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MATH? MORE LIKE CHEMISTRY

"Jesy it's been two days, how could you have failed something already!?"

Jesy Kingston looked up from her seat on the couch as her mother paced across the floor in front of her, looking completely boggled.

"I mean, I have three degrees and your father- when he decides to be- is a qualified doctor," Spencer Cavanaugh-Hastings informed her, crossly. "You have the Hastings DNA, how much more good qualities do you need!?"

"So you're saying I'm defective?" Jesy demanded sourly, crossing her arms.

"I knew I shouldn't have done all those underwater yoga classes when I was pregnant with you," Spencer said, sarcastically.

"Mom be serious!" Jesy snapped, and her mother looked at her. "Maybe I'm just, not as much like you as you want me to be."

"Impossible," Spencer argued. "When you were born, my mother said I looked just like you when I was a baby."

"Yeah, looks like, not am!"

"Yeah sweetie that statement doesn't even make sense," Spencer corrected, plainly and causing Jesy to sigh loudly.

Ever since she was a child, Jesy had been expected to exceed all expectations- after all, she had Hastings blood and Hastings never fail. Luckily for her, since her mother and father broke up four years ago and her mother re-married, the pressure hadn't been as bad, but that was as long as her stepfather was around.

"I'm home!" called a male voice, as a door closed and footsteps were heard throughout the house.

"Thank God," Jesy said, under her breath.

"We are not finished!" Spencer stated firmly and pointing at her daughter.

Spencer looked over as her second husband Toby Cavanaugh entered the living room, wearing a pair of worn jeans and a dark top with noticeable scratch marks across his arms.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Spencer asked, dashing over to him, kissing him quickly before looking at his arms. "What happened? Were you attacked by a tiger?"

"No, they had these horrible bushes against the fence that we had to remove," Toby answered, scrunching up his face. "Believe me, the tiger would have been easier. Hey Jesy, how was your second day at school?"

"It was-"

"Get this," Spencer cut off, hastily. "She failed something."

"Already?" Toby asked, shocked.

"Yeah, she had to submit a list of things she liked about school and she just wrote, 'nothing' across the top," Spencer exclaimed, clearly angered however after noticing Toby's lack of a response adding, "in crayon!"

"Nice one," Toby commended Jesy, causing Spencer to huff.

"Toby, this is serious," Spencer corrected, before turning to Jesy, "You've only got two more years at school and then you're own on your own. You can't sail through life writing things in crayon!"

"I can try," Jesy argued, plainly.

Spencer looked to Toby who shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to join the argument, which had occurred many times before.

"I have THREE children!" Spencer exclaimed, storming out of the room.

Jesy rolled her eyes. Her mother was so dramatic sometimes; she had no idea how Toby had put up with his since they were teenagers. Jesy stood up, making her way towards the stairs, aiming to get to her room and do anything else other than talk to her parents.

"Hey Jesy," Toby called, and she paused at the base of the stairs. "Just… do your best okay? That is all your mother wants of you. You're smarter than you think."

Jesy smiled a little before dashing upstairs, avoiding answering the question and shutting herself in her bedroom, collapsing down on her large white four poster bed. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed loudly. She was in no way smart- she never would be. Her mother had to face the facts; Jesy just wasn't like her older sister Paloma, who was almost a clone copy of Spencer.

Jesy rolled over and lent over the edge of the bed, fishing out her cell phone from her bag and unlocking it, looking through her stack of text messages before opening one in particular. It was from her boyfriend Tom that plainly read, "I love you."

Jesy smiled. Tom was too kind to be real. She had known him for about two years now, and he hadn't really shown any interest in anyone until she saw him clothes shopping during the holidays, the two of them bonding over their love for certain brands. At first Jesy found it strange how much he knew about clothes but since he had four sisters, she figured it was probably just what they had told him and he used it to pick up girls. Something she did question however was the fact that they had been dating since the start of the year and were yet to have sex. Not that Jesy really minded, however it seemed that the only guy in the whole of Rosewood high who didn't want to have sex with her, was her own boyfriend.

Suddenly her phone went off. She looked over and groaned- it was from her mother who was in the kitchen downstairs. Usually if someone in the house was mad at someone else they would communicate solely through text messages. Last year when Paloma and Spencer were in a disagreement, they communicated only through messages for almost three months.

