text: [Themes: modern, serious]
  
  You follow toward your co-workers, but they're already walking out the front door and you'll have to accelerate your pace to catch them. It wouldn't be cool to tell them you need to go to the bathroom (since they use the amenities between their lessons), but neither would discolouring your underwear.
  
  > call Out
  Today you're going to be yourself for once. No longer will you follow the crowd when it doesn't suit you, so you call out to your colleagues 'Hold up guys, I need to use the bathroom!' You expect to be lambasted until one of your co-workers, Sophia, also states she needs to visit the restroom. You both relieve yourselves and return to the group, all ready to fill your bellies with nourishing food.
  
  Belinda suggests a rustic cafe 15 minutes down the block, and you disengage from the group's polemic about Islam, preferring to instigate some chit chat with the enigmatic Sophia. She mainly listens to the group's conversations without actively participating, but you sense that she has something to say and elects to hold back - in striking resemblance to you, truth be told.
  
  Faintly tongue-tied by your weariness, you inquire about Sophia's residence. You learn that she lives alone in her mortgaged two-bedroom house, 10 minutes away from work. She reveals she is single, but is planning ahead for when she wants to settle down. Your hobby of studying philosophical works piques her interest, and you begin to deconstruct Nietzsche's ideas when the group sits down for coffee and sandwiches.
  
  As you are trailing the group, you notice that there are two seats left. You can sit between Belinda and one of the older employees (wearing a Poirot-styled moustache), which could be a smart move given that Belinda seems the 'alpha' of the group. Or you can sit next to Sophia, who just took a seat on the other side of the table. Did she intentionally position herself so you could continue your dialogue with her, or is her choice merely a reflection of her introverted nature? Perhaps it's a combination of both...?
  
  Of course you might also be vastly overanalysing the social situation.
  
  > sit with Belinda
  You have been a slight outcast in the group in the past due to your uninterest in discussing menial subjects, but you think you should give it a go. While Sophia is interesting to talk to, the last thing you want is to lead her on unnecessarily, which could further distance you from the group.
  
  Your acquaintances begin to discuss last week's football results. You're quite amused by 'Poirot' (that's your nickname for him today, because you can't remember his actual name) two seats from Belinda denigrating one team's coach as 'Not doing their job' and that 'they should be fired' because the team he's coaching is not performing any better than they did in last year's Premier League.
  
  Normally you would let his ignorance slide, but this time you're giving your opinion.
  
  'I'm not sure it's fair to wholly blame the coach for the team's stagnation.' you diplomatically start.
  
  Suddenly all eyes turn to you as the group as used to agreeing with each other. Then again, you theorise that it's the disagreements that truly consolidate a friendship.
  
  'It's not like our math tuition where we considerably improve our students' results by teaching them the curriculum - first, the coach is working with a whole team of players, and second, football is based more on the dynamic acquisition of skills, which is harder to produce a sustained improvement in than the mathematical formula rehashing we provide our students to solve their test questions.'
  
  The group continues to goggle with their mouths open at your lucidity. Ending the uncomfortable silence, Belinda agrees, supporting that 'you make an excellent point. We can't compare apples to oranges here.'
  
  Lunch finishes, and you talk to Belinda on the way back about how to most effectively calm a stressed student in the lesson before their exam. The group develops a newfound respect for you; even 'Poirot' starts warming to you.
  
  You resume your tutoring, and just as you finish your second afternoon session, you notice Belinda struggling with a question on a student's homework paper, and you think back to how you have Daniel to back you up if the need arises. It's ironic how Belinda is so popular, yet no one is coming to help her - though maybe you're just the first to notice. You could play white knight, but that might overshadow her and endanger her job here. At the same time, you could be condemning her to a firing if she continues to flounder with the problem.
  
  > help Belinda
  Daniel was available to help you out when you needed a hand, and if Belinda answers your kind gesture with paranoia, that's her problem. You approach her table and her upper body lightens up as you quip 'Hi there, so you're the second person today to stretch our tutors to their limits!' That light-hearted joke eases the tension in the room and you demonstrate the solution to the problem. 'Ah yes, I forgot to carry that number over in my calculations' Belinda notes. You see Ray from the corner of your eye and construe that it's time to save Brenda from receiving a warning. 'You know kid, they say it's always bad to make a mistake, but every mistake gives you a chance to learn something! And the painless way is to learn from other people's mistakes.'
  
  After the student leaves pondering your words, Ray compliments you on your smooth talk. 'That was very aptly expressed. You're right, maybe I shouldn't demand perfection from our tutors. Thanks.' He walks away muttering to himself 'Mistakes are an opportunity to learn' over and over, the way you sometimes repeat a phone number when you're getting ready to write it down.
  
  You continue your lessons for the remainder of the day, and while your students are slightly more challenging than usual, they really absorb your 'don't be afraid to make mistakes' mantra and you successfully maintain your patience with them.
  
  After this moment, you and Belinda have lunch each day, preferring to separate yourselves from the indecisive pack. You maintain a healthy platonic relationship and both excel in your work, receiving a modest pay raise every now and then for your efforts. You and Kim don't work out in the end, but it's a amicable break-up and you remain good friends, although for obvious reasons you don't mention your romantic lives to one another. You have no major complaints about your life, though you sometimes wonder if better things were out there for you...
  
  You reached an acceptable ending.