Thank you guys so much for love in the first chapter! I'm really glad you are enjoying it. But bear with me. I hate and know slim to none about advance math so whenever they're discussing it, please note it will just be random numbers/letters. Don't come here looking for math help, just letting you know….

Here's chapter 2!

El's POV

"So what did you get called in for this time?" My best friend Max, asked during lunch later that day as she blew out smoke from her cigarette.

We weren't allowed to smoke during school hours or on school grounds but over the years, we, along with the other member of our group, Kali, had mastered at finding all the best secluded spots on campus.

"I failed my calculus test." I said as casually as if I were reciting the date and time while taking a drag of my own.

"Damn, another one?" Kali spoke this time after taking a bite from her sandwich. Although it didn't sound like it, I knew there was a hint of concern in her voice. I nodded in reply. "So what did he say?" I didn't have to tell them that I spoke to Mr. Clarke.

I thought about if I should tell them about me failing out of school. I suppose it was something private but I figured it'd be okay. They're my best friends and I could tell them... almost everything.

"Basically," I started, "that at the rate I'm going, I won't be able to graduate this year."

Max's blue eyes widened and I'm sure she wasn't expecting that.

"Holy shit! She exclaimed. "What are you gonna do?"

With a sigh, I replied. "I guess I'll have to "apply myself"," I put up air quotes with my free hand. "He umm... he also set me up for tutoring."

Both of them laughed at that.

"With those losers that stay after school every day?" Max grinned widely.

"You must be doing awful if he wants to torture you like that." Kali put in. "Are you actually going to go?"

"He didn't make it sound like a suggestion. He was pretty serious." Both girls looked at me sympathetically. "I'll just go to pass a few tests but I'll do my own stuff too." I shrugged. "I'll actually go to class and pay attention or some shit. It can't be that hard to bring my grades up."

"What do you think your dad is going to say?" Kali brought up.

"I don't plan to tell him and the school won't tell him because I'm overage. As long as I don't really get kicked out, there shouldn't be a problem." They nodded and seemed to agree with me about not telling Jim.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and we scrambled to stomp out our evidence.

After school, the drive home was a quiet one. I didn't even turn the radio on. Even though I had decided not to tell Jim about what Principal Clarke told me about school, it was still all I could think about. I had to get it out of my head though. I wouldn't see him for a few hours, but if I didn't get my mind off it, he's smart enough to figure out that something's up based on the look on my face and then likely interrogate me about it over dinner.

As I walked into the kitchen to heat up an Eggo waffle, my usual after school snack, I noticed the small red light of the answering machine blinking from the living room.

Walking over to it, I pressed the button to play the unheard message.

"Hey kid," the sound of my adopted dad's voice was easily recognizable. "look, I just wanted to give you a heads up that I won't be home for dinner. There was some fight down at the lake and both guys are in the hospital. I gotta stay here to get some answers out of them…. There's some leftovers in the fridge or you can order somethin' if you want. Whatever you do, just save me some if you do alright? I'll be back later tonight. Love you."

The beep that followed signified that there were no other messages.

With a sigh, I plopped myself down on my couch and reached for the remote, not really feeling hungry anymore.


It wasn't until the following morning that I realized exactly how embarrassing this whole situation was.

Besides the fact that I was failing out of school, I was now going to try to fix it with mandatory help from the school geeks that wouldn't know a good time if it hit them on their braces. Not only that but, thanks to the program being such a public event, they, along with everyone else that was getting tutored, would know I was there. All I could hope for then, was that no one knew the details of why I was there.

I could have bailed on it. And boy, did I want to. Even with girls making plans after school, it gave me reason to miss it. But I knew that it was probably better for everyone involved if I showed up.

Walking in over ten minutes late, I entered through one of the double doors and took a wide look around. I've only ever been in the school library a couple of times in the past four years and never for more than a few minutes. I wasn't even entirely sure how big it was. I quickly found the large circular front desk and made my way towards it.

"Uhh hi." I approached Mrs. Chapman, the teacher that runs the tutoring program and who would be further sentencing me to my punishment. "I'm here for the tutoring." I didn't think it was necessary for me to tell her who sent me. "My name's El –, Elizabeth."

"Ahh yes, Ms. Hopper," she sounded oddly excited to see me. She shuffled a few papers around and soon pulled one up with my name written in big letters on the top. "You'll be working with Mike Wheeler, one of our brightest," she smiled. "Please give him this paper when you arrive. Table eleven." And that explained the number written besides my name on the paper.

