Against All Odds

Chapter 12

Aliyah P.O.V.

I glanced down at my phone to check the time. I was meeting Marcus in the library today at our usual time. He skipped over our session on Tuesday, saying he was busy and that he'll meet me here on Thursday. I didn't know what was up with him lately, but I was gunna try my best to figure it out today before I officially give up.

"Wassup." I looked up and softly smiled once I seen him sit down at the table. "Hey.." He pulled out his books and took a deep breath. "What we doin today?"

I cleared my throat and opened up my textbook. "I thought we could start the next chapter together, before Ms.Louis starts it next week." He nodded. "Ight cool."

"....But before we start, I wanted to know something." He lifted up his brows, not taking his eyes off his book.

"..We got our tests back, how'd you do?" He leaned back into his seat and nodded. "Better than I did before." He said, not looking at me. I slightly smirked.

"I meant what was the grade, I'm glad your doing better though." He sighed as he reached into his bag, puling out his tests from earlier. He slid it across the table, right infront of me.

I looked down at his paper and smiled. "78, that's not bad, you almost got a B." I smiled at him as I pushed his paper back towards him.

"Yeah, thanks for the help ma." I nodded. "Of course, as long as you keep this tutoring up, you'll be to a A in no time." He slightly chuckled.

"Ight, I know you tryna be positive and all that, but you ain't gotta do all that, Im good with my C." He said, finally looking up at me.

I frowned. "You could make it to a A if you worked for it." He nodded. "Ight ma, sure, what chapter are we doin??."

My frown deepened. "Okay, what's going on with you? When we first started, you were being a asshole to me, which I thought we had moved passed, then we we're cool and you kiss me on my doorstep, and now your acting like a asshole again, wassup??"

"Nothing, Im cool." I shook my head. "..No your not...why are you acting like this?? If this is about the kiss, then just say it, If you didn't mean it, or if you don't like me in that way, it's fine Marcus, Im not trippin over it, you don't have to be rude about it."

I closed my book and stood up from the table, I was just about to grab my bag, when he grabbed my arm. "Nah, it's not even like that...sit down."

I stood in the same spot and folded my arms across my chest. "Sit down Aliyah, damn." I slightly frowned as I slowly sat down in my seat.

"Look." He started. "I ain't been meanin to come off as rude, or an asshole to you, I just been thinkin about alot after the other night."

"....Like what?" He sighed. "I gotta get into the details?" I nodded. He paused before speaking again.

"...You know...just alot, I ain't really know what that kiss meant, or if we should have even did it....I mean, I ain't wanna make this tutorin shit more awkward than it already is, and most importantly, I ain't wanna play myself either."

I slightly frowned. "You didn't wanna play yourself? How could you have played yourself??"

He rubbed his small beard before leaning into tht table. "Look, we come from two different lifestyles, to tell the truth, I was really just tryna be realistic about the situation, I ain't wanna make it more than what it seemed. How many girls like you, end up with niggas like me?? Besides in movies, that shit don't happen."

My frown deepend. "So you completely rule me out, before even trying to see if it was what you thought it was? It's obvious that we come from two different backgrounds, but so what?? If Im interested in someone....then im interested in them."