#math tutor ajax

[sw-33-ts-stuff]

Wednesday Addams X Reader

Part VII-No More

3rd Person POV

Wednesday watched as Xavier slid himself into the seat next to Y/n in Math.

The sound of a snap in the distance but no one paid any attention to it.

Enid tapped her roommates shoulder whispering. "Wednesday your pencil broke."

Or should I say? "You broke your pencil.....Again".

The girl simply reached for another pencil, eyes never leaving you or Xavier as he kept whispering to you during class.

She could tell you were trying to pay attention but the tall boy just wouldn't. Shut. Up.

She watched as he tried to subtly brush against you and you ever so innocent, had no idea to the game he was playing.

He knew the answers to the very obvious questions he asked.

He also knew you were still struggling to grasp some concepts and went to help before the teacher cut him off to dismiss the class.

What he didn't know was Wednesday had instructed Thing to tie his laces together so he'd be unable to walk you to your next class.

Wednesday stood fast rushing to get near you as Xavier was about to stand up and offer to tutor you.

"Y/n." Her usual monotone voice held some aggression. The girl looked up in surprise. She pushed her glasses up her nose smiling slightly to the goth.

"Hey Wednesday. Is everything ok?" You were confused as the girl hadn't spoken to you in days. You hadn't seen her except in Herpetology and even then your conversations were held strictly for class. The interaction between you two still plaguing your thoughts.

The girl with the braids nodded. "I thought I'd offer my assistance as I'd overheard you were struggling with some of the concepts."

Xavier shot up in surprise standing far too quickly and falling on his face. Wednesday felt her lips quirk slightly before she turned back to you.

You looked to Xavier in some concern and amusement.

"Are you ok?" The boy nodded untying his shoes as you looked back at Wednesday.

"If you don't mind I'll gladly take the extra help. We can work on it after we finish the project for Herpetology?"

The goth nodded. "I will walk you to your next class."

You went to stand up quickly almost stumbling into her. Wednesday looked down to see Thing directly in front of your foot. She narrowed her eyes making the hand scurry away.

Luckily you didn't think anything of it.

Everyone watching in shock as the Addams girl took your bag and held the door for you before she lead you to your next class.

"Did I just watch Wednesday Addams willingly offer to help someone?" Enid looked to Thing, who just signed a quick "Yes" and Bianca who was too busy laughing at Xavier to notice.

.

.

.

The day continued much of the same as it had that morning. Wednesday helping you in whatever you needed as everyone stared whispering while they watched the two of you interact. No one knowing what to say as the usually introverted girl socialized with you.

It was lunch where you both sat under a tree. You eating and Wednesday who to anyone else would seem to be reading but was actually paying attention to your every move.

Enid sat with Bianca, Yoko and Davina as they watched the two of you.

"I think I'm in shock." Enid broke the silence and the stare they all had on you two.

"I think WE'RE ALL in shock." Davina laughed as Yoko put an arm around her shoulder.

"So how long do you guys think it'll take them to be official?" Everyone turned their head to a smirking Bianca. "What? Might as well make it interesting."

"I give it a week." Enid proposed.

"A few hours. Wednesday doesn't waste time." Bianca smirked

Davina spoke up. "Maybe Wednesdays just bored I can't see her actually being in a relationship. She's too cold."

Enid scowled. "Wednesday not that bad."

"Real question is.." Yoko drawled. "How long until Xavier realizes he needs to stop going for girls who aren't interested?"

The group of girls turned their heads to see the tall boy scowling at the table as his fork stabbed the food on his tray. Ajax next to him patting his shoulder.

They all laughed before turning back to the two girls, their jaws dropping when they saw Wednesday gently place her book down and give you her full attention.

Enid turned to Davina smug. "WeDnEsDay's TOo cOlD."

Across the quad, you were in a conversation with Wednesday discussing a recent documentary you found on a serial killer. Her eyes didn't seem so cold to you anymore and you could swear that just for a moment she was actually engaged in the conversation as well. You knew for sure when she'd made a sarcastic remark that made you laugh.

Of course all good things came to an end when Elijah stalked over to the both of you.

"Hey sis. It's been a minute."

Wednesday didn't like the way your smile fell. Or how you began to close yourself off the minute his smug face came into view. She looked to the boy one eyebrow raised, eyes slightly narrowed.

"Can we help you?" The boys smile grew wider.

"Yeah I got this bet going with Kent about goth chicks being freaks in bed." Wednesday stood when you did. You pushed the boy making him stumble slightly. He grew agitated and went to push you back but found his arm in Wednesdays grasp.

She'd flipped him using his own body weight against and stood tall.

"Didn't your mother teach you to never put your hands on a woman?" The boy coughed before he laughed.

"She's not a woman she's a little bitch." Wednesday grabbed the boy by his collar crouching slightly.

"WEDNESDAY!" Her mother came into view. "Let him go."

The girl glared dropping him harshly and knocking the wind out of him. Y/n stepping up to Dean Addams as a crowd of students rushed forward as well.

"It's not her fault-" The tall woman held a hand up to the girl.

"Why don't you two head to your dorms? I'd like to speak to some of the other students first to get their versions of events."

You nodded walking to your dorm not knowing Wednesday was right behind you.

When you went to open the door you felt a body bump into you. You turned in surprise.

"Sorry." You grimaced stepping aside to let the girl in.

She stood still not saying anything as she tried to get rid of her anger.

"I'm so sorry that he-" she cut you off.

"Does he always speak to you that way?" Her voice was surprisingly soft.

You nod unable to meet her eyes.

A cold finger went under your chin lifting your gaze to meet dark eyes.

"Not anymore, querida."

.

.

.

A bucket of water was splashed on Elijah's face as he awoke in a strange room.

"Howdy Elijah." He looked up to see a familiar goth glaring at him. Next to her a table full of tools and a single hand grabbing pliers.

"What the fuck?! Let me go." The girls head tilted slightly to the side.

"Did you not want this?" She asks feigning confusion as the boy shakes in frustration.

"NO!" The ravenette deadpanned before she grabbed the scalpel from Thing.

"That's the same thing Y/n said when you put your disgusting hands on her wasn't it?" The boy shook sweating and nervous. "I'm afraid I can't let you go Elijah I made a promise to your sister and myself."

"What-what promise?" She smirked.

"No more." She stepped closer sticking the boy with a needle. "Tetrodotoxin. Known for interfering with the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles causing paralysis to the muscles of the body."

Elijah's heart was nearly flying out of his chest. "Please."

Wednesday almost laughed. "You call that begging?" She turned to her partner in crime.

"Thing, let's start with his nails. It's been too long since we've tortured someone and I want to savor this."

Taglist: @tiffanysunshine @awolfcsworld @maria-403 @ognenniyvolk @dreifhraniquo29 @rainbow-love4ever @ghostissus @reginassweetheart @lucasm8 @thedemoninme141 @alexkolax @fashromanmaximoff

[spunchthegoblin]

Review of each IB class as an international baccalaureate diploma haver (IB is just AP but more european)

HL English - One of the less stressful classes. I like reading and writing, I remember finishing assignments earlier than expected. I got a 5

Oral exam - Did this in junior year, I did it on V for Vendetta (the movie) and Small Gods by Terry Pratchett because I was smoking fucking crack apparently

Paper - I barely remember this one, I think I did it on Ajax. Easy

Exams - Easy shit. I even had time to draw on the back

HL History - Having a good teacher helped. Not caring about WW1 did not help. I got a 5

Paper - Actual garbage. Worst thing I've ever written. Wrote it in junior year then had to edit it a year later and it was so bad

Exams - More stressful than the english ones, my hand fucking hurt, still had time to draw on the back because I'm the goat

SL Biology - Yayy :3 aminals and cell :3 slime :3 (I got a 5)

Paper - did it on slime mold hehe. Make sure you have your plan together early on in this assignment in case you need to order materials

Exams - If you make up enough things about science you might accidentally stumble into the right answer!

