They’ve never talked before, total opposites on the “high school quo” But the teacher had them stay after class; to inform them that she’ll be tutoring him. His grades weren’t the worst but could be better and she needs the extra hours of work. She didn’t understand why she “had” to be the one. The teacher does know why she wants extra work but she didn’t want to tutor him. She obliged with the teacher. While he argued, not wanting to miss hanging out with his friends; doing reckless teenage boy stuff. He also didn’t want to be tutored; didn’t think that he needed it anyways if he had a good enough GPA. The teacher continued to argue back with the boy as she waited silently beside him. 

Seeing as this situation should be handled in a more private setting, the teacher excused her but told her that they would start on Monday. Only meeting on Monday’s and Wednesday’s. She quickly left the class room as the boy started to raise his tone towards the teacher. She didn’t like the idea of tutoring someone so loud and obnoxious. She didn’t like coming home early so she was okay with the situation. Her family wasn’t the best and being away as much as possible made her happy; not like they noticed anyways. As she strolled home she went over the situation again and again; until she encouraged herself that this situation won’t be as bad as she thinks.

Monday finally rolled around, meaning it was time to start the tutoring sessions. The teacher had already printed out worksheets that he needed to go over and get more practice on doing. The teacher also gave her a copy of all of the answers for the worksheets. She had her other homework out to do while he worked on the papers. It was fine for about 10 minutes but she started to feel him stare at her.

She first glanced at his hands. One was on the papers, just sitting there while his elbow was up on the table. Meaning that he had his other hand up on his face somewhere. She then slowly brought her gaze up to meet his. His eyes pierced through hers. Part of her wanted to shy away but the other part told her that she’s the one in charge here; being the tutor and all. 

“Do you need something?”

“What are you doing?”

“Homework.”

He scoffed before rolling his eyes and looking back to his papers. Now she stared back at him, confused as to why he asked. When he glanced back up at her, she quickly brought her gaze back down to her own work. 

He didn’t say anything after that, didn’t even ask for help on any of the problems. When time was up they went their separate ways. 

Wednesday slowly came, and the tutoring session began once again. Started out the same way, both not talking to each other. About 10 minutes in, he started to stare at her again. She at first tried to ignore him but it slowly made her uncomfortable. She brought her gaze up to his and asked. 

“Yes?”

“Why are you tutoring me?”

“It’ll look good on my college applications.”

“Why does that matter?”

She opened her mouth to answer but shut it, turning her gaze back down. He seemed confused at why she didn’t answer so he shrugged it off and went back to work. This time he did ask her for some help on a few of the problems. When he still didn’t understand what she was saying he started to tap the pencil on the table. It started to annoy her after a while but she didn’t comment on it. 

Soon the tutoring session was over and they went their separate ways until Monday. 

On Monday he started out by asking her some of the same questions she tried to cover on Wednesday. The same thing happened with the pencil tapping, annoying her to no end. 

“Can you please not do that?”

“Can you please explain this better?”

She stared at him, which he stared back; raising his eyebrows at her. She looked down at the problem again, thinking of a better way to explain it. When she did he understood it. Returning back to the original silence between them. 

She caught onto his tapping, noting that whenever he didn’t understand what she was talking about, he would tap his pencil. Also whenever he wanted to ask her a question not related to the worksheets, he would stare at her until she looked over at him. 

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Stare at me then ask a question?”

He thought about it and also found his habit perplexing. When he couldn’t think of an actual answer he just shrugged his shoulders. 

“Don’t do that anymore then.” 

“Fine but why are you here?”

“I already told you why, now get back to work.”

She really didn’t understand why he wanted to know the real reason she was here. They never talked before so why is he suddenly so interested in her life. 

Wednesday was frustrating with her. Even though he agreed to not stare at her anymore, he did it anyway. Asking the same question ‘why are you here?’ It was getting on her nerves. She told him to cut it out but he only would for a few minutes before doing it all over again. 

She hated it, and was happy when the session was finally over. Instead of him going on his own way he decided to walk with her. At first she thought he was traveling down the same block as her but soon would turn away. When he didn’t she started to panic a little inside. 

“Why are you following me?”

“Really? We ended a bit later than usual.”

