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Hope your weekend is going well. As discussed, your one-on-one tutoring slot for the spring semester has been matched. The student is repeating A&P after fall and is at academic risk. I’ve matched him with you deliberately. He’s high profile, and I’d rather that sit with an LA I trust.

Please find your assignment below. First session needs to be scheduled within the first weeks of the semester, per program guidelines.

Student: Callum Fox

Status: Repeating freshman A&P, conditional

Please reach out to the student to coordinate. [email protected] Let me know if any concerns.

Best,

Priya

I put down the clementine, surgery forgotten.

Callum Fox. No. I jump up out of bed and open my laptop. Something about writing emails from my phone feels wrong. I draft a reply.

Hi Priya,

Would you be open to a swap? I’d be happy to take two students in exchange for

I delete that.

Hi Priya,

There is no chance I am spending a semester alone in a lab with Callum Fox. The man hid under a desk in my lab in September and is clearly so full of himself he expects the world to bend to his will. He also has distractingly sexy arms and somehow makes piercings work on a man, which really shouldn’t be possible⁠—

I stop typing.

I hold down backspace and watch the whole thing eat itself, one character at a time, which takes longer than selecting it all would have. It feels important to watch it go.

Hi Priya,

Of course. Happy to help. Send over the details.

Bea

Send.

The following morning, I brush my teeth in a way that is slightly more aggressive than dental hygiene requires. I’m still thinking about my LA assignment. Why him? Of all the freshmen taking bio-chem classes. I huff as I throw on a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. I pack my bag for the day and head downstairs to make breakfast. I eat the oatmeal standing up and draft a message to Callum Fox.

Hi Callum,

I’ve been assigned as your one-on-one LA for A&P I this semester. Please confirm your availability for a session this week. I have openings Tuesday at 4 PM, Wednesday at 2 PM, or Thursday at 4 PM. The session will be weekly in room 207 of the Hartley building.

Please come prepared with your fall semester syllabus, your most recent exam, and a list of three concepts you struggled with. The session is sixty minutes. Sessions are weekly and non-negotiable per the program’s protocol.

Looking forward to working with you.

Bea

I read it. I delete, ‘Looking forward to working with you.’ I read it again. I add Best, Bea. I add my number so we can communicate easier.

I put my phone face down on the counter and go to my nine o’clock lecture.

He replies during the lecture. The phone vibrates against my thigh.

Tuesday at 4 is perfect - Cal