User blog:JeielYozama/Aguilar One Shots - Gazer

I didn't ask for her.

That very morning, my dad was insistent that I get a tutor. The red marks on my report card were what drove him to a conclusion ; he didn't know I was failing my subjects on purpose. Ever since Mom died, he pooled his time in work and only work, leaving me to face the world alone. Which, I began to hate. Turns out it worked - I got him to check his son, but it only took him a day of pondering to decide I needed some curricular assistance from an outsider, no less. The tutor he hired was to come from an eccentric Mamono-hiring company, and he said that the one who took the job is an extremely capable teacher.

With a grumble, I accepted. I didn't exactly want to have an argument with him. Once he puts up a plan it's hard not to disagree - else he'll throw a fit and all the grown-up crack.

Trust me. It's happened too many times for me to count.

So there I was. Waiting for the tutor on the living room table, playing with my smartphone. I still wanted out. I didn't want this. Maybe I could slip out the window.. or fake an illness so I don't get to have her around.

Until I heard a car pull up on the drive way. And the doorbell rang twice. I sighed and shuffled towards the door.

"Coming," I uttered with a groan - and as I turned the knob and pulled the door open.... an eye on the end of a grey tentacle poked in to greet me.

"WHOA!!"

I fell on my butt. More eyes on grey, shaggy tentacles looked at me as the owner of such appendages walked in on... grey heels.

"Oh. Sorry about that. They get curious."

The tentacles parted..to reveal an ash-skinned lady wearing a body-hugging sweater. Slender hands poked out of the long sleeves. She had a sloping bust and a height the same as mine. Her shoulder-blade length of hair was a bouncy navy blue. Plus, apart from the multitude of indigo-irised eyes on grey tentacles from her back.. she had just one on the center of her small face. One that was deep blue in color.

The tutor pulled back her tentacles, which were still staring at me. I guess I'm still not used to looking at Gazers but..she seemed pretty mature for one. She had a mono-glass resting on her eye, which she adjusted as she gave me a nonchalant grin.

"Are you going to sit there all day?"

"Oh! Sorry." I pulled myself up, dusting my rump. I reached out my hand in greeting. "My name's Jerome Aguilar. You?"

"Neridia Grae. But call me Nerid," replied the Gazer. She was looking around. "So... your dad. He hired me to teach you. College Algebra?"

"Yeah. I suck at it."

In all honesty, I do suck at Math. But not to a point I'd nuke straight to a fail. I know much to be an average Joe.

"Alright. Take a seat. We'll start," she says as she shuts the door and heads for the couch. She takes a seat, allowing the tentacles to reposition behind her while I follow and sit across her. "You have a text book ?"

"The ones we have at school?" I fished out the thing she asks for from my bag. "Here ya go." I handed the book and studied her as she went over the pages. Her eye seemed to glint in fascination.

"... aren't you a bit young to be a proficient tutor?" I asked. Her tentacle eyes stare at me as she herself turns and smiles vacantly.

"Yes. Yes I am," she closes the book and places her hands on her hips. "Okay, I got a good impression on what you need."

"What? Basics on Algebra? Quadratic equations?" I guessed.

All of the sudden she lands me a sly look. "You need a guidance counselor. Not a tutor." She taps at my book. "The answers written on sheets by the activity pages... some of them are definitely wrong..but others...you simply rearranged the numerical values to make them wrong."

".....uhhh...."

"Well, it's plain as rain. You may have some flaws, but you're not exactly bad at this subject. So why try to look bad?" the Gazer asked.

I simply stared at her.

"....is this a part of what Dad paid you for?" I mused with uncertainty. Instead of answering Nerid raised a toothy grin.

"Nope. I'm a teen. I'm nosy this way."

I slumped my back against the couch. Playing dumb isn't going to do anything now. I might as well avoid the wisecracks and be straight with it.

"Was just hoping that Dad would take notice and perhaps.....stop working for once. You've seen him, right?"

"Oh, the bald dude who wears a business suit?" Nerid said as she held her hair down as if to imitate a no-haired person. "He goes all 'My son needs a tutor. Send her in as fast as possible' and then bolts off the door without a word. Isn't he the epitome of busy?"

"True that." I told her while resting my head, groaning. "He's been like that...ever since Mom passed away."

Nerid crossed her fingers. " You're not alone. I lost my mom at a young age. "

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't be," said the Gazer. "I got over my mom's death fast. I knew that if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to get through the rest of my issues. Like the fact I'm an only kid and my dad's a deadbeat. I had to look for a way to earn."

