Love, Hate and the Line

Chapter 5

After we'd come to an agreement about the tutoring, we headed towards the Science Labs. I coughed awkwardly when we reached the door.

"So, uhm, you want to start now? There's only ten minutes left or something so I'm not sure it'd make sense to.."

He arched an eyebrow. "You want to get rid of me that much?"

I rolled my eyes. "Your words, not mine."

"Fine, you're off the hook for today but we'll start tomorrow. I have three months to make sure I pass that ridiculous exam so I'll take all the help I can get."

"You think graduation is ridiculous?" I said, confusedly.

He sighed. "I don't, not really, I just hate being back at school. I graduated at a boarding school focused on business and law in Swiss and later London and I started taking over at my father's company since he's been.. incapacitated. I was ready to go to part-time Law and Business school at Harvard when I found out my Swiss diploma didn't account for all that much since they basically ignored all the sciences except Maths."

"You were going to Harvard?" I asked, my tone drenched with surprise.

"You look surprised," he said, a corner of his mouth tilting into an arrogant smile.

I realised that I had been judging him from the second I'd seen him and realised who his father was. Sure, he hadn't been all that nice but I guess I should have been more thorough in assessing him.

"Listen, like I said, I don't want you at my house. No offense, but this tutoring thing is going to be an all-school thing. Anyway, I suggest we start over. I'm generally a polite person but I realise I may have been slightly rude to you, for some reason," I said.

His smirk stayed plastered on his face.

"This is the part where you apologize too."

He ignored me. "Why am I not allowed at your house?"

I groaned. "Just because. I have class in a couple minutes so I'm gonna go. We can start the tutoring next Chemistry class we have together."

"That's only in six days.."

I smiled in fake-sadness. "Ah, what an unfortunate coincidence."

His eyes blackened. "I will see you tomorrow. 1 pm, library."

"Wh- I do- how?" I muttered as he walked away.

"Don't be late, I'm not a very patient guy."

I scowled as I watched him make his way out of the Science building. All my previous plans of being civil and polite, like I had been raised to be, had somehow been demolished.

*******************************

I spent the rest of the day hanging about with Owen. We both had free periods for two hours and when we set off to go to the English building, we heard that there wouldn't be any classes anymore today. I groaned, realising I could have been home hours ago had I known this earlier.

When I came home, I was not surprised to see my brothers lying on the couch, playing some sort of fantasy game with their Playstation, which they had won in some sort of contest. Seriously, for the popular, cool and relaxed jocks everyone made them out to be, they were huge geeks at home.

"Hey sis," Jake said, his eyes never leaving the tv screen.

I rolled my eyes. "And? How did it go?"

"How did what go?" they said in unison.

I sighed. "Your tests of course.."

Jake bit his lip. "Uhh, yeah, it went okay I guess. There was this shit about lysosomes and I'm pretty sure I fucked that up though.."

I decided not to worry about it anymore. I jumped on the couch, sitting between my brothers, who had put Netflix on. "So, what are we watching?"

Cam, who I had thought was napping since he hadn't said anything yet, grinned. "Star Wars?"

I smiled back. We had seen all of them over and over again. "Sure, but I do need to cook in two hours since Dad is home in two and a half. He has to leave though, apparently there's a new client that wants to meet him after dinner."

"They want him parttime?"

I shrugged. "No, I think they actually wanted him fulltime, as head of security or something. Hope he gets it so he doesn't have to bodyguard the Walter's anymore.."

Jake looked up. "You mind that he works for all these girls at your school?"

I bit my lip. "I don't, honestly, I have never been ashamed of the fact that Dad is not some hotshot CEO or anything. For some reason, though, I seem to be unable to tell Antonia Walter that her bodyguard is my Dad."

They studied my face.

"I know, I know, I'm horrible."

"No, you're not. Are they treating you okay over there?" Jake asked, mirroring the worried look on Cam's face.

I thought about the way Ben's father had looked, scrutinizing my appearance. I thought about the countless jokes about how I could always live on the streets if the 'science thing' didn't work out. Laughing about how my school uniform must've cost me a whole month's salary when, in fact, it cost two since the job I had at a fancy golf/country club didn't pay all that well.

And yet, I managed to plaster a smile on my face. "Of course, don't worry, everyone is júst great."

A/N

Hey guys 130 reads! Sorry that it took me a while to update. This is for mary_vlopes because she has been so supportive with voting and all. Funniest comments on this get a follow!

Pleeaaase don't be a silent reader and vote&comment!

Love

M