The very next day, Jay decided to try to talk to Emma again. He found her walking down a mostly empty hall, to her first class and spoke cautiously. "Uh, Emma?..."

She turned around and spoke impatiently. "Make it quick."

Jay hung his head and said two extremely loaded words. "…I'm sorry."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"That's just it," Jay continued, "I'm sorry for everything I put you through. I'm sorry for last year and for arguing with you yesterday, too."

"Why are you saying all of this? I thought you said you," she proceeded to mock his tone from the day before, "didn't care what happens to me."

"I lied."

Emma worked hard to conceal her slight happiness. "Then how do I know you're not lying now?"

Jay knew that Emma had a valid point, and that there was very little he could do to back himself up here. So, rather than string some more seemingly meaningless words together, he chose to say nothing.

"That's what I thought." Emma tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. "So, are we done here?"

Jay found his voice again just as Emma was about to walk away. "No, wait!"

Emma sighed loudly. "What now?"

"The real reason I stopped you," Jay took a deep breath, "was to ask if you could…I mean…would you…tutor me?"

"You want me to tutor you?"

Jay nodded. "Would you?"

"Yeah right, what's the catch?"

"No, I'm serious. I need a tutor. I do not want to spend the rest of my life in this place."

Emma exhaled loudly again. "Why me?"

"Because you're you. You're really smart and when you set your mind to something, you always go all the way with it. I need someone who is going to be tough and not give up on me. You're perfect," Emma raised an eyebrow at this and Jay quickly covered, "..for being my tutor, I mean. So…will you do it?"

"Oh, I don't know, Jay." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'm still super upset with you for last year."

"Yeah, I know." He looked down in shame.

Emma suddenly reconsidered after seeing Jay's disappointment and how much he must have had to humble himself, to ask for help in the first place. "…But, you weren't the only one to blame for what happened. I did go to you."

Although Jay believed that what happened at the ravine was completely his fault, he decided not to argue.

Emma rolled her eyes dramatically. "Okay, I'll tutor you. But, that's it. No funny business, understood?"

Jay nodded once, trying not to seem overly excited. "Understood."

"Okay, good." Emma was all business. "So, meet me in the MI lab after school today and we will get started."

"Thanks Gre-"

Emma gave him the evil eye.

"…Emma," he self-corrected. "Thank you, Emma."

She shrugged her shoulders as if she could not care less about his gratitude. "Just don't be late."

The bell rang and Emma rushed off to class, leaving Jay dazed by her strength and ability to take complete control whenever he was around her. Little did he know, Peter was the only person who could break past that, tear her down, and then build her back up all within just a few minutes and without Emma ever realizing what he was doing.

Jay walked to his class, his usual five minutes late, very satisfied with himself and he found that he could not stop thinking about Emma. As the day went on, he became more and more impatient for the end of the school day.