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'… I don't get it. How does that work exactly…?' I poked at the piece of paper, hoping that it would somehow transfer all the information into my head and that I would suddenly understand everything. Not much happened, apart from the paper slipped out from under my finger. Perhaps it was a sign telling me that I'd never be able to understand the concept of biology. Or at least that aspect of it. 'So, mitochondria help living organisms to respire, right? So why don't animals have mitochondria? Animals need to respire too; shouldn't they have mitochondria, like plants? It's not fair that plants get all the cool features like cell walls that stop them exploding and mitochondria helps them respire so I think animals should have it too.'
'I think you're getting it wrong. Animals do have mitochondria. You clearly weren't listening properly. I said animals don't have chloroplasts because animals don't need to photosynthesise.'

'Oh… so my drawing is wrong then?' I glanced down at my hastily drawn monkey with an arrow pointing towards it with 'no mitochondria' written beside it. Stephano took one look at my drawing and burst out laughing. 'What? I put a lot of effort into that drawing; you shouldn't laugh at it like that. Stop laughing!' My cheeks were now aflame as I tried to wrestle the drawing away from my tutor. Feeling embarrassed to my core, I gave up the fight and stared at my hands, cheeks still glowing.
'What is this? What is this?' He was laughing far too hard to say much more and so didn't notice my glare. 'Tell me, what is this meant to be? It looks kinda like a panda but it's got a long tail and it's not black and white. Aw come on, don't pull the silent treatment on me.'
'It… it's meant to be a monkey. Now stop laughing, it's not that funny!' At my words he had burst into a fresh wave of howls and was almost wetting himself on the floor of my dining room. 'Just because I'm not that great at drawing doesn't mean you have to tell me like that. I know I'm not good at drawing.' It was a while before he finally got back enough breath to speak again, and what he said next didn't exactly please me.

'So this is a monkey, right?' At my nod, he continued. 'What happened to its eyes? It looks like it's wearing two monocles, and incorrectly at that!' I could see him struggling to stop more laughter from escaping. It was rather obvious considering that his entire body was shaking. My biology tutoring session had turned into a 'let's laugh at Sarah's drawing' session. Great. 'I'm keeping this. It's the best drawing I've seen in a long time. I'm going to stick it to my wall so I can see it every day and laugh.' I thought he was going to say something nice but apparently not. I'd had a feeling that it was going to turn sour. There was no point in trying to stop him though. Once Stephano gets something into his head, you'd better get out of the way or your dignity and pride would be completely crushed, and I still had some pride left and I would rather I kept it.

Stephano was my neighbour and the guy who used to babysit me when my parents went out. Apparently I was very cute as a child, according to Stephano, but something had gone wrong and the current me was the mixed up end product. I knew he only meant it as a joke, so I didn't really care, but when he told my sister she went ballistic. She's also a force to be reckoned with, especially when at seventeen she has the ability to scold a twenty six year old into submission. We had a love-hate relationship really. He would mock me and tease me about my inabilities, but if I ever cried he would panic and do whatever he could in attempt to cheer me up. Sometimes I would prank him by pretending to cry and it would keep me amused for a good twenty minutes. He was like the older brother I always wanted. I was the younger sister he never wanted.

He'd been nice enough to agree to tutor me in biology, especially when he was so busy with work and social life, so I was grateful. And he was doing it for free. When my parents practically begged him to help me, I had expected him to tease me but instead he'd got right down to teaching me, and to be honest, he's a better teacher than mine. My grades have picked up since he started to tutor me, which is good. The look on my teacher's face when I scored above fifty percent was the best thing that had happened to me since I chose biology. I only wish I could have been able to take a picture. His lessons are great, but it leaves me open to more verbal attacks from him, so I've had to try and prepare some stock answers for when he starts. I haven't had much success yet and I don't think I ever will succeed either.

'Dinner's ready!' My mum called from the kitchen as the delicious aroma of roasted potatoes with gravy wafted down the corridor. I closed my books as I went to partake in today's feast. The great thing about having Stephano come over is not only that I get tutoring, but that mum still treats him like a guest, even though he said not to, and cooks up a mouth watering feast just for him. It's a great fringe benefit and so without my mum's knowledge, I've been encouraging Stephano to come over more often for the food. He enjoys the cooking too, so it's not that hard to persuade him to come around a bit more. Mum still maintains the belief that he's too skinny for his own good and will keep forcing food down his gullet until he looks ready to explode. Despite all her best efforts he never gets any fatter. Where does all that food go? When I ask, he always laughs and tells me I need to learn more biology to find out. Damn.