SL Math - I'm one of those sick fucks who like math. If you're a normal person then I'd consider getting a tutor to lessen the stress. I got a 5

Paper - finished this in like 2 days easy

Exam - Literally fuck my entire life

HL Theatre - If you're willing to embarrass yourself, lie, cheat, and steal, then this is an easy HL class. I got a 5

Papers - there's no exam for this class, only papers and recorded performances. The directors notebook was fun (didn't require any acting, I could draw pretty pictures). The research project was ok, make sure that your subject has more than one source describing it (I did mine on Kabuki theater so pretty easy). The group project... I don't want to think about that. The solo project was almost fun I got to writhe on the floor like a worm.

SL Spanish - literal dante's inferno type journey. I got a 4

Oral exam - on GOD don't be autistic

Exams - If I had a gun I'd kill myself

Extended Essay - don't forget to have fun and be yourself :) I got a D. If I could pass with that dogshit essay then SO CAN YOU!!

CAS - If you're bad at lying on IB assignments at this point I don't know how to help you. I actually don't know if they grade this? I'm not checking

CAS project - Make sure to do this completely last minute ok? :3

CAS presentation? - The thing you record all your CAS stuff on. People say that the Service part was the most difficult but that was easy for me since my town has a lot of volunteer opportunities, yours does too if you look hard enough. I had trouble on the Active because I do not go outside.

Ok I think that's everything but just make sure that you get deeply invested into a new video game two weeks before the exam this step is crucial also make sure you get into a college that only accepts 45 of your IB credits even though you got 55 LITERALLY KILL YOURSELF WESTERN WASHINGTON SUCK MY BALLS

[divinalu]

Scara’s Friends

Scaramouche

law and business major - he and Ajax attended the same high school along with Name and Hu Tao. is insanely smart and somehow always ranks first in everything, only ever being beat by Name. is expected to take over the family business by his mother, who also forced him to do law and business even though his true passion was art. real name is Kunikuzushi but he hates when people use it so no one except his mother and ajax know his real name

Ajax

business major - is scara’s childhood best friend since they ate sand together in first grade and have been inseparable since. is very good friends with Ayato and Ayaka, which got him closer to Name’s group. used to have a crush on Name in high school but got over it in uni. goes by “childe” since his professor kept calling him ‘child’ on his first day; added the ‘e’ cause he thought it was cool.

Kazuha

literature major - though he used to be a biology major but transferred after first year. he is quiet, respectful, sweet, romantic, polite, patient, etc. nicknamed the uni’s “bachelor” and is probably the most 'wanted’ man. he just has every desirable trait AND he’s humble about it too. he writes poetry in his spare time and occasionally posts it online. became friends with scara after they were both chased by a fangirl

Xiao

software engineering major - he is crazy smart and is so good at math that he can solve equations better than he can speak. pretty antisocial and doesn’t get along with many people except his own group and Venti. one of the most attractive guys on campus, but girls are too scared to ask him out.

Albedo

Biology major with art minor - is also super smart and is expected to graduate with highest honours. he tutors other students around campus and people (including teachers) are fascinated by his intelligence. he once tutored scara but no one brings it up for scara’s pride

[ Masterlist | Prev | Next ]

[shmoo92]

Slippers

An older woman with greying, copper hair wipes some of the salt—blown in from the coast on the sea winds—from a window. She knocks one boot, then the other, against the side of the steps leading to the inn, and lets herself inside.

The common room’s patrons—a grandmother mending by the fire, two old men reading the paper, and a young woman writing a novel—briefly acknowledge her entrance then return to their pastimes.

The woman shucks her boots, dons her slippers, and heads to the office.

Therein sits a girl with bright copper hair barely tamed by braids, blue eyes, and a dusting of freckles over her rosy cheeks. At the same table, gently walking the girl through her maths, a woman with dark skin, gleaming navy hair streaked with white and mostly covered by a peacock patterned shawl, and stars in her blue-grey eyes.

The woman with red hair sighs. “Tonia, did your brother ever show up?”

Tonia shakes her head.

The woman casts her gaze to the heavens. “That boy’ll get his ears boxed.” Then to the woman with the shawl, “Thank you, Belizna.” A wry smile. “By now, how many of my children have you come to be tutoring?”

Belizna chuckles, gathering a worn workbook and pencil. “How many children have you had since Ajax—“ She bites backs a grimace, then, with something of a smile, says, “At least three, four if you count listening to Aleksi practice.”

“Which I do, since it’s you.”

Belizna huffs. “It’s no trouble, Maria.” She then asks Tonia, “Can you solve these next few on your own?”

Tonia nods.

To Maria, Belizna asks, “Shall we go over the ledger now, then?”

“If we could.”

Belizna gathers the requisite books and follows Maria from the office—

In the center of the common room, There’s a crackle of pink energy.

The old men glance up from the paper, grumble, and return to their crosswords.

The very air itself rents apart.

The grandmother clucks her tongue, puts her heel in her basket, and draws it beneath her skirts.

From within the fissure, an eye opens, an eye so big its pupil is the size of an infant’s head.

Its gaze darts around—

Belizna shoves the ledger at Maria—

Without taking her eyes off her notebook, The novelist transfers her saucer onto her pile of loose leaf.

The eye crinkles. A voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere and also the fissure, croons, “There you are.”

A white ribbon lashes from within the void, wraps itself four times around Belizna’s trunk, and yanks her into the darkness.

The fissure snaps shut; a few crackles of pink energy twist through the air and into nothing.

The grandmother, shaking her head, rifles through her basket. “Belizna will need new slippers at this rate.”

Maria just Looks. at the empty space. Then she doubles back to the office—“Tonia, would you like to learn some accounting?”

Tonia cradles her chin in her hands. “May I gloat to Anton?”

“Most certainly, love. Now come along.”

.

Let me enumerate the things I tried with this!

1. This is a coastal town (in Snezhnaya)

2. At least two of these characters are Tartaglia’s family

3. Belizna has known the family for a very long time

4. It is not uncommon for Columbina to randomly appear, snatch Belizna, and leave

[chelseydavidson]

Local Competition

Main Competitors:

There is definitely a heavily saturated market when it comes to tutoring. Considering my startup venture will be focused on the niche of in-person private home tutoring wih a personalized, I will consider in-person private tutoring services that come to the client's home (as opposed to virtual tutoring or a tutoring centre) as my direct competitors and all other variations that still offer tutoring service in some way to my target market as my indirect competitors. 

Two direct private in-person tutoring businesses that provide custom and personalized support are The Tutoring Expert and Tutorax. I think it is important to consider the possibility of indirect competitors as main competitors in my circumstance, though, as their services may not necessarily be identical but they may provide an alternative to satisfy the same client need. Two indirect competitors I will focus on then are Beyond the Classroom and Kumon Math and Reading Centre; more specifically, as a franchised business, there are several Kumon branches throughout my target region, but I will focus on the one branch of the four who responded when I inquired, which was the Ajax-Taunton Kumon branch.

Using the information from this local competitive analysis, I can gain a better understanding of the opportunities for my businesses to fill a market gap or overcome a weakness from one of my competitors. In this way, this information is invaluable to the development of my startup venture.

Website Experience: 

The Tutoring Expert’s website provides a decent user experience in that it is intuitively designed. The contact sidebar has a frozen navigation header with clearly worded subpages, contact information and logo. While their website does not feature any promotions currently, it does have an appealing graphic interface that draws attention to the key features of their business's value and model via service descriptions, such as one-on-one sessions, tutor experience, tutor match guarantee within 48 hours,  and weekly dedicated sessions with a free introductory session. The images are a combination of stock still photography and cute cartoonish images that were clearly commissioned for the purpose of the website as the artistic design is consistent and not a hodge-podge of different styles. Methods of contact include an email form, phone number, and fax number. There is also a call to action button that states "request a call back" on the right side of the page that continues to loom prominently as you scroll, frozen to the scroll bar. Lastly, their website does feature a blog, but it is outdated with the most recent blog postings from late 2018. According to builtwith.com, The Tutoring Expert has on average a technological spend of $100 per month with approximately 10 brand followers of their website. 

