"Did you hear? They caught the new guy with condoms," whispered a short blonde girl wearing the St. Gabriel uniform. Relena rolled her eyes. The Catholic high school was abuzz with what the students were calling a sex scandal; it was all her classmates could talk about. Relena continued her studying, pretending not to notice.

Still, she could understand why her fellow students were curious. The "new guy," Heero Yuy, was an exchange student from Japan, but his dark blue eyes made him appear to be only half-Asian. He had the height and build of most Asian teenage boys, but there was something about him that made him seem more mature than others his age. Relena noticed something profound and worldly behind his dark eyes. That, along with his mess of unruly brown hair, easily made him the best-looking guy in their school. All of Relena's female friends were drooling over him; the condom rumor, which would ostracize anyone else, only solidified Heero's "sex-god" status.

"Oh, my gosh, there he is!" the blonde girl squealed. Relena glanced up; she couldn't help it. Heero was striding into the library, holding a laptop case and looking unbelievably sexy in the boy's uniform, a gray suit with a maroon-colored vest. He was one of the few guys who made the uniform look good, she realized. Her cheeks colored; she buried her face in her algebra textbook.

The first exams of the semester were coming up, and so every table in the library was packed. Heero, who was known for being standoffish, appeared to be looking for an empty spot. Relena had been unsuccessful in that herself; most of the seats at her table were occupied, except for the one next to her, where she had placed her black messenger bag. She saw Heero glance at the seat, then at her. Shyly, Relena pushed her bag to the floor.

Heero began walking toward her. Relena felt her heart thumping wildly against her chest. She dropped her eyes back to her textbook and didn't look up again, even as Heero was standing beside her.

"Hey," he said flatly. Heero's voice was dark and rich, but he spoke in a monotone. He was becoming known around campus for his monosyllabic sentences.

"Hi," Relena replied softly, still not looking up. She simply tilted her head to the seat beside her. "You can sit down," she added gently.

Heero obeyed. He set his book and laptop on the table, flipped open the computer's lid and, just seconds later, began typing away furiously.

Relena tried to get back to her math problems, but the click-click-clacking of Heero's typing distracted her. Or maybe it was just Heero himself. Either way, Relena found it impossible to concentrate. Before she even realized it, she had dropped her pencil and was staring at Heero as he worked.

He paused, frowning. "What?" he asked curtly.

Relena flushed. "Sorry," she muttered. "I… was just wondering what you're working on that has you typing so fast. It's impressive," she added. She flashed him her sweetest smile, hoping he wouldn't find her stupid.

He didn't smile back, but his stone-smooth face appeared to soften. "English," he answered in his monotone. "I'm writing a synthesis paper." He knit his brows together, deepening his frown. "It's hard," he said, turning his eyes back to the screen.

Relena frowned, too, pursing her lips together. "Really? What's it about?"

"We had to read and respond to two articles on ethics in the workplace." Heero rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what that has to do with English. But anyway…" He gestured to his screen. "The paper's due tomorrow. I had someone in the writing center look it over, and it's all wrong."

Relena couldn't believe Heero had spoken so many complete sentences in a row, but she tried to hide her surprise.

"Hmm…" She peered over his shoulder, glancing over the paper and the comments someone had typed in red next to Heero's writing. "Well, I haven't read the whole thing, but it looks like you're on the right track. You just ended a few sentences with prepositions, and I'm guessing Sister LaReau doesn't like that… right?"

Heero's dark eyes widened. Relena thought he looked impressed. "Yeah, that's right." He tilted his head to look at her. "What else?"

Relena leaned closer to get a better look. "Well… the person who edited this didn't catch it, but you've got a few split infinitives and dangling modifiers. If you clean those things up, this will be a really good paper." She smiled warmly at him.

"Huh." Heero seemed to be mulling this over. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but then English isn't my first language, you know."

Relena nodded, smiling. She liked knowing that someone else her age was at least bilingual; for her part, Relena was fluent in French and spoke decent Italian and Spanish.

