Mauve twirled her pencil in her hand while leaning her head against the palm of her other hand as she read over the question for what felt like the hundredth time.
She had been struggling to solve the question for quite some time now and she was more than ready to just quit on it.
She brought the eraser end of her pencil to her lips tapping it against them as she thought of another way to approach the equation. She huffed and snuck a glance at Eli who was sitting right across from her reading a dumb text book.
She didn't want him to think she was a quitter but non-quitters ask for help when they need it. Right?
Pushing her head away from leaning on her hand with another huff she sat up straight.
Her huff unintentionally caught the attention of the boy sitting at the table with her.
Eli looked up from the textbook opened up flat in front of him to the girl sitting across from him. He noticed the frustrated look on her face as she looked down at the math problem in front of her.
He wanted to ask her if she needed help but didn't know how. It's only the third day of him tutoring her. The stuff they worked on the last two days before, Mauve apparently knew how to do and she was able to get through it without any trouble.
Now, it was pretty obvious she was struggling. Eli wanted to offer his help, not because he had to but because he didn't want Mauve to struggle and end up putting her chances of passing the test at the end of the summer at risk.
His nerves got to him though. They always do.
'Do I ask her if she needs help?'
'What if she doesn't want my help?'
'That's what I'm here for though, to tutor her. Right?'
'Why would Mauve Espinoza want my help?'
'She doesn't want your help idiot,' he thought.
His pulse started to speed up because of his overthinking.
It started to make him even more nervous and anxious.
His anxiety has been through the roof the past two days he's been to the Espinoza residence. I mean he was tutoring someone who was apart of the popular kids among their school.
'She hasn't talked to me,' he thought. She's probably freaked out by me.
Eli could usually push his nerves and anxiety and overthinking to the side but Mauve intimidates him. She hung out with the people who basically made his life at school hell. She never said anything mean to his face so, who's to say she will if he were to try and offer her some help?
Eli was able to muster a weak "Uhm." The Espinoza girl was so focused on getting the problem right she didn't hear him. So, he tried again.
This time clearing his throat a little louder than he would normally, he caught the attention of Mauve who snapped her head up so fast she possibly gave herself whiplash when she heard him.
Eli's cheeks heated up a little knowing that he might've startled the girl. He clears his throat again just quieter. "Do you... need some help?"
Mauve shook her head, looking back at her paper reading the problem over again before letting out a defeated sigh. "Yea."
Mauve pushed her paper across the table to him before getting up to move next to Eli.
When she sat down, she scooted the chair closer to Eli which made the boy shift nervously. He stayed looking at the paper until she was settled and sitting still. When he didn't feel her moving anymore he looked up at her to find her already looking at him.