Tutorax’s website has a header, but the header is not frozen on the page. The navigation is intuitive with simple categories like "services", "apply", and "contact." There is a red exclamation point icon that draws the eye and alerts to the availability of tutoring services in-home and online; there is also a yellow call-to-action button in the header that reads, "Get Started," and also draws the eye of the user offset against the neutral white background. In addition to service descriptions, the website also features a rotating gallery of testimonials, an FAQ, and a logo wall of strategic partners. They also have a blog on their page in both English and French that discusses various mathematical concepts, as well as other topics about learning. The blog features regular posts (once every two weeks to a month) from March 30, 2020, to February 28, 2024.  More slim on photography than The Tutoring Expert's website with only a single photo on the landing page,  the blue, yellow, and white theme nonetheless provides a consistent visual branding across the page. There are no banners or promotions on the page. In the footer and FAQ, there is a live chat button, a phone number, an email address, an email contact form, and two physical addresses listed (one in Laval, Quebec, and one in Toronto, Ontario). I was unable to view Tutorax’s website using builtwith.com to assess their technological spend; it was inaccessible.

Beyond the Classroom’s website has a navigation header bar that is frozen no matter where you scroll. Again, it is an intuitive experience with clearly stated categories, like "Resources for Parents", "Reviews", and "Tutoring Positions''. The page has a consistent theme in terms of colours and design used uniformly throughout and with the logo displayed in the upper left corner at all times. The photography appears to be stock images with a few sections of the website focusing on the founder with a talking-head-style YouTube videoclip prominently displayed on the webpage and a link to a Reader's Digest profile of the founder. There are no banners and promotions currently on the page. There is a link in the footer to sign up for a newsletter, which I did subscribe to using the Mailchimp form. (I have yet to receive an edition, though, so I cannot comment on the newsletter content.) Just as with the other websites, there are service descriptions on the landing page with subpages devoted to online tutoring and in-home tutoring albeit for select locations (none of which are in my target region). There are also static testimonials just above the footer of the page, wherein the email address lies. There is an email contact form on a subpage when the user clicks on "Contact Us'' in the upper right corner. There is also a blog on this page, but not in the traditional sense; the content is evergreen with no dates of posting (so the user cannot discern if the content is recent or old) and is more of a collection of resources on student relationships and learning. According to builtwith.com, Beyond the Classroom has on average a technological spend of $50 per month with no brand followers of their website.

The website for Kumon Math and Learning Centre of Ajax-Taunton is sparse but clearly defined. It is important to point out that it is a barebone template compared to the other competitors’ websites. I use the word "template" because each franchise’s website looks identical to each other with only slight changes for name and contact information. It is highly likely that the franchisor dictates the web design and content, and simply adds a new subpage specific to each local centre. The photography is a single still photo. The branding is consistent with Kumon’s corporate branding, including the logo and colour scheme. There is a prominent call to action with a brightly coloured "Book Your Child's Free Assessment" text box and a button to "Schedule Today" with the contact phone number, physical address, and email address prominently displayed. The website lists the operating hours and a promotion for tablet study available at the centre; it is not a discount so much as a new service, called Kumon Connect. There is a service description of what Kumon does. There is also another action button to "Book Appointment" close to the footer. The navigational bar lists clearly worded subpages, such as "About the Centre", "About the Instructor" (which is the Kumon branded name for the franchise owner), "Success Stories", and a link to a downloadable brochure. Kumon Math and Learning Centre of Ajax-Taunton could not be assessed using builtwith.com, but it redirects to the Kumon head office information (that being Kumon North America, Inc., from Rutherford, New Jersey, in the United States). Kumon North America, Inc., as the franchisor, has on average a technological spend of $1000 per month with approximately 500 brand followers of their website. In addition, it has 1,289 referring subnets and 1,708 referring IPs, which is unsurprising considering that it is the larger parent company, but all of this helps to drive online traffic and grow Kumon’s web presence. 

Since I am unlikely to receive the marketing support from which franchisees benefit, I will have to focus on my digital marketing for the benefit of my startup venture. A strong web presence strengthens a business because it generates more traffic, which leads to more sales and revenue overall, I would ensure that I reinvest some of my earnings back into the business’s website design to optimize the user experience (at least $100 a month on technological spend, once the business stablizes), ensuring I hit upon the common trends and improve my search engine optimization to drive traffic to my website.

Market Positioning: 

Each competitor tries to give a different spin on what they are selling, despite the great degree of commonalities. 

The Tutoring Expert touts its recommendations and high standards in terms of fast, efficient, and personalized service for grades K to 12 and beyond. They also tout their status as a Toronto-based business. However, it is difficult to trust the credibility of The Tutoring Expert's claims considering they are often blanket statements with no evidence to support them, such as "being the most highly referred tutoring services in Toronto". It has that sense of generality that is hard to pin down; think of pizzerias that claim they have "the world's best pizza" – equally difficult to disprove as it is to prove.

Tutorax focuses more on being accessible to everyone, no matter the school subject or the grade level. They also seem to be originally based in Quebec as most of their strategic partners are Quebecois organizations, so their focus is somewhat on the community they built there, despite wanting to sell themselves as a business that can support key cities in other provinces, like Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto, mostly via their online tutoring options. 

Beyond the Classroom sells the fact that their tutors are education professionals, including but not entirely limited to certified teachers. Beyond the Classroom focuses on a values-based education in which they have a holistic view of the child during the tutoring experience. They are focused less on academic performance and more on connection and care with the child to generate a more positive learning experience; they also seem especially family-focused. Beyond the Classroom also lists prominently that they are a proudly Canadian company; arguably, this last feature is not a distinction as both the Tutoring Expert and Tutorax also highlighted their connection to Canada or parts therein. In addition, when I received an email from Beyond the Classroom, it displayed in its e-signature that they had won a platinum reader's choice award in Oakville in 2023 and a gold reader's choice award in Burlington in 2022; while the other businesses stated they are award-winning, Beyond the Classroom is the first to distinguish what awards their business had won. 

Kumon follows a distinct methodology compared to the other businesses mentioned, in that they neither provide private tutoring nor customized support. They have a specific curriculum in which they require students to come to their centre to follow their patented methodology in their math and reading programs, whereby students will receive daily homework to develop strong study habits. The focus is a one-size-fits-all model to transform children into better students overall, focused on math and reading as key skills to improve. (However, they do not offer support in other subjects, such as science or foreign languages, as they believe that building stronger students will eliminate learning struggles overall.)

As all of these competitors show, being unique is important, but raising the profile of what makes one unique is even more significant. I will try to evoke pathos, ethos, and logos in my market positioning. I will try to appeal to the emotional aspect of a positive learning experience, which speaks to a parental instinct. I will then provide the logical reasoning of the benefits of in-person personalized private tutoring over its alternatives in terms of academic improvement, citing research as needed to back my claims. Lastly, I will nod to my credibility by outlining my professional history in this field and perhaps gather favourable testimonials speaking to the customer experiences to further my position in this market. 

Reviews: 

All of the competitors all feature so-called reviews on their websites, which boil down to carefully curated testimonials that read like another form of advertising. I chose instead to look at a more level playing field, that being Google reviews.

Tutorax has 171 Google reviews. As someone who believes in the law of large numbers, I deem a greater number of reviews to be a more accurate sentiment in the overall ranking. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive with 4.9 stars out of 5. The one bad review I could find cited that the company was inefficient and cancelled on them, but also had some elitist comments, too, so the snobbery witnessed by the commenter makes me question the validity of the complaint without hearing Tutorax's side of things. If the reviews are anything to go by, replicating this level of service quality is an ideal state of being. 

The Tutoring Expert has far fewer Google reviews with only 45, but again, they hold a 4.9 star rating. Their lowest review cited concerns about professionalism and capability as the tutor appeared unprepared and inexperienced. They ultimately stated that it was a waste of money for them and presumably they discontinued their use of the service. Therefore, this is an opportunity to blow the competition out of the water by being as prepared as humanly possible for each new client. It is important to remember that the client is ultimately the parent/guardian, not the child being tutored, in these cases, and therefore, it is essential to impress the parent/guardian as much, if not more, than the child that I am tutoring. 

The Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton holds 53 reviews with an overall 4.3 stars. Students and parents alike reported positive experiences via Google reviews and, equally important, the owner responded to the reviews left via Google reviews. This engagement, which I was unable to see through social media as it is managed by the franchisor and not the franchisee, was interesting and provides more insight on how this particular Centre operates. There are a number of reviews criticizing the Kumon methodology as simply "giving homework sheets" and not actually providing improvements to the student's performance. Some complaints are more personal, citing aggravation with consistent administrative errors and a general sense of disorganization. This complaint, since it is recurring in these reviews, offers ample opportunity for my startup venture to make a good impression. I could, for one, ensure I am organized; much like the previous comment regarding lack of preparation at The Tutoring Expert, being organized and prepared to provide peace of mind to the customer is paramount. Focusing on the personal service is important, too, providing an acknowledgement wherever I can that the supports are custom to the student. Alongside this way of doing business, avoiding any administrative errors is also important; when they are made, fixing them efficiently and apologizing for the mistake in the first place could make a huge difference to the customer relationship. 

Due to the fact that there were no local Beyond the Classroom locations, I could not find any Google reviews from within the target region. I did not feel it was fair to judge based on the testimonials posted on their website, while relying on potentially harsher judgments from Google reviews for the other competitors. Therefore, I can judge only based on my limited experience when I submitted an inquiry, which was favourable albeit bland. They did not stand out in particular to me, so I would rank the transaction as fairly average. 

Pricing: 

Each of these businesses offers a distinct service, so it is hard to compare tit for tat in these circumstances. Clearly, it is impossible to isolate all the variables. Since the offering is unequal, the pricing also fluctuates. Looking closely at the in-person tutoring services from direct competitors, the Tutoring Expert offers their basic service (with no detail as to what the basic service entails) for $45 per hour. Tutorax, meanwhile, offers their services at two price points within a similar range: $45 per hour for elementary and secondary students, as well as $47 per hour for post-secondary students.

Beyond the Classroom is an indirect competitor as they do not provide in-home tutoring in Whitby, Pickering, and Ajax. However, they do provide one-on-one customized online tutoring using their own platform, as well as providing options to use Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings. Their hourly rate is $55 (tax included), paid by Visa, Mastercard, and etransfer. They provide support for math, English, French, Spanish, and post-secondary support.

For Kumon, the cost is not an hourly rate. It is a monthly fee paid with automatic debit payment. The fee is $150 per month per subject; if the student is taking both the math and reading programs, the client would then pay a total of $300 per month. In addition, Kumon focuses on word-of-mouth marketing through recommendations and referrals. In fact, built into their pricing structure, Kumon offers a referral program in which the client giving the referral receives a $25 gift card and the referred client also receives a discount of $25 off the registration fee. (Please note that the initial registration fee for this particular branch is not publicly disclosed; presumably it exceeds the $25 discount amount.) I also asked my sister, who previously worked at a different Kumon Learning Centre, who confirmed that the initial registration fee was approximately $80, and that students can come either twice a week for 30 minutes or once a week for 60 minutes. This means, on average, that the students who use Kumon Learning Centre would receive tutoring on average 4 hours per month per subject. 

Therefore, when it comes to pricing, folks are willing to pay approximately $45 to $55 per hour for tutoring. However, they are willing to pay more in a lump sum for a monthly fee than for a weekly fee; however, with sessions scheduled at an hour per week, the monthly fee actually works out cheaper to the client based on a per unit rate (i.e. $150 divided by average 4 sessions per month = $37.50 per session) – almost $10 less than the low-end of the tutoring services that charge hourly rates. However, it is important to understand the distinction again between the service offerings. This monthly fee pertains to Kumon, where the tutor is providing previously designed materials (rather than creating custom ones) and serving multiple clients simultaneously in a small group (rather than one on one). Therefore, from an efficiency perspective, one tutor can serve far more clients and thus generate far more revenue in the long run using this model. Lastly, all businesses express quality, efficiency, and speed in their services, so those are all factors to consider that the client is paying for as part of their fee, whether it be hourly or monthly. I will need to ensure that my pricing fits within this average range while also ensuring I express how my startup venture provides quality, efficiency, and speed in service delivery. 

Delivery of Service: 

In terms of delivery of service, I reached out to each of these companies under the pretense that I was looking as a family member for tutoring services for three children (in various grades, for French, Spanish, English, math, and post-secondary supports in writing essays and performing research). The customer experience differed massively. 

First of all, my direct competitors, The Tutoring Expert and Tutorax were both contacted by email on March 9 and neither have responded to me after 5 days. This experience is very telling from a consumer’s perspective on how the delivery of service may go if the initial customer service experience fares so poorly. 

However, both of my indirect competitors responded. Beyond the Classroom responded relatively quickly, in that I emailed them the evening of March 9 and received a reply by 4:30 p.m. on March 11; I also received an automatic email reply immediately that confirmed that, a) my email had been received, and b) I should expect a response within 48 hours. They met that standard and responded to all questions in my email, so I was impressed by their customer service delivery in that regard, especially when comparing to the other three competitors. 

Kumon of Ajax-Taunton’s responsiveness was similar to Beyond the Classroom in that I received a response within 48 hours; considering that both the Whitby Kumon branches and the other Ajax branch did not respond, this particular centre should be deemed considerably better in their customer service standards than the other franchises of the same business. Equally, Kumon of Ajax-Taunton responded with a clear email message that answered all my queries. The only reason I would give the competitive edge to Beyond the Classroom is that their email is clearly set to automatically respond with a confirmation message to let you know of their customer service standard. Considering that Kumon is a larger company, I was surprised that their email system lacked that feature; I would arguably want to include something similar with my business venture as it can help set expectations and keep customers satisfied if they have a reasonable timeline for when to expect communications.

Social Media: 

Aside from their websites, all four competitors have Facebook and Instagram profiles. The Tutoring Expert also has an X profile; Tutorax has a LinkedIn page; and Beyond the Classroom has a YouTube channel. Three out of the four competitors show these social media handles on their website using recognizable icons; oddly, Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton does not post any social media handles on their page, but arguably their lack of display is likely because they are a franchisee and the social media accounts are run by Kumon North America (the franchisor). None of the four competitors provide a mobile app. 

I will examine The Tutoring Expert first. The Tutoring Expert posts once or twice a year -- and not at all since 2022 on Facebook. Their Instagram is even worse, wildly inconsistent in their posting patterns with droughts and deluges; currently, we must be in a drought as they have not posted since January 7, 2019. Their posts are visually appealing and focused on inspirational information, heavy on quotes and mantras. They also featured “tutor tips of the week” albeit not posted weekly. Of my main competitors, The Tutoring Expert posts the least about their business on their social media at approximately 20%. Their Instagram following is the lowest of all of the competitors at only 51 followers. Doing a temperature check based on their social media, The Tutoring Expert is a cold, dead fish. There are next to no reposts, shares, and mentions. For my startup venture, this business’s social media strategy is a lesson in what not to do.

Next, Tutorax posts every two to four days on Instagram and Facebook. Their posts have very professional and promotional tones in contrast to The Tutoring Expert; Tutorax is heavy on buzzwords and key phrases that speak to their performance. Their posts largely drive traffic to their blog and speak to educational activities, if not the business itself and the services they provide. Some are testimonials about their business, while others are more general in their focus on youth well-being, such as students getting enough sleep. A sparse few are centred on the significance of a particular holiday or day’s events, such as a recent post about International Women’s Day celebrating their female staff members. Arguably, 90 percent of the social media posts are about the business directly. They have a miniscule following (for example, they have only 84 followers on their Instagram; for comparison, I have 142 on my personal profile and I am not actively working on it). Using Social-Searcher.com, Tutorax garnered 18 mentions from 9 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 6.0. This indicates a far less favourable sentiment from social media users and a more diminished presence overall; this does not fare well for Tutorax’s business.

