The Physics test was a disaster.

Through the entire thing, Mai was an empty shell. Her hand wrote, but her brain had disengaged.

She came out of the test with no memory of her answers. Masako chatted happily away about her own answers, oblivious to Mai's suffering.

Her day did not get any better.

Two days early, her period started sometime during the first two lessons, leaving her with stained underwear. Then none of the boys sat with the girls at lunch, something Mai had half expected. Finally, in the last lesson of the day, Mai was reprimanded twice for not paying attention.

She bid farewell to Masako at the end of the school day and traipsed back to her room.

Her stomach rumbled as she changed into comfier clothes. Mai fought the desire to flop onto her bed and do nothing. She pulled on slippers and trundled down to the dining hall.

But she was not the only person with this idea.

"Yasuhara?"

"Mai?"

"Making toast?"

"Yeah. Do you want some?"

"Please."

They plated the toast and slathered it in chocolate spread before taking a seat.

"Can I ask you a question?" Mai mumbled.

"You just did, but you can ask another."

Mai smiled in spite of herself.

"Smartarse." Her smile faltered. "What did Oliver mean yesterday? About the 'no' means 'no' thing? What was he talking about?"

"No idea," Yasuhara replied quickly.

"Look if he was implying what I think he was—"

"He's lying. I would never do that to someone, especially Gene. I would never hurt someone like that! Especially not like that!"

"Then why did he say that?" Mai asked.

Yasuhara stared at Mai with haunted eyes.

"He's trying to make you hate me," he said. "You don't honestly think I would do that, do you?"

"No, I don't," Mai admitted, but her frown remained etched onto her face. "But that is a serious thing of him to accuse you of. Is there any way he could have misunderstood the scenario?"

Yasuhara sat, pensive, as chocolate spread ran down his fingers.

"Yasuhara? Are you okay?"

"Sorry, yeah. I'm fine."

He shook his head and grinned.

"Wanna play table tennis?"

Mai was on cusp of refusing when a tiny nagging thought at the back of her head told her the endorphin rush would do her good.

"Yeah."

Wednesday went a little better than Tuesday and Thursday a little better than Wednesday.

So Mai hoped that Friday, as the last day before the weekend, would be even better. She was wrong.

The number 'forty-eight' stared back at her from the top of her returned test, written in large red letters.

Mai folded the test up and slid it into her folder.

"How'd you do?" Masako asked from beside her.

"Not great," Mai mumbled.

"Oh please, your idea of 'not great' is still going to be better than my score."

"How did you do?"

"Eighty, better than expected to be honest."

"That's great, well done Masako."

"... And those of you that got under seventy, there will be a re-test next Tuesday lunchtime. I expect you all here at the start of lunch."

Mai pulled her planner towards her to write it down.

"You did that bad?" Masako hissed.

Mai did not respond, so Masako took that as an affirmative.

"It's okay, everyone has bad days."

Mai managed to hold in her tears until lunchtime. Then she excused herself and hide under a set of barely used stairs. She knew few people came this way and thus, she would be unlucky to be disturbed.

She sunk to the floor and hugged her knees.

If this result got back to the board, she would be at risk of losing her scholarship. Losing that meant no more boarding, which in turn meant she would likely have to move schools.

Mai wiped her nose on her sleeve as her lip trembled. Sniffing, she tried to collect herself.

"Here."

Mai jumped a foot in the air at the sound of the voice.

"Oliver! What are you doing here?"

Mai scrambled to her feet, hoping that her face was not too blotchy. Oliver was extending a hand holding a tissue to her.

"Have it," he said, shaking the tissue.

Mai took it and blew her nose.

"Thanks."

"Masako mentioned you did badly in your Physics test."

"She shouldn't have told you."

Oliver rolled his eyes, pulled his mobile from his pocket and unlocked it before passing it to Mai so she could read.

Masako: If you bump into Mai, be nice, her physics test result wasn't as good as she wanted and she could do without added stress from you.

"Oh."

"She sends me a lot of those sorts of texts," Oliver mused as he took his phone back. "She seems to think I like antagonising you."

"And you don't?"

"No, Mai, I don't."

Mai did not trust herself to speak, so she waited for Oliver to go on. When he did not speak, she glanced around for a topic.

