Look what's back... I'll be uploading previous chapters plus the new chapters as the day goes on. You guys probably need to refresh your memories anyway, but there is a new chapter. I'm probably crazy for doing this more than one story thing again, but oh well. Here it goes.

Nick stood nervously in front of the big white house and rang the doorbell. Here he was, a lowly freshman, ringing the doorbell of the most popular senior girl's house.

It was definitely not his idea. Nor was it a dare. Actually, it was part of the volunteer project he needed to complete before he could graduate. Fifty hours were the requirement and Nick, being somewhat of an over achiever, was getting started early.

Nick was a bright student. Actually, he was what most kids would call a nerd. From his tucked in button down shirts to his glasses to his impeccable grades, he was a nerd. He had thought tutoring would be a good job for him especially in his area of expertise: Math. He had taught himself Algebra II over the summer and had tested into Pre-Calculus, a class normally associated with Juniors and Seniors. He had thought he would wind up with a middle school student or a fellow freshman so imagine his surprise when he was assigned to tutor THE Miley Stewart in some sort of peer tutoring program.

She was known for being the most popular girl in school. She had a loyal band of followers including her entourage of friends and then handfuls of wannabes. Not to mention the countless others who loved to hate her. She was easily, easily the hottest girl in school. Nick had noticed her the second he walked into the cafeteria on the first day of high school. She seemed to have this pull to her that just made you notice her right away. She had long shiny brown hair with caramel highlights and eyes so blue they put the skies to shame. Her body was the one from every guys fantasy. Slender with curves in all the right places and legs that went on for days after her pert little ass. She was definitely every guy's dream.

And apparently she was also an idiot. She had failed her own first quarter of Pre-Calc and was in desperate need of a tutor. If she didn't pass, she couldn't graduate. And that was how Nick came to be standing at her front door now.

It swung open and Nick was greeted by a woman in her early forties with blonde hair and big eyes. She also had a smile on her face.

"Nicholas?" she asked opening the door wider.

"Nick," he corrected, shifting his books to one arm so that he could shake her hand.

"I'm Miley's mom," she said gripping his hand, "Come in."

Nick stepped into the large foyer that had dark wood floors and a fancy looking chandelier. He noticed a white piano in the corner and the stairs that ran up the back wall. The walls were a beige color and the whole room looked like it had come out of a home magazine.

"We really appreciate this, Nick," she said genuinely as Nick looked around, "Miley should be upstairs in her room waiting for you. Second door on the right when you go upstairs."

Nick swallowed nervously. Her room? He had kind of expected to tutor her at the kitchen table or something. But he dutifully climbed the stairs and knocked on the door that he was told was hers.

"Come in," the feminine voice called and Nick opened the door cautiously. Miley's head swung to the door. She was sitting at her desk with a tattered book in hand and her math things spread out in front of her.

Nick looked around the rest of the room. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was still kind of surprised. Her room was very calming with light purple walls and white furniture. It was an incredibly spacious room and held a huge canopy bed, a desk with room for a laptop and study space, a wardrobe, and most surprisingly, two large book shelves stocked full of books.

"Hi, I'm Miley," she said standing up and holding out her hand. She was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing at school that day. Short white shorts and an off the shoulder dark grey top. Her eyes still had just the right touch of dark eyeliner to make them look just the right amount of sultry. The only difference was her feet were bare and her hair was in a long messy side braid.

"I know," Nick said and then regretted it as she giggled. He took her hand and she shook it firmly.

"I don't know you though," she said staring at him.

"Nick," Nick said trying to sound confident, "Nick Lucas."

"Well, Nick Lucas," Miley said gesturing to the desk that had two chairs set up, "Tutor me."

Nick blushed. He was a teenage boy after all and pretty much anything that came out of a mouth like that sounded seductive.

"So this is part of your volunteer project?" Miley asked conversationally.

"Yeah... What was yours?" he asked her, relaxing a little bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. She wasn't a complete snob like Nick had been expecting. Maybe it was the rumors he had heard about her being a slut or the "popular bitch" cliche, but he had expected her to be a lot different.

