"Good afternoon dear friend." Mia said with a radiant smile when I took my seat in biology.
"You are in a happier mood than usual." I told her with a raised eyebrow.
"That's because a very sexy boy kissed me today." She smiled and I shook my head at her.
"You and Noah are still a thing?" I asked and she gave me a nod.
Liam walked into class and I turned my attention to him. He's being weird today.
He's quiet.
During gym class Coach didn't even yell at him once because he kept his head down most of the time and only participated when he needed to.
"Rose, did you hear me?" Mia said and I ripped my eyes away from Liam and turned to look at my friend.
"Sorry, what?" I asked and she smirked.
"Too busy checking out Liam?"
Definitely not.
"No, he's just being weird today." I shook my head.
"Maybe he's just nervous for the exam. His grade is kind of depending on it." She said and I nodded.
"Yeah maybe." I nodded and the bell rang.
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"Okay, you have five minutes remaining." Mrs. Knowles said during the test.
Everyone was done. Everyone except one.
Liam Powers.
He hasn't moved. Literally, his pencil is exactly where it was at the beginning of the test.
"I don't think he's even put his name on his paper." I whispered to Mia as I glanced back at Liam again.
He wasn't even looking at his paper. His gaze was set at the front of the class but he wasn't looking anywhere specific.
"It's like he's in shock or something." Mia whispered and I narrowed my eyes.
That or he's doing this on purpose.
But that doesn't make any sense. He studied his butt of on Saturday. So why would he not take the test?
The bell rang and I grabbed my things and Mia and I walked out of class.
"I'll see you later." I told her as I stood across of Mrs. Knowles class in the hallway to wait for Liam.
I'm going to need an explanation.
"Good luck." Mia said with a small smile before walking away.
I waited outside until the last of the students walked out, and finally, Liam.
He made direct eye contact and I gave him a look as if to say 'what happened?'. His shoulder lifted in a small shrug before he walked away.
What?
"Wait." I called after him but he ignored me and kept walking.
I let out a frustrated sigh and followed him.
"What happened?" I asked and he looked at me with a passive look on his face.
"I really don't have time for your scolding right now." He muttered and sped up his pace.
Jeez.
"I'm not scolding, I am just asking."
"Look, I don't think this is going to work anymore. You tried, but I simply do not care about passing school. So, I'll just stop wasting both of our times and end the tutoring sessions." He said and he added another notch to his speed.
I ran after him and grabbed his upper arm to stop him.
"That is such bull and you know it. You want to graduate with good grades." I huffed. "So, what happened that made you not even put your name on your test?" I asked and he shook his head and gave me a smile.
But this was nothing like his usual smiles. This was a very fake smile.
"It doesn't matter." He said and I gave him an annoyed look before pulling him to the side of the hallway.
"Liam- "I began but he cut me off.
"Daisy, I said that this is over. So, you don't need to worry about my grades anymore."
Something happened when his father walked into the study room at his house. Because his entire demeaner changed when he returned. And something happened when my father pulled into his driveway when I was leaving. I have no idea what, but it is something major. Because when my father got home, he went straight to his office with a bottle of scotch and went to his office.
He only grabs the scotch when he has a difficult case.
"The tutoring sessions don't end until I say so." I told him and he ran his hands through his hair.
"I forgot where I was." He finally said.
"Biology is not my number one priority at the moment. And I forgot that I was in a classroom and I had a test to take because it wasn't even remotely important to me." He shrugged and I took in a deep breath.
"I am really sorry for that. But it is still a priority." I told him.
"Damn it Daisy. Why can't you just-" He started but stopped. I took a step back and frowned at the boy standing in front of me.
He looks different. There are dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he hasn't been sleeping very well. His hair is messier than the regular 'I run my hands through my hair' mess that I'm used to. His entire demeaner is different. His shoulders are stiff and his jaw is clenched and he keeps shifting it from left to right like he's grinding his teeth. His hands are hidden in his pockets but I can clearly see that they are balled up into fists.
He's either really pissed off or he's under a ridiculous amount of stress that have been added onto him in the last twenty-four hours.
"Meet me in the TC after school." I told him and he frowned at me.
"You may not care about biology, but you care about your grades and so do I." I told him. "I'm going to try to get Mrs. Knowles to give you a second chance." I told him and he frowned at me.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because, we did not spend three and a half hour at your house for nothing." I told him.
"What if she says no?"
"Then I'll ask again. Believe it or not, I can be just as annoying as you." I told him and he rolled his eyes.
I was expecting a teasing smile but I suppose an eyeroll is better than an angry scowl.
"Thank you." He said quietly and the tardy bell rang.
"You're welcome." I nodded before turning to go back to Mrs. Knowles class.
Now all I have to do is convince her to let Liam take the test again.
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"I can't do that." Mrs. Knowles said for what seemed like the sixtieth time.
"Yes, you can." I told her and she gave me a look.
I am over fifteen minutes late to calc 2 but that's not important right now.
"If Liam cared enough about that exam, he would have put in the effort for it. He would've at least put his name on his paper." She explained. "I am not going to bend the rules for someone who is not putting in the effort."
"He is putting in the effort. In the past month, I have seen him give a crap. So much that I helped him study for over two hours for this test." I told her.
Sure, Liam still tries to procrastinate everything and he's lazy when it comes to showing up on time, but he's still there every Monday and Friday.
