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You slowly dropped your head down onto the desk as you fawned over the blue-headed male a few rows over. He was diligently taking notes on whatever the teacher was teaching right now, you hadn't bothered to pay attention and figured it was too late to start now. Something something shapes was all you were hearing.

If there was one thing you knew about this kid, it was his seemingly undying passion for beauty. His mind worked like a calculator, figuring out the most "perfect" angles for everything. Sometimes you wondered if he was actually a robot sent in by the government as a social experiment, but slowly you had begun to accept the fact that he was just strange.

And yet your heart had to race whenever he so much as asked for a pencil. Which he only had to do that one time his excitable friend asked for one and ended up taking nearly ten.

You wanted to steal all his goddamn pencils.

You wanted him to come over and talk to you about anything, whether it be school or his emotional life or the swim team he was on, and you wanted to make him laugh, most of all. Most of the times you looked over at him (which was often, mind you) he had a furrowed brow and a stressed frown. You couldn't blame him, beauty was hard work. You of all people knew that well.

The bell rang, signaling that class was over. You had gathered your things and were ready to go when the teacher stopped you.

"_____, Rei, could you see me for a moment?"

You stepped back into the classroom. You hoped this would be over quickly, the head of your study hall got angry if you weren't checked in by the time it started.

"Ms. Samuels, did you have a question for us?" Rei asked, pushing one pencil further into his case. Exactly eleven, you noticed. He was a smart one, alright.

"Yes, I would like to ask you two about tutoring."

"Ah, of course! I would be happy to tutor _____."

"Actually, I was going to ask if _____ would be comfortable tutoring you."

Rei's cheeks flushed bright red almost instantly, and his expression turned to one of shock.

"B-but...I'm doing perfectly! I'm at the top of the class!"

"And if you want to stay there, you're going to have to work on your geometry. Your last test was barely enough to set a passing grade. Now, _____ has done exceptionally well in this topic so far," She turned to look at you. You had been standing in stunned silence for the entirety of the conversation. "_____, would you be okay with tutoring Rei? It'll only be for a week, and I will free up part of this period so that he is able to experience two different types of teaching. I am afraid my style might not be working for him. If he turns out to work well with you, maybe you'd even be okay with helping him with other things he may have trouble with?"

Rei's expression had changed into one of downright despair. You felt your heart sink a little at that as he started speaking again. "But I don't have trouble with anything else! I'm sure if I focused even harder in class, I'd catch up in no time!"

"Rei, you need to try this. If it doesn't work, we'll go back to normal. It's for the best." She turned towards the phone. "You both have a study hall now, right? I'll call both your teachers and tell them where you are,", you felt a weight fall off your chest, " and after that, I have some things to take care of and I want both of you working!" she finished with a smile.

You walked to the first desk you saw and dropped your books on it. Grabbing the desk to the right of it, you pulled them together and sat down. Rei reluctantly sat down across from you.

"So, what have you been having trouble with?"

Rei scoffed. "I haven't been having any trouble," he said indignantly. "Ms. Samuels just... misgraded my test, or something."

You sighed deeply and pulled out your textbook. Flipping to a random geometry problem, you turned the book to face him.

"Solve this."

"This? This is practically child's play." His pencil flew across the page of his notebook. Maybe he was right, you thought. Maybe he's actually okay with this topic and he can go back to blatantly hating me from across the room instead of a foot away.

He handed his notebook to you, fixing his glasses in that ever-so-cute way he always did. "I'm sure it's correct." Your eyes scanned the problem. It was all fine until about two steps in, when the whole thing became a train wreck.

"...This is totally wrong from here down," You said questioningly, using your pencil's eraser to gesture to where the point of error was.

"What! No, I've always been good at math!"

"Well, I've always been bad at math, so this is a surprise for both of us."

He sighed and held his head in his hands. When he spoke, his tone was low and quiet. "Why did it have to be you of all people?"

You felt your face get hot with anger. "What do you mean, why did it have to be me? Am I not good enough for your perfectionist mindset? Would you have liked it to be a girl who's hair isn't always mussed and who doesn't have bags under her eyes? Well, I'm sorry, but none of those girls put the work in that I do! None of them are up until two in the morning studying, so none of them could've tutored you!"

Rei looked shocked and a bit frightened by your outburst. He laughed quietly before muttering, "No, it's just that I can't stand your sarcasm sometimes."

You blushed slightly. How stupid of you to assume that-

Wait a minute.

He laughed.

His concentrated look lifted for just a second to allow him to laugh.

If there weren't textbooks and desks blocking your way, you probably would've hugged him. He needed to open up more often, drop the whole "beauty" thing once and a while...

Then it hit you.

"Wait! Rei, I know why you aren't doing well in geometry! You already have a fixed idea on how you think it works, and you won't let anyone tell you any different!" You grabbed your notebook and wrote down a problem. "Try doing it your way first."

He took his pencil and went to work again, handing the problem back to you. It was once again wrong.

"Now try doing it this way..." You began to show him how to do certain parts of it, walking him through step by step. You could see realization slowly growing on his face as he completed the problem correctly. The bell rang just as he finished his problem. He quickly gathered his things, thanking you and rushing out the door.

"Well, that was odd," You muttered, picking up your books and going to your locker. Maybe he wanted to rush out because he disliked you or something? You shrugged it off and walked to your next class.

As you continued to tutor Rei throughout the week, he got better and better at math, but seemingly at the expense of his positive feeling towards you. Each passing day it was like he tried to get out of your tutoring quicker.

He's probably glad tomorrow's the last day, you thought as you packed your bag for school tomorrow.

When the time for tutoring came, you dejectedly moved to the back of the classroom and unceremoniously flopped down in your seat. Rei sat across from you, absentmindedly twirling his pencil around.

"Rei? It's the last day, only this last session before you retake the test," you said softly, tapping his desk. "And one last session before I'm out of your hair," you added dejectedly.

You two went through the session as normal. You really were proud of him for trying to change his mindset. Class had finished and it was time for Rei to retake the test.

"Good luck!" You called to him as you walked out of the classroom. He looked up at you and nodded, and you swore you could almost see a smile on his lips.

You waited outside the school for him to finish. You had tutored him for a week, after all, it was expected that you'd want to know how he did.

Rei strode out a half hour later, wearing a look of accomplishment on his face. You jumped up from your sitting position and ran over to him.

"How'd you do?" You asked, standing directly in front of him so that he couldn't try to get away.

"I did very well." He said promptly, stepping around you and walking away. You spun around to face him furiously.

"Why do you keep avoiding me? Does it have something to do with your stupid beauty thing? Am I not beautiful enough for you?" You shouted at him, thankful that no students were in hearing range.

Rei turned around bashfully.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be! I helped you and you repaid me by blowing you off!"

"Honestly, I don't want to avoid you. I'm just afraid I'll embarrass myself in front of you. In fact, I really love these study lessons and I would love to do more of them, it's just..."

"What?"

"I like you a lot, and I don't want to mess anything up."

It felt like someone sucked the air out of your lungs. What?? Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh HE REALLY LIKES ME!!!

"You mean that?" You felt like your head was full of fluff.

"Of course I do."

"Good." Taking a deep breath, you mustered all the confidence you could, firmly planted your hands on his cheeks and yanked him down into a kiss. "We'll continue to study tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Isn't that Saturday?"

"Oh, please. You'll show up anyways."