Tutoring Calls

2.

Mai wasn't sure to why she felt this way around him, and the feeling was not positive or neutral. Her biggest guess to the reason of the origin of her uneasiness would be Aomine's general expression that he always had on his face. It seemed as if he always had something to be aggravated at, and she presumes that it mainly involved the tutoring lessons right now.

Her own personality almost annoyed her, in view of the fact that she over thinks things just a bit too much. Mai wasn't bothered by her own appearance, and she definitely didn't mind having a flat chest, but when Aomine is around, it now feels like she is wordlessly getting judged by him.

Most of all, she thought that the person she was going to tutor would be a girl!

"Stop staring at me," his deep voice interrupted her trail of thoughts, and immediately made her feel embarrassed to have been actually caught accidentally staring at him. Mai definitely didn't want him to think that she is one of those type of girls, but really, it was simply just her mind's fault for over thinking everything again.

Mai in all probability exaggerated when she thought that the whole group of girls fancied Aomine. Truthfully, there's probably just one person that crushes on the tall basketball player in her class, and the rest of them simply hearsay to one another. Most of them are quite frightened of Aomine's attitude; his usual frown and bad-mannered personality did not help.

Mai shook her head as her cheeks began to glow a light shade of red, completely mortified by every time she recapped what happened just a few moments ago. But, this did not overwhelm the fact that he is reasonably impolite to her—or probably to anyone in general. A word that would definitely describe him is that he simply is too overconfident of himself.

For a second, she was almost going to comment about his absence on their planned lesson two days ago, but felt too hesitant to vocally say it out loud.

"Well," Mai verbalized as she started to open her binder. "You are here for math facilitation, so what's troubling you?" She couldn't proceed the tutoring lesson without actually knowing what he is having difficulties on in any case.

Aomine granted her a short glance through his murky blue eyes, clearly screening his boredom towards this dreary tutoring lesson, something that Mai somehow could understand. School wasn't something that she really enjoyed when it came to educational subjects, but she tried to do them with the best of her ability simply because she wants to be accepted into a good university in the future.

"I don't know," he plainly answered, mumbling, his chin dispassionately resting on his hand. "Everything."

At least he is somewhat cooperating.

Perhaps if he actually cared, actually attended school, or conceivably paid attention to his classes, maybe he wouldn't be in this position. Mai only suspected that Aomine has just simply fallen behind on homework and evidently doesn't know what is going on during the following lessons that proceeded after the other.

"If that's the case then, why don't we take a look at the first lessons of the unit?" Mai offered, although not expecting much of an answer from him nevertheless. She guessed he was less talkative when it involved schoolwork or…mathematics.

"Hm," Aomine answered, and somehow Mai could perceive the displeasure in his voice. Nonetheless, she took it as a yes.

Forthrightly, Mai didn't even know if this was a good idea after all. Aomine should appreciate the fact that his teacher is worried about him and pushes him to get a tutor, which will definitely facilitate his difficulties with math equations. But, Mai was concerned nonetheless; he will probably not be paying attention at all.

When she flipped her binder open, Mai began to browse through the various lessons that her class has gone through since school started. The complexity of the equations and the amount of variables will most likely confuse him, considering the fact that he has not paid that much attention to the lessons after all. Mai positively assumes that Aomine at least understood one math concept on this unit.

"Okay," Mai started to speak as she turned her binder towards Aomine so that he could vividly see what she is trying—or going to explain. "Lets start with the basics. To find the slo—"

"Oi," Aomine interrupted her as his eyes were looking at anything but her binder. "What the hell are ya doing?" His frown deepened as he stared at her down.

Mai creased her eyebrows in confusion; she had no idea what Aomine was talking about. Most of all, she felt slightly insulted to see that he wasn't paying attention at all. But truthfully, she didn't expect much from him in the first place.

But when she finally realized what he was talking about, a deep shade of red crept upon her cheeks yet again. Mai felt…stupid to find her arm positioned that way across her chest. What in the world was she doing? It seemed as if she was trying to hide something, which was clearly located atop of her almost non-existent breasts, and Aomine was quick to notice that.

Damn him.