I investigated Beyond the Classroom’s social media presence third. About 60 to 70 percent of their content is focused on their business: their services, their values, their capacity to help during exams or back-to-school periods, their founder's press or inspirational quotes. They are focused on their business, but they also have some pleasantries in their posts, such as wishing a happy March break or Valentine's Day or Black History Month, to name a recent few. They post at a weekly frequency, more or less, and have a decent but not massive following (567 followers on Instagram). Their posts are slightly wordier and contain two to three hashtags each. They are professional and well written – focusing on good grammar, of course, but also focusing on kindness in their tone of voice – but they do not receive a lot of comments. I will draw more on this point with Kumon’s posts in a moment and the conclusion I drew from this weakness in the social media sphere. Something unique about Beyond the Classroom is that they have a YouTube channel, which I found intriguing; however, it is hardly ever updated and contains a lot of older content, which was disappointing. The engagement is not any stronger via YouTube than any of the other social media channels Beyond the Classroom uses. With little engagement, it is hard to assess how they would respond to inquiries via social media comments and the like. Using Social-Searcher.com, Beyond the Classroom garnered 438 mentions from 292 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 9.1. While the sentiment is the same, the reach is further for Beyond the Classroom than for The Tutoring Expert. I think it is important to note that, while not all mentions are related to the specific business called Beyond the Classroom that I am discussing, the mentions in social media could still accidentally bring a user to find this business. Whether intentional or not, a prospective client could still stumble upon Beyond the Classroom through social media amplification. 

Finally, Kumon North America – the franchisor who handles all of the marketing facets for the company at large, including but certainly not limited to the Ajax-Taunton location –  posts almost daily on its channels. Brevity is the focus of their posts with few words; very concise and to the point, they state what they want you to know either immediately or through the accompanying visual. Almost every post reads like an ad for their business, whether it be a testimonial, a promotional post, a “fun fact” about their patented methodology, or an appeal to the adorableness of a smart child seen at work with the Kumon logo somewhere in the background of the photo but prominent enough not to be missed. I would argue that Kumon’s social media is as close as one gets to 100% talking about their business. Their following is massive comparatively, with 27.5 thousand followers. However, there is a large disparity between the number of likes from followers opposed to the number of comments on the post, indicating a more passive than active engagement with the followers. They do not appear to respond to any inquiries via social media; perhaps the incentive is to contact your local Centre to learn more, rather than through the corporate franchisor. The hashtags seem to be more calculated and consistent, so that they actually generate a following of a specific hashtag, rather than wantonly adding them to posts. While Kumon does a lot of things right, a more active engagement in which Kumon responds directly to comments left on social media might encourage a discussion and gain more traction, an opportunity I would consider for my venture. In fact, using Social-Searcher.com, Kumon garnered 490 mentions from 315 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 4.1. From the search results netted from Kumon as a keyword, I received an ample number of tweets and posts in different languages, which leads me to suspect (from what I could discern) that “kumon” may mean something in another language. As a business owner, I would want to know if that is leading to a diminished sentiment due to bad connotations and associations with the brand due to other factors, or if it is reflective of the business itself.  

In short, I believe it would be wise to imitate Kumon’s social media strategy overall as it clearly gains the best results. However, I would take Kumon’s weakness as an opportunity to focus more on responding to comments with the hope to generate conversations over social media.

Other Considerations: 

There are also some key considerations beyond the information above that could sway a consumer one direction or the other. 

For one, clients may look at the longevity of the business. For some, long-standing businesses are a selling point as their business practices have a sense of sustainability. Looking at the age of the business, three of the four competitors openly state some form of establishment date on their public-facing interfaces, including their website. The Kumon of Ajax-Taunton does not provide information on their specific franchise, but they do provide information on the history of the Kumon Math and Reading Centre in general, stating that it was established more than sixty years ago. Beyond the Classroom has been around the next longest, more than a quarter-century of business operations since 1998. The Tutoring Expert has also been established for a lengthy span of time: more than two decades (founded in 2001). Lastly, despite not providing a date of establishment, Tutorax declares that, in their history, they have served more than ten thousand students, which implies a longer business life cycle without explicitly stating how long that lifespan actually is.

Hiring is often indicative of business growth and expansion, so businesses that are hiring must be doing enough business to warrant the need for additional employees. The Tutoring Expert states on their website that they have ongoing recruitment of experienced teachers who are able to commit to either part-time or full-time tutoring. They do not state that they are actively recruiting, so much as passively looking at any resumes received. There is no clear indication that they are hiring. Conversely, Tutorax appears to be more actively recruiting. Tutorax claims to have more than a thousand tutors, but, nonetheless, is actively hiring tutors across Canada. Their focus is on candidates with specific educational backgrounds, such as Bachelor's degrees in psychology, linguistics, psychoeducation, and primary and/or secondary education; Master's degrees in speech therapy or in educational psychology; and, a Baccalaurate or Certificate in Special Education. They also provide a more appealing list of benefits to attract this talent, offering flexible hours and other benefits. 

Beyond the Classroom also claims that they are hiring. Similar to The Tutoring Expert, they are hiring teachers who hold a Bachelor of Education, as well as students currently enrolled in teachers' college. Unlike The Tutoring Expert, it appears that they are trying to fill positions based on the active language used on their website. Beyond the educational requirements listed for job candidates, Beyond the Classroom is more focused on their core corporate values and is looking for candidates that embody these values, too. They also must be able to drive to one of the communities they serve in-person (all of which are outside my target region). One area of distinction is that Beyond the Classroom also posts testimonials from previous employees, which is a distinctive element in the experience for those seeking employment compared to the other competitors.

Lastly, Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton is actively hiring. They are looking for Centre Assistants, according to the website; the skills they require from their recruits is a strong proficiency in high school math and English, flexibility in scheduling and tasks they are willing to perform, punctuality, good collaboration and communication skills, and a love of learning. Their educational requirements are far less demanding, considering they serve students from a far-younger demographic starting at three years old. It is fair to assess that this particular centre (the Ajax-Taunton location) is particularly doing well as the website explicitly states that Kumon franchisees hire, not Kumon as the franchisor, thus implying this specific branch is experiencing business growth. 

Finally, businesses that rely on other organizations for funding may be experiencing challenges. Businesses that can depend on a predictable and steady flow of revenues often do not need to seek other forms of financing. Tutorax has a number of partnering organizations in Quebec, along with companies who seem to be more aligned with sponsorship. They also appear to be actively looking for more strategic partnerships, which might indicate funding issues. Beyond the Classroom funds itself to some extent through franchises with initial franchise fees of $24 thousand plus tax, with a 6% royalty payment on gross sales each month for a decade (the term of the franchise agreement). In addition, they have a $2000 fee for their training program. As a franchise, Kumon of Ajax-Taunton must be generating enough revenue to sustain itself. (An interesting note is that Kumon's corporate website claims that franchise owners must have $70 thousand in liquid capital to start their own location.) The Tutoring Expert does not provide any information related to any potential sources of funding.

In conclusion, if my startup venture is successful long-term, I will want to showcase this longevity in some way on my website. If I am in a position of growth where I can hire others, I would certainly want to provide a means to recruit qualified candidates through my online presence, as my competitors have done so. Last but not least, if I do experience setbacks where I need to seek financing through partnerships, I would either choose not to disclose it – which may be the case with the other businesses as I have no impression that they are seeking additional financing elsewhere beyond their revenues – or frame it in a positive light ȧ la Tutorax. Overall, through the various lenses through which to examine my competitors, I have learned a lot about how to shape my own startup venture to gain an edge.

[lovemikage]

— 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 ( 𝐚. 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐬 )

♡ — in which ajax needs help with his homework, and you're always a doting tutor.

♡ — wc: 748

♡ — a/n: pt. 2 maybe? i just wanted this finished i will not lie to you! but i love my cute boy <333 ty to @arachine for motivating me to finish this and @cottoncandybirdy my bestie beta i love u both so dearly

♡ — warnings: bit suggestive throughout but no explicit smut (yet), fem!reader, all characters are in college (~20 yrs old)

“No – Ajax, baby, darling, you need to carry the three or it won’t –”

“Ugh!” the beanie-clad boy has a pout on his face while he leans back until his chair is tipping off the ground, arms crossed, “I hate this. I’m not good at it, can’t we do somethin’ i’m good at?”

“And what would that be, hm?” You mimic his pose, though all Ajax can focus on is how the position pushes your tits up and how the stern look on your face is working for you way more than he thinks it should.

“I dunno, like –” He pauses, throwing his hands up in the air in half exasperation and half out of a need to stop looking at you (unfortunately, there’s no school subject he is good at, so it isn’t really helping), “Mythology? History? I’m good at those!”

