Our Year Together - Book One

Chapter 2

"Hey, you must be April. My name's Alex." The boy stands from his seat in the library at my approach, holding his hand out. Despite the kind tone I can hear the underlying strain to not bitch me out for being twenty minutes late to this little tutoring session.

My eyes move over the boy who's now my designated tutor until further notice. I'd seen him in class today, but since he sits in front of me it had been difficult to really see what he looks like. Now that I can see him clearly I realize he's not too hard on the eyes.

Boy? More like a man.

I correct myself as I appreciate the view set before me. His eyes are a nice shade of blue that reminds me of a bright, cloudless day at the beach, unlike mine which is dull by comparison. I can almost hear the ocean waves crashing on the sand just from looking at him. His dark brown hair is buzzcut giving him a military feel. Combined with his good posture and how nice and sculpted his clothing seems to make him, I feel as if I'm standing before a soldier.

I guess not all nerds are hard to look at.

Alex raises an eyebrow at my slowness in responding. I don't act ashamed about taking my time to enjoy the view. It seems to spur him on and it takes everything I've got not to laugh as he starts looking me over. Once his eyes meet mine again, I take his hand in my own and say,

"I'm indeed April. Considering the circumstances, it's not very nice to meet you." A smile curls the corner of my lips up as I release his hand and move around the table he's claimed. Alex doesn't say anything to that, instead, he turns around and sits across from me.

"So, Mr. Dunrier informed me that you're having trouble with the coursework. What parts don't you understand?" Alex looks at me with those blue eyes expectantly and I find it hard to act like a bitch with him so I pull my past tests out and spread them on the table for all to see. Not a single one is more than thirty points. Alex is stunned by this and looks between my tests and I. Finally, he clears his throat and recomposes himself.

"So, everything then?" He asked, trying to make his tone light. It's that way his eyes light with amusement at my incompetence that has me smiling more and nodding. It's clear as day that he's trying hard to maintain his professional demeanor and it's cute as all hell.

"Yeah, basically. Math has never been my strong suit and, since this is a math class, you can see how things aren't exactly adding up here." Alex nods, ignoring my amazing joke as if I hadn't said anything at all. He shuffles all of my miserable tests together before moving them to the side.

"Well, that's why I'm here. To make sure they do." He returns my smile and we get down to work. It's gruesome, but Alex manages to help me understand certain things that were foreign to me only hours ago.

Mr. Dunrier wasn't kidding when he said Alex is good.

I note as he works together with me on a particularly difficult problem that I can't seem to wrap my head around. I'd been struggling with it for the past ten minutes and my patience has only been diminishing.

"Come on." Alex encourages. "If you use this formula here with the original amount you had, then you should be able to..." He trails off, waiting for me to get it. His soft tone and the gentle way in which he's guiding me has unwanted memories surfacing in my mind.

"You've almost got it, April. Just a little more. Come on, I know you've got this."

Braydon's voice and soft encouragement fill my thoughts making it difficult for me to concentrate on the problem set before me. He'd always helped me with my homework back when I was still in the middle school section of our conjoined school.

"I can't do this! It's too difficult, I don't understand any of it!"

"Don't be like that. Of course, you can do it, April, you're my younger sister which means you can do anything I can and a hundred times better!"

A small, nostalgic smile turns up my lips at the memory. Every time he had said that he'd always wear a cheeky grin and there would be a challenge in his blue eyes daring me to say otherwise. Anytime I took up that challenge it'd always end with us wrestling on the floor, my homework long forgotten. Safe to say, I had a few unfinished homework assignments back then.

I push the memory to the back of my mind as my eyes scour over the math problem for the umpteenth time. It's almost as if I'm looking at the problem for the first time as the numbers and words begin to register and make sense within my mind. I start scribbling down furiously on the paper, my chicken scratch looking terrible next to Alex's elegant writing.

"I got it!" I said as I look up at Alex. There's an excitement running through my veins that I never thought I'd feel again at solving a math problem. Alex gives me a large, toothy grin and I note the pride shining brightly in his ocean eyes. That pride has me looking away from Alex as I feel tears start to well up, more memories surfacing with them.

"I knew you could do it." As Alex speaks the words, Braydon's voice fills my ears. My eyes stay averted from him as I try to tame my tears. "Hey, are you alright?"

I nod and pull in a deep, steadying breath before swiping at my eyes. Turning back to Alex I give him my best smile which seems to set him back a step. A light blush rises to his cheeks and it doesn't go unnoticed by my eyes.

How cute. I like that color on him.

"I think we'll call it a day for now," Alex said pulling my attention away from his blush. I nod as an idea forms in my head. Just as if a bell had rung I collect all of my things at a scarily fast pace before hurrying out of the building, not even giving Alex a simple goodbye.

This is the least I can do.

Five minutes later I'm returning to the school building with two ice cream cones. Thankfully, Alex comes out of the building right as I get back. He's shocked when I hand him one of the cones.

"As thanks, for today," I said, meeting his eyes. Alex's shocked expression turns to that of one of pure happiness. The look alone has me blushing and looking away from the handsome devil as I hand him his cone.

"Thanks." He said as he takes his ice cream from me. I kick a stray pebble on the ground, trying to steady my marathon running heart as I say,

"I wasn't sure what flavor you'd have liked, so I just got you my favorite. Rocky Road." My eyes glance at him to gauge his reaction and I watch as he raises an eyebrow.

"Hm, that's actually my favorite as well."

I'm surprised for a moment before smiling, joy coming to life within my body at the simple sentence.

"What a coincidence."

Alex is quiet for a long moment, his eyes seeming to search my features before nodding at a path that leads around the school.

"Want to take a walk?" He asked as he places his things down by the stairs. I look between him and the path contemplating the invite. Outside of Trevor and Victoria, I've never hung out with anyone. The closed off and loner part of me is saying no, but there's a look in Alex's eyes that's hard to deny and I find myself saying,

"Sure."