When Rey's Trigonometry teacher had announced that for the spring of her senior year, her class would receive a teaching assistant, who was finishing up his junior year at Jakku University, she was not looking forward to meeting him.

Her teacher, Ms. Lynch had explained that the new teachers assistant was a Math major and came highly recommended. The last student teaching assistant, the previous two quarters was completing her teaching internship at Jakku University and had been a complete air head. She didn't seem interested in actually teaching or even getting to know the students. It was obvious she just showed up every day so she could get her credit and graduate, not to actually learn what it was like to teach in a high school.

Rey had constantly had to correct her calculations and she would become so lost when Miss Netal was lecturing. Miss Netal didn't seem to have a handle on any of the material that she was teaching. Sometimes Rey doubted that she was even a Mathematics major or clear that she had even learned any Trigonometry basics. Because of her, Rey had fallen behind and her grade had slipped from a B plus the first quarter to a C minus the next.

So, on Ben's first day in the classroom, Rey had not exactly given him the warmest of welcomes. In fact, she had given him the cold shoulder, mixed with a dose of bitter contempt.

Rey chose to ignore the tall, pale young man with the raven black hair that fell slightly passed his ears, she chose to ignore his slim muscular body, that his tight clothing including, black jeans and a black short sleeved V neck T shirt accentuated. She ignored the splatter of freckles on his chest and nose. She also ignored the way his eyes shone like amber as the sun reflected in them. She ignored his large hands as they gripped the edge of the teacher's desk as he introduced himself as, 'Ben Solo'.

The problem with her ignoring Ben was that he noticed her ignoring him. She felt his eyes on her even though she refused to look up at him.

The teacher asked for each student to introduce themselves to Ben. Rey looked up but refused to meet his eyes. She looked past him, 'Rey Johnson', she had sputtered out and then looked back down at her desk.

After each student had gone around and introduced themselves, Ben explained that he had extra time after school and was available to tutor any students that needed extra assistance in the library for an hour after school ended.

He presented the lesson for the day and Rey couldn't help but be a little bit impressed. He explained the formulas in a way that Rey could grasp. The problem was that she was so far behind everyone else that she couldn't tie the new information to the previously learned information.

This was definitely a change from the last assistant for sure.

As the weeks past and Ben continued to show up every day with a smile on his face, flashing his smile to the classroom with his gleaming white teeth and wearing his flannel shirt sleeves rolled up so that Rey could see he defined muscles underneath, Rey found herself staring at him and losing focus on the lessons he was teaching. She noticed his mouth moving but couldn't hear the words that were coming from his mouth.

Rey also couldn't help but to feel that he also paid special attention to Rey. She noticed small things, things that she couldn't determine if she was just imagining that what she was noticed were actually signs or just her imagination playing games with her.

Rey noticed that his eyes seemed to linger on her face after each lecture a few seconds more than the other student. His smile was held for a few second longer for her then the other students and when he'd come around to her desk, his hand would lightly brush her shoulder for a few seconds longer then what Rey would call a touch that was a coincidence. He didn't seem to touch any of the other students, yet his fingers would brush over hers, his hand would be placed on her shoulder or his body would brush against hers, making her whole body tingle.

This routine of him touching her continued for several weeks until one day, he pulled he aside after class.

He grabbed her arm as she was pushing past the other students to leave.

She signed and turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

She bit her lip as she glanced up at him nervously. He was only about a foot away from his body. She typically wasn't this close to him face to face.

"Miss Johnson, I need to discuss your grade with you. If you don't pull at least a B on the next major test, you aren't going to pass for this quarter and given that you received a D on the last two quarters, you need a C or better for this quarter to pass the class. I realize you are a senior, so it's important for you to pass the class so that you can graduate." he told her.

Rey typically did well in school, the D's really hurt her and left her sense of self-esteem plunging. She didn't have the money to afford to hire a tutor. She blamed Miss Natal but knew she was also to blame as with work and school she had let herself get behind in the assignments and hadn't studied.

At night she worked in the junkyard at her foster father's junkyard, scavenging parts to sell. Unkar Plutt didn't seem particularly concerned about her grades and kept her at the junkyard at all hours of the night. Rey on the other hand cared, she wanted to prove to Unkar and to herself that she could be someone, she could succeed. She wasn't just some nobody scavenger, she wanted to be someone, she wanted to be successful.

"You know you rally should take me up on the tutoring sessions after school that I offer. It may benefit you to go at least twice a week to a group session.", he offered.