Who knew that Aomine could be so observant when he wanted to? She presumed that he probably only pays attention to things that caught his attention whether it was a positive or negative thing. It was also noticeable that schoolwork was not one of them.

"N-Nothing," Mai stuttered in pure embarrassment as she quickly retrieved her arm back onto her side.

It was probably her fault.

She shouldn't have over exaggerated at the thought of judgment. Mai subconsciously pulled one of her arms and placed it atop of her chest in attempt of avoiding Aomine's gaze, which would doubtlessly judge the size of her breasts. She didn't know why she cared about his judgment, but it was probably to avoid risking embarrassment, something that definitely did not work out. It ended up probably worse than the worst-case scenario.

"If ya think I was going to look at your flat chest in the first place," Aomine began, his grin only causing her to be even more intimidated than before. "I'm not. It isn't worth looking."

Mai felt stupid.

She was a human after all, and sometimes she hated being one. Mai wanted to be invisible when it came to Aomine; she wanted to be unidentified and nameless to him. It just appeared that her pursuit for those volunteering hours wasn't as easy as she previously anticipated.

What was she supposed to say?

"I wasn't—"

"Save it," he said. "'Am not at all interested."

Déjà vu.

That's exactly what she was experiencing on this very moment. A person with silky red chair blurred into her mind, the expression of said person completely humiliated and disappointed as she heard those similar words come out of the basketball player's lips, and that event happened just yesterday.

Why is he so difficult?

Mai gulped down the urge to continue her sentence, but knowing how stubborn Aomine was, she successfully resisted. It was probably a good idea to avoid the subject for the rest of the tutoring lesson anyway, but she immediately realized how discouraged she felt to continue.

Aomine didn't feel as amused anymore, and lazily rested his elbow on the table and used its hand to rest his chin upon it again. To him it might not be awkward, but to Mai, the whole room seemed to have an awkward tension in a way that made her body feel pressured.

At least she should be glad that he doesn't really care about this circumstance as much as she does.

"Anyway," Mai slowly said in an awfully hesitant tone. "Do you want to know how to find the intersection of two correlations?" She asked, obviously trying to change the subject, which was unquestionably causing the anomalous atmosphere.

His eyes slowing turned towards hers, clearly conveying a message. He didn't want to be here at all.

"Nah," he responded.

Why is he making things so complicated without even trying?

Mai absolutely did not want to do this anymore. She was definitely scratching off the choice of becoming a teacher when she is older. To put it simply, she hated dealing with people like Aomine. It was too troublesome for her to handle. In addition, she clearly was too much of a coward to stand up for herself when it came to him.

To force someone like Aomine to do schoolwork was definitely challenging. Mai is nothing but surprised that her teacher even managed to get him to attend this tutoring lesson. Still, she preferred having Aomine skip them, she concluded.

Her cheeks were still burning red, and Mai failed to cease it down. She was too uncomfortable and embarrassed.

"You know," he began to speak as he sighed in boredom, "I'm leaving."

By some means, his words were what awoke her from her almost permanent speechlessness. With her still-blushing cheeks, she immediately said, exclaiming, "Wait!" Her arm shot out onto the table as her blue eyes widened in astonishment. They were barely ten minutes into the lesson! Ten minutes of volunteering is definitely not even near sufficient or okay. "We haven't even started our lesson!"

"You kinda bore me," he responded in a rather monotone voice.

As she nervously watched her classmate pick up his schoolbag from the floor, she stated, "I never really thought that math lessons would be fun in the first place!"

Mai was definitely freaking out.

What the hell was she supposed to say to her teacher tomorrow?

By now, Aomine deepened his frown. Mai was pushing him just a bit too much for his lousy attitude to take.

"Shut up."

His unkind tone and idiom clearly expressed how short his temper was. Mai quickly pressed her lips together and lowered her arm as her eyes softened. She felt completely trapped. Was it that her teacher secretly disliked her? Or perhaps trusted her that her tutoring skills would be the reason why Daiki Aomine would pass the math test next Friday?

Nah.

It was probably the first one.

.

.

She really didn't look forward to tutoring Aomine again. When she signed up to become a tutor, the requirement did not specify that she would have to face someone like him! It was completely outrageous to think that tutoring Daiki Aomine would actually work out simply because he doesn't listen to her.

