“Grace, your grades are dropping and I can’t help you as much as I used to since I’ve got a new job. How about we look for a tutor?”
It was this sentence from her foster mother that made Grace hop onto the world wide web. She had asked some teachers of her school for ideas and websites for good places to search for tutors and after some time found a site which listed university students which would help secondary school students for a relatively low price. She found a handful of possible students.
The first one was a female polar bear. She was listed as studying in chemistry and asked 30 dollars per hour, but she lacked references.
The second was a male wolf. He was listed as being an IT student and also had a few references. He was listed as 25 dollars per hour, with the addition of fees in case of other tutoring.
The third was a male dog. He was listed as a math major and had great reviews, however with a price of 50 USD per hour it was a bit out of her price range.
The fourth was a female goat. She was another math major, but her reviews were more mixed. Mostly negative ones from females and positive ones from males. She could just imagine what the reason there was and she quickly discarded that option.
The last was an adult lion. He was not listed as a student and was quite a bit older than the others. He looked familiar somehow, but Grace couldn’t really place him. He charged 30 dollars per hour.
After looking through all of the profiles, Grace decided to send out a message to the wolf and lion. If either of them would respond soon, this search may have been going even better than she’d have thought. She let them know she was interested in math lessons and asked them for more information and contact data for any other references.
That evening Grace checked her e-mail and found that there was a reply from one of the two. It was from the wolf and it read the following.
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“Dear miss Empera,
I understand that you would like some math tutoring. Though I am an IT student nowadays, math was always one of my top subjects in secondary school. I helped a lot of my classmates with problems as well and made sure they passed their exams. I’ve listed a few of their contact data in the file I’ve attached to this message.
My university courses are mostly online, so I have a lot of free time to be available to meet face-to-face and help you with your problems.
As for my extra fees, those are reserved for any lessons other than math. For example, if you need help with physics as well, I charge a bit more because my knowledge in the other subjects is a bit less and I will have to look into it first.
I have no issues either meeting at a neutral area, at your place or at mine. I have a car available. I do not charge you for any traveling expenses.
I hope that this answer is satisfactory and you will contact my references. I hope to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
Michael Wylde”
Attached: ‘references.docx’
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Grace opened the file and found a list of seven names, a few of which were graduates of her own school. She called them and asked them about Michael. Everything he mentioned checked out and some even commented that 25 dollars per hour would be cheap, since he knew so much.
She decided to wait that day to see if the lion would respond to her before replying back. It would be bad if she would come across as too desperate after all.
The next day Grace did find an e-mail of the lion in her mail, but it was unfortunately a declining answer. He had apparently forgotten to take down his profile on the site and was no longer available for tutoring. She sent him a courteous reply that it was no problem and she would find someone else before writing a new message to Michael.
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“Dear mister Wylde,
I have contacted a few of the references that you have supplied me and read your terms in your previous message. I have no problem to meet you a first time to see if your way of explaining will suit my needs in these subjects.
I am available on weekdays between 3pm and 5pm and from 7pm until 9pm.
For this first time I would feel it is best if we could meet at my place, since my foster mother would also be there and we can work out the fine details at that point in time. Please let me know which day you would like to come.
Best regards,
Grace Empera”
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Satisfied with these course of events, Grace turned off the computer to play with her friends.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Michael Wylde looked in his mail box.
He never thought that signing up for this tutoring business would give results, yet here he was with a 13 year old sheep who apparently didn’t have relatives and only a foster mother. The references were fake, of course. They all came to one of his cellphones and a bit of voice change would do the trick. Still...he found someone who fell for it.
He would have to look into their housing and see how it was secured. But first, he would help her with math as promised. And what would happen after that, he would let his gut decide…
Chapter 2
A short period later, Grace had arranged for a meeting at home. Her foster mother, Laylah, was also there to keep an eye on everything and make sure that Grace would actually focus on her studies at home.
When Michael rang the front door it was Laylah who opened. She found a slightly taller wolf in front of her with scars on his nose, but otherwise looking pretty neatly dressed.
"Good day madam. My name is Michael, I am the tutor for Grace Empera. Is this the correct adres?"
Laylah held out her hand. "Yes it is. My name is Laylah. I'm her foster mother. Grace is in the living room. Please, do come in."
Michael followed the mother and was already looking around for signs of security measures. But from a quick glance he could not see any visible ones installed at least.
When Michael got to the living room he saw the pink/blue sheep watching cartoons. She seemed a bit timid at first, but came towards him anyway. "Umm...Hi Michael, I'm Grace. So you can you help me out?"
Michael shook her hand too, "Well, that partly depends on what you already know. But that's why I'm here for the first time at a reduced price. To see if we can get along. Shall we get started?"
"But Michael, do you not need a drink?" Laylah asked. But Michael declined. "My place is not too far from here. I've had a drink at home. Thanks for the offer."
Grace lead the way upstairs into her bedroom. It was kept up pretty neatly and it had a desk with a computer for herself, which showed Michael that at the very least these two were not poor. Even if it didn't seem like they kept their security up too much.
