twenty-seven

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Thursday, just after school, Zayn put Harry's address into the GPS on his phone, and drove to his house.

Zayn wasted maybe seven minutes of his time gazing at how big Harry's house was after he pulled into the driveway.

Then it took him about three minutes to work up the nerve to go ring the doorbell.

He just felt strange about this, but he really needed help.

"Oh, hey." Harry said, sounding disappointed when he opened the door.

Which Zayn found sort of hurtful, because Harry knew beforehand that he was coming.

"Expecting someone else?" Zayn asked with a slight smile, hoping to somehow lighten the mood.

"No, I'm just not prepared to do math. I kind of hate it." Harry admitted, stepping aside to let Zayn in.

Harry was still wearing a bit of make up from the day, but a dark blue t-shirt and pajama pants.

"Well...thanks for agreeing to help me, I guess." Zayn said, making himself look away from Harry.

"Sure. Mate." Harry said, trying not to sound bitter.

"We can work in the kitchen." He decided, turning and walking away.

Zayn followed, looking around. "You um, have a beautiful house."

"Thanks." Harry said. "Want anything to drink before we start?"

Zayn shook his head no, sitting at the kitchen table.

Harry sat across from him, and Zayn took the packet out of his bag, sliding it across the table.

"Could your teacher make it any thicker?" Harry scoffed, picking it up.

"I know. I honestly want to set it on fire." Zayn said.

Harry began to look over Zayn's work, frowning. "All of these are right, Zayn."

"They are?" Zayn asked, frowning as well.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Worked out perfectly." He then turned to the next page, seeing nothing but correct answers.

"Looks like you don't need my help." Harry said, flipping to the next page.

But then he paused.

Zayn noticed this, and his heart sank. "They're wrong now, aren't they?"

"The problems changed but your way of working them out didn't. So...yeah, they're wrong." Harry said, looking at the next page.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," He flipped the page. "I can't read that, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, didn't even attempt it, wrong, wrong, wrong-"

"Okay! I'm an idiot, I get it. Can you help me?" Zayn asked, feeling irritated.

"Yeah, but first erase that first page of answers I told you are wrong." Harry said, sliding the packet back to him.

"Fine." Zayn sighed, digging an eraser out of his bag.

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Just three agonizing hours later, they finished.

"I've got the worst headache I've ever had." Zayn almost whined, laying his head on the table.

"Well, you can relax now. They're all right, and finished." Harry said, tossing the packet to him, watching it land next to his head.

Zayn eventually sat back up properly. "Thanks. For everything, Harry. I owe you one."

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