[dohtml]<center><div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify">Summer jobs for tutors weren't very common; most parents were nice enough to give their children a Summer-free education. Nat was relieved, however, that not all parents were like that. She felt bad for any kids who had to endure tutoring throughout the Summer, but she had to pay her rent and well, their suffering was the only way she could do that. She'd try her best to make it fun, though; around finals, her tutoring sessions were taken very seriously. But nothing was happening now, so why bother?<p>
Nat was tutoring Caleb today. Half the time she wanted to strangle the teen and the other half she found him hilarious. However, since she was going to have to cut down on her hours come September, she might not be tutoring him then, so she may as well try to focus on the half of him that made her laugh. Nat knocked on Caleb's door and glanced down at her watch; she was a few minutes late. She felt a bit proud of herself - she'd never been late to a tutoring session before. She really was relaxing!</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify">Summers were made for very specific things. Things like sleeping until three in the afternoon and then falling headfirst into the closest pool. Things like going on vacations with the family and purposefully wailing Zeppelin songs in his sister's ear until she snaps. Things like wandering around town aimlessly and not being questioned about it because it's summer, damnit.<p>
The Dotsons obviously needed a refresher on what summer meant.<p>
There were a million – no, a million and eight – things that Caleb could think of doing that didn't involve wanting to stab himself with a Dixon Ticonderoga over schoolwork, and he'd made this very clear to his family once he was aware tutoring sessions weren't to end when the school year did. He'd been halfway through preparing a very professional pie chart when they'd put their feet down, and even then he'd been looking for ways to avoid it. It wasn't Nat's fault, really. Sure, there may have been some borderline attacks on her part towards him, but all in all she was pretty cool. The learning on the other hand was a general disgrace, something no teen should have to do in his free time. And it was that philosophy he stuck to as he heard the doorbell ring and hid, only moving to peer through the door's peephole. "No one's here," Caleb called out in what he thought to be a low, solemn voice, though the intent seemed to escape the reality. "They all died. You can go home."
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[dohtml]<center><div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify">This, surprisingly, wasn't Nat's first Summer tutoring session; the first teen had answered the door to her almost instantly and Nat could only have assumed he was waiting directly behind it, because his face and body language did not scream excited - in fact, Nat had been genuinely curious if there was a recent death in the family. The second teen refused to answer the door, which only made Nat more determined. She'd called his parents, then heard a phone ring inside, followed by shouting and finally, an open door. She'd heard that one of her co-workers fortunate enough to get a Summer tutoring job had made a pact with the teen he was supposed to be tutoring - he wouldn't show up if she agreed to tell her parents he had. Nat wasn't going to risk her job like that.<p>

Nat rolled her eyes when she heard Caleb's voice. Of course; he couldn't just not answer the door, he had to be comedic about it. She hoped his intent was comedy anyway, because she wasn't intimidated in the least and certainly wasn't considering giving up. "I do not get paid unless I cross this threshold, so if that means I'm sitting with a bunch of corpses then so be it," Nat called out, her tone holding more humour than it probably should have.</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify">Before Nat had arrived, Caleb had been appreciating his summer in a worthy, albeit hermit-like, manner.  Monster can held in a vice grip, he'd tried to wipe away the remnants of sleep with old sitcoms and manufactured energy, and he wasn't sure how well it was working to be completely honest.  He assumed that being conscious enough to wonder such things was a success in itself and thus didn't focus too seriously on it.  But conscious didn't mean learning-compatible, something he barely was during the school year, let alone vacation.  And so he'd resigned to the whole thing being a stab in the dark and the knowledge that it was his parents' own fault if they paid for the same results they'd get anyways.   Not that Nat would let him get away that easy.  She was nothing if not determined. <p>
The defeated sigh that passed his lips was louder than it should have normally been, and when he opened the door it was with an air of discontent.  "I don't think dead bodies are conducive to learning.  It'll probably just be a waste of time, trying to teach me anything."  Despite this, he gave Nat a tired grin and pushed the door wider for her to enter.  It could be worse, he reasoned, raising the energy drink back to his lips.  At least she had a sense of humor. 
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