The message plainly read: "I know you have math homework tonight. Finish it, now."

Jesy almost wanted to throw the phone across the room. She was so sick of her mother treating her like a five year old, telling her exactly what to do and when to do it. She had to get out of the house, there was no way she was going to be able to concentrate here with the internet just sitting right in front of her.

Jesy messaged back, "Can I go to The Grill to work on it, Professor?"

Almost immediately her mother responded, "Yes. But be back before tea and I want to see at least half of it done."

Jesy smiled a little. Clearly Toby had responded on behalf of Spencer- she loved her step-father sometimes.

She gathered her bag together and re-did her hair and make-up- there was no way she was going out with five-hour-old make-up on. She made her way outside, avoiding her parents and dawdling down to the grill, their house only a few streets away from the main part of the city.

Eventually she arrived at The Grill, the café was quiet because it was just after the after-school rush. She found a spot at a table in the corner and put her bag down, taking out her books and a calculator and sitting them on the table, taking one look at the first question she had to answer and immediately pulling out her phone, checking Facebook. She would just be on for a few minutes and then get back to work.

After a while, she looked up and noticed it had gotten a lot darker outside. She checked the time- she had been on Facebook for almost an hour.

She quickly put the phone down and picked up a pencil, re-reading the first question repeatedly, hoping each time the question would make more sense however, it just got more confusing.

"Algebra can be a pain."

Jesy looked up, spying a guy sitting a few seats away from her. He hadn't been there when she came in, however he had a plate with a half-eaten sandwich on it and a cappuccino half drunk, so he must have been there for a while.

"Tell me about it," Jesy responded, plainly.

He smiled, causing Jesy to smile before she quickly stopped. He had golden blonde hair and a pale completion, with caramel eyes and wearing a sharp shirt and jeans. He looked trendy; however, there was an element of intelligence about him also.

"I've been stuck on the same question for ages now," Jesy continued, looking down at the question again and tapping the end of the pencil against the page.

"What's the question?" he asked, leaning over as Jesy slid the book slightly towards him, before reading out, "What is the value of A if S=4 and Y=0.3? Well that's simple, you just add up the sides of the shape and then substitute the number in before solving the equation."

Jesy lowered her eyes at him.

"Heh?" she asked, boggled.

He laughed.

"Did your teacher teach this to you?" he asked, slowly.

"Probably," Jesy responded, honestly. "However I was probably painting my nails, or texting people, or calling people. He's slightly deaf, so he doesn't even notice."

He laughed again, shaking his head.

"This is why you should concentrate in class," he stated, plainly.

"I know, but it's just so boring!" she exclaimed, looking back down at the equation.

Add up the sides and then substitute. Add up the sides and then substitute. Jesy kept repeating he words over in her head, before suddenly it all made sense. She typed in the equation in the calculator and she had an answer.

"Is it 94?" she asked him and he smiled.

"Yes, great work," he commended. "See, it's not hard."

"Yeah when you explain it," she stated. "If you were my teacher, this whole situation wouldn't exist."

He smiled.

"Thanks," he answered. "I don't know about teaching, but I've just started a math course at Hollis, so I been through this whole thing before."

Jesy's eyes widened. He looked more like a swimsuit model, not a mathematician.

"You're studying math!?" she cried, sounding much too shocked.

"I get a lot," he laughed, softly. "But I used to be awful at it. Then when I was fifteen, my parents got me this tutor and I fell in love with it."

Jesy couldn't believe her luck. He was not only completely gorgeous, but a complete genius also- and even though Jesy had never thought smart people were attractive before, this guy was quickly changing her mind.

"I'm Jesy," she said, suddenly.

"Chris," he introduced and Jesy smiled.

His name was attractive too.

"So… what about the second question?" Jesy found herself asking, before she could even remind herself she had a boyfriend.

"Well, it's similar to the first just with a few more variables," Chris began, scooting over to the seat beside her and looking down at the book.

Jesy watched as continued to explain the question and quickly decided that this distraction was much worse than Facebook, however something told her it would be just as addictive.

I'll try and update more often if I can. Reviews are very welcome! ) x