She paused her walking and looked at the sky. It had started to darken a little, she looked down at her watch and noticed that they did end a little later than usual. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t need him to walk her home, but he had already walked a few paces away; waiting for her to catch up. So she did. He walked her all the way to her house, she quickly thanked him before rushing inside. 

He didn’t leave right away but stared at the front door. A faint smile came on his face. When he noticed he was smiling, he walked away; internally cursing to himself. He hadn’t noticed when but his friends sure did point it out and now it was always on his mind.

They didn’t discuss what happened on Wednesday, she was too focused on her work. Studying for an upcoming test and he was too embarrassed. Knowing that he didn’t know why he decided to walk her home. Today was just like the first Monday, silence between them; until he started to stare at her again. At first he would catch himself staring at her. When she looked up at him, he knew he had been staring at her for too long. 

Today though she didn't look up at him, she was in her own little study world. He didn’t care though, he watched her as she did her work. Taking in all of her features. Her beautiful long hair, her gorgeous eyes. Faint pink along her cheeks and nose from the sunlight. The way she would tap her fingers on the table when she was figuring something out. The way her nose scrunched up when she had to erase a mistake. He thought it was all adorable. 

“You hungry?” he asked. 

“Hmm?”

She finally looked up from her work and looked confused. She really didn’t hear what he said, but he pulled out a bag of pretzels and handed them to her. She reached out and took them, she looked back up at him. Wondering if he was playing a trick on her but he rolled his eyes. He took the bag from her hands and opened it. He took a few and ate them, turning back to his work. She didn’t at first but her stomach had started hurting from the lack of food, so she ate some as well. 

This Wednesday was different from the last. Started off with them doing their own separate work, him doing his normal staring and her getting annoyed. However when things were ending, it was different. It was dark outside again on this Wednesday as well, except he noticed that she wasn’t so eager to leave like last time. 

When the time was up, she slowly packed up; having a sorrowful look on her face. He did his stare again, wanting to ask her what was wrong and who made her sad? But he couldn’t open up his mouth to speak.

She did notice his gaze but ignored him, saying a quick bye and then headed out of the building. She didn’t want to go home but knew she had too; she couldn’t go anywhere else until she graduated. She was completely forgotten by her family and it hurts, especially when it’s her birthday. 

She heard footsteps behind her but she already knew who they belonged to. She waited a bit till the footsteps caught up with her before she started walking again. 

He wanted to talk to her but didn’t know how to ask politely and wasn’t sure if she would get mad at him for asking what’s wrong? He followed her from a few steps behind, he didn’t want her walking home by herself. He did hesitate for a second when he saw that she had stopped walking, she was waiting for him so he caught up with her. 

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Wanna grab some ice cream?” he finally asked. 

“What?”

“I know a good ice cream place nearby, wanna grab some?”

She didn't answer right away, wondering why he was wanting to take her to get ice cream. She knew that he didn’t know her birthday. She figured it was a thank you for the help so she agreed.

He led in a different direction, away from her house. He kept close to her, giving her a sense of safety as they walked. She vaguely knew the place and it was written all over her face, so he walked close to her. 

When they got to the ice cream shop, he held the door open for her. She said a quiet thank you and walked inside. They ordered two ice cream cones. She was getting her wallet out to pay but he had already paid for it. She tried arguing with him about it, even though she thought it was a thank you. He didn’t say much to her but grabbed her hand and led her out of the ice cream shop. 

He didn’t let go of her hand and she didn’t seem to notice that he was holding hers. She kept trying to pay him back but with her hand in his and the ice cream cone in the other, she couldn't get to her wallet. He liked holding her hand and being with her, it made him happy.

When she dropped paying him back, she focused on her ice cream so it wouldn’t melt. She noticed that her hand was indeed holding his but she also didn’t mind it. Oddly enough tutoring him became her favorite part out of the week, even when he was just annoying her. 

She felt his stare on her once again and this time she looked at him. He stared at her for a few seconds. 

“I- Thank you for tutoring me.”

“You’re welcome.”

She knew it was a thank you along but the hand holding was different, it was a good different. He continued to stare at her, building up the courage to say it. 

“I like you.” She whispered. 

He was taken back by what she said and that she had confessed first. He let go of her hand and started laughing; embarrassed with himself. 

“I like you too.”