"I promise you, he should know every single question on that exam." I continued. "But something happened and he froze. You can't just give him an F for that."
"I have a student that had to take their exam early because they went to their mother's funeral today. They came to me in advance and asked. Whereas Liam did not. Why should I make an exception for him?" She asked and I let out a sigh.
"Because I finally see what you saw when you were still trying to convince me to tutor him in the first place. What I didn't think existed in Liam Powers." I told her.
He's someone who is simply confused about biology. Not someone who doesn't want to learn about it and he's quite determined to pass the class.
Mrs. Knowles let out a sigh and I took a step towards her.
"Just one more chance. Everyone deserves a second chance." I told her and she shook her head at me before letting out a long sigh.
"I will give him thirty-five minutes instead of fifty minutes and I will be in the Tutoring Center with him while he takes the test." She said and I smiled.
"I am only doing this because you are putting up a good case." She sighed and my smile widened. "Seriously, you should really consider being a lawyer." She muttered and my smile dropped a little.
"That's more of my dad's thing." I told her.
She nodded before quickly writing me a note to class.
Whatever amount of my seventh period that I got, went by in a blur and once the final bell rang, I quickly packed up my things and made my way to the Tutoring Center.
I was with another student today, but when I went inside, Liam was already testing and Mrs. Knowles was sitting at the teacher's desk. Liam looked up from his paper and I smiled at him.
"Good luck." I mouthed and he gave me a nod before his eye dropped back down to his paper.
He's answering the questions so that's good.
Walking to my designated side of the room, I sat down in front of Jane Kimball who was staring at the back of Liam's head with a star struck smile on her face.
"Isn't he the hottest human boy you have ever met?" She asked and I let out a sigh.
My finger mindlessly started tapping on the table and I waited for her to recollect herself.
"Jane, you have a trigonometry exam tomorrow." I told her and she turned to face me.
"He and I went on a date once." She said proudly.
Is she expecting a congratulation?
"Shall we get to work?" I asked her and she let out a sigh of slight frustration.
"The least you could do is be happy for a girl." She huffed and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
For what, going on a date?
"Congratulations on your date with Liam. Now let's get to that review if you don't want to fail tomorrow." I told her with a nod and she shook her head at me.
"You are so boring sometime." She said and I took in a sharp breath.
Why does that still hurt my feeling?
"Let's just get to work." I told her and she let out a sigh.
"Whatever." She muttered before pulling out her textbook.
Jane is closer to the top of the high school popularity spectrum. Definitely higher than I am.
She's an athlete-soccer. She's ridiculously tan, even though it is the middle of winter, she has long fit legs, that any guy would happily fall at the feet of. Her perfectly toned but slim body is matched with an even more perfect heart shaped face and perfect cheekbones to match. Her long, dark brown hair is always cascading around her like a dark vail, giving her a fierce yet angelic look. Along with her perfect body and face, she has a beautiful personality to match, it is no surprise to me that Liam asked her out
What did surprise me was that they only went on one date.
"He is actually ridiculously sweet." She said as she glanced up from her book and I frowned.
Is she still talking about Liam?
"Who?"
"Liam." She nodded. "We just didn't have any chemistry between us, not like you two." She smiled and I raised an eyebrow at her.
"What chemistry?" I asked. "I tutor him, that's it."
The only science Liam and I have together is biology.
"Wait, you guys aren't dating?" She frowned and my eyes widened.
"W-what? No." I stuttered as my cheeks reddened. "He hasn't been saying that we are right?" I asked a little frightened.
If word got out to my father that I am dating- which I am not, I would be dead within the hour.
"No, I just assumed." Jane shrugged. "For Liam Powers to freely accept help from a girl, he would have to be dating this said girl or he's being forced to and Liam Powers is never forced into anything."
"Well it's the latter, not the former. Mrs. Knowles is forcing him to get tutored." I told her.
"So, you're not dating?" She asked and I shook my head at her.
How many more times do I have to say it?
"No."
"Interesting." She smiled at me before glancing at Liam again.
"Very interesting" She licked her lips with a secretive smile.
"Let's study." I told her, trying to steer away from this very awkward conversation.
Jane managed to sort of refocused after her new discovery about Liam's relationship status and I managed to help her with her study guide for her exam tomorrow, despite her checking her phone every five seconds and giggling to her friends about Liam Powers on Snapchat.
Halfway through our session, I heard a chair scrape the floor of the TC and I turned to watch Liam walk over to Mrs. Knowles and handed her his complete test.
At least I think it's complete.
I want to get up and grab the test from Mrs. Knowles and grade it myself to find out the score.
Liam walked back to his desk and picked up his backpack before looking up in my direction. We made eye contact before he gave me a smile and a small nod.
"Good?" I mouthed and he nodded again.
"Good." He mouthed back and my smile widened.
He sent me a playful wink before turning on his heels and walking out of the room.
If he's confident, he must've done well.
I turned to face Jane who was looking at me with a smile on her face.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's just you smiled at him." She said and I frowned.
Is that wrong?
"Nothing, it's nothing, never mind." She replied before turning to her books.
Weird.
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Merry Christmas /Hanukkah/Kwanza (If you celebrate)
Nothing too exiting happened in this chapter.
But how did you feel about it? What do you think is up with the Powers family that had Liam too stressed to take his test?
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Coming up: Rose gets some visitors unexpectedly.