“Yes, because that’s your ancestry –” You sigh, shaking your head a bit while you look down at him, “Plus, i’m literally your tutor, ‘jax, the whole point of this is to help you get better at what you struggle with –”

This time when Ajax looks up at you his frown is even deeper, brows pulled together, and for a moment you think he’s so cute you just want to kiss him silly.

Focus.

“I just have no motivation!” He huffs while he settles his head on crossed arms, looking up at you with all the sadness of a kicked puppy, “And i’m just – i’m bad at it –”

You pause for a moment as you look down at him, weighing your options. You do have an idea, one that would almost definitely work, but one that would also change the trajectory of your friendship forever.

But, again – you know it’ll work. You also know that you really like Ajax, as stupid as he is, and he really likes you, too – he’s never been too shy about showing it (plus, Xavier told you). 

Ah, fuck it.

“Tell you what –” You lean over the table so you’re hovering over him a bit, tits pushed out in a way that’s making him stare intensely at your eyes in an effort not to look, “for every question you actually try on, i’ll give you a kiss wherever you want, mkay? You don’t even have to get it right, but you have to try.”

Ajax nearly chokes at that, coughing into his arm and suddenly shooting up with a nod, suddenly the portrait of a perfect student.

“Well?” You look down at him expectantly, head tilted with a soft, playful smile on your lips. 

“Oh – oh, fuck, no, yeah, t-totally, um, let me just –” He splutters, quickly arranging the papers from his binder into a neat pile on his desk so he can begin working, suddenly feeling very, very motivated. 

You can’t stop your giggles while you watch him work, now moving ten times as fast as he was before – he was even getting some of the math problems right.

He shows them off to you quickly, and you keep your promises for each one – he’s too hesitant to ask you to kiss him in any places he really wants, so he keeps it cute – asks for kisses on his nose, his cheeks, his forehead. Eventually he gets brave and asks for one on his lips and he feels dizzy when you pull back with a smirk.

From there it gets heated very quickly – somehow you find your way into his lap, arms looped around his shoulders and legs dangling on either side of him. He works with you there, every so often tapping your back so you can look at his work. Your kisses stray farther down – his jaw, his neck, his collarbones, even along his shoulders. You can’t help the way your hands wander, sliding underneath his hoodie and running your palms along lean muscle and smooth skin.

You feel something under you and you can’t help the way you smirk to yourself. At least you weren’t the only one getting excited. You kiss his lips again after the next problem, though this time it’s deeper, more desperate than before. You pull back breathing heavily, the little string of saliva that connects your lips making you gulp. Your eyes flit down to the papers, then, and you grin, your voice barely above a whisper when you speak, Ajax’s eyes big and doe-like looking back at you, “You’re almost done. Finish it all and I get to kiss you wherever I want.”

[primaryred]

(Selective) Genshin characters and what kind of hs students I think they would be

part 2

notes: sitting on the toilet after a good McDonald’s dinner, then all of a sudden I start thinking of Kazuha as a drug dealer in hs. Idk man it must be the mc chicken or som.

warnings: the girls who get it, get it / drugs / suggestive themes / cursing / infrequent hcs / spelling errors?/ hs topics / favoritism / assume ur a girl even if ur not for Childe’s part / spelling errors / shut up I didn’t put spelling errors twice

Kazooha

-Drug dealer, but the only sane person in the entire goddamn school.

-AP English/ theater kid but instead of breaking into songs in the hallway he recites poems that no one has ever heard of

-Says he can play the piano but when you ask him to play you something he pulls up w twinkle twinkle little star

-“Did I hear someone say Robert? Whose woods these are I think I know-“

-Beidou begs him to do pull ups with her but he ends up timing her instead and gets called a pussy

-Quiet for the most part but if he ever sees someone stressed in class he slides them a discount for 🍃

-Doesn’t judge you in a swimsuit 🙄

-Pulled up to his math test high asf but somehow got a B on it.

Beidou

-Generally super nice and loud but then the P.E bell rings and she’s the biggest bitch ever

-You’d think the gym coach would like her, but she’s probably insulted them by telling them they look to unfit to be supervising any kind of sport

-“comon coach make us do 15 more pushups!!”

-entire class plots to kill her

-Cross country, soccer, volleyball, literally name any sport in the book and she’s done it. Except hockey.

-You know those trophy cases they have in the school hallways with the glass? Yeah she’s won 75% of those.

-Joined the debate team for shits and to piss ningguang off but does pretty well in it.

-Was kicked out tho for breaking a table by throwing a book out of pure anger when she lost the tournament

-Scouts Kazuha for the volleyball team but he gives no shit and ends up being the voluntary errand boy (gotta get the application full)

-Only thing straight about her is her straight C’s.

Yun Jin

-Only theater kid w actual singing talent

-Vocal coaches the drama kids for $60 an hour

-Has lots of cute keychains and stuff on her school bag

-I get the vibe that she used to do singing “performances” in the playground when she was in elementary but it was actually good

-Hits Kazuha’a vape sometimes behind the school

-Ask her what the date is and she’ll pull out an entire calendar out of her backpack full of random notes

-Does well in history. The teacher’s favorite but literally doesn’t want anything to do w them

-Nice girl who sends u the homework and notes if you were absent that day

-Hates Childe for no particular reason

Childe

-Baseball fan (derogatory) (love the Mets <3)

-WANTS to compare his hand size w a pick me girl

-Has screwed half of the school’s population. Male or female.

-W-wears sunglasses indoors with his hood on 🤢

-Best player on the school hokey team

-“You guys think it’s cold in here? It’s sooo warm. Try living in-“

-Has had 3 growth spurts

-Genuine woman protector. Would ask if you want him to walk with you to your car

-Takes selfies at the most inappropriate times

-Called himself “Childe” as a joke but now the entire school calls him that. “Who’s Ajax?”

-Drops colossal shits in the school bathroom

-Loses the bathroom pass. Maybe in the bathroom toilet. Maybe got shit on it.

-Gets tutored by Zhongli in science and he tries to fuck his way into getting an A

-Works on the school news team and actually makes it interesting and funny

-Picks fights w Xiao for no reason and gets beaten up

Venti

-“HEY YOU! Where’s your hall pass?” “I fucking work here, Ei.”

Shenhe

-Works as a TA most of her years and always runs around the school printing papers

-Hooks the teachers up w some good ass coffee

-“Yun Jin, what is a High School Musical?”

-Was introduced to Anastasia by Yun Jin as well and she loves it (things my heart used to know)

-Woman protecter pt.2

-Wants to braid every girl’s hair. Has probably done it without asking before and the poor girl completely froze and waited for her to finish

-Helps with the school gardens only so she can miss class

-Get’s F’s on response questions because she puts one sentence maximum and doesn’t understand why points are deducted from it

-Unintentionally speed walks

-Has probably J-walked too

-Download that period tracker app bc Beidou recommended it

-Gets tricked into participating in school shows by Yun Jin

Ayaka

-Quiet kid

-gets hit w the “You’re so quiet, do you ever talk?”

-Polite. Too polite. Even when she shouldn’t be

-Someone would bump into her and she’d apologized for being in their way

-Idolized for being responsible and getting straight A’s

-Has 17 scholarships even tho she’s got that 💵💵💵💵

-Organizes school events w Keqing and Ganyu. All who are which apart of the student council

-Poetry besties with Kazuha

-All the guys hit on her. Thoma is woman protecter pt.3

-That one girl who wears a ponytail EVERYDAY. Like has never put it down under any circumstances

-She probably showers w a ponytail tbh

-Jojo type shit RIP hairline

-Likes phone games like candy crush and would probably downloaded LoL per Yoimiya’s suggestion

-Participates in dance/ballet/gymnastics?? Has also occasionally starred in school plays

-“My brother will hear about this >:(“

Kaeya

-Has probably licked the bathroom floor for $20

-Deez nutz jokes galore, targets Shenhe

-Competes with Beidou in P.E and soccer. Cant beat Beidou #girlboss

-Camilo kinnie (derogatory)

-Would stop a person who has headphones on in the middle of the hallway and would ask them what song they’re listening to for a Tik Tok

-Probably (almost?) fucked Childe

-A’s and some B’s but doesn’t really try at school

-Scares freshman

-“Diluc, I don’t think our DEAD father who died on your BIRTHDAY would be very happy with you right now 😍🤟”

-Provides Kazuha w the drugs. Gets 50% of the cut

-Has a weed farm in his shed.

