Trust?

Ch. 5

Derek's POV

"I'm sorry Dee but you need to get a tutor."

I groaned and slammed my head against the lunch table.

"Talk to your teacher, I'm sure he could recommend some good kids to help you."

"He hates me. There's no way in hell he'd help."

I felt Nina put her hand on my back, "I'm sorry."

"What if Nina or I asked?"

"You guys have A's."

"We can say it's for a friend but not say who."

I looked up at him and smiled a little, "Thanks Gar. That means a lot."

He smiled back at me, "No problem. It's what friends are for."

**

"What?" I practically screamed.

It was the day after I had Garrett ask our science teacher what kids would be good tutors, I just walked into the fucking school, and he laid this news on me.

"He said if a kid who is failing wants to pass by the end of the semester, their only chance is Easton King. He's his best student and great at helping others understand things."

I groaned and walked to my locker, "He hates me."

Nina rolled her eyes, "How?"

As I opened my locker I put my head in it and spoke in despair, "I made a stupid-ass joke in class the other week and he went completely quiet and went on his phone while we were talking about our stupid English project."

"You're overthinking it. You know how he acts, that's normal for him. If I did that, on the other hand, you would know for a fact you did shit wrong."

"That helps so much. Note the sarcasm."

I felt a flick at the back of my head and rolled my eyes, "Sorry I'm just stressed."

"So are you gonna ask him?"

"Ask him what?"

"If he'll help you pass."

I turned around from stalling in my locker and looked at Garrett for a second before replying, "I honestly have no idea."

"Dude, you need help in science. If you don't get it then you're gonna fail and it's going to set you back. That'd be a lot more stress."

I groaned, "I know but still."

"Fine, be stubborn. We just want what's best for you."

"I know, and I thank you guys for that it's just... hard."

"How?"

"I can't help but be fucking attracted to the most closed-off and mysterious boy in the whole school and I need to ask him to help me otherwise I'm gonna fail science. And I am fifty percent sure he doesn't like me at all. I'm... scared. Alright?"

"You don't need to be though."

"I know..."

Nina hugged me, "It's gonna be okay, Dee Dee."

I rolled my eyes but hugged her back anyway.

Goddamnit, why was I such a wimp?

**

The day just got worse and worse.

As soon as I walked into my English class I saw Nina sitting in my seat, talking to Easton. When they noticed I walked in the door, they both looked at me and went back to talking so I just stood off to the side awkwardly. After maybe a minute Nina walked away, going around so she didn't pass me and I was so close to just walking out of the classroom and hiding out or walking home. So close. But I didn't need Nina screaming at me for ditching class later to add to that awful day so I took a deep breath and walked over and sat in my seat next to Easton. He looked at me but I kept my attention right in front of me.

I wanted to go home.

Forty minutes later our teacher announced that we got the rest of the class as free time for being so good for forty minutes straight doing notes.

For maybe thirty seconds I thought that was great news, it meant fifteen minutes of going on my phone and relaxing cause there was no way in hell Easton would talk to me.

Incorrect.

"Hey."

I froze, "Hi."

"So Nina came over and talked to me earlier."

I gulped, "Yeah, I saw. What'd she say?"

"Oh just the usual, she asked how my day's been going, asked me about the French test tomorrow, told me you need a tutor in science."

"Oh."

He laughed, "You look like you're gonna be sick."

I cleared my throat, "Sorry..."

"So do you still need a tutor?"

"Yeah."

"Any ideas who you're gonna ask?"

At that point, he was smirking slightly and I wanted to wipe it off by either kissing or punching him.

Kissing him sounded more promising.

Instead, though, I sighed, "Easton, could you tutor me in science?"

He smiled, "Sure. Wanna make a schedule?"

I just nodded and took out a notebook to write what we say down so I wouldn't forget.

He laughed, "You're so old-fashioned."

"What? This helps me remember things better. So I'm grounded at the moment but I'm allowed to meet with a tutor so I'm free basically every day besides Fridays."

He nodded, "Same except I'm free every day. So how much help do you need?"

My face went red, "A lot..."

He laughed a little, "How about we meet up after school every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday?"

That day was Thursday.

I nodded and wrote it down, "That works. Where are we gonna do this? Library? One of our houses?"

He tensed up a bit but then acted like nothing happened, "Either is fine for me."

"How about the library?"

"Ok."

I smiled a little, "Ok, thank you so much. I'm failing miserably and my teacher hates me."

"No problem, what teacher?"

"Mr. Tarring."

"I have him, he's not that bad. When you're actually good at science."

"Hardy har har."

He laughed and I smiled.

**

Two hours later and Easton knew the extent of how stupid and hopeless I was when it came to chemistry.

I groaned and banged my head on the table, "None of this makes any fucking sense."

He patted my back, "It's just the first day of us working together, Derek, it's fine."

I felt tingles go all throughout my back when he touched me but I tried to hide it as I sat up and nodded, "I know but still."

"It's getting late, we should probably wrap up for today."

I nodded again and started putting my books in my bag and then went to grab the ones we got off of the library shelves, meaning to put them back -- when Easton had the same idea. We both leaned over to grab them and our hands brushed, causing us to look up at each other and his face was... right... there.

My face went bright red and I pulled away mumbling a small 'sorry'. He just smirked and grabbed the books and put them away.

Maybe his tutoring me wasn't the end of the world as I knew it... maybe.