Rey looked down at the ground, "I wish that I could but my foster dad has me working right after school at the junkyard that he owns, I wouldn't be able to come to the library at school.

Ben shakes his head and then glances upwards, meeting her gaze. "What about if I came to you after school at your home and worked around your work schedule. Maybe I can talk to your foster dad and make him understand how important it is for you to pass this class.

Rey thought about Ben's offer for a moment and the advantages o the situation. She may improve her grade plus she would have the opportunity to prove to herself once and or all that she wasn't imagining the attraction between them. It would either prove that she was crazy for thinking Ben thought of her any differently than any of the other students or prove her theory right, that he was attracted to her and has been feeding her small bits of attention to show her that attraction was real.

The first time that Ben comes over to tutor Rey, is a night that Unkar is away in another city buying a parts lot up north. Rey is all too pleased when she finds out that he will be away. She plans to make dinner for Ben and dresses up in her favorite top, a gingham blue and white print top with a lace trim on the bodice and a pair of black jeans. She wears a smattering of blush on her cheeks and a sparkly pink lip gloss to top off the look. She even spent ten minutes styling her short, chestnut brown hair, trying to smooth it out and flip the ends up. She knows she shouldn't set herself up for disappointment in treating the tutoring session like a date but at the same time she is giddy almost like she is going on a date.

Rey's dating experience up to that point was severely limited. She had been asked out by a few boys from her school but typically she was told at the end of the date that they would be better off as friends or that she had a great personality. Which to Rey was a code for, 'A girl that's not popular or hot and not going to put out and isn't worth my time or money'.

She honestly didn't even know if Ben had a girlfriend or not. He had never mentioned in school a girlfriend but then again she didn't blame him for not discussing his personal life with his students. This would just be something the kids would either tease him about or use against him.

When Ben arrived, he was dressed casually, in a fade black Metallica T Shirt that looked like it had seen better days and a pair of faded jeans. He walked in the door and gaped at Rey for a few minutes.

"I wasn't expecting you to dress up Rey for our session, now I feel underdressed', he said laughing.

Rey tried to laugh it off, "I wear things like this all the time, I didn't get dressed up for the session", she teased.

Ben looked up her solemnly, "No, you do not dress like that at school".

Rey turned a darker shade of tomato red and felt the flush in her cheeks. He had called her out. He was right, she didn't dress up for school. She barely had time to get dressed in the morning and Unkar typically had her working in the morning before school and she typically would get dirty, so didn't bother wearing nice clothes, fixing her hair or putting on makeup.

She smiles and directs him the table where two places of spaghetti with meat sauce sit.

"Oh and you are feeding me too. Hmm, how did I get so lucky to have such a pretty girl dress up for me and cook me dinner", he said, emphasizing the word 'pretty'.

Rey blushed even harder then before, "You really shouldn't be saying such things, you are going to give me the wrong impression of what tonight is about", she teased him.

His eyes drift down from her face to her bodice and then back up to her lips, "I think it's a little too late for that, don't you?", he said laughing.

Rey and Ben ate in uncomfortable silence. She felt his eyes on her the whole time but he didn't say anything to her.

After taking the dirty dishes off of the table and washing their plates she cleared her throat.

"I think its time to get some studying done. I really appreciate you taking the time to come over and help me, it means a lot to me Mr. Solo", she told him.

"Please, call me Ben, Rey. We aren't in the classroom right now so there is no need to be so formal with each other.", he noted.

They went over the material in the fifth chapter of her Trigonometry text book and Rey practced writing a few equations.

Ben got up, "I think that we ought to call it a night, don't you. You really seem to rasp the material in this chapter, we just need to go over the next chapter and the practice some more before the quiz next week.", he announced. "Just let me know when you are next available to study, preferably not on the weekend because I have to go back to my parents home so I won't be in town.

Rey smiled shyly at him, "Ok, sounds good . Again, you are a lifesaver Ben. I don't know how I could repay you", she said.

As he walked to the front door and she followed him, he turned around and grinned slyly, "Oh, I think that I could think of a few ways. Another dinner would be nice, I enjoyed your cooking".

Rey smiled, "Ok, sounds good".

She expected him to walk out at that moment but instead he stepped closer to her leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips before spinning around and strolling out the door onto the sidewalk.

As Rey closed the door behind her, her lips tingled where his lips had brushed against hers. She raised a hand and touched her lips gently.

Yes, she thought to herself. I definitely wasn't having crazy thoughts before believing that Ben was treating her special.