"You should be at lunch."

"So should you."

Mai scowled, Oliver had a point.

"Where's Gene?"

"Library."

"Look, if you have nothing to say, I'd rather—"

"Do you want me to tutor you?" Oliver interjected.

"What?"

"You have to do a retest right? My mother is expecting you to come round, we could kill two birds with one stone."

"Oliver, I—"

"If you don't want to, it is fine by me. I have other things I can be doing."

"I shouldn't," Mai mumbled. "It's been so awkward lately and this whole thing with Yasuhara and… I just don't know what to think." Then words spilled from her mouth. "They break up and you push me away and then I try to help Yasuhara out and you tell me to stay away from him and then you have John spy on me! Then you fought Yasuhara. Like I just can't get my head around that. I don't know what I'm supposed to think about any of you any more."

"That is… Understandable."

"I just miss when it was all simple," Mai said as tears escaped her eyes. "I can't deal with it all."

"I asked John to keep an eye out for you. I knew you were having a tough time and he is a good friend to you."

"I know that."

"But it is not my place to say anymore. I'm sorry," Oliver stated. "If you change your mind about tutoring, let me know."

Mai watched him walk away.

She had not honestly expected anything by the way of comfort from Oliver, but Mai understood. It just was not how Oliver operated.

But that did not stop her wanting a hug.

Mai returned to the floor, reaching for her bag to search for any spare food. Having no desire to face the masses in the school canteen, Mai hoped that she might have something to eat.

She did not.

Mai was not sure how long she sat there, staring at a spider under the stairs making a new web. She was not exactly watching it, but her brain vaguely registered its presence.

"Mai?"

For the second time that lunchtime, Mai jumped.

"Oliver? What? Why are you here?"

Oliver rolled his eyes and held his hand out to help Mai up. She took it, still frowning.

"Gene has reprimanded me for leaving you here crying," he said stiffly. Mai giggled at the thought.

"Sounds like Gene," she mumbled.

"But as you are no longer crying, I hardly think there is an issue."

"What was his advice?"

"To hug you until you stopped crying," Oliver recounted.

"I can start crying again if you want," Mai offered with a weak smile.

Oliver rolled his eyes again and held a singular arm out, allowing Mai to lean into him. He wrapped his arm around Mai's shoulders.

She soaked in his warmth and inhaled his scent, he smelt like new books and tea.

Mai listened to his heartbeat for as long as she thought that she could without wearing Oliver's patience thin. Once she figured she had pushed her luck as far as was fair, Mai pulled away.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"No problem."

Oliver reached into his bag and pulled out a sandwich and a banana.

"Here, you should eat."

He pushed the food into her arms before walking away.

Mai, one again, watched him walk away before reading the label on the sandwich packet: hummus and falafel.

It was not her first choice of sandwich, but Mai ate it anyway. It tasted better than she thought it would.

When Mai entered her room she snatched up her phone and texted Eugene.

Mai: Thank you for sending Oliver back at lunch, I needed that hug.

But Eugene's response was not entirely what she had expected.

Eugene: I don't know what you are talking about? Oliver saw you at lunch?

Mai: Are you joking?

Eugene: No, sorry.

Mai: Never mind then, sorry for bothering you!

Mai's mind reeled with the implications.

"Oliver had pretended," she concluded. "He pretended Gene had told him. What an idiot."

Eugene: It's fine, what happened?

Smirking, Mai began to type it out.

Mai: I was upset at lunch and Oliver found me and was awkward and left and then came back saying that YOU had told him to hug me because I was crying and then he hugged me and gave me food.

Eugene: What an idiot xD.

Mai: So if you want to embarrass him, go ahead.

Eugene: You read my mind!

Mai squealed into her pillow before jumping up and changing into trackies and a t-shirt. She stormed down to the common room and declared an impromptu table tennis tournament.

Which she won an hour later.

Due to several rematches and the allure of fluffy fanfiction, Mai did not get to sleep until three in the morning.

This resulted in her not waking until ten. Mai groaned when she saw the time on her phone and only the fact that breakfast stopped being served at ten thirty forced her from the warmth of her bed.

Yawning as she consumed bacon and eggs, Mai was barely aware of anyone around her. The idea of returning to bed after breakfast sounded wonderful.

