Her Fragile Heart

Chapter 6

I was mentally groaning while I was on my way to detention with Mr. Henderson. I can't even believe that. My first class with him and a detention.

I finally reached his classroom door and knocked twice. I heard a 'come in' then opened the door. As I was walking inside I realized that there were some stuff written on the board.

"Uhmm....what is this??" I said looking at the equations,figures, and formulas.

"Just copy them and then we'll start." Came his reply.

Silently, I sat down on one of the front desks to get a better view of the board and started jotting down the notes.

After a while of writing, I was done and looked up to tell the teacher, only to see him already staring at me , smiling.

"What?" I asked confusingly. "Is there something on my face??" I tried to fix my hair.

"No, there is nothing. "He chuckled."Let's just start ,shall we?"

"Yeah, sure. But,start what exactly?"

"Well,since you have detention and you have missed some things we've explained, why wait till tomorrow at lunch we can just start now instead of staring at each other." He clarified.

"Oh, okay." I agreed although staring at him didn't sound like a bad idea.

Oh my god. What am I thinking?? I was never the type of a girl that thinks about guys and their looks and stuff. Especially not my teacher.

But my teenager side keeps on thinking about him. Ughh, damn I should focus.

Mr. Henderson dragged a chair and came to sit next to me.

"Okay look this might look a bit complicated at first, but after I finish explaining you'll find it a piece of cake." He told me looking into my eyes as I was fidgeting with the pencil in my hand.

He was explaining the lessons I missed and he referred to the notes I wrote down every now and then. There was a point I didn't understand and wanted to ask him about it.

"Uhmm...sorry but can I ask you a question before we continue?" I cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah sure."

"I don't get it, how can this number be 144 when we used the sine rule and found those angles and sides before? Also, why did we substitute the variable X by negative and positive three??" I asked pointing at the exercise we were solving.

"Yeah I got your question. Now here when we radicalize the 9 which is in this equation, you will get + or - (3) so u can use both and check which one works better when you factor. If you got a negative answer you should reject it, so be careful. As for 144 here you should place the sinA /a = sinB/b so when multiply then divide you will get 144. "

"Ohh...thank you. That was a stupid question then." I said blushing and looking down. God I felt dumb.

"No...hey hey look at me." He said tilting my chin upwards so my eyes can meet his." You ask me whatever you want Okay? And don't hesitate to tell me anything even if it wasn't related to math." He said smiling softly.

I muttered an 'okay' and smiled back at him.

His hand left my chin and he coughed. " Oh look we've been here for an extra fifteen minutes. And I think it's enough for today. Pack your stuff until I get my jacket and we can get out."

I nodded with bright red cheeks and went to put my stuff in my bag. As I finished he was waiting for me in the doorway.

As we went out to the parking lot, we had to part, each one on their own way. So I stopped walking and stood in front of him.

"Thank you Mr.Henderson not for the detention of course, for the explanation I mean."

He chuckled and said: " No problem, it's fine. Oh and it's Andrew out of school, Elizabeth."

"Okay. I'll go now. Bye, see you tomorrow."

I turned the opposite way and was leaving when he asked:

"Do you have a ride home?"

"No I usually walk back or go with Brooklyn." I replied.

He walked to his car and opened the passenger door.

"Hop in, I'll give you a ride home."

"No it's fine really." I didn't want to bother him.

"Come on now. Or do you want another detention??" He suggested with a small smirk while raising an eyebrow.

"Ok fine, I'll come."

I climbed inside his car with my bag on my lap and my hands on top of it while he closed the door and went to the driver's side of the car.

He pulled out of the parking lot and I gave him directions to my house, then we fell into a surprisingly comfortable silence.

"Let's play 20 questions, 'cause I'm not staying silent the whole ride. I'll start, how old are you?"

"I'm 18." I replied smiling at him." How about you?"

"I'm 24. But aren't you supposed to be 16 or 17?"

"Yeah but I skipped a year because I was hospitalized. Anyways, how can you be 24 and a teacher?"

I saw his face hardened from what I told him before he answered me.

"I'm studying engineering and I'm still not done. I'm still in college and because my dad knows the principle, he wanted me to teach here. They couldn't find a math teacher, simply."

"Oh okay." Now that explains his young age.

"And here we are." He said pulling in my house's driveway.

"Thank you for the ride." I paused. "Andrew." I said softly. It felt nice saying his name.

I was climbing out of the car when he held my hand back.

"Oh Elizabeth." He took out a piece of paper." Here is my number, if you want anything call me."

I nodded, took the paper, then my hand slipped from his manly one. I closed the door of his car and walked up to the porch of my house. I turned back and waved before I unlocked the door and walked in hearing him drive off.

I closed the door and turned around smiling, only to be met with.....

"Where were you young lady? And who was this??"