anyone else || pj duncan

eight

P.J. had meant what he said, he thought being with Taylor was worth the hours he'd have to spend studying. He just didn't think it would be so many hours. 

He had spent the last three weeks cramming for his midterms, and they were coming up very quickly. He didn't have too much to worry about, however his English grade was giving him some worry. 

"P.J. in order to get a C in the class, you'd have to get a 137% on the exam." Taylor told the boy. 

"Is that not possible?" He asked. 

Taylor rolled her eyes. She had to admit, she was surprised that P.J. had been taking this so seriously. It made her feel good that he respected her enough to work this hard. 

Or maybe that was just Diana's influence on her. 

"Midterms are next week, I know you're going to do great on all your tests. Maybe see if there isn't anything you can do for extra credit in English?" Taylor suggested. 

"I tried that, Mrs. Brown has a strict no extra credit policy." 

"Maybe I can talk to her. I can come up with something, teachers love me." 

P.J. looked at her, shocked, "You mean, Taylor Peters is going to tell a lie?" 

"Very funny, don't make fun of me or I won't do it." She lightly shoved the boy. 

*** 

Taylor stood outside of Mrs. Brown's classroom nervously. She rehearsed what she planned to say in her head. 

Eventually, she mustered the courage to go inside. 

"Taylor? What brings you in?" Mrs. Brown asked. 

"Oh um, I'm just doing a check in for one of my students. I'm a tutor in the library, you see. And well, with midterms coming up we're trying to get everyone up to a passing grade." Taylor started. 

"I see. What student are you wondering about?" 

Taylor pretended to forget the name and read it off a post-it note in her hand, "P.J. Duncan." 

Mrs. Brown smiled knowingly, "Ah, well Mr. Duncan sure seems to be fond of you."

"How do you mean?" 

"He just goes on and on about what a wonderful tutor you are. His little friend, Emmet, is in this class as well, I can never get the two to stop gossiping about you. Finally, I had to separate them."

Taylor smiled at the thought of P.J. talking about her to his friends. It gave her butterflies. 

"Well, um, we were doing the math and there's no way for him to get a C in the class, even if he aces the midterm. I know you don't do extra credit, but I just wondered if-"

Mrs. Brown cut her off, "If he can write me a three hundred word essay on something he's passionate about, and get it to me by Friday afternoon, I'll see about bringing his grade up to a C."

Taylor was shocked at the teacher's words. 

"Really? Great! That's so great, see I get better marks as a tutor if all my students have a C average. Looks good for college applications and stuff." She spoke. 

"And what other students might you have? Perhaps they could use some extra credit in my class as well?" Mrs. Brown said, smiling. 

"Oh uh, no that's not... um.... Was that the bell? I'd better run and tell P.J. the good news!" 

Taylor left the room feeling confident that P.J. would pull off a C average, and the two could finally be together. For her first time lying to a teacher, she thought it went pretty well.