Thank you guys so much for your great feedback! It's so nice to see the growing interest. Here's chapter 3!

Mike's POV

"You're tutoring who?!"

It was the morning after my first day of tutoring and Will had, innocently enough, asked how it had gone for Lucas and I. There wasn't an issue with me telling the guys who I had been assigned to, but it also wasn't something I was jumping at the chance to announce. So it was just lucky for me that Lucas told them.

Dustin was, to say the least, excited.

"El- Elizabeth Hopper," I repeated, as if he really didn't hear Lucas say her name. "It's really not a big deal," I shrugged as I shut my locker.

"Like hell it isn't!" Dustin exclaimed. "Dude, tell us. What's she like?" He pretended to speak for all of them even though he's the only one who actually wants to know.

"She's just normal," I mumbled even though I really didn't know how to answer his question.

"Well, obviously. But like, anything else? You were alone with her for over an hour. I'm sure you learned something."

"I don't know Dustin," I started getting annoyed. "It's only been one session. If anything, I can say she's…" I paused, thinking of something about her that they might not have already known. "unprepared. She didn't have her calculus textbook even though that's what she wanted to go over." Dustin opened his mouth to say something else. "Can we drop it now? I want to get to study hall so I can study for my Spanish test." Without letting him, or any of my friends speak, I turned and walked down the hallway.

I didn't mean to come off like an ass towards Dustin, but I really wasn't up for having a conversation right now, especially one about his weird crush on El Hopper. It's nothing against her, but this morning hasn't really been one of my best.

The sound of my mom yelling into the phone woke me up before my alarm could.

I would have been more worried about it if it wasn't something I heard frequently nowadays. Unfortunately, my mom telling off my dad about his late child support payments is nothing new in the Wheeler household.

Instinctively, I went to check on Holly, my nine-year-old sister, in her room. Thankfully, she was still sound asleep.

Quietly, I walked into the kitchen, not wanting to say or do anything that would set my mom off even more.

I know she has her faults since I'm sure my dad's imperfections are not all that lead to their divorce a few years ago. Despite it though, there are times when she appears to be a completely different person than who I knew growing up and I knew my dad had a lot to do with that. So whenever I saw her like this, leaning against the wall on her side, not facing me, and shakily taking deep breaths, it made me feel really bad for her and her situation.

Even though the guys knew about my parents, they weren't too familiar with all the details and I sure as hell didn't want to get into it now.

Once I got to study hall, I was not able to focus as much as I would have liked to. I wasn't as strong in Spanish as I was in other classes but I thought it was the easiest of the languages provided. With the workload I've had the past couple of years, I figured taking a language that wasn't as challenging would be a good idea.

Deciding to move on from conjugating verbs, I took a break from Spanish and moved on to something else.

As I was putting back the textbook in my backpack, my eyes landed on my calculus one. I thought of Elizab- El and her failed test.

The tutoring session may not have been for a very long time but I feel like there was some progress made.

Saying I was surprised at finding out I'll be working with her is an understatement. Given the option to, I never would have guessed it. Call me crazy, but she didn't really strike me as the type of girl to admit she's having trouble in school, let alone do something about it.

Apart from that, given what I know about her, which really is limited to what I've heard around school, I just never would have thought we would make a good… match. Based on how well it went yesterday, however, I guess you can say I've changed my mind.

Of course, it could have gone worse.

In the practice problems I gave her yesterday, I tried to keep it as close to the ones she saw on the exam. To be honest, even though she struggled at some parts, she didn't do too bad, or at least, not as much as I anticipated. I figured if she tried to get ahead, she might be more prepared for the next one and would probably do better.

With that thought, I opened up the book to the chapter following the one El's class was just on.


El's POV

"But it wasn't just Louisiana," Mike droned on. "It was hundreds of thousands of square miles of landmass. It ended up like, doubling the size of the United States!"

"Oh," I shrugged and looked away, not really caring about the details of it all.

"Uhh, we can move onto something else if you want…." He trailed off as he reached across the table for another book.

Something like this happens more or else every time we meet up.