"None of your business," she said suddenly with an attitude. Or maybe she was exactly how he expected her to be. She looked uncomfortable which piqued Nick's curiosity. But instead of pushing it Nick took a seat next to her. She put her book down, binding up, to save her
place. Nick craned his neck a little to read the title.

"The Great Gatsby?" he read out loud, "You reading that for school?"

Miley shook her head, "oh no, I just like it."

"Oh?" Nick said surprised. He hadn't read it yet, but he was pretty sure it wasn't something the average person decides to pick up and read.

"Yep," Miley said, popping her p. Maybe it was Nick's imagination, but she seemed eager to change the subject, "So are you gonna teach me or what? 'Cause I would kind of like to pass my senior year and get the f out of high school."

Nick chuckled a little and cracked open his book, "So what chapter are you on?"

"How old are you?" Miley blurted out and he cowered at her sudden loud voice, "I'm sorry. I always get off subject. It's just that, no offense, but you look kind of young, but obviously you're tutoring me so..."

"I'm 15," Nick said embarrassed. He knew he would come off as such a nerd. He didn't want to see her face, but when he looked out the corner of his eye she seemed to be okay with it. Or at least she wasn't laughing at him.

"You probably think I'm an idiot," she said finally, studying his face.

"No-" Nick tried to protest even though that was exactly what he was thinking moments before.

"It's written all over your face," Miley interrupted, "but I'm not stupid. Numbers and I just aren't good friends."

Nick nodded and she seemed content with that response.

"And to answer your question, we're on chapter 5," she added, taking out her assignment book to show him her homework.

Nick read it over and then opened his book to the proper page.

"Alright, parabolas..." Nick said, "What do you know about them?"

Miley scrunched her nose, "Absolutely nothing."

"How in the world did you pass algebra II if you don't know anything about parabolas?" Nick asked. He didn't mean to sound obnoxious, it just slipped out and he was honestly curious.

"Nathan Richards."

"Huh?"

"Nathan Richards is how I passed Algebra II," she explained slowly, "he sat next to me and did my homework."

"Well, I won't being doing your homework for you," Nick said and he was amazed by his own confidence. That would show her that just because she was a hot popular senior didn't mean she could walk all over him.

"I don't remember asking you to," Miley said cooly, draining Nick of all the confidence he previously gained and making him feel a little silly, "Now can you just teach me this?"

"Fine," Nick said and began to read from the book, "A parabola is defined as the locus of a point which moves so that it is always the same distance from a fixed point (called the focus) and a given line (called the directrix)"

Miley stared at him blankly.

This was going to be an interesting project.

"I'm home!" Nick called as he walked through the blue door into his house.

"In the kitchen!" came his mom's voice from the back of the house.

"Hi, honey," Mrs. Lucas said as Nick came into the room and set his stuff down on the counter, "how'd the tutoring go?"

Nick noticed his older brother's head perk up at the mention of the tutoring session. Joe had teased him mercilessly about tutoring Miley Stewart. Joe was a junior and was a running back for the school's football team. He traveled in the same social circle as Miley although they weren't really friends.

"It was good," Nick said vaguely, taking a cookie from the plate in front of Joe then going to give his mom a hug. He was a momma's boy while Joe took more after their father who was a sports addict.

"I'm glad. How did the chem quiz go today?" Nick's mom was probably the reason Nick was so into school. She valued an education above all and had always taught Nick to get his work done and really understand the material.

"It was good. I think I might have gotten one wrong though... Selena said she got a different answer than me and she's a chem whiz so..."

"As long as you did your best..." his mom said turning from the dishes she was washing to give him a smile which Nick returned weakly.

"I'm going to go do some homework," Nick said grabbing his books.

"Alright, dinner will be in an hour or so"

Nick nodded in response and then headed up to his room. His room wasn't small, but it was nowhere near as big as Miley's. He had a full sized bed, a desk and a dresser. The walls were dark blue and his furniture was dark cherry wood. He barely had time to put his books down before Joe burst in the room.

"So how was sexy Stewart?" Joe said with a smirk, licking his lips. Like most boys, he would do anything to get a chance with her. Nick rolled his eyes.

"I said she was good."

"No," Joe argued, "you said the tutoring was good. That's completely different."

