“And that will be all for today guys.” Lisa addressed the group of students cheerfully, making sure to smile and nod at each one reassuringly.
“Make she you look over the poems we discussed, especially you Dagon.” She awkwardly smiled at the gigantic wall of jock that was Dagon.
“I’ll think about it teach.” Dagon said this over his shoulder as he made his way back to the center of his ‘fan club.' The moment he crossed the threshold into the hallway, he had a girl on each arm and many more fighting for his attention. Lisa didn’t understand.
She had heard all the rumors about Dagon. All of those extra “vitamins” he took made him lacking in the one department he boasted about the most. But even if the rumors weren’t true, she wouldn’t act like that over Dagon. He wasn’t her type.
When the noise from Dagon and his crowd finally faded, Lisa’s polite smile turned into a frowned at the thought of this new nickname. It was an improvement from nerd chick, but not by much. How, or why, he seemed not to know her name was a mystery; she wrote it on the board during every tutoring session she had ever given.
Forgetting about the nickname Dagon had given her, Lisa’s attention returned to collecting all her papers and her prized collection of poems she used for her literature tutoring session.
The list of the most recent grades earned by the students in her group fell out. She looked it over again.
Everyone that came to her tutoring sessions seemed to be improving little by little, except for one. Will, who still couldn’t manage to get higher than a C and the bare-minimum C at that.
“Ms. Lisa?” Lisa was startled from her train of thought by its subject, Will. She raised an eyebrow at him, both wondering what he wanted and why he had called her “Ms.” like we weren’t in the same class.
“I was wondering if you could help me out a little more. I know I’m at every session, but it just doesn’t want to click in my head.”
Lisa was shocked. Will had probably said more words to her just now than the entire time he had been going to tutoring. He always acted so stand-offish during the sessions, never trying to interact in any way with the rest of the group. This behavior would’ve been semi-understandable if the majority of the students were like Dagon, “macho bird-brains” to put it stereotypically, but the group was a diverse one.
Lisa never understood how people could be “bored” with literature, or not get the symbolism within a poem. Back in primary school, it didn’t make her the most popular girl, or the girl with many friends, but literature was something that she had always enjoyed.
“Hello? Earth to Lisa!” Will snapped his fingers near her ear, effectively bringing her away from her musing.
“Sorry, sorry. What did you have in mind Will?” Lisa’s face was once again red from embarrassment, and she dipped her head avoiding eye contact. She didn't talk to guys, outside of sessions that is.
She heard Will chuckle at her bashfulness.
“I thought we could set up a schedule. So we can meet for some one-on-one sessions.” Will’s demeanor was completely different right now. He almost sounded helpless. The more Lisa observed, the more he seemed just as shy as she acted. Lisa unconsciously bit her lip.
“Well, um, I’m free after every tutoring session. If you want, we could have one right now, or whatever, it’s up to you.” She tried to sound as confident as possible, willing her voice not to shake as she looked Will in the eye.
“Sure, it’s cool.” She noticed that he didn’t hold eye contact with her. When she looked him in the eye, his gaze fell, or he made an excuse to look away. “We can go to the cafe; it should be empty by now.”
Lisa sipped her Pumpkin Spice latte and flipped through the many pages of poetry within the book on her lap as she waited for Will to finish pouring an unnecessary amount of sugar and creamer into his coffee. She was pondering which poet they would start with when he finally made his way to their little booth near the back, and they sat in awkward silence for what seemed like forever.
“So.” They both started.
“Oh sorry, go ahead.” Lisa quickly apologized and put the rim of her cup to her lips, preventing her from interrupting again.
“It’s okay.” Will leaned back casually, smiling. “So this Shakespeare dude? Do you have any tips for better understanding what was up with him?”
Lisa stopped to think about ways that she had learned to get better at connecting the themes of poetry. Absent-mindedly her cheeks puffed up as she thought; it was something that happened when she had to think especially hard about a problem.
Will had noticed and chuckled a little at her odd facial expression.
“Quiet! I’m thinking!” Lisa snapped harshly, in a tone she had never used in front of Will before.
Immediately she blushed, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes widened in shock. She watched Will’s face for a response.
His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open slightly, his entire demeanor changed right before her eyes. A small spark of inspiration came to life within Lisa’s head.
“Grab the books and take me home, now.” She commanded, no shake in her voice now, no room for him to object. Lisa picked her coffee cup up and proceeded to through it into the trash bin nearest the exit. She continued outside and stood there, looking out into the parking lot.
For a second she thought that she had made a mistake and that he wouldn’t follow her out, but in seconds he was behind her, pointing her in the direction of his car.
The ride to Lisa’s off-campus apartment wasn’t a long one. Lisa refused to look in Will’s direction the entire way and didn’t return any of his small talk.
When they got there, she didn’t wait long for him to follow her up to the third floor where she resided. At the door, she unlocked it and stepped in. Turning around to Will she relayed another command.
“Take off your shoes before you step foot into my apartment.” Lisa pointed at the shoes and motioned towards the mat to the left of the door.
Next, she tapped on the glass top of her coffee table, apparently meaning that the books should go there.
Will took the clue and stood awkwardly in her living room after depositing the books on the small table. Lisa sat on the couch, legs crossed and arms spread out on the back of the sofa.
“I know how we are going to get Shakespeare to click in your head.” Nodding at the book, Lisa smiled devilishly. It was evident to her that Will was nervous, but also excited.
Lisa got up and placed a chair in the middle of the room, patting the cushion, inviting Will to have a seat. She held the back of the chair as he slowly sat down. Once he sat, she grabbed her book of poetry and opened it up to the page she had bookmarked, pointing to a line.
“Start reading here. It’s a pretty good poem. I’ll be right back. I’m going to change.” Lisa retreated inter her room, heading straight for the back of her closet, where her deepest secrets hid. There she retrieved her leather studded boots, her leather dress that laced up the sides, and her leather gloves.
Lisa was excited. She had never had a reason to wear the entire outfit before. Not only did she have a reason to wear it all but she was going to get to play in it as well.
Quickly Lisa donned her outfit and checked herself out in the mirror. Taking a dark lipstick from her case, she made her full lips as dark as they could get. As she assessed her reflection, she was nearly satisfied, but there was one important piece missing from her outfit.
Kneeling down and pulling a box from under the bed, Lisa opened it up and revealed a beautiful crop.
She posed with it in front of her mirror, loving the way she looked wielding the crop.