You walk through the school halls, ignoring the fact that you're being glared at by every single person you pass. You hear a group of girls whispering, presumably about you, so you snap a "What?" at them, and they just turn away.
You walk straight into your first lesson and slump into your seat at the back of the class. You don't have assigned seats; anyone can sit anywhere, though everyone knows where your seat is. No-one sits in it, and no-one sits in the seat next to you.
Once the class is nearly full, Luke Hemmings - the class nerd - walks up to you; the whole class watching him.
"Erm...hi (Y/N)...would it be alright if I could, er, sit next to you?" He stutters
You glare at him, before moving your bag off the seat next to you for him to sit down. You're not a complete bitch. He sits down next to you and the lesson begins.
It's maths, which you hate. You're really bad at it.
You're set off on a task, and you kinda don't want Luke to notice you're struggling. He's the class nerd and an absolute maths wizz.
"Are you...are you stuck? Because I can...I can help if you want" He says when he realises you're not doing anything.
"No fuck off, I'm going to do it, just not right now" You snap
You hear him gulp, "Sorry...sorry...I just...I'm sorry"
"Right guys, that's the end of the lesson. Make sure this is finished for Friday" Your maths teacher calls a while later
You and Luke are the last ones to leave the classroom, but your teacher calls you to stay behind. Once Luke has left the room, your teacher begins to speak.
"I've been noticing a slip in your grades" he states
You shrug, "It's not as if my grades in this lesson have ever been high"
He nods, "No, you're right, they haven't. But they've always been good grades, you know what I mean?"
You shake your head, "I think our opinion of what good grades are, sir"
He sighs, "Seems so. Your grades were good. Not brilliant. But good. However recently, they've slipped from a high C to a low E, and I don't really know why. What I do know, though, is that you sit at the back of class and you don't do your work, thinking I can't see you, but I can, actually. Why aren't you doing your work?"
You shrug, "I'm barely going to pass this class, there's no point in me trying"
He shakes his head, "There's every point. A C is a pass. Get back to your C, you'll pass for sure. You just need to do your work and ask for help when you need it. This persona you put across of you being too cool for school or whatever, or not caring about your school work, is distracting you from what you actually want to achieve. And you have every capability of achieving that if you just make some adjustments."
You shrug, "Sure. I'll try."
You go to leave the room, but he stops you again "And...I really think you would benefit from asking someone for help. If you don't want to ask me and look stupid or thick or whatever, ask someone in the class. Luke maybes? He's a really good bet. He knows his stuff and he's a nice kid. Why don't you give it a go?"
You shrug again, "Yeah, sure, whatever"
"Okay. You can go" He smiles
You stalk out of the classroom and down the hall. You attend your next two lessons, which aren't too bad because you don't find them too difficult.
At lunch you sit in your usual spot, and eat the dinner you brought in from home.
When you finish and you get up to leave, you notice Luke entering the canteen by himself. You take a deep breath. Are you really about to do this?
You hesitantly approach him, and you can tell he's surprised.
"Hi Luke" You smile
"Erm, hi" He replies
"So you know, erm, sorry this is really embarrassing." You stutter
"No, don't worry about it. What's up?" He asks
"Well you know how in maths you asked if I was stuck?" You begin
He nods, "Then you told me to fuck off, nice way to remind me"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that" You continue "But I really was stuck, and I was talking to sir at the end of the lesson and he was telling me that my grades were slipping but that if I worked hard I could get them back to where they need to me, and then he suggested asking a friend for help, and I know we're not exactly friends but I know you're smart and top of the class so I was just wondering if you wou-"
"Yes" He states, simply
"What? You didn't even know what I was going to ask you..."
He shrugs, "I didn't need to. I knew where it was heading anyway"
"So, you'll help me?" You ask
"Yes. Yes, I will help you" He replies
You smile and you can feel yourself blush, "Oh...well thanks...I expected you to say no"
"Why would you think that?" He asks you, confused
You shrug, "Well, I just figured you hated me"
He laughs, "Why would I hate you? You've never done anything for me to hate you!"
You blush some more, "Well thanks kid"
"Well...err...why don't you give me a number and we can arrange a time or a place..." He suggests "Or we can go to the library and do it now, if that's better for you"
You roll your eyes, "Give me your phone, loser"
He takes his phone out of his pocket and you enter your number. You send yourself a quick text from his phone so that you could save his number to your own phone.
"There you go" You smile "Text me at anytime"
"I will, don't worry" He smiles back
"Bye, Luke"
"Err, yeah, I'll...I'll talk to you later"