"Mai! There you are, what are you doing? Mrs Davis is waiting for you in the reception!"

Only half the words registered in Mai's brain.

"What?"

She looked around to see the Matron walking towards her.

"Mrs Davis is waiting for you in reception," she repeated. "You are going around to hers today, she is under the impression her son is tutoring you in Physics?"

"Right, I overslept. I need to get dressed and…"

"I'll tell her you'll be down in ten minutes then," the Matron said, slightly amused.

Mai blinked and let these words settle in.

"Thanks!" she said, scrambling to her feet and sprinting to her room.

Her hair was greasy. She needed to shower. She had ten minutes.

Odd squeals emitted from Mai's mouth as she grabbed her toiletries and sprinted to the shower. Mai showered in record time, brushed her teeth and was brushing her hair on the walk back to her room.

She then emptied out her school bag and then chucked her Physics books, pencil case and planner in.

Mai had no time to check her appearance as she pulled on shoes and legged it down to the reception.

"I'm so sorry!" she said hastily. "I overslept!"

"No matter, dear," Luella said kindly. Beside her, Eugene waved. "Come on then. I'll drop her back later," she added to the Matron, who nodded.

Mai followed the two Davises from the reception and out to Luella's car.

"Why is this happening?" Mai asked, as soon as they were out of earshot of the Matron. "Oliver and I never agreed a time or date or anything!"

"I told you that if you didn't, I would sort it myself," Luella said, evidently happy with herself. "Besides, you chose to come, didn't you? When you could have stayed at the boarding house."

Luella smirked at Mai's scowl.

"Where is Oliver anyway?" Mai aimed her question at Eugene as they climbed into the car.

"Still in bed."

Mai's eyes widened in shock.

"But—"

"He'll probably have woken up by the time we get there," Luella said. "And if not, you can wake him up with a nice cup of tea. He'll like that."

Eugene sniggered next to Mai for the remainder of the car journey.

Luella let them into the house, only to be greeted by Martin.

"Is Noll awake yet?" Luella asked.

"He hasn't come down yet," Martin replied. He sent Mai a pitying look, which she received gratefully.

"Wonderful, come on Mai, Gene, let's make some tea."

Mai and Eugene followed Luella to the kitchen, leaving Martin to sigh before returning to his newspaper.

Luella filled the kettle with water and switched it on, then rummaged through the cupboard for enough clean mugs.

"How are you Mai? Did you have enough to eat? The Matron mentioned you hadn't finish eating before joining us?"

"I'm fine," Mai insisted.

"Are you sure, dear? I don't mind whipping you up some food. I did tell the Matron you wouldn't be back until late, I hope that's okay."

"Mum, leave the poor girl alone," Eugene muttered.

"I just want her to know what's going on," Luella defended. "Now take this up to Noll and wake him up."

She handed over a mug of tea and ushered Mai from the room.

Cheeks aflame, Mai began up the stairs, careful not to spill any of the precious liquid.

"I am so watching this," Eugene's voice said from behind her.

"Yeah if you could get his door for me, that would be great," Mai said.

Eugene complied and bowed dramatically as Mai entered.

Oliver's room was dark. She could just see his sleeping form on the bed. He appeared to be half hugging, half lying on top of his pillow.

"Oliver? Oliver, it's time to wake up now. I brought you tea," Mai said softly.

Oliver groaned.

"Mai? What are you doing here?" he said huskily into his pillow. "Am I dreaming?"

Mai, ever grateful for the dark, blushed and tried her best to ignore Eugene chuckling in the doorway.

"I brought you tea," Mai repeated.

"Tea and Mai," Eugene said. "Sounds perfect, huh, Noll? And Mai wants to do Physics with you!"

"It sounded perfect until you opened your mouth," Noll muttered. "Mai, why are you here?"

"Mum kidnapped her," Eugene provided.

Oliver frowned, his eyes still closed.

"Mai, do you really have tea?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful."

He forced himself into a sitting position and reached for the tea, ignoring Mai's scarlet face. Mai was definitely not looking at his naked torso. No, she was looking at his face. Definitely his face.

Not his naked torso.

Author's note: Things just keep getting cuter for like nother 2-3 chapters... *dreamy sigh* Please review!