Books and Their Covers

Being top of the class isn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean, I'm vain, so I sort of needed to be. Plus the fact that I need scholarships. Anyways, with my intelligence level, being so high, it is often difficult to find someone of equal, or at least almost equal, intelligence. As the saying goes, geniuses live a solitary life. Or something like that.

Also, people are intimidated by my smarts, and so they tend to excerpt their powers on me. Often resulting in the classic battle of brains against brawn. This is real life, not the movies. Brain loses. Long story short, I've ended up with a lot of bruises and doing a lot of homework that wasn't mine. And between their homework and mine, work, and housework, I don't get much sleep.

Also, teachers, no matter the subject, want me to help students who...aren't quite there. So this detracts from my class work time, meaning I have more homework. And ends ups often giving me extreme headaches. But I am polite and answer the halfwits questions and explain molecular physics the best I can to their limited intelligence.

One such halfwit is Talulah Carter. She is the head, or captain I mean, of the Girls Basketball team and the volleyball team, which are both the best in the state, six years running, and her sister was captain before her, and her brother was the equivalent on the football and basketball team. In short, she is the main 'jock' of the females. She is rude, arrogant, and impulsive. She just barely is holding her head above the C- watermark in Calculus, the only class I share with her. She is rich; her father owns the Carter Leather and Shoe Company, meaning she is practically famous in the town, and a total snot most of the time. But I had to admit, she is gorgeous. Her mixed African and Mexican heritage gave her smooth skin the color of coffee and cream and rich, voluminous black hair with enough wave and shine to turn heads everywhere. She has thick, soft (or at least they looked that way) lips surrounding perfect white teeth she flashed at any boy who looked her way. Or teacher; she is a horrible kiss-up. She has the build of a Greek goddess, I swear. She is a perfectly sculpted nineteen year old with a firm, flat stomach, thick, muscled legs and arms, a great rack, and a wonderfully large, firm ass. I'll admit, she is the subject of many of my midnight fantasies.

But I knew that's all they will ever be. She would never want a pale, pudgy nerd with glasses and crooked teeth, muddy hazel-green eyes, short frizzy brown hair who was socially awkward and weird. Plus when you compare my economic status to hers, there was totally no way. I made most of my own clothes, worked a shit job to pay for rent, the phone bill and food. I had ditched my parental units the over the summer as soon as i was "legal," so I was on my own.

But one day, while working on a particularly complex equation, Mr. Galthrup, my calculus teacher, came up to me, tapping me on the shoulder and breaking my train of thought. I tried to pull the fragments together and solve the equitation, but the answer was lost to me now. I sighed and turned to the aging man.

"Yes?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously and I inwardly grimaced as dandruff fell onto the shoulder of his sweater.

"Ms. Teppers, may I talk to you at lunch today?" I nodded and returned to my math problem, and he, understanding he was dismissed, creeped back over to his desk. Seeing as lunch was after fourth hour, I simply lingered after class as the other students rushed off to the hell of the lunch lines, or to their lockers to grab their sack lunches. Well, most students. Talulah remained as well. I had a bad feeling about this. A short while later a tall dark man walked into the room, and my bad feeling deepened. Somehow offending the biggest, and most wealthy, name for several counties in any direction, was not a good thing.

"So," the big black said, turning to me. I self-consciously tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and pulled my books a little tighter to my chest. "You're Ms. Teppers." He looked my up and down, and I blushed under his scrutiny. "You're awfully short for a senior." I frowned and reined in my temper.

"Excuse me, but I am a junior. And my height is irrelevant to my capability." I managed so say tersely, my hand twitching at my side. His eyebrows shot up and I let a small smirk slip between my lips, before pulling it back in. "So may I inquire as to what you wish to talk to me about? I have places to be." I said flatly. Talulah snorted beside her father.

"You? What, got a chess club meeting? Or gotta go meet up with Terence?" She sneered. Terence was the local dweeb. No social skills, always sick, thick, gummy glasses, horrible fashion sense, the whole ten nerd yards.

"If you must know," I griped back, "I have some homework I have to finish up, something you apparently don't know much about."

"I finish all my homework at home!" She snapped, stepping foreword and crossing her arms.

"Yeah, but you still don't understand the material, so what good does it do you?" I quipped. It was at this point that her father stepped forward. I had forgotten about him.

