Sorry it's been so long -___- As my Mother would say, I'm a pain in the a** ;)
I think this chapter is a little bit longer than usual :D and I am also continuing to write as soon as I post this, so hopefully I will update again sometime this week :)
Please vote if you think I deserve it, fan if you think I deserve it :) And comment, even if it's just to say 'I like it' or 'Keep writing' or 'Good chapter' :) it keeps me going, you know :D
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After contemplating whether to make myself something to eat for over an hour, I stood in front of the only full length mirror in the house, turning this way and that, my frown increasing with every passing second.
My stomach looked weird; disgusting, almost. There were pink marks on my skin where I had pulled it and twisted it, measuring the fat on my sides and tummy before deciding whether I should eat or not.
Realising that my body was too big as it was, I left my mother’s room and entered my own, coming face to face with a clean pile of washing and a fluorescent pink bag on my bed. Curious as to what was in the bag, I stepped closer.
I began to think that whatever was in the bag could wait, as the huge lump of colourful clothes contrasted my black and grey room, distracting me from my thoughts. My brows furrowed as I glared at the pile of washing that was disturbing the order of my bedroom.
In my room, everything had a place: every sock, every pen, and every bottle of cheap deodorant.
Starting with the small selection of clean underwear at the top, I removed each garment from the pile and distributed them wherever they should be before climbing onto my comfortable bed, the grey throw covering me.
I leant over to my bedside table to collect the book that I was currently reading and lost myself in the characters thoughts.
A loud noise awoke me from my sleep and my eyes adjusted to the change of light, though my room was only dimly lit. I glanced at the clock to see that it was nearing 4pm and assumed that it was JJ at the door.
Knowing that I couldn’t ignore him without my Mom getting angry, I clambered out of the blanket and out of my door. Running down the stairs, skipping a couple at the bottom, I skidded to a halt at the front door. Turning the lock, I twisted the handle down and pulled.
I lowered my gaze to the wooden floor when my eyes connected with his.
“Hey, can I come in?”
His deep voice sent shivers down my spine and I stepped back to let him in. As he walked a bit ahead of me and into the kitchen, I swiftly dragged my gaze across his body and away again. He removed his coat and I couldn’t help but to look at him, quite blatantly this time, as his black t-shirt clung tightly to his chest.
My eyes dropped lower and widened at his dark wash jeans hanging low on his hips, suiting him perfectly. I looked at his black and blue high tops in awe and raised my wide eyes back to his face.
I saw the smirk first. When his brown eyes met mine, I had already become a blushing mess, my skin sure to be as red as a tomato. I was looking everywhere but at him, until he spoke and somehow managed to break the awkward silence in the room.
“I brought you the Science and English work from today and the Math work from yesterday. Miss Williams said not to worry about French as they didn’t learn anything new in class.” I nodded and sat down opposite him at the table. “Oh, and Mr Brook has given me a sheet to give you for homework. It isn’t based on anything from the lesson. It’s just a recap of the stuff we did last year. I haven’t started it yet, but it looks pretty easy.”
I smiled in thanks and quickly skimmed through the text on one of the pieces of paper from my Maths lesson. Understanding most of what I had to do, I grabbed a pen from the computer desk and began to calculate the answers.
After a couple of minutes, the heaviness of his gaze was starting to get to me.
“Do you mind?” I asked, without looking up.
“You know how to do that?” Pure shock slipped into his words. Looking up at him, I replied.
“Yeah, it’s not exactly difficult.” I admitted.
“Oh.”
JJ lowered his face to look at his sheet in front of him and his eyebrows knotted. I could see scribbles and numbers written on the page, calculations. This time, I had been staring at him while he tried to make sense of his work. Watching him, confused like a toddler, I asked him what was wrong.
“Urm...it’s just that-” JJ paused and swallowed, his blush engulfing his cheeks. “Mr Fitzpatrick said it was completely new work, none of us will have ever done it before and it is College level work. No one in the class understood it one bit.”
I glanced back down and reread the formulas I had written to complete the question and give me the answer.
“You really understand it?”
I looked up and gave a shy smile before dipping my head.
“Can you help me?” My head snapped up. He was asking me for help? “Please.”
I wanted to say no, make an excuse. If he didn’t understand it at all then it would take a while to explain it. I didn’t want to make this little visit last any longer than it had to.
And, yet, I found my lips speaking words I hadn’t even told them to.
“Sure. If you look at the equation, it has an x², 8x’s and a 16 at the end. To factorise, you have to find 2 numbers that add up to make the number of x’s, in this case 8, and multiply together to make the number at the end, 16.”
I stopped to glance at JJ who still had the most adorable confused face. I continued on with my explanation to give him an example, hoping this would make him understand.
“So for this equation, 2 numbers that multiply to make 16 could be 8 and 2, but 8 plus 2 or 8 minus 2 doesn’t equal 8. That shows you that those 2 numbers are wrong. What other numbers multiply to get 14?”
“4 and 4?”
“Now you have to check. Do 4 add 4 equal 8?”
“Yeah...”
“There you go then. The next step in to open 2 sets of brackets.” Using my pencil, I lean over and draw an open bracket, leave a space, and a closing bracket. Then I draw it again, next to the first ones.
“To get x², you have to times x by x. So in the first bracket you put an x, and in the second bracket you put an x. Then, because the 8x and 16 are positive, you put a plus after each of the x’s.”
I insert the plus sign into the brackets on his sheet and keep writing as I am speaking.
“Then you put in the 2 numbers you decided add up to 8 and multiply to get 16.”
“4 and 4.”
I smiled and wrote the final 2 numbers in the brackets.
“And that’s how you factorise.”
When I looked up at him, his eyes were wide and I began to worry that I had just confused him more. But then the corners of his lips pulled up to form an open-mouthed smile, showing off his beautifully straight, white teeth.
“I get it!” He sounded ecstatic and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him as he did a little happy dance.
“How come you could explain that in less than an hour and our qualified maths teacher couldn’t teach it us in a double lesson?”
“My Dad,” I began but stopped myself just in time as my throat constricted.
“What about him?”
I think he knew I didn’t want to talk about it, but he asked me anyway. I was unsure whether he was just nosy or genuinely wanted to know. Or he could just want me to open up for once, but that was unlikely.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and pushed the threatening tears back.
I will not cry about him.
“He was a Math Teacher...”
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Hope you liked it :) please comment, vote and fan :D <3<3<3
And can I just say ... Oh My Bloody God!!! 1000 reads on this story :D it might not seem like a big deal but it means the world to me, so that you so much :') <3<3