"So…" Heero angled his body toward Relena, and she was surprised by how close their faces were. She hadn't realized she was leaning over him so much and struggled not to blush again. "If I print this off, would you edit it for me?" he asked.

She nodded quickly.

"Thanks," he murmured. He turned back to his laptop, saving his work to a flash drive. That task done, he looked at Relena again. "Hey, it's Relena, right?" She nodded again. "Good. That's not a hard name to remember." He gave her an alluring half-smile, causing her heart to pound a little faster.

"Oh? You're not used to that name?" she teased.

Heero shook his head. "Never heard of it. People in my country would probably say it wrong."

Relena shrugged. "Well, I suppose people here pronounce 'Heero' wrong, too."

Heero rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I keep getting called 'Hero.' It's annoying."

Relena laughed. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Heero's face brighten.

"I don't understand it," he continued their conversation. "We're in the middle of Marseilles, and yet none of the students here seem to speak any French."

"Perhaps because this school has a lot of Americans," Relena said, shrugging. "I don't really understand it, either. I'm from France myself," she added.

"Hn," Heero grunted. "You don't sound it."

"That's because I have an American father," Relena sighed.

"And you're not happy about that," Heero guessed.

"It's not so bad," Relena said, shrugging. "He's a businessman, so I've gotten to do a lot of traveling with him." She gave Heero another warm smile. "I've even been to Japan."

Heero's dark eyes flickered. "Yeah? Did you like it?"

Relena tipped her head, smiling easily. "Hai. Mochiron."

Heero looked a little startled, but then his features relaxed. "Wow," he murmured. "It's been a while since I heard any Japanese."

"Try not to get used to it," Relena giggled. "I only know a few phrases."

Heero gave her a tiny smirk. "At least we have French."

Relena's heart fluttered. Was the "new guy" flirting with her?

He picked up her algebra book suddenly and began flipping through it, then frowned and set it back in front of her. "Are you a sophomore?" he asked. Relena nodded. "Then how come you're taking algebra?"

Relena felt her cheeks flame. "I…I'm not very good at math," she muttered. She looked down at her lap, embarrassed. Then she gasped as Heero tipped her chin up with his index finger.

"I can teach you," he murmured, his lips just inches from hers. "You just need to learn a few tricks."

Relena swallowed nervously. "Tricks?" she gulped.

Heero smirked. "Uh-huh. Come by my room tonight; I'll show you everything you need to know."

Relena could hardly believe what she was hearing. His room? She'd have to be careful; St. Gabriel had very strict rules about girls being in boys' rooms, and vice versa. There was only a small window of time she'd be allowed in there before visitation hours ended for the evening.

She knew the risks, but found herself saying, "Okay. After dinner?"

"Hn." Heero nodded. "Can you correct my paper by then?" His deep blue eyes, which looked hard and cold from a distance, were surprisingly warm and soft up close. They were drawing her in, almost pleading with her. Relena felt herself melting.

"Sure, anything," she murmured. It was all she could do not to sigh and swoon in his arms.

"Good," Heero replied. He dropped his hand from her chin, and Relena flushed; he'd been touching her face for nearly a whole minute. "Wait here while I print it off," he was saying. "It'll only take a minute." With that, he swept out of his seat, striding to the other side of the library.

Relena touched her face in wonder. Did he really… did all of that really just happen? She looked up and realized that everyone at her table was staring at her. She heard the gossipy blonde girl whispering; the only words she made out were "Heero Yuy," "Relena Darlian" and "Don Juan." Relena sunk down in her seat, once again using her algebra book as a shield.

What is he doing with me? She wondered as she watched Heero log onto one of the library's desktop computers. Is he like that with all the girls? She narrowed her eyes as she peered at him over her textbook. Is he… a Don Juan, like everyone says? Suddenly, Heero snapped his head up, as if he knew he was being watched. He caught her eye from across the room; he didn't smile at her, but Relena saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. He tipped his head at her, so she nodded back. Then she shivered and returned her attention to math. What kind of strange relationship had she started?