"Which is why I am here to talk to you. What is your opinion of Talulah?" the way he said her name, it sounded like a rebuke, and Talulah seemed to take it as such, stepping back and looking down. I hesitated as I debated my reply.

"I believe..." I started slowly, weighing my words. "That she is determined, and...reasonably intelligent. However, it is probable that her brain is...heavily right oriented. Meaning her understanding in subjects such as English and history are likely higher then it is in, say, math, languages, and sciences. She also lacks the focus needed to fully comprehend subjects, such as calculus, that she does not find relevant or interesting. It is quite likely that she barely passed in previous years, and, math and science being classes that build on each other, now she finds it difficult to understand the present material." I only spoke of her academic qualities really, seeing as my opinion of her...other habits and behavior seemed irrelevant in this case. He seemed to debate my response, but seemed satisfied by it. Talulah looked at me somewhere between confused and relieved, probably that I didn't insult her, or that I didn't rat her out.

"As you mentioned, she needs help with her grades, calculus especially. Her grade is falling below the requirement, but she needs to get it up if she wishes to stay on the team, and pass this class. I would like you to tutor her." My jaw dropped a little before I caught it.

"Me?" I asked. Mr. Carter raised an eyebrow before Mr. Galthrup cut in.

"Yes, I recommended you. You seem very patient with the students, and they often seem to understand things better with your help in class, and you never seemed to mind helping, in fact you seemed to enjoy it." He explained, and my face felt hot. I raised my chin, not acknowledging whether or not that was true.

"Well, I've got work after school. I don't think-" I started to say when Mr. Carter, cut me off, much to my annoyance.

"Quit your job. I'll pay you." I looked down, debating it.

"How much? I asked hesitantly, glancing up at him.

"Twelve dollars an hour. All week." He offered. I wasted no time before responding.

"Alright!" I said with a bit of a grin. Waitressing was not a good job, especially since they could pay you less than minimum wage, because of tips. And drunkards were horrible tippers. And clumsy and rude. "I can start Thursday if you want. Am I coming over to your place or at the library?"

I could tell both Carters were a little shocked by my change in attitude, but the prospect of that much money... It was a game changer. With that I would be able to save up for a truck sooner and I could maybe get some food that wasn't canned and get a new pair of shoes instead of duct taping this pair again and get presents for people on their birthdays and Christmas and fourteen other things I couldn't do before! If I worked five days a week, three hours a day, that was a hundred eighty dollars, instead of a hundred, if I was lucky.

"Uh, my house?" Talulah offered. "I don't like libraries." She seemed a little dumbfounded. I suspected she didn't think that I would agree to tutoring her. We weren't know for getting along. Quite the opposite actually. In fact, she was one of the kids who beat me up occasionally, and I had done her homework more than once. As far as I knew, I was the only one she seemed to pick on. I have no idea what I did to her, but I never really saw her as a kind person anyways.

Anyways, that was how I ended up standing here, in front of Carter Manor. I pounded my fist against the side of my head, mad at myself for being bought up, but I had little choice, or so I keep telling myself. I mean its not like I want to spend more time with this rude, arrogant, beautiful prat, and look at those beautiful eyes and waste time being around her and teaching her something she'll never get and maybe she'll see that I'm not all that bad and... Yeah it had nothing to do with any of that. I was here cause it was a good paying job.

There was a bored looking man at a little kiosk beside the wrought iron gates and so I self-consciously moseyed over to him.

"Excuse me," I said and he looked down at me, then flashed me smile.

"How can I help you, little missy?" I blushed a little. He was cute, in his early twenties/late teens, and he had pretty blue eyes.

"Um, I'm Kira Teppers, I'm here to tutor Talulah?" He laughed.

"You got your work cut out, she's had tutors before, none have stayed very long. I'll just open the gates for you miss." He hopped up from his little stool and pulled the keys off from his belt. I smiled at him and scurried in once he finished unlocking the gates. "Good luck!" He called after me and I waved back at him to say thanks. Apparently he buzzed the house or something because a butler was at the door waiting for me by the time I made it to the front doors.

