Chapter One

It all started because Merlin forgot to show up to their study session.

Well, he didn't forget, per say. He forgot to mention he was taking extra volunteering hours at the hospital on Monday – which he normally only did on Tuesday and Thursday. Arthur had already been sitting a half an hour in the library, alone, waiting for Merlin to show up, before Merlin remembered to text him and tell him.

Text from Merlin, 4:26 pm

I got you another tutor, she should be there soon

Text to Merlin, 4:27 pm

Did you tell her the time?

Text from Merlin, 4:27 pm

She's taking the bus from school – It was rlly last minute. Be thankful I remembered to get someone else :P

Text to Merlin, 4:29 pm

I'm not thankful you made me wait half an hour without telling me what was going on

Text from Merlin, 4:30 pm

Oops

Arthur groaned and put his phone down, thumbing through the pages of his math textbook. Merlin was the first tutor that had ever actually helped him – this girl was going to be the same as the rest of them, attempting to help him but not being able because he was "too thick", according to Merlin. He thought about telling her to go home once she got there, seeing as it would most likely be a waste of time and he would feel bad, but then it would have been an even bigger waste of time for her to have come and just be told to go home. He would let her stay. Or else he would feel bad.

It took her a while to get there, and all the while Arthur was angrily texting Merlin about the predicament they were in and how it was all his fault. He didn't mean to get angry with Merlin so much, but sometimes he was so frustrated and didn't have anyone else to take it out on. He had yelled at his father once, accidentally, after a particularly hard game, and his father grounded him for weeks. He knew not to do that again if he wanted to be allowed to leave the house. Arthur sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. How long would he have to wait for this girl?

He looked up and peered down the hallway further into the library and saw a girl walking towards him. She looked about his age, and kind of familiar, and also very pretty… Like, prettier than Morgana and Sophia and all of the other popular girls back at school. No, she wasn't just pretty – she was beautiful… Arthur realized he had been staring too long and glanced back at his math textbook. She barely made any noise as she walked up and sat down at the table.

There was silence, awkward silence, before she spoke. "Erm, I'm Gwen…"

He looked up and smiled. "I know," he told her, and then looked away in embarrassment. "I mean, I've seen you around school. And you're Morgana's tutor too, right?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, when she isn't too busy hanging out with Val to actually have time to study," she replied, then frowned. "Sorry, that was… mean. She's great. I just wish she texted beforehand to tell me she isn't coming after I wait behind at the school for half an hour."

"Don't we all," Arthur mumbled, half to himself, and when he peeked over at Gwen she looked offended. "No, I'm sorry, I meant Merlin – he didn't bother telling me he wasn't coming until 4:30."

That seemed to reassure her. "Okay, good," she said. "I am sorry about taking too long to get here."

"There's no need to be sorry."

More silence soon followed. Gwen unpacked her bag quietly, placing a textbook, a calculator, a pad of paper, and a pencil on the desk. Quickly Arthur scanned the title – Intro to Standard Calculus. Wasn't that one of the classes they offered at the city's biggest college? Was she already doing college-level math courses? Maybe she would be more of a help than he thought she would be, after all.

Arthur suddenly felt very thick, with the math textbook that Merlin only described as the math book for "quarterbacks who spent too much time thinking about hot girls instead of their actual, soon-approaching future". He pulled it self-consciously towards himself, hiding the cover with his hands and praying she didn't think he was stupid. That would be… embarrassing, to say the least. Although she seemed too nice to think such mean thoughts about anyone. But he was still embarrassed and still felt very dumb.

Reluctantly, Arthur slid the textbook into the space between them. Hurriedly she went to open it. She attempted to position it so they could both see it well, but there was too much distance between them. There was more awkward silence. Then suddenly, at the exact same time, they went to move their chairs closer to the other, resulting in an all-too-close almost collision and a nervous laugh from the both of them. They moved back to their original spots and then slowly, Gwen started to move her chair closer to Arthur's, keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't start moving again, as well.

That was… very awkward.

"So," Gwen started.

"So," Arthur repeated.

"Are you… do you need help studying?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Gwen stared blankly at the words in the textbook.

