Confusion (A Short Story)

person holding pencil near laptop computer

I threw my pencil across the room and watched it bounce off the math lab’s whiteboard. The action felt good — at least until I realized that half the room now stared at me, and the cute tutor had put a hand to her mouth to hide her laughter.

I flushed, certain my face could have put a fire hydrant to shame. Shuffling to retrieve it, I waited for their stares to flit away, but I could still hear their whispering.

“Who is he? Have you seen him before?”

“Yeah, he’s in my stats class. The teacher doesn’t like him very much.”

I sighed, plucking the pencil from the ground and heading back to my seat. When there, I buried my face in my hands, ignoring the papers scattered all around me.

“You know, if you’d like help with the homework, you are welcome to come ask me at any time.”

I looked up and found the tutor, smiling at me in an irresistible manner. “I just find throwing a pencil to be a much more endearing way of expressing frustration,” I said.

She smiled, walking around to sit beside me at the table. “We’ve got rubber erasers you could use next time instead.”

We both laughed, and she leaned over my math problem. “This shouldn’t be too hard. Degrees of freedom are basically like just subtracting one!”

“Mhm,” I said, disagreeing.

“Look,” she said, and I found my gaze traveling to her lips instead of the page. “If you just do n minus one, you’ll be able to calculate the t-score. Once you get the t-score, you’ll be able to figure out the rest of the problem.”

She glanced up and caught me looking at her. Blushing, she turned her attention back to the page, her hair falling past her ear and hiding her face.

I longed to reach out and scoop it back, but I refrained. Glancing back at the page, I studied what she had written and nodded. “See, that makes sense. Thanks!”

She nodded. “Do you have any more questions?”

“Actually, yes. What’s your name?”

She laughed. “Cecilia.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” I said sincerely. “I’m Mark, which isn’t half as cool a name as yours.”

“I still like it,” she replied.

Someone else raised their hand, and Cecilia left to go help them instead. Twenty minutes later, I had no idea how to find the standard deviation, and I raised my hand again.

“See, that works much better,” Cecilia teased, heading back over.

She started to teach me how, but then another girl from my stats class walked into the math lab. I gaped in awe, for today she seemed like the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

“So, how many girls are in your class?” Cecilia questioned, a grin sweeping her face.

“Quite a few, why do you ask?”

“Oh no reason, but I just figured out why you’re failing statistics.”

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6 comments

  1. Ahh, this is so sweet and fun!
    A delightful read.
    And that last sentence is just amazing. XD

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  2. This piece is so wonderfully playful and Mark is such a relatable character. Ugh, I just cannot figure out math! Also, must agree with Thalassa, Cecilia is an epic character I totally want to be friends with and her last line is AWESOME! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it!

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