———

A/N: I will probably add more if I ever get another mind blowing shit again. So not that far into the future!

A/N#2: Was listening to my brother’s weeps as he thought he broke his VR while writing this. I fixed it 2 minutes later.

[naralumi]

chilumi as... high school au!

a childe x lumine headcanon/au based on the typical high school au trope!

part of my chilumi as... series

summary: student council president lumine is in charge of the new kid, ajax. he makes her feel like she's in some teen romcom, but she's trying to play it cool. he isn't even that handsome. besides, she's like... the popular girl. why would a handsome transfer student fluster her so much?

ayaka, 7:49am: are u guys meeting me for coffee before class? <3

lumine, 7:55am: just aether, i have to get to school early. responsible for the new kids orientation. lunch together? :D

perfect grades, a good reputation, solid extra curriculars and a sensible circle of friends. it was only expected that lumine would be voted as student council president in her senior year - the campaign (which she had been dreaming about since she was a freshman) wasn't quite as exciting as she had hoped, she ran uncontested. still, her best friend ayaka had helped her make signs and got her law student older brother to proofread her speeches. it was good practice for the future, or at least, would make her college applications stand out more. she needed all the help she could get to cinch an ivy league scholarship.

the one teeny-tiny issue was that, despite how good being student council president sounded in theory, it actually took up a lot of time. she was sort of the school's own personal errand girl. maintaining her 4.0 gpa, math tutoring and volunteering alongside these new responsibilities left her negative time for herself. not even for an iced latte with aether and ayaka that morning.

"i'm here," lumine knocked on the door of the staff room, crossing the threshold as the clock struck eight, out of breath from running down the street, heavy book bag in tow. her hair was stuck to her face; she must have been an absolute sight to behold. "sorry i'm late."

"you're not late, miss young" mr porter laughed, like the very notion that lumine could be capable of such a thing was ridiculous.

"in fact, i was early." a tall boy with a cheery voice, reddish brown hair and bright blue eyes stood up. lumine hadn't even noticed him in her hurry to meet her homeroom teacher.

"you're ajax?"

"yes. ajax morozov." he smiled, reaching out to shake lumine's hand. his pale skin felt soft and warm around her own; and she stared up at him, slightly intimidated by how this guy managed to be the most handsome boy she had ever seen, and also the most adorable (she was a sucker for freckles, and he seemed to have millions of tiny ones dotted across his cheeks, sprinkled like powdered sugar).

ugh, lumie, be cool.

"i'm lumine young."

"i heard you're the student council president. and a math tutor. and you do something with... horses?"

great. "mr porter told you all about me, huh?"

"i had to boast our star student! mr morozov doesn't know anyone here, his whole family just relocated from california."

"we move a lot," ajax shrugged. "enough about that."

"you... left california... for ohio?" lumine couldn't hide the horrified look that spread across her face. "you poor thing."

"why don't you give ajax a tour while it's still quiet?"

"yes, why don't i?"

**

ajax talked a lot. not in a bad way - he had questions, he was interested in everything lumine was saying, and really seemed to want to get to know her, too, not just interested in finding out where he was allowed eat and pee. it was a little bit embarrassing, though, having to talk about how she lived on a ranch with her parents and her twin brother and had to live up to all the amazing things mr porter had told him about her. like, sure, her qualities all looked good on paper, but her haircut was kind of lopsided (she was never going to forgive aether for being distracted while trimming it last week) and her breath was bad in the morning and she had a lot of dry skin in weird places. she was not perfect. but ajax, by god, ajax was. he had to be. he looked like he just stepped out of a fairy tale. he was a prince, high royalty, handsome and wealthy and well travelled (he told her he spoke five languages fluently, which made lumine's a+ in french look meaningless) and kind. all the boys at her school were kind of jerks, so she couldn't imagine how he'd fit in with them.

lumine had never been interested in looking twice at a guy in her class, but now she couldn't tear her eyes away from ajax. so unprofessional! this was meant to be about pointing out the fire exits and giving him tips on what foods to avoid in the cafeteria, not securing a prom date before the rest of the seniors realised that there was finally a hot guy in their midst.

"i'm still quite hung up on the fact you live on a ranch. that's so...,"

"it's exactly what you expected when you moved to ohio, right?"

"yeah," he laughed. "los angeles is a different world."

"i spent the summer mucking stables and teaching kids to ride ponies. not exactly hot girl stuff, but my parents paid me well."

"you worked at horse summer camp?! you're a weird horse girl!"

"hey!" lumine punched his arm. "it's not my fault! i was born into it!"

"yeah, i know all about that."

as a comfortable silence fell, she led him to the last stop on their little orientation, which was their homeroom. "so, we have to be here by 8:45 every morning. we can chill at lunch, too, but most people just sit out or go for a drive."

ajax nodded. "got it."

"come on, there's a seat next to mine that isn't assigned yet. i'll show you."

"it's definitely under the teacher's nose, right?"

"you think you know me?" she grinned. it was actually at the very back of the classroom, hers by the window, and the one that would now be ajax's in front of it. "i prefer a view. just love staring at the parking lot."

"you can stare at the back of my head now if you get bored of cars."

"noted. can i have a look at your schedule?"

"be my guest."

they took their seats and ajax reached into his pocket. "here. do we have any classes together?"

"yup. you're taking all ap?"

"moving around a lot doesn't leave me much time to make friends, so i study instead."

"well, stick with me, then. i'll make sure you don't get lost." lumine paused for a minute, unsure if it was appropriate to pry. "any reason for all the moving?"

"it's a long story."

"we have about ten minutes before everyone piles in if you feel comfortable telling it. you don't have to, though. just curious." "oh, i don't mind at all, it's just... ugh, it's boring. i always look super mysterious when i transfer schools," he shakes his head. "but it's nothing fun. my dad is a business man and his offices keep expanding, so we travel so he can help with the set up and transition period or whatever, and then it's usually onto the next one within six months. he promised that we wouldn't leave her til i graduated considering i'm a senior now, but if duty calls... well, no big deal. i'll get my credits from wherever and finally settle down when i get into college."

"that sounds rough," lumine said, gently. "do you have any siblings?"

"yeah. three younger, none of them have started high school yet, and two older ones i haven't seen in a while. it's pretty tough on the kids, i don't mind so much, but they haven't learned to not make friends or put down roots yet."

"hm. i get you. what's the point, right?" "exactly. dad says it'll be different every time, but it never really is."

"i have a proposition for you."

"really?" ajax raised his eyebrows.

"yeah. you and me. we'll be friends. no questions asked if you disappear tomorrow. i won't cry or make you feel guilty for being a terrible bestie, so you don't have to feel bad. but if you fancy riding a horse or studying for the sats together, then i'm your girl. you can even come for coffee with me before class. me, my twin brother aether, and my best friend ayaka usually carpool to starbucks and then to school because we can't survive without iced lattes. if you're down, you're welcome."

"that... sounds great."

lumine was chuffed with herself. what a great student council president she was. now, the only job remaining was to not develop a crush on ajax morozov. getting attached would be against the rules.

lumine, 8:59am: ayaka, help. i think i like the new kid. he is so beautiful and his voice is like butter and when i talk to him i feel like im gonna THROW UP. where the hell are u two. ugh now i know how u felt when you ran into miko at the pool

[loghired]

We need all kind of subject teacher and tutor (math/Sci/Eng/French). Brilliant Tutor at Your Home is the fastest growing in-home tutoring service in the GTA.

[step-up-academy-blog]

[briannacarrasco-blog1]

Character/Advice

My idea of a good day isn’t following a 17 year old girl around high school. Frankly, high school was the worst time of my life. That’s when I was struggling with my self-confidence, discovering my sexuality, and I had absolutely no idea who I truly was.

The only reason why I made it through high school and to the age of 22 years old was because of my best friend, Amanda, who I’ve known since kindergarten. While I would get bullied, or teased Amanda yell and tell everyone else to back off. She protected me my whole life.