"Etsuyo-sensei," Mai spoke as she stood in front of her teacher's desk. Her sensei slowly perked her head up from the countless amount of paperwork that she guessed it was unmarked assignments.

"Yes, Oita-san?"

As she slightly looked away from her teacher and played with her fingers, she said, "Is there any way I could have another person to tutor?" Her pleading eyes shifted back to her teacher's, undoubtedly expressing her distress. "Please?"

Her teacher blinked a few times before frowning at her student's odd behavior. But as she considered what exactly Mai was asked her, it was only obvious that it was Aomine's fault to make her feel like this way.

"Is there a relative reason to why you are asking this?"

"I…I don't like him," Mai quickly responded truthfully, voice confident. It was completely clear that she disliked Aomine. "Just please try and see if there is someone else that can take my spot."

The way her voice sounded caused her teacher to pity her. She knew it would be difficult to tutor someone like Aomine, but that was why she specifically assigned Mai to become Aomine's tutor. Overall, she just felt quite disappointed that she had given up so soon. Mai was the type of student to push herself and extend her limits, and so Etsuyo hoped that she could do the same but to someone else instead.

Sighing, her teacher said, "Oita-san, I understand your reasoning. Aomine is quite a… complex student to deal with, but at the moment I do not know if I am able to find replacement right now." Mai didn't like where this conversation was going. If anything, she would of preferred to not having said anything at all. "Just give it a little time. And if possible, I can try and find an alternate."

Mai's blue eyes immediately jolted up in cheerfulness and hope. Although it is quite obvious that it is just a mere possibility, she still had some hope.

It wasn't that she despised Aomine to the point she wanted to resign herself to someone else—well, that was a slight portion of it. She did not despise him; to put it simply, Aomine did not meet the standards that Mai beheld when it came to humans in general. Simply, he was just too full of himself.

"Ah, thank you, Etsuyo-sensei!" Mai's voice significantly changed into a positive tone of voice. "I'll go back to my seat now."

But right when she turned around, the first thing that she saw was the person who sits behind her seat on the far back of the classroom, and it almost instantly caused her to have a rush of blood flow into her cheeks. Yesterday's events were too embarrassing. They were so discomforting that she would become embarrassed all over again just by thinking about it.

Aomine was surprisingly on time for school this time—this strange action happens a few or just a couple of times a week. He appeared to be uninterestedly looking out the window with his chin resting on his hand, an act that has become a habit to him every time he is fatigued, bored, or both.

Now that she thinks about it, she doesn't believe that Aomine even knows her name in the first place. Her teacher might of mentioned it to him, but knowing how Aomine's mind worked, he had probably not listened or simply had forgotten. If anything, he wouldn't even know who she was just by hearing her name.

His whole figure was relatively noticeable when she was in front of the class. His odd hair color and distinctly darker skin than her other classmate's made his appearance stand out. Not to mention his height—his height was what made him tremendously visible comparing to others.

Mai then watched as his gaze slowly turned towards her, seeing as she, too, was fairly conspicuous since she was in front of the classroom. And even if she moved away from the spot, Aomine still watched her walk up towards her desk—a view that seemed as if she was trying to walk up to him.

And then he smirked.

It was quite obvious to why he implemented his prominent curve upon his lips. Mai was overly blushing a bit too much. Her gaze was trying to search a safe getaway that would make her gape seem natural, and at the same time trying to avoid his gaze, too.

When she rapidly sat down on her assigned seat and did not even try too look back just to see if his smirk had worn off, her blush decreased little by little, but did not completely cease way.

And the one thing that she evidently noticed from him during class though would be his large legs under her chair once again.

Note: It is a bit shorter than last chapter's, I do apologize for that. Anyway, thank you to the ones who favorited and followed! And special thanks to XxWhiteKeysxX for reviewing! Again, your opinions on this chapter would be lovely :-)

Anyway, I do have a few important questions to ask: do you like the lengths of my chapters? If not, is it because it is too long or too short? Also, is the amount of detail I put into them a bit too much or okay? Any of your opinions will influence the following chapters to come.