"Ms. Teppers," he said with a small bow, startling me and making me blush, but grin, because that was so darn cool! "May I take your coat and scarf?" He asked, I think trying to hide his smile as we stepped in to the foyer. I wore my silver and black scarf and a thin grey cardigan that I had unbuttoned. Under it I had a sleeveless green top and a green plaid kilt skirt. I suppose he was just following protocol or something. I mutely shook my head and headed into the main house. I stopped and my jaw dropped. This house was immense. Ornate ceilings arched above me as I gazed up. I looked to the left and several beautiful Corinthian columns made up the main supports for the large foyer. I couldn't help scurrying over to a vase on a small table to the right, and gasping in amazement.

"Oh my gosh, is this real?" I whispered, awestruck at the Grecian work before me. At closer inspection I found that was indeed authentic! I gasped in surprise as I felt someone tap my shoulder. I whipped around and saw a smiling Hispanic woman. I could tell right away by the way she carried herself and the clothing, that this was Mrs. Carter.

"Sorry ma'am," I started, bowing slightly. "I didn't mean to intrude, I was simply admiring the-" she raised her hand and I stopped abruptly.

"No need to apologize. Great art is meant to be seen." She said. It was not loud, nor quiet. Her voice rather reminded me of a song birds. I was not particularly keen on it. I nodded to her comment as she seemed to be awaiting a response. She seemed satisfied with this and spoke again.

"You are young Ms. Teppers, I presume?" I nodded.

"Yes ma'am. If you could direct me to Talulah so I could start, I would much appreciate it ma'am." I said politely, gazing down slightly. I jerked as she grabbed my chin; her hands were cold and damp feeling. I kept my face neutral, but it was not a feeling I liked.

"Never look down when you're talking to someone, look at the person you're talking to. Talulah is up the left staircase, third door on your left." She said a little flatly. I think I annoyed her somewhat, whether from looking down or pulling away, I knew not. I made a mental note to not do either in the future.

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am." I said quickly, glancing into those hard black eyes before hurrying away.

As I turned to my right, having scaled the beautiful stairs, I saw another beautiful woman standing before me. I steadied my knees and headed over to her.

"So where we working?" I asked simply.

"So she gets a ma'am and I get nothing?" Talulah sounded rather put out about this.

"Well yes." I replied matter-of-factly. "Ma'am comes from 'madam' and seeing as she is the lady of the house, that title belongs to her, and that is the polite way to address her."

"Well then what's the polite way to address me?" She had her hand on her hip, the other supporting her weight on the door frame. This pose showed off her wonderful figure, although I tried not to notice. I thought for a moment before deciding on the proper term.

"'Miss,' I suppose." I said with a shrug. She smirked before opening the door and beckoning me in. As I walked past her she whispered in my ear.

"Perhaps 'mistress' would fit." She stated, finish by trailing her tongue along the edge of my ear. When I whipped around to face her she had her usual skeptical eyebrow raised and dramatically waved me in. "Coming princess?" She asked sarcastically. I shook my head and scurried in. I must've just imagined it.

I looked around her room, looking for a place to work. I saw a desk, but it was covered in clutter. Otherwise there was a vanity covered in makeup and the like, a tv and Xbox, and a giant black and red bed. I swallowed nervously and looked behind me. Talulah remained leaning on the door way, and I could've sworn she was staring at my butt. She noticed me looking at her and pushed herself off, sauntering towards the bed. She hopped on it, the swirling wire frame bouncing a bit, the sateen sheet rustling beneath her. I tried not to stare at her ass noticeably. I bit my lip as I crawled on the bed beside her. I glanced at her, then laid down as she had. I took a breath, took off my scarf and pulled out my calculus book.

"So when did you start getting lost?" I asked her, opening the book.

"Chapter one, section six." She answered. I sighed; we had a long way to go, three chapters at least.

"Alright." I opened the book and flipped to the section. "See, what is saying here is that..." I explained the method to her in rather simpleton terms, using lots of metaphors. Or similes. I get the two mixed up.

We worked through several problems and moved onto the next section. She sighed loudly.

"I'm tired!" She threw up her arms exasperatedly, letting one flop on my back. I blushed and rolled my eyes.

I glanced at the time on my phone. It hadn't felt like that long. I sighed.

"I guess we can take a break. You've been working very well." I stated, picking up my phone and starting to unlock it, but I froze with her next words.