Mated To The Werewolf Calculus Teacher

5

As badly as I want to deny it, Gabriel was right. We covered two chapters in our remaining 20 minutes and on Thursday, we covered chapters seven, eight, and nine. After scarfing down my pre-packed lunch in study hall, I stride to room 301 during the lunch period, my book pre-marked to chapter 10. If Gabriel pushes me as hard as he has been I should be halfway through the book by the end of our session. He's one hell of a tutor, disciplined and calculated throughout every chapter, but that's no surprise. What has surprised me is the patience he exercises in our sessions. He's been thorough, calm and kind. My lips draw up into a smirk at the memory of yesterday's session.

***

Finishing the last equation in chapter eight, I turn the tablet toward Gabriel to allow him to check the work.

"Five, six, and eight look good. Review number seven again, you're off a decimal point." He pushes the tablet back to me and I scour over the problem, my brow inquisitively hitched.

"Ah" I breathe to myself, quickly finding the mistake. As I begin to rework the problem a loud growl escapes my stomach. My eyes widen on my tablet. Ugh, kill me now. I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment. I try to mask my reaction to the angry noise as I scribble the answer onto my tablet. Maybe he didn't notice, I think to myself as I circle my answer and flip the tablet to face him. But when my eyes connect with an intense, judgmental gaze, my hopes are dashed.

"Where's your lunch?" There's a subtle edge to his tone that makes me feel as if there's no right answer here.

"I skipped it," I announce, my tone chipper as I try to draw his attention back to my tablet. "2.432?" I ask him with a small smirk.

He doesn't spare my answer a single glance. "How often do you skip meals?"

"I don't 'skip meals'." I retorted, slightly offended at his implication.

"So, this is your first time skipping a meal?"

I open my mouth to speak but words fail me. I did skip lunch, but I need to pass this exam more than I needed today's selection of bland, water-based cafeteria food. "Look, things have been stressful lately. Sometimes I just... forget." I say with a shrug.

The look on his face is a mixture of confusion and doubt, but he rises from his chair and walks toward his desk. Opening the bottom draw he pulls out a large black lunch box. It's my turn to give him the confused glare.

Wordlessly, he walks back to our spot and places the lunch box on the neighboring desk. He sits back down in his chair and picks up my tablet to review the corrected equation.

"Pick what you want." He says, still looking over my work.

I chuckle. "Thanks, but no thanks. You don't have to-"

"It wasn't a question, Emilia." His cold, slightly narrowed eyes settle on me. "Eat something." His tone was calm, his eyes were anything but.

I narrowed my eyes right back at him. This was a challenge of power that I should have seen coming. I should have known he wouldn't let me keep the power I held over him when I threatened to let Chris tutor me after school.

Letting him win this round, I rise from my seat and walk to his black lunch box. I unzip the box and find an apple, a protein bar, a pack of granola and a diet coke. Sheesh, the man's a health nut.

I check the ingredients on the protein bar labeled "Birthday Cake", no nuts. Flipping the lid closed, I turn and our eyes connect. His breathtaking grays hold a look of both satisfaction that I finally listened to him and gratitude that I didn't fight him. I'm even rewarded with an almost smile as he leans back in his seat, genuinely impressed with my compliance.