"Okay Grace, let me check the books you use. I've used an older method in my middle school, but I heard there are new versions to some things. I want to make sure I talk about similar stuff as you do, so I can use your language and knowledge to explain the new stuff."
Grace walked over to a shelf with a bunch of textbooks and workbooks and Michael wondered how soundproof the room was and if things could be heard from downstairs. When Grace came back with a small book he recognized the name on it. "Ah, it looks like it's just a newer edition, but the content is almost identical to my own school years. This should be fine." He pointed at the computer. "I actually also have an app I made myself for this book method that creates more practice exercises. Maybe I could install it for you later if you're interested?"
Grace nodded. "My teachers and mom do always say that you learn this stuff best when you do more exercises. So that sounds like a good idea. But first I need some help with the theory. We're currently working on geometry. Can you follow what I write down and see if I do things right?"
She grabbed her notebook and started to work. Michael sat next to her and pointed out a few mistakes and hints, together with some small talk in between. Slowly Grace opened up more towards him and she let loose a few details of her personal life as well. How she's originally from another country and has been intending on returning to her original country after university. Every time Michael explained something he slowly moved his chair closer until he was practically next to her. He could smell her young scent but was still very wary of his surroundings. He knew that this was not the time to make a move.
After about forty minutes she smiled. It seemed like things were looking better. "Alright, it looks like I might understand this. So perhaps you could install that program now for the extra assignments? "
Michael didn't touch the computer himself, but instead directed her to the website where he had it installed. He gave her all the installation setups and told her to just click through everything. "It should follow itself".
Now on the computer, Grace used her keyboard to attempt the extra assignments. Every now and then she'd look at her textbook or the notes of Michael and he would have one arm around her, guiding her along the way. She did not seem to mind the touch at all, which surprised him a bit.
For the final minutes Michael had prepared a few assignments that he came up with himself and let Grace do them herself. She put up some music as she did them, which prompted him to ask. "Doesn't your mother mind the music? It seems pretty loud." But she denied, claiming that it was almost impossible to hear downstairs.
As the session came to a close, they left the computer and music on as Grace led Michael downstairs and into the living room. Together with Laylah they talked about the first session. Michael did notice that the music was hardly noticeable from the living room when it was quiet. He was pretty sure it could not be heard if a television was going on or something like that.
"So Grace" Laylah asked, "How was it?" Grace nodded. "It was pretty good. Michael can explain things pretty good. At least better than my teacher." Laylah laughed. "Come on now, mister Bailey has to explain things to 25 other cubs at the same time. I'm sure that is also a part of the reason." Grace shrugged. "Perhaps, but still, I think this can work for the long run."
Michael nodded. "Grace is a pretty well-behaved girl too. I must say, I've been around 13-year olds that have a lot more attitude. Especially about things they do not understand. I wouldn't mind visiting again."
Laylah stood up. "Well, I'm glad you both think this way. Let me get my purse."
Michael stood up too and walked towards the hallway. "It's been nice meeting you Grace, let me know through the mail when your next opportunity is. I'll try to accomodate it as best I can."
Grace waved at him as he left towards the hallway, already absorbed into the tv, apparently forgetting all the stuff she still had on upstairs.
Michael surveyed the front hallway while he waited for Laylah. He could not detect any security system or camera anywhere. It seemed like this family really was very trusting. Well, he expected as much when Grace let him install his spyware on her computer. But he'd have to get home first before being able to take advantage of that.
When Laylah appeared, still looking through her purse Michael decided to ask her some questions too.
"So why was my aid required? Do you or her foster father not know the math?"
Laylah looked up quizically. "Hm? Oh...no, I was never good at math myself. And there is no mister here. It's just me and her." She grabbed the 40 dollars. "This should be enough right?"
Michael smiled. "It is indeed. Thank you very much."
"And thank you too Michael. I'm glad that you two got along so well. I must admit that my first impression was not very good." Michael rubbed his nose. "This right? Yeah, it's an old injury. A fight with some brothers. Basically just some roughhousing gone wrong. But it did damper my ambitions a bit because of people's expectations when they see me. But nowadays I just let my actions speak for themselves."
Laylah nodded. "You sure do. Well, if Grace doesn't contact you again, I will at least let you know how her test goes in a few days. Thanks again and we'll hopefully see you again!"
They shook hands and Michael left the home. A smile on his face with all the information he had gathered.
When Michael got home he visited his custom website. Grace's IP-address was logged into it and his program was still connected to the internet and running in the background. Through it he was able to see various data packages with which he could deduce what Grace was doing. It also seemed like her webcam was not secured and he could control that too. But for now he would refrain from that. Just monitoring when she would turn it on herself.
It seemed like she chatted with a family called the "Boders" frequently. He was sure he heard the name before somewhere, but he didn't care. It looked like he found some willing victims for his newest game. If he played this card right, he could first take their money....and then the rest.
