. She figured the school must really be wanting to get rid of her to be doing this. Or Charlie's suspicions about Gavin were true and he really didn't have a life outside of school. She wouldn't be surprised if he slept here. She almost laughed at the thought, but kept it in. "You're what?!"

[/color] Charlie exclaimed. She didn't give either of them time to answer her though. After all she didn't really need an answer. She'd heard him loud and clear the first time. "I don't want a tutor!"[/color] She would've said that she didn't need a tutor, but she knew Watts would have an answer for that. In all fairness though, she didn't need him. She'd been just as good as him throughout middle school. It wasn't that she couldn't do it, more so that she didn't want to. After all, her brother was smart, and look at how he's turned out. If anything scared her, it would be ending up like him.

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[gavin james crisholm]

Well, this wasn't turning out as well as Gavin expected, though he mentally slapped himself for thinking such a thought. Of course it wasn't going to turn out well. This was Charlotte Winchester, girl who slept through almost every class, failed tests like they were going out of style, and skipped out on class practically every day. No way was she going to want tutoring, even though she needed it. Gavin sighed and turned to Mrs. Watts. "Now, Miss Winchester, I understand you don't like this predicament, but you must understand that we're doing this in the best interest for you," she said, calmly, though Gavin could tell she was getting fed up. Sometimes talking to Charlotte was like talking to a brick wall. She looked over at Gavin. "You should be lucky that Mr. Crisholm here volunteered for this, taking time away from his homework to give back. Please respect him and try,"Mrs. Watts said before smiling. "I'll let you two get started then," she added, before turning around and walking out of the room.

Gavin watched her go, silently cursing her for basically throwing him to the sharks. He turned around and took a deep breath. It was okay; he could do this. "Do you have your books?"

[/color] he asked. "If not, I can wait while you go get them. I'll decide what we're going to work on today,"[/color] he added, averting his eyes from hers. He was uncomfortable right now, and he knew she could tell. She'd probably pick up on it, and torment him about it. That would not be fun.

Gavin sat down, swinging his backpack on the table with a thump. He unzipped it, pulling out a few folders, and handed one to Charlotte. "These are the assignments that need to be turned in by the end of the week. My suggestion would be to start on the 'Parts of Speech' worksheet. It's the easiest," he said, handing her a pencil as well. He looked around and saw that she had no backpack, no notebook, and unless she was hiding a writing utensil in her pocket, she didn't have one of those either. Good thing Gavin was always prepared for situations like this.

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[charlotte arcadia winchester]

Perfect. Way to go Charlie, you've gone and landed yourself a tutor. Well wasn't today just peachy? Maybe now was a good time for her to solve some crazy maths equation or quote 'Romeo & Juliet' word for word or something. Then she could go home and go back to being the Charlie Winchester that this school knew... The one that didn't give a crap. Surely the school couldn't punish her if she knew what to do? "Now, Miss Winchester, I understand you don't like this predicament, but you must understand that we're doing this in the best interest for you," Mrs Watts said, appearing calm but even Charlie could see through her mask... And that meant that it was pretty obvious. Charlie laughed to herself. Watts had no idea how right - and wrong - what she'd said was. Charlie didn't like this arrangement one little bit. But this was in her best interest? Oh please. She knew why this was happening. They didn't want her bringing the school's overall grades down and genuinely thought that she couldn't do it. Maybe she should try in her finals, get the marks that deep down she knew she could get and then shove them right in their faces...

"You should be lucky that Mr. Crisholm here volunteered for this, taking time away from his homework to give back. Please respect him and try," Charlie's eyes followed her teacher's as they both looked to Gavin. She was bewildered, wondering why any sane person would want to spend their free time tutoring. Surely he had something better to do than stay after school for who knew how long (Charlie hoped that it wouldn't be too long... She had a life.) until finals rolled around later in the year. A small smile appeared on her teacher's face. "I'll let you two get started then," With that said, she walked out of the classroom. Charlie was fully prepared to do the exact same thing, but with Gavin standing right next to the door she had to admit that her chances of actually leaving the room were next to nothing. She may be okay - well better than okay - at holding her in an argument, but when it came to anything physical? That was a different matter completely. She was small: about five foot six and slim, and even sitting she could tell that he was taller than her. Her chances of getting out of here before they ended whatever it was they were going to do really weren't good.

With Watts out of the room, her attention was now focused on Gavin - although probably not in the way he wanted it to be. She didn't care much for what he had to say about English. She was more interested in trying to figure out what on earth had possessed him to agree to this. Most people in the school knew of Charlie, almost all of the reasons bad. Not that she cared. She figured that a bad reputation was better than being unknown. "Do you have your books?" He asked her. She didn't of course, she found it quite funny that he thought she would. She raised one of her eyebrows, her arms crossed over her chest. Her body language was hostile, but she didn't care right now. Heck, did she ever care? "If not, I can wait while you go get them. I'll decide what we're going to work on today," His eyes dropped, and a small smile appeared on her face. She'd seen that look before. Maybe not on him, but on other guys around the school. Maybe he didn't want to be here after all... "You'd be waiting quite a while..."

[/color] She answered, keeping her gaze on him as her smile grew slightly. "They're at home."[/color] Maybe he'd postpone this... whatever this was to another day. That would mean she could go home and come up with some plan to not go to the next one.