Nick didn't even know what to say to that so he didn't say anything as he sat down at his desk and opened his book to do his own math homework.

"I can't believe you get to spend two hours a day with sexy Stewart and you're not even going to do anything about it," Joe shook his head in disappointment at his little brother.

"What do you expect me to do?" Nick asked annoyed with his stupid older brother's antics. He was already feeling weird about his session with Miley and he didn't need his brother breathing down his neck.

"I don't know, but something. Although I doubt she'd hook up with a freshman."

Secretly, Nick agreed. Even if it was only in his deepest fantasies that he had thought about it, he knew he definitely didn't have a chance with Miley. Besides, he was kind of sure she was dating the quarterback, Jake Ryan.

"You never know though. I've heard some pretty freaky things about her. I've heard she's up for anything."

Nick stayed silent. Maybe if he kept ignoring Joe he would just go away. Even if he was basically a social outcast he had still heard some rumors about her. But after meeting her, he was starting to second guess them.

"I guess you have Selena though, right?" Joe said, trying to get Nick to spill something. When they were younger they were inseparable, but then Joe had gotten really involved in football while Nick concentrated on academics. Nick had become a lot quieter and had drifted apart from most of his old friends. Except Selena. She consistantly had stuck by his side and it was clear to everyone that she liked him.

Nick just shook his head and looked down at his book to start his work signaling that Nick was done with this conversation.

Joe sighed and then turned to exit the room, leaving Nick all alone with his books.

***
The next day at school, Nick sat down in his stool at his lab table in the chemistry room. He was early as usual and he waited patiently for the rest of the class, including his lab partner for the semester, Selena.

Selena. Nick had known her for a while now, since middle school and they had been in most of the same classes. She was always friendly to him and he considered her a friend. On the first day of school Selena had slid next to Nick at his lab table and asked if they could be lab partners. Nick had shrugged and agreed, it's not like he had someone else to be his partner.

Part of him knew, like Joe had implied, that Selena liked him as more than a friend. He wasn't really interested in her, but he was too polite and too shy to say anything to her. So instead, he just let her talk and ramble to him while he sat there quietly and sometimes nodded or offered his own little story. Sometimes they even hung out outside of school. Although it may not seem like it to an outsider, she was probably the best friend that he had.

Selena came bouncing in a few minutes before the bell, her long dark hair straightened, wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt with converse. Nick nodded at her and she smiled.

"So how was tutoring? Not too painful, I hope," Selena said with a laugh as she set down her books and her bag.

Nick instantly felt uncomfortable. Yeah, Miley was kind of slow when it came to math, but he honestly believed she could do well. Nick was surprised by how quickly she learned after his explanation. Her main problem was that she never really understood the basics. She was articulate and she didn't say "like" or "totally" every other word. He couldn't help but think that there was something... different about her.

"It wasn't that bad actually," Nick said shrugging. He didn't want to go into too much detail about it because he knew Selena had trouble keeping her mouth shut and he sensed Miley was uncomfortable sharing the smarter side of her even if Nick didn't understand why.

"Oh please," Selena said rolling her eyes, "Don't tell me you've fallen under 'Sexy Stewart's' evil spell too. You realize you're a freshman, right? You don't stand a chance."

Nick was getting a little tired of people reminding him of that. He also felt kind of defensive of Miley which was irrational since he barely knew her, but something about Selena bashing her bothered him.

Lucky for Nick though the teacher began class before he could say anything to make himself sound stupid by defending her.

"Are we still on for lunch?" Selena whispered and Nick nodded. It wasn't like he had anyone else to sit with anyway and apparently Selena had no other friends in their lunch period. They didn't talk for the rest of class and when the bell rang Nick waited patiently for her to get her stuff so they could walk to lunch together.

"Seriously though," Selena prattled on as they walked into the lunchroom, "Miley thinks just because she's hot she can do and get whatever she wants so don't let yourself get too attached. People like that only use people."

Nick looked across the room and saw her draped over Jake's lap surrounded by a group full of admirers. She threw her head back and laughed, smacking his chest and the rest of the group roared in laughter too. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Yeah, she's nothing special," Nick agreed, turning away from her and her friends.

If only he knew how wrong he was.