Teach Me

Chapter One: Tutoring

He'll never like me. He'll never like me. He'll never like me.

Those were the words I had to repeat to myself every single day whenever I went to math class. Someone might think I was just stressing about a guy I was crushing on, but it was much more than that. It was my teacher. I couldn't believe it. I loved my TEACHER. It was so wrong, but to me, it felt so right. And he didn't know.

I walked into math class and took my usual seat near the back, where I could watch him without him noticing me. Mr. Brown.

"Alright class, the quiz is today, hope you studied." He said in a bored tone as he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. My eyes instantly flicked to his tattoos, where they trailed up his arms and disappeared into his sleeves. He was supposed to keep them hidden during school hours, but whenever class started he always rolled up his sleeves or removed his jacket, revealing a t-shirt which exposed his tats all the way to his shoulders. Not to mention his neck... I realized I was daydreaming again before I snapped back to reality. He was handing out a quiz. Shit shit shit. Of course I had studied, but was it my fault that Algebra 2 was my worst subject?! And the only reason I had studied was because I wanted to get an A in his class. I wanted him to know that he taught kids well. But apparently that wasn't going to happen, because my crappy brain couldn't comprehend shit. It was anti-algebraic or something.

As he slid the quiz onto my desk, I took a deep breath and my eyes unwillingly flickered to his butt as he walked away. I blushed. Why did he have such a nice butt?! Okay, that was taking it too far. Time to focus, Alana. You HAVE to pass this quiz. I closed my eyes and wiped all thoughts of him out of my mind as I let out the breath I was holding and gripped my pencil tightly. I wrote my name on the quiz and looked at the first question out of twenty. Welp, I was screwed. Completely. I groaned and slumped my head on my desk.

"Are you okay Alana?" A husky voice asked close to my ear. Oh my God, Oh, my God, holy crap he was talking to me. I instantly sat straight up and cleared my throat, causing some of my other classmates to look at me weirdly.

"Yes Mr. Brown, everything is fine." I said, smiling fakely. He glanced down at my paper and chuckled at what I had circled. His chuckle made me weak between the knees.

"Did you study?" He asked, smirking. I looked down and saw that for the first four questions, I had circled A, B, C, D. All in order. Obviously, I had just been guessing.

"Y-yeah, I did. I guess it's just impossible for my mind to learn Algebra." I joked quietly. He didn't seem to think it was funny. He shook his head and walked off, and I blushed furiously, quickly flipping the page and looking at the next questions. He would be even more mad when I failed this quiz.

At the end of the class, I instantly got up, but before I could leave a voice stopped me.

"Alana, I need to talk with you." He said. I turned around and speed-walked to his desk as the last student out closed the door behind them. We were all alone.

"Alana, just by glancing at your quiz, I can tell you failed it. Not to be mean, but do you think you could try a little harder?" He asked me skeptically. I looked him in the eyes, which was difficult since I always blushed when we made eye contact, and answered him.

"I was literally studying for at least four hours last night. It just doesn't help." I complained.

"Maybe you need a different method of learning." He suggested. I shrugged and he leaned back.

"I'll think about how to fix this. You're dismissed." He said, crossing his arms behind his head. I smiled and grabbed my books, running out of the classroom after glancing at his face quickly. This was the beginning of the second semester, and I still sucked at Algebra. I need a new life, preferably with Mr. Brown still in it.