Falling For Amelia Manning - 8 Perfect Strangers

Since neither of the girls was allowed to call out sick in the second week of school, they both had to get up the next day. After the horrible drama that happened only hours before and haul themselves out the door. Not even their normal morning bagels with the raspberry jam Phoebe’s mother insisted on again, could cheer them up.

James’ father had made the call for them both to stay the night at the Edan’s, but he was the one to rise early and grab clothes for his daughter before she headed out the door. He had planned to save the longer, more detailed, talk about what happened for another time. But for now, he kissed James on the top of her head and headed into work before his boss called him.

Though they didn’t want to go, Phoebe and James quickly showered and dressed faster than Mrs. Edan had ever seen happen. She even offered to take them into school since she had the day off, but James had an appointment after school she couldn’t miss so she needed the car anyway. Waving them off for another boring day of school, Mrs. Edan busied herself in the garden out back before it started getting too cold for some of her flowers.

Frustrated that all the good parking spots had been taken, both the girls headed into the building they both hated, just in time for their first-period bell to ring, signaling how late they really were. Having little time to do much that day, Phoebe had to take her Crosse to class with her until the last period when she went out to the field to get some practice in before calling her mom for a ride home. Knowing James had to go to the doctor around two, she knew that her ride for the day would be gone before school even let out.

Knowing that her day would be monotonous and boring, Phoebe didn’t pay attention to class after class and even the two of them at lunch was more boring than it usually was. They were going through the motions and it was perfectly normal for them after something so stressful, that they just push themselves on autopilot to get through the day. It wasn’t until Phoebe’s last class of the day that she was called into her AP Chemistry lab with a note from an office aide.

“Ms. Jenkins, you wanted to see me?” Phoebe entered the empty lab room and listened as her voice bounced off the walls. She didn’t see her teacher, and she didn’t hear anyone else in the room. When she got the note, she assumed it was about the tutoring that would be starting this week. Something else she hasn’t been thinking about, along with most of her work this school year. She just hoped her mother didn’t catch onto her lousy start and that it would pick up once James and her collective funk wore off. Between try-outs and mothers coming back into lives, they’ve had a crazy first week of school.

“What are you doing here, Edan?” A voice from the classroom doorway made her body twist around quickly. She knew the voice before she saw the face but when her eyes landed on her, she still didn’t want to believe it.

“Manning, I thought you hated everything having to do with using your brain?” Phoebe threw out the first thing that came to mind, and the look on Amelia’s face told her it wasn’t a great comeback. Trying not to show her how much she knew the comeback was bad, Phoebe turned away from the doorway only to hear Amelia getting closer and closer to her.

“Keep thinking you’re the only smart person in the entire world. Wait until you get to college, that’s a much bigger pond, little fish.” Amelia jabbed back just before finding a seat at one of the lab tables. Phoebe noticed they seemed to be waiting on the same thing, Ms. Jenkins.

Sitting through a horrible silence, Phoebe wished so hard that the teacher would show up, that she didn’t connect the dots laying in front of her. With a crashing sound bringing their attention to the backroom, they both craned their necks to see what was going on.

“Oh good, you’re both here, settle in I’ll give the assignment before heading out. After this time, the usual meeting time will be during your free period.” Ms. Jenkins swept across the room, dodged the lab tables, and threw a few things in front of them before getting to her own desk.

“What are you talking about?” Amelia spoke up and her tone of voice earned a pointed stare from the teacher.

“You know exactly what I am talking about, Miss Manning. You agreed to be tutored to bring your grade up, less you be kicked off the team…Miss Edan, you agreed to tutor a student for college credit…Am I wrong on both accounts?” She asked the two of them, who knew exactly what she was talking about but didn’t realize their tutoring would be with the other person. When it finally hit them, they seemed lost in thought, probably trying to find a plan to get out of this situation.

“Ms. Jenkins,” Amelia started.

“There is no substituting, Miss Manning. I am fully aware of the rift between the two of you. Do you forget that I was your science teacher back in elementary school? Plus, teachers talk just as much as students.” She told them with the snap of her day planner as she packed her bags for the day. Neither one of them had ever seen a teacher trying to get out of a classroom so quickly.

“She may have to be here, but I can reject the college credit. You could find someone else.” Phoebe brought up her point but the look on the teacher’s face, one she’s never had the pleasure of seeing before, told her she had little room to negotiate.

“It would be in your best interest to take on this assignment, Miss Edan. If you have any dire questions about the material, and only the material assigned, then you can reach me during classroom hours any other day of the week. Until then, I have an appointment to get to. Good night, ladies.” She stalked out of the room with the click of her heels, shoes that seemed too young for such a prudish teacher, Phoebe bitterly thought.

It was a long, silent moment in between when the teacher left and when one of them finally spoke up.

