The Prince's Tutor

Callie sat with Harry at the round chairs of the familiar Cambridge library. After his apology to her last week, not much else had changed. Harry retreated back to his old cocky self, but this time he kept the insults at a minimum.

He had crossed the line once, and therefore he decided to be careful in choosing his words. But, the mischievous prince was in fact a carefree spirit and he did as he pleased. He found a sudden liking to teasing the girl to no end.

He had to have a little fun every now and then and Callie was the perfect victim.

There was something about her; something intriguingly vivid that Harry couldn’t discount.

She was strong willed and had a nasty temper when tampered with, all the more fun for Harry, but there was something else about her- no matter how much Harry teased and mocked her, she was unmoving.

She did not back down from her promise to his father, and there was something respectable about that.

Callie now sat with her face completely emerged in Harry’s physics textbook, attempting to teach him the basics for his exam the following Monday. To say Harry wasn’t cooperating is somewhat of an understatement; instead he was focused on getting her attention.

Callie refused to look at him, she was angry about what he had said earlier about her lack of figure. She knew very well he was bothering her on purpose- letting him get to her was not going to help the situation, so instead she focused on her teaching.

It was no use however; he was not giving theoretical physics any chance. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head, a devilish smirk appearing on his lips.

“You’re still mad, then?”

Callie didn’t raise her eyes from the page. She concentrated at the center, allowing her eyes to hover over the black text.

She tried again, this time her tone much louder, emphasizing that she was serious.

“A changing electromagnetic field propagates away from its origin in the form of a wave. These waves travel in vacuum at speed…”

She was interrupted by a throaty chuckle, followed by him saying:

“Have you ever seen your face when you’re angry? I mean, really seen it? You look ridiculous.”

“Will you just pay attention? Honestly, how am I supposed to tutor you when all you do is play mind games?”

“That’s not my job, love. What kind of tutor are you if you can’t even keep your students interested? ”

Callie decided to ignore his question or statement or whatever it was; it was not relevant to the topic.

“Electromagnetic radiation is the manifestation of…”

Harry reached over and pulled the book out of her grasp suddenly, throwing Callie off track for a moment.

He held the book in his hands, shaking it in his palms, taunting her.

Callie kept her gaze on the wooden table; she didn’t want to look up at him now. She feared if she did, she’d succumb to the urge of smacking him across the face.

“Give me the book,” she said firmly, avoiding eye contact.

The prince remained silent, enjoying the frustration that was plastered all over her face.

“Honestly, you’re a child! I truly pity whoever has to come in contact with you,” she spat, frustrated with his immaturity.

And in that second all previous humor left him. The playful gleam in his eye vanished and the area around his knuckles turned white from squeezing the book.

He threw the book across the table and onto the floor, making a thud as it hit against a bookshelf.

Callie jumped from the sudden movement, surprised by his rapidly changing emotions.

He glared at her in a way he never had before, and turned his attention to the book shortly before saying:

“There. Go get your precious book.”

Callie stared at him for a moment before standing up and walking over to the poor thing. She knelt down beside it and picked it up with her fingers, brushing any dirt off- which was ironic because the library was relatively clean.

She walked her way back to the table, but instead of sitting down, she gently placed the textbook in front of him. It made a firm sound as it hit the wood.

She placed her palms on the table, leaning on it carefully, her body facing his.

“Now, are you satisfied?”

He didn’t bother to look at her. He just slouched in his chair unhappily and replied with,

“Very,” although he didn’t mean it.

Callie stared at him for a long time, sizing him up so to speak. After a couple of moments, she finally decided to say what was on her mind.

“You don’t scare me,”

From that peculiar statement, he fixed his attention back to her.

“What?”

“I said you don’t scare me. Just answer me this, aren’t you exhausted?”

He became confused, and when the young prince felt as if he didn’t understand something or was being wrongly judged, he started to become annoyed.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your act. The things you say, the attitude, the rudeness, the arrogance- you do it all on purpose don’t you?

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Harry said, finally becoming completely agitated. He stood up from his chair and began to make his way past her, but Callie didn’t stop there.

She really needed to work on that whole filter thing.

“Aren’t you tired of pretending to be someone you’re not,” she called after him.

Then, it was the final straw.

“You think your mum would be proud of you?”

Harry stopped in his tracks, his blood suddenly turned ice cold in his veins. For a couple of seconds he stood there, his back facing Callie, the blood rushing to his face.

Then he turned around. His face had become red, but that wasn’t the most frightening part. The worst part was his eyes- they were cruel and merciless.

He took a couple of steps, striding up to where Callie was standing, who was now speechless and in utter shock.

As he stood in front of her, staring her down with those fearsome eyes, he bent his head towards hers in a threatening motion.

“What did you say?”

Callie felt her whole throat dry up, for once in her life she felt too scared to stand up for herself.

After a couple moments of their intense stare down, Prince Harry said his final words, and for once Callie said nothing in return.

“Don’t ever say that again. You don’t know anything about me, so don’t ever assume you do.”

As soon as he was done, he turned around and walked out of the library. Callie was left standing there in confusion at what just happened.

And after that conversation, Callie never mentioned his mother to him again.