Description
'… I don't get it. How does that work exactly…?' I poked at the piece of paper, hoping that it would somehow transfer all the information into my head and that I would suddenly understand everything. Not much happened, apart from the paper slipped out from under my finger. Perhaps it was a sign telling me that I'd never be able to understand the concept of biology. Or at least that aspect of it. 'So, mitochondria help living organisms to respire, right? So why don't animals have mitochondria? Animals need to respire too; shouldn't they have mitochondria, like plants? It's not fair that plants get all the cool features like cell walls that stop them exploding and mitochondria helps them respire so I think animals should have it too.'
'I think you're getting it wrong. Animals do have mitochondria. You clearly weren't listening properly. I said animals don't have chloroplasts because animals don't need to photosynthesise.'

'Oh… so my drawing is wrong then?' I glanced down at my hastily drawn monkey with an arrow pointing towards it with 'no mitochondria' written beside it. Stephano took one look at my drawing and burst out laughing. 'What? I put a lot of effort into that drawing; you shouldn't laugh at it like that. Stop laughing!' My cheeks were now aflame as I tried to wrestle the drawing away from my tutor. Feeling embarrassed to my core, I gave up the fight and stared at my hands, cheeks still glowing.
'What is this? What is this?' He was laughing far too hard to say much more and so didn't notice my glare. 'Tell me, what is this meant to be? It looks kinda like a panda but it's got a long tail and it's not black and white. Aw come on, don't pull the silent treatment on me.'
'It… it's meant to be a monkey. Now stop laughing, it's not that funny!' At my words he had burst into a fresh wave of howls and was almost wetting himself on the floor of my dining room. 'Just because I'm not that great at drawing doesn't mean you have to tell me like that. I know I'm not good at drawing.' It was a while before he finally got back enough breath to speak again, and what he said next didn't exactly please me.

'So this is a monkey, right?' At my nod, he continued. 'What happened to its eyes? It looks like it's wearing two monocles, and incorrectly at that!' I could see him struggling to stop more laughter from escaping. It was rather obvious considering that his entire body was shaking. My biology tutoring session had turned into a 'let's laugh at Sarah's drawing' session. Great. 'I'm keeping this. It's the best drawing I've seen in a long time. I'm going to stick it to my wall so I can see it every day and laugh.' I thought he was going to say something nice but apparently not. I'd had a feeling that it was going to turn sour. There was no point in trying to stop him though. Once Stephano gets something into his head, you'd better get out of the way or your dignity and pride would be completely crushed, and I still had some pride left and I would rather I kept it.

Stephano was my neighbour and the guy who used to babysit me when my parents went out. Apparently I was very cute as a child, according to Stephano, but something had gone wrong and the current me was the mixed up end product. I knew he only meant it as a joke, so I didn't really care, but when he told my sister she went ballistic. She's also a force to be reckoned with, especially when at seventeen she has the ability to scold a twenty six year old into submission. We had a love-hate relationship really. He would mock me and tease me about my inabilities, but if I ever cried he would panic and do whatever he could in attempt to cheer me up. Sometimes I would prank him by pretending to cry and it would keep me amused for a good twenty minutes. He was like the older brother I always wanted. I was the younger sister he never wanted.

He'd been nice enough to agree to tutor me in biology, especially when he was so busy with work and social life, so I was grateful. And he was doing it for free. When my parents practically begged him to help me, I had expected him to tease me but instead he'd got right down to teaching me, and to be honest, he's a better teacher than mine. My grades have picked up since he started to tutor me, which is good. The look on my teacher's face when I scored above fifty percent was the best thing that had happened to me since I chose biology. I only wish I could have been able to take a picture. His lessons are great, but it leaves me open to more verbal attacks from him, so I've had to try and prepare some stock answers for when he starts. I haven't had much success yet and I don't think I ever will succeed either.

'Dinner's ready!' My mum called from the kitchen as the delicious aroma of roasted potatoes with gravy wafted down the corridor. I closed my books as I went to partake in today's feast. The great thing about having Stephano come over is not only that I get tutoring, but that mum still treats him like a guest, even though he said not to, and cooks up a mouth watering feast just for him. It's a great fringe benefit and so without my mum's knowledge, I've been encouraging Stephano to come over more often for the food. He enjoys the cooking too, so it's not that hard to persuade him to come around a bit more. Mum still maintains the belief that he's too skinny for his own good and will keep forcing food down his gullet until he looks ready to explode. Despite all her best efforts he never gets any fatter. Where does all that food go? When I ask, he always laughs and tells me I need to learn more biology to find out. Damn.