Nerid rested her head on the top part of the couch. "I looked for a lot of oddjobs, to tell you frankly. I washed dishes by a local diner, sold ice cream on the streets, carried books for total strangers. I had to earn to help pay for my education. I was really proud back then; you know how we Gazers are like. But I mellowed down ever since I realized my behavior won't help me around people. "

Gingerly I handed Nerid a cup of orange juice, which she gladly accepts and drinks with leisure. As the cup left her lips I spotted the trickle of juice lingering on her lips. I turned red and looked away.

".... I kept that lifestyle. Going to school, and working on the sidelines. That was until my aunt heard about what I was going through. She referred me to the agency. Things went.... steady ever since."

I poured myself a drink and downed the juice in one gulp. Wiping my lips with my sleeve I looked at her. "Your point is?"

"My point ...is that you don't have to drag yourself down with what's happening around you." Nerid replied with a somber tone. "If anything...you have to keep on striving for your goals. Maybe....your dad will come to his senses soon. Maybe he'll realize he needs to pay attention to the family he has left. While you're waiting for that to happen.. don't neglect your studies."

Nerid hands me some papers and a pen. "Here. "

I take what she offers and places them in front of me. "So... we're still going to continue?" Nerid gives me a lopsided stare...from her main eye and all her other eyes.

"I was paid for this. And heck, I'm going to do a splendid job at it. " Nerid adjusts her mono-glass. "I'm not going to be peachy-keen with you. Remember. I'm your tutor."

"Roger." I reply, paper and pen in hand.

"Hand me a chocolate bar."

"Wow. Making demands, are we?"

"Sugar's my fuel. Won't you please?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The light flickers a bit.. and our lessons begin to roll. At first.. it was a bit of a strain to follow - but she was patient. And insistent. And I was able to learn quick because she was making it easy for me to catch on. The more I learned.. the more I wanted to learn.

And I'm happy to note...I was starting to like being tutored. By someone like her.

--

A couple of months later..and the sessions paid off.

I'm sitting in front of a cafe in front of my university. I was sipping my premium-ordered chocolate frappe, staring at the passing of cars by the road when Nerid dropped in with a wave. She ...was positively buzzing, wearing work-out clothes as it seemed she just came from a gym. Sweat glistened down her neck which she quickly wiped with a towel. Her multiple stalk-eyes wiggled, as if happy to see me.

As my Gazer tutor approached, she looks at me with a smug grin on her lips. I grin with her and thrust my latest report card her way. All A's.

"Well well, Mr. Aguilar," said Nerid with a snicker. "You're performing admirably, lately." She and I share a lengthy high-five.

"I learned from the best." I replied. Nerid takes a seat in front of me.

"How's your dad?"

"He's okay. He told me he'll have some time off later so we can have lunch together. Things are better, now that we eeked out on our distance and talked."

I pulled up a paper bag and hand her a choco-frappe. "Brought you one."

She laughs. "I just came from a work-out and now you hand me some sugar."

"You know you want it."

She takes it, still giggling. Sips. And then for some strange reason, stares at me slyly while pulling some of her stray hair back. Her stalk eyes all narrow at my direction. "You know... I haven't exactly rewarded you. What should I do with you, now that you're doing better at school..?"

"Oh.. I don't know." In an instant, I flashed her a pair of tickets. I smile in crooked fashion. "I have a spare..ticket here. We can watch a horror flick tonight at 7. My treat."

Nerid bursts into a snicker, slugging me on the shoulder. "For a guy asking me on a date, you're soo not romantic."

"I'm just winging it! It's my first time in this kind of thing!" I told her. She grabs my collar and pulling me close to her, whispers hotly in my ears.

"You got yourself a date, mister."

Nerid leaves, winking at me as she sips some more from her frappe. Her eyes seemed to wag to connote the same thing in mind. I wave happily as she boards her car and drives off, smiling at the thought of what would conspire later in the evening.

In more ways than one? With both life and a monster-girl like her... I guess I scored.

-

''Hey everyone! This is the first of my series, the Aguilar One-Shots, featuring my throw-away character Jerome Aguilar! Yeaaaah, he's gonna be the main, alongside different scenarios with different Mamono. Hope you like the Gazer tutor. Gonna make some new scenarios over time. So! Hope to see you all again! Buh-bye!''