Recognized By Mr. Hemmings

CHAPTER FOUR: Peers Helping Peers

It's been two weeks since the first day of school, and we've already had many quizzes. Today, we get the second to the last quiz for this chapter, then in a few days we'll have the last quiz, then the test. In the beginning of class on quiz days, we write down the homework, take the quiz, turn it in, and wait to get it back with the grade. Knowing how much of a math geek I am, I finished the quiz first. As usual, everybody was staring at me with a confused look on their face when I handed the paper to Ms. Taylor. I sat back down, and started reading my favorite book, The Fault In Our Stars.

"How do you finish so fast? You're always the first to turn in your quiz. Are you cheating?" Luke whispered to me in a teasy voice.

"Maybe... Nah I don't cheat. I study, unlike you," I whispered back and laughed. Luke smirked and went back to the quiz. I continued to read the book. OH MY GOSH...why can't I be Hazel?! Gus is just so... PERFECT.

"Yeah. I'm gunna fail this quiz..." Luke said under his breath. He sped up through the quiz and turned it in. I looked at him with amusement.

"How are you not afraid of getting a bad grade? If I got anything lower than a B, I'd get grounded for a whole month!" I realized I was talking loudly, and stopped. Ms. Taylor looked up at me. Oops. I'm in trouble.

"Lerin...Luke." Ms. Taylor gestured for us to come up to her desk. We looked at eachother with worried faces, and commenced forth (A/N: Yeah I used big words. Whatchu gunna do about it?) She handed us our quizzes. Whew. I thought she was gunna yell at us. "Good job, Lerin. You got yet another 100." She smiled at me, then looked at Luke with a serious face. "Okay you two can sit back down and work on your next assignment. Feel free to do your homework after you finish." She let us go back to our desk. Luke slouched on his char and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked Luke. He didn't seem to happy. Usually he doesn't care.

"I got an F. One more failed quiz, and I'll be grounded for sure. No more football, no more band practices, and no more hanging out after school for a whole month." He set his quiz down on his desk. I looked over at it. "See me after class," it said in red ink. At least he got three out of 15 questions right...

A few minutes passed, and the dismissal bell rang. It was time to go to lunch. Me and Luke got up, and started walking out the door. "WAIT. Stop. Luke comeback here." It was Ms. Taylor. Luke looked back at me, then started walking towards her. I decided to stop too, and wait for him. Ms. Taylor noticed, and called me over aswell. "Luke, we've only had two weeks since the first day of school, and you're already failing this class. I want you to be successful. I want all of my students to be successful. I don't want to take away your Saturdays and Sundays, but if we can't fix your grade sooner, then we'll have to go that way. I'm sorry." Luke sighed, followed by a slight frown.

"I understand Ms. Taylor. I'll do my best." Luke tried his best to sound proper. Hehe. Proper Luke sounds cute too! Ms. Taylor didn't look like she believed him. She's heard him say that before, and he still failed. Maybe I should step in...

"HEY MAYBE..." I paused. No! What am I doing?! Luke and Ms. Taylor looked at me, waiting for me to finish my sentence. "Uhhh...maybe I could tutor him. I can help him with his math. I'll make sure he studies." Uhm, I probably shouldn't have said that... "No... what am I saying... Sorry for interrupting."

"No, that's great! That's a good idea, Lerin!" It is? Wow thanks Ms. Taylor.

"Yeah. It is," Luke said smiling. "I could go to her house a-" Luke stopped when he saw me squinting at him. I can't bring a boy to my house! Especially not someone like Luke. My parents would kill me if they saw me hanging out with a guy like him! He's too...too...I don't know! "I mean... I mean she could come to my house, or wherever after school. Whatever is cool with you Lerin."

"The library would be fine," I said smiling. Ms. Taylor was nodding with acceptance.

"See? This is good. Peers helping peers." Ms. Taylor stopped for a moment. "Okay you guys are dissmissed. I can't wait to see improvements from you Luke!"

Luke smiled and said, "Thanks." We started walking to the cafeteria. "So..." Luke said slowly.

"So..." I said back. Yeah this is awkward.

"Do you really plan on helping me?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course. Like she said,'Peers helping peers.' I wouldn't want you to lose football, or your band for a month. That would suck." Is that what he wanted me to say? Ugh. What if he didn't actually like the plan.

"Awwww. Thanks," he said teasingly. We reached the cafeteria doors. "Welp. I gotta go now. I'll see you after school in the library?"

"Yeah. That'd be great!" He's going with the plan. He actually agrees to it. Oh my gosh. What is life?!

"Okay cool!" he said, while walking away to his friends.

"Okay." I thought of The Fault In Our Stars again. I started walking towards Ina and Kaitlin. Let's see how they react to this.

(A/N: So yeah...that happened. What do you think of the story so far?)