CHAPTER 10:

Once again Ashley walked into a house which bumped her out. Fancy on the outside and huge and luxurious on the inside. She tried not to stare, because she remembered the responses to that in the home next door. Just like a few days earlier a woman approached at the sound of the closing door. Ashley looked at the woman and expected she was going to be checked out again. but she wasn't. This woman didn't seem interested in looking at Ashley from top till toe, instead she welcomed her with a friendly smile.

"Ashley, my mom", Seth said as he pointed to the two of them. "Mom, this is Ashley. She's new in town and we are going to do our homework", he quickly added when he grabbed Ashley's arm and dragged her to his room. She didn't even get a chance to say something to Kirsten Cohen, Seth's mother.

"What the hell did you do that for?", she asked annoyed when Seth closed the door of his room. "You know it would have been nice if I could say hello to your mother. Who knows what she thinks of me now?"

"O right, sorry", Seth said with a cheesy smile. "It's just that I know she can start asking you ten questions and I wanted to save you from that."

"Seth, I have been next doors, I have met mrs. Cooper and by the two seconds I saw your mother I think I can survive her. So seriously, what did you do that for?"

"Well", he started uncomfortable. "Do you buy it if I say I don't want to waste precious study time?"

"Nope."

"Okay what if I say my mother is an alien on a mission to find newcomers so she can abduct them?"

"Seth!"

"Fine", he said as he sighed and threw his arms in the air. "You win, I shall tell you why I walked so fast to my room."

"And dragged me with you", Ashley added as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah and that", Seth said as he sat down on his bed.

A silence followed and Ashley got impatient. "Common spill it. What's so bad that you can't just say it? I bet it's a lot less worse then the alien abduction story."

"I never had a tutor before", Seth tried once more. "I don't really want my parents to find that out. I mean they are used to me being good in pretty much every class. The fact I need tutoring...", he said while he shook his head.

"You know you could have just told me that before we got here", Ashley said as she sat down on the bed next to Seth. "I won't say anything you know that. All you had to do was ask."

"Thanks", Seth said as a smile crossed his face. He saw Ashley actually bought the last story and he felt relieved he didn't had to say the actual reason. The fact he had never brought a girl home before. That he knew his mother was going to tease him, and his father was going to be even worse. And all of that in front of Ashley. He shook his head once more. He didn't want to think about that. All he could do was hope his mother wouldn't disturb them and his dad wouldn't be home before Ashley was long gone.

"So shall we start then?", Ashley said when once again an awkward silence filled the room.

"Yeah sure", Seth answered. He wanted to start as soon as possible. Because the sooner they started the sooner they were done and Ashley could go home. Not that he actually wanted her away, she was nice and he liked her. But just the thought of his parents and especially his dad making all kinds of jokes only the Cohen's understood were making him feel uncomfortable.

"Seth, c'mon", Ashley said as she rolled her eyes. "Snap out of your thoughts."

"Right, right", he quickly answered as he jumped of his bed and walked to a closet nearby. He opened the door, putted his head in the closer and began to grobe about the things that lay in there. Suddenly he stopped and he took two books out of it. "Got it", he said to Ashley as he gave her a wink. "I do have these books you know, but if I would bring them to school I can't ask cute girls to become my book partner."

When Ashley heard that last sentence she gasped and blushed.

Seth blushed too, he could slap himself for the head. 'Why do I always say stuff without thinking first?', he thought embarrassed. 'Especially things like this? I should blame dad he gave me this awe full bad joking gen.' "I ehm... mean. Well you know what I mean", Seth said to Ashley. "French."

"Yeah, French", Ashley said as she took the books from Seth. She opened them on the page where they left off today in class, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Seth just said to her. She looked at Seth from the corner of her eyes and saw his cheeks turned red just like hers did. 'Did he mean what he just said to me or was it just one of his jokes?', she wondered. When he looked back she quickly turned her head to the direction of the book and laid her finger on the poem they read in class. "Ehm will you read the first paragraph?", she quietly asked. "So I can hear what your major problems in pronunciation are."

Seth nodded. "Sure", he said as he turned to the book as well. When he started to read he tried to focus on the French words, and the French words only. But it wasn't so easy with Ashley sitting so close by. Because she ignored what he had said earlier just like he did and he felt like it was the worst thing he could have said. He was afraid it was going to change all of their relationship from now on. Even as 'just friends'.