Corruption

Results

After the fifty minutes were up, Layla took the exam back from William. She had a green pen in her hand and was starting to mark and correct it when she stopped. Reading over the answers, she realised something.

"Well damn. This is surprising" she admitted.

"I'm smarter than you think, huh?" he boasted.

"No. You're fucking stupid. There isn't a single right answer here" she bluntly said.

A pair of scissors could cut the tension that was in the air. "You're lying"

"I was the top of the school, William. I know what answers are right and wrong. If you don't believe me, I have the official mark scheme right here" she replied, pushing the mark scheme and the exam towards him. 

Reading over both of them, his face grew redder and redder by the second. "O-Oh"

"Wow, that's the first time I've heard you stutter. Anyway, I should get going" Layla calmly said, gathering the exam and mark scheme and putting it into her bag.

"Wait, what? Why?!" William exclaimed.

"I should've said that each session would be an hour-long, shouldn't I? Oh well. I'll be off. Later, Apex" she began walking away but he grabbed her wrist.

"Extend it. At least an hour and a half" he demanded.

"Why should I? What's in it for me?" she snatched her wrist away from him.

"If you leave, I'll tell my parents that you were the one that vandalised the back of the mansion" he grinned. "They'll believe me since you're from the other side of the wall"

Layla was silent. "Is it worth the teacher telling them that you flopped your exam?" she finally said.

William was silent. "Alright. How about we call a truce?" he sighed.

"Fuck no" she snapped.

"Why not?" he complained.

"I don't trust you to keep your promise. Didn't you say you'd make my life living hell? The only way I'd call a truce with you is if you apologise and work for once in your stupid life" she calmly said.

"The only way I'd do that is if you apologised and quit using things I've done against me" he protested.

Thinking back, it didn't take long for Layla to realise that she'd started this whole thing with the spray-painting incident. It was only then that she felt the slightest bit of guilt.

Looking at her, William realised why she did what she did. The spray-paint incident, the punch, her agreement to his promise of making her life hell. She did it all because she hated seeing him having a better life than her when he wasn't even appreciative of it. Knowing she's had it rough, he continued being an asshole and even punched her in the face. It almost pained him and he felt a bit shameful for what he did. 

"Sorry" she finally said through gritted teeth. "I clocked on that I kinda fucked up with the whole spray-painting thing"

"I also apologise. Punching you in the face was.. inhumane of me. I'm sorry" he quietly replied, turning away from her. "You're still a bitch"

"You're still a stuck-up asshole" she added, giving him the side-eye. "Besides, we still have about half an hour of this dumb tutor session to go. Let's get started"

The pair sat down silently and Layla continued taking William through the exam and correcting answers for the next half an hour. The entire time, he kept glancing at Layla and holding back a smile. When their time was up, William asked: "How do you do this?"