Re: Alfie/Julien
That baffled Julien a little bit, someone to whom doing his best and getting results was paramount - he passed it off as being because he'd feel horrible for letting his parents down, but he knew deep down it was just because he couldn't stand what his mother might say to him if he squandered the gift that she wanted so bad. The Catch-22 of the whole situation was that while this was true, she also resented him more and more the better he did. He couldn't win really.
"I don't mind tutoring you." he offered again. "It'll help me to, teaching others can be the best way to learn sometimes. We can bounce ideas off each other." he felt bad that no one cared if Alfie did well or not, but he didn't think they were close enough yet for him to ask if this was a problem for his friend.