"So, your notes?" she murmured.

"Oh," he said. "Oh, right, sorry."

Arthur pulled his notebook from his backpack and flipped through the pages, looking for the beginning of this unit's notes. Gwen was rhythmically drumming her fingernails on the desk, reading through the text on the pages, glancing as the pictures, mouthing answers to the questions as she went through them. He stopped flipping and placed the notes overtop of the textbook, hiding it from view. They wouldn't need it. He didn't know why he took it out, to be honest.

The next hour was better than the first couple minutes had been, although not by much. It was still rather awkward, but Gwen seemed to warm up to him a little bit, laughing at some of his lame jokes and hinting at the answers whenever he got stuck. For the first time since Merlin, he had found a tutor that actually helped him learn – which was very, very surprising. He hoped that in the future Merlin would hire her whenever he couldn't come, although Arthur highly doubted it. He would get one of his male friends, like Lance, who was also on the football team with Arthur, or William, although he had been gone from school for two weeks with a concussion from hockey. Briefly, he thought about asking Gwen to tutor him himself, but decided against it. That might be… weird. And he did not want to be weird around her.

That, in itself, was weird.

They packed up in the silence, the only background noise being the soft buzzing of the library's air conditioning system. Arthur threw his backpack over one shoulder and stood up, waiting for Gwen to finish putting her things away so they could walk out together, something he hadn't even realized he was waiting for until he was explaining it to her after she asked why he was waiting.

"Oh, okay," she responded with a smile, and her hands moved around a little bit faster after that.

They did end up walking out together, making small talk about football and tutoring and math. Arthur brought up her math textbook, the college-level one, and she shyly explained that yes, she was taking college-level math, but only because her dad wanted her too. She said that she would rather take normal, high school math, but doing advanced courses would look better on college applications and would make it more likely for her to get a scholarship, seeing as her dad didn't have the most money and was already having trouble paying for her schooling now, let alone having to pay for all of the college expenses for everything. Then she blushed and apologized for talking so much about her family. Arthur said he didn't mind.

They parted at the bus stop – Gwen would catch a bus there and Arthur would walk home, seeing as the library wasn't too far away from his house.

"Thanks for your help today," he told her with a smile. "And thanks for coming so last minute."

"My pleasure, Arthur," she replied with a smile in return.

"When does your bus come?" he asked. Clouds were started to gather overhead, threatening an oncoming rainstorm. He caught himself feeling worried about her being stuck in the rain. There wasn't anything he could do, though, and he felt… bad.

"A few minutes," she said. "And I have an umbrella if the weather turns."

"Okay, that's good, then," Arthur responded.

"Yeah," Gwen replied awkwardly, looking down at her boots.

"Okay, well, I'll see you around, Gwen," Arthur murmured softly, scratching the back of his neck with his hand.

"Yeah, see you," Gwen said quietly.

Text from Merlin, 11:04 pm

Hey, how was she?

Text to Merlin, 11:07 pm

Good. I actually learned stuff

Text from Merlin, 11:08 pm

How late was she?

Text to Merlin, 11:09 pm

Not very

Text from Merlin, 11:11 pm

Ill get one of the guys to do it next time

Text to Merlin, 11:13 pm

Why?

Text from Merlin, 11:14 pm

I dunno, just thought youd want one of them

Text to Merlin, 11:15 pm

Nah, shes nice. Better than will

Text from Merlin, 11:16 pm

True

Text to Merlin, 11:17 pm

Is Wednesday good for u?

Text from Merlin, 11:18 pm

Gaius freaked out when I declined extra volunteer hours; he says I need more for the credit

Text to Merlin, 11:20 pm

Isnt tutoring volunteer hours?

Text from Merlin, 11:21 pm

More like community service

Text to Merlin, 11:22 pm

Shut up

welcome one and all to my new fic, guilty pleasures!

this is a fic i will be updating every monday throughout the summer, unless i do not have access to wifi (which i will a few weeks, but i will update you guys one when those will be)

im very excited for this fic, and i hope you all are too! im excited to take this journey with you guys and i hope you all like it xx