Hey guys, I have managed to fit in writing another chapter before my classes start, so here it is now :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters in this story.

Ryder slammed his head against the desk. It just wasn't going in. It didn't help that Marley still hadn't accepted his friend request on Facebook, or that Katie was still being unhelpful and standoffish, but regardless, he just didn't understand the actual work. He couldn't grasp what the symbolism or hidden meanings were, and he sure as hell couldn't read Shakespearean English- he had enough problems with reading and writing in modern English, let alone ye olde stuff. He hadn't noticed it before, as he had never really tried, but now that it was senior year, and he had to be averaging a high grade to even stand a chance of a football scholarship, he had to really pay attention. He typed out his revision notes. There were red squiggly lines under more than half the words indicating a spelling mistake, but when he looked at them, he couldn't see which letters he'd gotten wrong; they looked correct to him. He slumped back in his desk chair.

"That settles it," he sighed to himself out loud, despite being the only one in his bedroom. "I'm stupid."

"What was that honey?" Ryder's mom asked, as she came into the room to deliver a pile of freshly ironed clothes. Ryder sighed. At least he could talk to his Mom about his academic failings. His Dad had a PhD, and every single grade his son brought home was a disappointment, regardless of the reason (which, in his defence, was usually due to Ryder's messing around in class and lack of work ethic). Sadly his mother was more of a trophy wife (although their marriage was a strong one) for his influential, successful Dad, rather than an Einstein herself, and couldn't help Ryder with school stuff in the way that Mr Lynn could, but was too busy to.

"Miss Holliday's set us a test on this Shakespeare play we're doing in English, it counts for the final grade too. I can't do it, it won't go in, I can't even read it. It doesn't help that she only gave us two nights to revise, how am I supposed to do this tomorrow-"

"Shhh." She comforted, rubbing his shoulder with her spare hand. Even though her 'baby boy' was pretty much grown up and approaching his 18th birthday, she was still as maternal as ever, and somewhat blind to her son's less…agreeable side. "Just keep at it honey. You'll get it soon enough." She placed Ryder's cleaned clothes in the correct drawers and left the room. He sighed. His mom was sweet and meant well, but he knew all too well that he probably would not 'get it soon enough', and certainly wouldn't before tomorrow.

Ryder was snapped out of his self-pitying trance by a jingle from his computer. He scrambled quickly to see if it was a notification of a certain Marley Rose accepting his friend request, but it was just Katie saying 'Hey babe xx' on the chat room. He shut the laptop. He didn't have time for another long conversation with her, which he knew would inevitably turn into an argument about meeting or not meeting, not when he had to study. He promised himself that only Marley could divert his attention. Sadly for him, she did not divert his attention all night.

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Most kids hated the boring pre-test reading out of the rules that Miss Holliday was currently doing, but it gave Ryder a prime opportunity to gaze at Marley, whom he was very much enjoying having as his English desk partner, before he had to concentrate on a test he was destined to fail. He stole glances at her perfect blue eyes before noticing the tiniest scar on her lower forehead. He had never seen it before because she usually was wearing a newsboy cap which covered it, but today she wasn't, allowing him to cast his eyes on the glory of her full face for the first time. He squinted his eyes to focus on the blemish further, before she realised something was up.

"Quit staring at it!" She snapped, just about keeping her voice at whispering level whilst Miss Holliday droned on.

"At what? Your pretty face?" Ryder asked, feigning innocence, slightly worried he'd made her feel insecure when it looked fine.

"You know what. I saw you looking at it. Now stop." Marley tried to cover her forehead with her hand.

"It's fine. You can only notice it if you really look. It's cool! Makes you look sorta badass. How did you get it?" Marley flinched ever so slightly at the question, as Miss Holliday told the class to turn over their papers and begin the test.

"None of your business." she whispered.

"I was just asking…so…did anyone take up your tutoring or singing coaching offer?"

"No, now concentrate on your test!"

"It's too difficult, I-"

"That's not my problem, you should have worked harder." Marley shifted her body weight away from Ryder, and began reading the Macbeth extract on the paper, not knowing that she had accidentally hit a nerve within the boy, who sighed, knowing that he had worked non-stop for the past two days. He had no choice but to begin the paper. He turned it over and tried to read the jumble of letters in front of him.

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The following Monday, after a weekend spent waiting for a certain notification that never came, Ryder was once again sat beside Marley in English, and the pair, alongside the rest of their class, were nervously waiting for Miss Holliday to hand out their test results. The teacher filed down the rows of desks, giving each student their papers back. After what seemed like an age, she arrived at their table.

"Good work Marley, I'm impressed, especially as this is your first assignment at a new school." She handed Marley her test back, and the brunette gave a small, bashful smile when she looked at her result. Ryder looked over her shoulder, to see a large 'A' in green pen on the top of Marley's paper, before realising that it was his turn next. He looked up at Miss Holliday.

"Not so impressive, Ryder." She handed him his paper back, which was covered in hundreds of red marks, crowned by a large 'C-' on the top. She lent down and lowered her voice. "Ryder, this is your senior year, you really need to take your school work more seriously if you want to get to where you want to be. You know deep down that you didn't revise hard enough for this, don't you." She stood up and left, continuing on to Jake's desk behind.

"I did revise, Miss, I…" it was too late. Miss Holliday wasn't listening. He noticed out of his peripheral vision that Marley was examining his result. He turned it over, embarrassed.

"It's only worth like, 1% of the grade, you know." She said, surprisingly sympathetic to his plight. He smiled sadly.

"What about the next 1%? And the next? Then soon enough, I'll be averaging a D, and it'll be bye-bye college, hello Lima loser."

Marley looked down, feeling bad.

"You actually worked hard for this, didn't you…" she said, realising she might have been too hard on him before. He nodded sincerely.

"You know…" he started, smiling more. "…I could really use a tutor…" he finished, raising his eyebrows and grinning towards Marley. She shut her eyes, grimacing at the realisation of his now very sincere proposal, trying her hardest to resist his puppy dog eyes…

"Ok fine!" She conceded, with a large sigh. "But don't think you're not paying the $10 an hour."

"Of course I will, I'm not a charity case. Thanks Marley, you're awesome." He gave Marley a double thumbs up, and she rolled her eyes and picked up her paper, pretending to read Miss Holliday's comments, all the while wondering if she had just made a huge mistake or a great decision.

Hope you enjoyed- I know it was a bit of a filler chapter, but hey- Marley is going to tutor Ryder! What do you think about that? Please comment on what you thought, and I would love to know your theories on what may come next :)

To my lovely reviewers:

Rima Akien: Sorry! Here is another quick chapter so hopefully that makes up for it! Hmm. You'll find out soon, but you may have already guessed from this chapter!

Savannaramirez35: Aw, that's so sweet of you to say :') I updated soon, haha

Gleeatic713: Oh, you are too cute. Thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy it :)

Until next time (which I hope will be soonish)

Lauren xxx