Sadly it didn't look like that was going to happen. Gavin sat down at one of the desks near her, started pulling things out of his bag and handing a folder to her. She turned it over a couple of times in her hand, hoping that it had cheat sheets or something inside of it. But she soon realized that you'd never catch Gavin dead with cheat sheets. Well that option was out of the window then. "These are the assignments that need to be turned in by the end of the week. My suggestion would be to start on the 'Parts of Speech' worksheet. It's the easiest,"[/i] He handed her a pencil next, which she took, deciding that it was a free gift, or at least something to show for this personal hell that she'd found herself in... Charlie flipped through the folder disinterestedly. There were a hell of a lot of sheets here... She found the one that he'd mentioned and pulled it out, placing it on top of the rest but not making any attempt to start it. "Come on then tutor boy... Tutor me."[/color]

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[gavin james crisholm]

Immediately, Gavin regretted his decision to tutor this girl, no matter how it looked on his college application. He already knew he was getting into Harvard: he'd done above and beyond what they required of applicants. This was just the special candles on the already overly decorated cake that really didn't need to happen. The way Charlie was acting, the way she was mocking him, made Gavin realize that he had a mental disease if he thought he was going to help this girl turn her grades around. "Overly Ambitious" was what his mom would call it, but she'd obviously never met this girl before. He'd be more likely to teach a cat how to speak English then even improve this girl's grade by a fraction of a percent.

He sighed as she said that she'd left her books at home. Typical, he thought. They probably weren't even at her home. She probably sold them for cigarette money. Not that anyone in this town would want them, besides the school and himself, but that was besides the point. The point was that she didn't have them, and that they'd have to share his. He slid his book toward the center of the table and closer to her as she spoke. "Come on then tutor boy... Tutor me." He chose to ignore that comment, instead pointing with the end of his pencil at the directions on the paper. "Read the directions carefully. Mrs. Watts likes to trick students,"

[/color] he began, before pointing to question number one.

It was a relatively easy one: name the three parts of speech. Gavin had learned this back in fifth grade, and he hoped that Charlotte could answer it now. The answers were even hidden in the worksheet, just in case. He waited for her to answer, looking at her intently, and was reminded of his sister that he had never met. Gavin had heard stories about her: how great she was a the piano, how much she loved strawberries, and how when she was little she'd carry her blanket around with her. He'd also heard the not so good stories about her: how her style had changed after her first year at college, how she stole money from his parents when she was visiting, and how she'd lied to them on the night she died. Her actions, during that final year, reminded him a lot of the way the girl sat in front of him acted now.

Both of them gave up in school, both of them were rebels, and both of them thought that they were invincible. Well, his sister had sure proved that one wrong. Too bad she didn't have anyone to tell her she wasn't. "She wasn't invincible, and you're not either,"[/color] he mumbled, before realizing that he hadn't said it in his head. Blushing, he looked away from the girl's face and back to the paper in front of them, question one still unanswered. "If you don't want to do English right now, we can switch to biology. I have some work in here,"[/color] he said, rummaging in his backpack and hoping she didn't hear his comment.

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[charlotte arcadia winchester]

Nope, it seemed as though not having her books wasn't going to get her out of this room any quicker. Damn. He slid his own book over so that it was in between the two of them. Of course he already had it on the right page. Apparently he was efficient like that. Too efficient in Charlie's opinion. She wondered how long Mrs Watts and he had been planning this. The preparation he'd done made her think that it would have to have been some time, but then again he could probably have gotten all of this together in five minutes. She didn't know all too much about him but from what she'd heard he didn't do much outside of school.

"Read the directions carefully. Mrs. Watts likes to trick students," He then pointed at the first question on the sheet with his pencil. Charlie let out a sigh and figured that she might as well humour him. She read the top of the sheet, her eyes skimming the words as quickly as they could whilst still taking in what it said. Since she figured she wasn't getting out of here until she actually did some work, her next plan of action was to put in the minimal amount of effort, in hope that he'd take it and let her get out of here. Once she knew what she had to do, she went on to read question number one. She'd done this stuff years ago, back when she could've given Gavin a run for his money. She probably still could, but no one knew that, and that was how Charlie wanted it to stay. She wasn't going to follow in her brother's footsteps, and if that meant barely making it through her finals this year then so be it.

Of course her and her brother had a lot of differences... He played the piano, Charlie couldn't play anything. He liked classical music, and she couldn't stand it. James was crazy and she wasn't... Well, she hoped that he wasn't. She'd read once that people who were crazy didn't really know they were crazy. If that was true then who knew? Of course she'd read this back in middle school so she might have remembered it wrong, but still.

She had the answer by now. Heck, she'd had the answer as soon as she read the question but she was putting it off, choosing instead to think about the upcoming weekend, since it was more interesting than English work. She hadn't made any plans... Yet. But she was okay with assuming that she'd probably meet up with Imogen and go find some party. That was how most weekends went. A small smile appeared on her face as she thought ahead, anticipating the weekend.

"She wasn't invincible, and you're not either," It was barely audible, but Charlie had definitely heard him speak. Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion. Had he been speaking to her before and she hadn't been listening? She doubted it. But then why had he said that? She wasn't invincible? Who was he on about? Not her, because he'd gone on to say that she wasn't invincible either. She looked up from the sheet that was in front of her, trying to see if he was giving anything away. Her powers of deduction seemed minimal today though, but she thought she could see a slight blush. Maybe he hadn't meant to say what he said, at least not out loud.

"If you don't want to do English right now, we can switch to biology. I have some work in here," He was changing the subject now, which only added to Charlie's suspicions over what he said. He was rummaging through his backpack now, not paying any attention to her now. With that in mind, she picked up the pencil and wrote down the answer to number one. "To be honest I'd rather do neither and just go home..."

[/color] She said as she finished writing, placing the pencil back down where she'd found it. Her mind was still trying to make sense of what he'd said before though. What on Earth had he meant about not being invincible?

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