When Amanda got pregnant when she was 17, I thought Amanda would get too busy with her new son, Simon, and her asshole boyfriend, Peter, and our friendship would slowly deteriorate and I would be alone forever. But, the complete opposite happened. Peter and Amanda were always on again, off again, and Peter was rarely in Simon’s life. I loved Simon like he was my own son, and he kind of was. He called me Aunty Ava, but I was more of a second mother than an aunt.

So, I was not that pleased when I flew in all the way from Maine to Toronto to mentor a 17-year old girl named Brianna.

Although, I was supposed to be following Brianna from class-to-class, and giving her advice, I couldn’t help but think of my life back home.

In Brianna’s French class, instead of paying attention to the French version of Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, I was worrying about what was going on back home in Portland.

Amanda, Simon, and I had just moved to Portland from New York City early this year, after Amanda had enough of Peter’s physical and verbal abuse, and after my mother passed away of a brain tumor. Amanda and I boarded a flight from NYC to Portland, Amanda with bruises on her face, and me with no family left, but at least we had each other. And Simon.

After arriving in Portland, with a portion of the money my mother left me, we opened our own seafood restaurant by the beach. I haven’t been away from Amanda for more than a day since kindergarten. So, during the movie, I found myself constantly checking my phone for texts from Amanda, or updates on the restauraunt. I felt weird about leaving her, but I knew she was strong and could handle herself.

After Brianna’s French class was lunch time, which is probably the worst part about high school. In class, at least you could keep to yourself, and avoid others. But at lunch, you’re forced to socialize with people that you probably won’t even remember in 10 years. Or, you eat lunch alone and be considered a loser. You never win.

But I was surprised. Lunch wasn’t actually that bad. Brianna mentioned to me that she usually ate lunch at her locker, and when we arrived and she opened her locker, I was shockdx to see The Shining by Stephen King sitting at the top of her textbooks. I was completely taken aback. She seemed like the type of girl to listen to bad pop music and watch makeup tutorials on YouTube.

“That’s my favourite book!” I exclaimed, unable to contain myself. Stephen King really excited me. I couldn’t help it.

“I’m loving it so far!” she responded, stacking binders in her locker. “But I think we’re in agreement that the movie sucked.”

“Oh, definitely.” I replied smiling. I thought today was going to be horrible, but it was always great to find someone you could bond over horror stories with.

The rest of the lunch went by fairly quickly, and I assume it’s because we were discussing our favourite books, movies, and TV shows. I learned that Brianna liked teen dramas like Gossip Girls, The Fosters, and Skins, whereas I preferred legal dramas and crime shows like Suits or CSI. We both agreed on Criminal Minds though, and we debated about who was the cutest. She went for Derek Morgan, but I picked JJ, obviously.

She also told me about her visits to New York City, and how she decided it’s her favourite city in the world. I told her about what it was like for me to grow up in NYC, and all my favourite things about the city. But I didn’t tell her about what made me leave New York for good. There were too many bad memories associated with that place that I didn’t want to talk about.

After lunch, Briana brought me to her last period class, which was Advanced Functions. I know I said that high school was an overall nightmare for me, but the one place I really felt comfortable was in math class. It’s probably because math was the subject I did best in, and it also required the least amount of social interaction. There were no group projects in math class.

Every so often, Brianna would ask me if her answers were correct, or if she was doing a question right. Whenever she asked me a question, I felt a flutter in my heart as I remembered being 17 and tutoring younger kids with their math homework. For a brief period before Amanda got pregnant, I thought about becoming a teacher. I didn’t really know for what. I was interested in a lot of things from law, to science, to math. But, I knew that explaining things to people, and helping them to love the same things I did, was something I knew I wanted to do.

But then Amanda had Simon, and I dedicated my life to protecting her, like she had protected me.

After school, Brianna’s grandmother picked us up in her car, and drove us to Brianna’s house in Ajax, a small town outside the city.

When we got to Brianna’s house, which was roughly the size of my new home in Portland. I was still used to the tiny apartments in New York, and still couldn’t fathom why anyone would need such a large living space. After munching on some vegetarian snacks in Brianna’s cupboards, and gathering Brianna’s books, we hopped into her car.

“I tutor this kid about three times a week,” Brianna explained while starting her car. “He’s such a brat, but you get used to him after a while.”

The way she reversed out of her driveway and sped down the street like it was second nature caught me off guard. Back in New York, there usually wasn’t any need to drive a car. A subway station was always a short distance away, and if you really wanted to, you could hop in a taxi. I didn’t realize that driving might actually be a useful skill until moving to Portland, where not everything was easily accessible by subway.

While Brianna was tutoring this 7-year old boy in French (what was it with this girl and French?) I started to understand what Brianna meant when she said that this kid was a brat. I love children, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to be a teacher. But, sometimes I forget that not all kids were as sweet and caring as Simon.

After French lessons, Brianna drove her car over to a restaurant to meet her mother and her two cousins. I was dragged along, even though what I really wanted to do was go home and Skype with Amanda and Simon to see how they were doing, But, I admit, dinner was pretty fun. The table came with a trivia game that they played against each other. I didn’t really feel like playing, so I just watched. As they played and laughed and yelled at each other over the table, I felt a sense of yearning for something I would probably never have. A family. I felt a pang of jealousy in my heart, but it was quickly replaced with joy. If I couldn’t have a happy family, I’m glad someone could.

There was one point during the dinner when an Ed Sheeran song came on, and everyone at the table starting singing in unison. They all seemed so happy, but I couldn’t help but sit there as teared welled up in my eyes. It reminded me too much of when my mother and I used to sing Your Song by Elton John in the kitchen while cooking dinner or getting ready for school and work. In the middle of the song, I had to quickly excuse myself and go to the bathroom for pull myself together.

After feasting on fries and garlic bread, we parted ways, and I got back into the car with Brianna. She plugged her phone into the AUX cord, and played me a song from a new band she’s been listening to called Years & Years. They weren’t really my type, since I was more of a Billy Joel or The Police type of girl. But, then she played a Sam Smith song that was so beautiful that I made a mental note to download it on my phone.

When we arrived back home at Brianna’s house, she sat at her dining room table while her mom watched soap operas in the living room. She pulled out her math textbook and smiled at me.

“You think you can do my math homework for me?” she teased.

I pulled up a chair beside her and we did her homework together for the next two hours. Sitting in the dark, with only the soft light of the kitchen, by the warm fireplace, and doing math homework, was probably the best part of my day. I had a glimpse of what my life would be like if Amanda didn’t get pregnant, and I decided to follow my dreams instead of taking care of her. I immediately felt a pang of guilt.

“You know, I wanted to be a math teacher when I was your age.” I said out loud, startling Brianna. “Or a science teacher. It didn’t really matter.”

“Why didn’t you?” Brianna asked.

“Things happened.” I responded. “My best friend was a teen mom. She isn’t that close with her family, she was always staying at my place. And her family had basically no money.”

Brianna stared at me, her eyes wide, urging me to continue.

“I’m not rich or anything. But my mom was a pretty successful lawyer before she died. So we were pretty well off. I kind of made it my duty to take care of her. She took care of me for many years, so I decided it was time to pay her back. We both have no family anymore. We’re each other’s family.”

“That’s really sad.” Brianna responded softly. I was taken aback. Usually when I tell people about me and Amanda’s friendship, they think it’s amazing that we managed to find each other through all the darkness of the world.

“Why?” I asked.

“You shouldn’t feel indebted to your best friend.” she started.

“I’m not indebted–“

“I mean,�� she continued. “It’s great to help out friends in times of need, but, at what expense? When do you stop giving every part of yourself to Amanda and her son? When do you start taking care of yourself? When do you get to be happy. 22 is too young to be taking care of another girl and her son.”

“Well, Amanda was too young to have a baby. She needed help.” I couldn’t help but defend her.

“Look, Amanda made a mistake when she was 17 years old. That’s in the past, and you got Simon out of it. I’m just saying, how long are going to pay for Amanda’s mistake?” Brianna closed her math textbook and stuffed it into her school bag, while I sat there with a stunned expression on my face. “I’m going to go to bed. Thank you for spending the day with me today. You really helped me a lot.”

“No,” I said. “You helped me.”

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