"So you gotta go back to homeroom after class?" Sam asked, walking slowly with Danny from biology. He groaned and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah it's better I go. Mr. Welles really tore into me yesterday."

"Well it's been oddly quiet lately. Maybe it won't be so bad."

"That's what I'm worried about." Danny sighed as the goth girl frowned, "Too quiet... I'm worried the fruitloop is up to something." They trudged down the stairs to the second floor to room 207, "Well I'll see you later Sam."

"Call me later. Me and Tuck are probably going to hang out and do homework anyway." She smiled and gave him a brief hug before breaking off.
With Sam gone, he shifted slightly. There was always a bizarre eeriness when a school becomes empty. He wrinkled his nose slightly, supressing that feeling of goosebumps and turned to the door when he heard two voices.

"One must be my... eugh... tutor..." He thought, with the other voice obviously being his teacher. Twisting the knob, he opened it slightly and caught snippets of the conversation.

"This could compromise everything. Why me?"

"You're the one that wanted to torment the twerp. I can't do much in my position you know. Not unless I want to get fired."

"Oh please, it's not like you want to work here anyways."

"That position is mine once that geezer drops dead. He's one step on Death's door and when that Dumbledore looking fuck is gone I'm out of here and teaching students that actually have a brain stem."

Danny grimaced and knocked loudly, causing his teacher and the other person to turn as the door opened.

"Ah there you are Fenton. I thought you were going to skip... like usual." Mr. Welles muttered that last part, stacking homework into a neat bundle and using a bullclip to keep them together in his bag.

To Danny's surprise, his tutor was Dahlia. The girl plastering on a rather odd smile. "Ready to learn? We can go to the library or maybe the park! Where do you think you can focus the most? Mr. Welles says you have a lot of catching up to do. I'm glad I brought all my notes. What parts are you having the most trouble with? Long division? multiple variables in equations?" She talked so fast in her southern drawl Danny felt dizzy and stammered, stumbling as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him with a strength he was unaware the small girl could have out of the classroom and into the hallway. The sound of a chuckling Mr. Welle following behind him like an omen.

"W-Wait slow down!" He cried out and pulled his arm free of her hold, rubbing it slightly with his other hand, "So you're my tutor. How long do we have to do this? Isn't there anybody else who could... you know..."

She frowned and looked hurt, "What? You don't think I could teach you algebra?"

"No! No! I didn't... I meant... urgh..." He grimaced, feeling like he put his foot in his mouth. Truth be told Dolly just... creeped him out. Had been since that day at the Nasty Burger with the law books.

"Well fine! I'll just go and tell Mr. Welles I'm not needed!" She huffed and turned, stomping back towards the classroom. Flashes of Mr. Welles immediately flunking Danny, telling him to not bother coming to class anymore, angry dissaproving glares if he tried to explain, flashed in front of Danny's eyes and he panicked, grabbing Dolly's hand and nearly wrenching her off her feet.

"N-Nonsense! You're a perfectly fine tutor! I... I need your help! Please don't go!" He begged and she went still, turning her head slowly and narrowing her eyes at the halfa, "L-Let's just go to the library and start there? Okay?" He put on his widest, cheesiest smile in a hopes to appease her.

After a while of her just glaring with pursed lips, she blinked slowly and hummed, "Fine. But that's strike one Fenton. Two more and you can kiss tutoring buh-bye." She jabbed a finger into his face and headed to the school library. Danny following like a whipped dog, carrying his math and note books.

The library was empty mostly, with only one or two kids typing on the computers in the back and a library aide on the second floor putting books away.

Dolly took a seat at one of the dozens of empty tables and motioned for Danny to sit next to her as she pulled out her things from her bookbag. Danny dumbly watched, idly noticing her nails were painted black like shiny latex.

"Let me see your notes." She held out her hand and he shook his head, giving her his notebook and she wrinkled her nose, "What is this? Were you ever even paying attention?"

"Of course I was!" He glared and defended before sheepishly adding a "Mostly..." at the end. Her sea green eyes rolled and she flipped her extensive notes to where Danny's started.

"The examples he wrote on the board aren't even the same. Have you ever gotten tested for dyslexia? It's okay to admit it."

"Yeah... it's just... math is confusing is all. I do fine in science and stuff."

"So I hear..." She flipped through the notes with a red pen, correcting all his mistakes with her neat, almost typewriter-like handwriting till it was a near copy of her own notes, including annotations and copies of what the teacher had said in order to get the quotient of each example.

"Jeez I don't even know if I can fix this mess. Algebra is pretty straightforward for God's sake yet you can't even do the starter equations from the beginning of the year."

"I'm trying my best..." Danny's ears and the back of his neck were red hot. He felt like he was 6 inches tall instead of 6 feet as she watched him struggle with her constant reminders of this or that step towards solving the problems. But he had to admit he was slowly getting it. Not fast enough for her liking but he was.

"Hmm... maybe if we continue like this for the next week you'll get a passing grade on the next test." She said, checking his work and finding he actually completed at least one equation on his own after the two hour mark.

"I... I can't do it after school every day. I got a thing with Sam and Tuck on Thursday."

"Do you want to fail?" Her tone was suddenly harsh and he swore the room dropped several degrees as a coldness went up his spine like someone poured ice water down his shirt. The students at the computers paused typing turning the room deathly silent. The librarian across the room suddenly shivered behind the check out counter and went to the thermostat to check if it had broken or not again.

"Do. You. Want. To. Fail?" She repeated, emphasizing each word as she stared him down and Danny swore her eyes were much more greener than they were before. And... glowing.

He swallowed and shook his head, "No. I want to pass. I want to get into NASA."

He blinked and suddenly everything was back to normal. The two in the back returning to typing out their essays and talking to each other in quiet voices. The librarian's stamp thudding against returned books in a steady rhythm. The squeaky wheel of the student aide's trolley as she pushed to the next aisle to put books back on shelves.

The teenage girl smiled at the confession, "I know. So let's work together on this okay? I wouldn't dream of seeing you fail miserably after all." She put a gentle hand on his arm and it made goosebumps along his flesh pop up. "Let's call it a day and tomorrow we'll meet up here again after classes. You did such a good job today Danny." She gathered up her things neatly in her bag and waved goodbye, "See you tomorrow~" she chirped and with a flounce of her skirt and the scent of lavender perfume, was gone out the door in seconds.

Danny inhaled sharply, feeling like he had just run a marathon and gulped again. He gathered his things as well, pausing to inspect his wrist where a growing purple bruise started where his peer had grabbed him earlier.

"A week. Just a week. I can do this."