We'll start going over class work and he'll soon rant on about something I tune out in a matter of seconds. From what I've gathered about him in the past couple of weeks, he seems to not easily realize when he's not being paid attention to. It's only when I physically express it that he notices how uninterested I am in what he's saying.

It would have gotten unbearably annoying if it weren't for the fact that studying with Mike is actually really helpful.

There hasn't been a test in any of my classes, so I haven't been able to prove if this whole thing is even working. But I'll admit, I do feel that I'm getting the hang of subjects that I didn't prior to working with Mike. I've even been doing my part about actually showing up to class and paying attention. With all that going on, I can see some improvement, if I do say so myself.

That's what I take into consideration when thinking about whether or not I should ditch tutoring for the day and hang out with the girls instead.

If anything else, this whole experience has made me see Mike Wheeler in a different light.

Instead of being the total nobodies I originally thought they were, Mike, along with his friends, have a reputation as well. Only he is pretty much on the polar opposite end and clearly has the brains that I never will. It's what made me a little hesitant to tell him about my failed math test.

Out of fear that he would think I'm stupid, I knew there was no way I could tell him the truth about why I was really using the tutoring program, or better yet, who signed me up for it. Telling him about the test seemed to be the most honest yet less embarrassing way for me to go.

In the long run, it's not a decision I think I'll regret.

"Sorry for…rambling on like that," he apologized as I saw him pick up my chemistry textbook and bring it close to him.

"No, it's alright," I answered. "I mean, hey if I was as smart as you, I'd be showing it off too." I saw his lips twitch up into a smile.

"Okay," he started as he opened the book onto the desk. "So first I think we should review chapter fou-."

"Hey El!"

With wide eyes, not really believing I heard that voice, I looked up and noticed my friends walking towards our table.

"H-Hey, girls," I greeted as I pushed a section of hair behind my ear. Both Max and Kali now stood in front of our table, a small grin on each of their faces. "What are you-?"

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend here?" Max said as she gestured to Mike, who, when I glanced over, looked like a deer caught in headlights. I knew it was probably at being in such close proximity to the school troublemakers at once.

"Uh," I wasn't sure if I should say anything about that friend comment or how to go about it if I did. "This is Mike." I didn't mention his last name, thinking that would keep things as casual as possible. "Mike, this is Kali and Max." I didn't make any move to point out which one was which, figuring he could do that on his own.

"Err, uh, hey." He fixed his glasses as he spoke.

"So do you guys need something?" I asked before this became any more awkward.

"I told you she didn't remember," Kali looked at Max and spoke.

Instead of responding directly to her, Max kept her gaze on me.

"El, it's Friday. We had plans after school." I looked at her blankly because, as she knows, lately, my after-school plans involved coming to the library. Next to Max, Kali nodded her head as if that was supposed to help me figure out what she was talking about.

"We have that thing we have to go to today. With…," Max glanced over at Mike, like she was checking if he was listening, "the Babysitter."

Realization hit me then and I knew the girls could tell by the look on my face.

How could I have forgotten about the Babysitter?

"Right." In a quick move, I started closing the book we were using. "Sorry to cut this short today but I have to go," I spoke in Mike's direction, not really waiting for him to respond.

"But we still have to make a study guide for your chemistry test!"

The snort of derision by Kali did not go unnoticed.

Ugh, why did he have to make it sound SO nerdy?

"It's okay," I mumbled. "I'll do it over the weekend," I replied, knowing it likely wouldn't happen.

"You promise?" He spoke seriously, and I almost felt bad for lying.

"Yeah, whatever." It took a few seconds for me to gather my things and zip them all up in my backpack. "See ya."

"Okay. H-Have a good weekend."

"Nice meeting you, Mike!" Max said in a voice that I knew was meant to tease him. Kali laughed besides her, earning a few glances from the students around us. I rolled my eyes so only they could see and led the two of them out of the library, not saying a word.

So this is kind of filler but we do get into Mike's personal life and a bit into El's internal thoughts. It might seem like a slow progression, but we're getting there guys. You'll see.

Up next, we'll finally meet Hopper! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!