I took it from her and turned, facing the many desks that were scattered around the room in front of the high bookshelves. On each desk, there was a folded piece of paper with a number on it, identifying it to students. Some desks already had two people on them and they were already busy working. I walked along them until I found the one that corresponded to me and my new study buddy. With a sigh, I approached it.

"Hey." I got the attention of a guy with curly black hair whose head was buried in a textbook. "Are you Mike?"


Mike's POV

I looked up from my physics textbook, fixing my glasses which were sliding down my nose. Unable to believe it, Elizabeth Hopper stood in front of me.

"Uhh, yeah?"

"You sure?" Her lip quirked up.

"Yes," I cleared my throat. "Can I help-?"

"I was told to give you this." She slid a piece of paper towards me as she pulled up a chair and, not so gracefully, sat on it. "Looks like you're my tutor."

"Uhh." I sputtered as I glanced at the evaluation sheet she had given me. Sure enough, our names were on the top, assigning us as partners.

We never know who we're going to get to tutor until the first session. Having access to everyone's records, Mrs. Chapman takes a look at what specific subject or subjects the student needs help with and tries to assign a peer tutor who is strong in that course. Since I was really good at multiple subjects, I could be paired with pretty much anyone and I always looked forward to seeing who it would be.

There's no way I could have been prepared for who it would be this time around though. No one other than Elizabeth Hopper with all her leather jacket wearing, smoke smelling glory.

Dustin is going to lose it.

"Yeah, looks like it," I finally answered. I couldn't help but notice how flat and seemingly empty her backpack looked.

I glanced over at her, longer than I probably should have.

Having never been, or ever thought I would be, this close to her, her wavy hair looked brighter than how it usually looks from a distance. Her eyes were a rich brown and her red stud piercing on her left nostril glinted in the light. She gave me a look and it was then that I turned away.

"So are we going to start or…?"

"Right, um, okay," I hastily replied. Another quick look back confirmed that she rolled her eyes. Jeez, what was wrong with me? I usually wasn't this awkward while I was tutoring. "So why don't you tell me what you're having trouble with." In previous years, the sheet she handed me would tell me what subject the student was having issues with and maybe what we should focus on. Typically, if it wasn't mentioned, I would have to ask, since it was likely a few.

"Well," she tilted her head to the side, almost like if she was thinking about telling me something. "I'm here because I failed a calculus test."

"Okay," I nodded, a little surprised that she was so open and honest about it. "We can work on that. Did you bring your book?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

"No…." she trailed off. "I guess I should have, huh?"

"It's okay." But really, how else was she supposed to study? "We can use mine." Lucky for her, AP Calculus and normal calculus classes used the same textbook. I reached for my backpack on the other side of the circular table and moved it closer to me to grab the book.

"Whoa, that's quite a load you got there." I could tell she was saying it in an unimpressed way.

"I just… like to be prepared," I defended, not entirely sure why. I couldn't really make out the expression on her face. "Do -do you know the chapter you guys are on?"


"So it's fifty-three over….?"

"Seven?" She answered as she released her lip from her teeth.

"Yup. You got it." She smiled to herself, likely feeling proud that she figured it out.

Since it was only the beginning of the school year, Elizabeth's class was still working on the basic parts of calculus, which meant it hopefully wouldn't be too difficult to help her or for her to get the hang of it. It took some time and a few practice problems, but she was doing well. At least now I had more of an idea of where she was struggling so I knew what we should work on next time.

"It- uh- it looks like it's time to go." If looking up at the clock didn't confirm that our hour and a half session was over, seeing the many empty surrounding tables did.

"Oh. Okay." She didn't make too much of a move to pack anything up since all of it, except the pencil she was using, was my stuff anyway.

"Good job today," I spoke the generic, encouraging phrase I was supposed to say to everyone. "I'll see you Friday, Elizabeth."

"'El'," she spoke.

"Hmm what?" I turned to face her as I closed my notebook.

"I don't really go by 'Elizabeth'," she explained. "Call me 'El'."

So these two have met and it seems to be going pretty well… for now. If you are able to, please follow me on Twitter at D13Tribute! I'm always giving updates and some sneak peeks to my stories on there and it's an easy way for us to interact. Also please review if you can! Thanks for reading!