“I’m not failing science, just so you know, so don’t go telling everyone about this.”

Phoebe scoffed as if she would want anyone to know she was the one helping her.

“Please, like your life is that interesting,” Phoebe told her while finding a seat at the lab table across from her. She made sure there was a full table’s length between them. It wasn’t until the papers the teacher left in front of them, that she realized what she had to help Amelia with.

“You’re having problems with chemical reactions and equations? This is basically just math; do you need help in math too?” Without realizing she had offended her, Amelia stood up from the lab table and grabbed her stuff before heading toward the door. “What are you doing?” Phoebe shouted after her just as she grabbed her own bag from the table and breaking into a jog. As she tried to keep up with her, Phoebe cursed Amelia’s long legs.

“I’ll take the failing grade, we don’t work together, it would just be a waste of time,” she told her as she hustled down the empty halls heading for the field where she was going to pick up some practice before heading home. Phoebe, with the same idea, hadn’t realized that’s where they were on their way to. Reaching out as far as she could, Phoebe grabbed her sleeve making Amelia stop in her tracks.

“What do you want, Edan?”

Stopping to take in a needed breath, Phoebe readied herself to say something smart and cunning against the fact that Amelia would take a failing grade rather than spend time with her in the same room.

“What do you have to lose?” Phoebe asked, stunning Amelia into silence.

“I can’t see how you’re my tutor when you are so dumb.”

“Don’t call me dumb, I’m not failing chemistry!” Phoebe shouted and with a quick look around she noted there wasn’t anyone in the halls with them.

“I’m not the one in trouble of not graduating because of one stupid class. If I promise not to be me, you must promise not to be you, so that we can get through this. It’s only for a few weeks, or more, if you’re as hard to teach as it sounds.” Phoebe wasn’t prepared for the slug to her shoulder. When she looked up and saw Amelia’s hand in a fist, she bit her tongue instead of saying something back.

“That was for the poke at me being hard to teach, and there’s another one coming for you if I find out you told anyone about this.” The look in her blue and green eyes was enough to make Phoebe seal her lips shut.

“How is this going to work?” Amelia sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Looking anywhere but at Phoebe, she tried to think of being anywhere else.

“We pretend we don’t know each other, should be easy,” Phoebe shrugged. It was the only thing she could think of. She wasn’t sure what came over her, helping the person she hated the most. Maybe it was making up for what broke them apart so long ago. Maybe she was bored. She didn’t want to think about it.

“Fine.”

“What?”

“I said, fine, I’ll allow you to tutor me. I want to graduate, and my sister would be pissed if she found out how behind I am. So, Edan,” Amelia reached her hand out in a gesture of good faith. Shocked, Phoebe took a few seconds longer than necessary to reach out and meet their hands.

“From this day forward, in that classroom, we are perfect strangers. Got it?” The grip on Phoebe’s hand became almost unbearable but she wasn’t going to let Amelia see that, so she squeezed back.

“It would be my pleasure to not know who you are,” Phoebe told her and together with their hands stiffly shook on the deal. When she saw a weird look on Amelia’s face, Phoebe dropped the smile that snuck onto her own face quickly, so it didn’t seem like this was anything but a mutual understanding. It wasn’t until Phoebe cleared her throat that they realized their hands were still together. Jerking away, Amelia turned from her and headed toward the field for a late afternoon practice.

Phoebe, on the other hand, waited for a long moment before pulling her phone out and texting her mom that she needed a ride home. Forgetting about the practice she needed, she made a note to herself to do some workouts in the backyard after dinner.

Phoebe hated how she felt after the handshake because try as she may, she couldn’t get the feeling out of her head. Even when she stood outside waiting for her mom, she thought about it. Eventually, she drifted back to the night of the dreaded slumber party that ruined their early friendship. The secret that Amelia whole heartily thought she spilled to their friends when she kept her lips shut to this day. She thought about how frail and soft friendships can be when something so simple happens to them. The feeling of betrayal that Amelia must have felt, Phoebe hated herself for it and deep down, she hated herself for ruining such a nice thing they had so long ago.

The three of them, James, Amelia, and she, had the best times together. Even if it was so long ago and they were so young, it was strange to think about such drama at that age. Even the years after it was hard to think about and only fueled the hate, she had for her now. Maybe the original situation wasn’t handled well, but Amelia only made it worse through the years.

When her mom’s car pulled up to the curb, Phoebe was still thinking about the perfect stranger she walked away from, because that’s truly what Amelia was to her now with all the years that came between them.

She didn’t even entertain the idea that it could all change. That she would get an old friend back, that her life would be shifted forever in a new direction just from that simple handshake earlier. All she thought about after her mother pulled away from the school was that she needed to practice her throwing arm tonight.