Charlie needed a shower after his earlier encounter with Renee Bridges, so he took the time to clean up properly for his tutoring session with Lena Piper at 3:30. He walked into the Starbuck's at 3:37; Lena was sitting at one of the bar tables in the far corner.
"Hi Lena, sorry I'm late."
"Oh, that's okay, I was just just looking over the menu. I'm going to get a frappuccino I think; what would you like?"
"Um, well...that sounds good; I'll have one too... how 'bout mocha with no whipped cream?"
"Be right back!"
He followed her walk up to the counter with some interest, but right then he was pretty tired. As he watched her ass wiggle while walking, he was struck by some strange thoughts. Somehow he was breaking out of his "clique" mindset and into a totally new life path. In the last month, almost all his activities (outside of school) were unrelated to his old way of living. An even stranger thought was, "Wow, I haven't even played 'Minecraft' or 'Call-of-Duty' once in the last two weeks! Things ARE changing!" His circle of friends was expanding; in some ways this was unnerving, but mostly it was incredibly exciting! Mark's birthday party next week was a confirmation of it all! He was feeling enthusiastic about this party; and he would not have been if it was just going to be more of the same.
These thoughts recharged him, and by the time Lena returned with the drinks, he was feeling pretty fired up! "Thanks Lena, this was nice of you!" He took a sip, "Good stuff!"
"It's the least I could do," she said, "giving me some of your day off, that's really cool!"
"Let's get to work, okay? I can't wait to see if we can get you caught up enough. When is your next calculus test?"
"I think Friday, that's not the best seeing as we have that playoff game Friday night, but I need a better grade on this one!"
"Let's backtrack on the homework you've done since the last test and see where that gets us."
They opened her books and folder and got started. It was slow going at first, but off of their last session together they could at least discuss some things without her looking like they were speaking a foreign language. Forty minutes in, Lena began to connect the dots; and thirty minutes after that, she seemed to have a grasp of where things were going.
Charlie said, "Okay, I'm going to write an equation here. I'll try to make one that I think your teacher might use on the test." When he finished writing, he turned the paper toward her. "Okay, solve that one!"
Lena spent half a minute thinking, then spent the next half minute writing her answer. She showed it to Charlie, "How's that?"
He looked at it, then looked at her with a grin, "Oh....My.........GOD!"
Lena was ecstatic, "I knew it...I KNEW how to do it!" They high-fived each other and she said, "Thank you, Charlie...Wow, I can't thank you enough!"
"If you can do that one, Lena, there's no reason why you shouldn't do well on the test! Let's get your graded results and have a talk after that."
"Yes, I'll buckle down and concentrate this week; I'll keep you posted if anything comes up that I might need help on."
"Great!" he said, "Okay, we can get out of here; you have plans tonight?"
"I do, I have a date; but it isn't until 7:30 so there's time to get ready."
He smiled, "Well that's fun; who're you going out with?"
She looked at him and thought before speaking, "Actually, no one you know; this person doesn't go to our school." For the briefest moment Charlie was tempted to press the issue but decided against it. It wasn't his business anyway.
But something must have registered on his face at that instant because when he said, "Oh okay...well, have fun!" she cocked her head at him and smiled.
"You seemed surprised right there, does my having a date surprise you?"
"Not at all," he replied goodnaturedly, "Who you date is none of my business. I shouldn't be surprised because we hardly know each other."
Lena looked at him as if she suspected something, "You sound like you DO know something; but I'm not sure what."
"We don't have to talk about it, we haven't been friends that long."
She looked slightly perturbed, "There you go again; what do you mean?"
Charlie turned in his chair and faced her more directly. "Look, remember our last conversation? You were telling me how Carrie had to fight off all the stupid comments about how people are and how they should behave and all of that, remember?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, you're stuck in that too, aren't you? You're bi-sexual and you don't want to deal with all the shit that some of the kids in our class would heap on you!"
Lena looked stunned. She stammered, "H..how in the w..world d..do you know that?"
Charlie tried to smile a smile that would be calming, "Psychology is a kind of hobby of mine. I knew your date was a girl for two reasons, one...you called it a 'date' and two...you said 'this person doesn't go to our school.' If it was a guy, you'd have said 'this guy.' As to the rest of it, this girl doesn't go to our school, that implies you don't want this to be known at Springfield;" when Lena's mouth dropped open, he finished his sentence. "I'm thinking no one at our school knows you're Bi."
She sat in silence for a whole minute; Charlie just sat there himself and let it process. She finally said, "They told me you were smart; they didn't tell me just how smart!"
"Lena, if I'm your friend, your 'secret' is safe with me. Don't worry, enjoy your date tonight!"
"Look, Charlie, I'm just scared; kids can be cruel. I see it all the time!"
"Don't I know it!" he sympathized. "You told me about all the shit Carrie had to endure just for talking to me. You want to keep a low profile. I get it!"
"That's it exactly!"
"Yup! But if you don't mind, would you tell me one thing?"
"Sure."
"I've seen you date boys. Which gender do you prefer moving forward?"
"Boys, I want a traditional family someday...like my parents have."
He nodded, "Can I tell you something too?"
"Of course!"
"Obviously there are some lesbians in Springfield, but did you know there are other girls in the school who are Bi and it's not generally known?"
"You're saying I'm not the only one with a secret."
"Exactly! How did I know your secret?"
Lena giggled, "Psychological profiling?"