ADAPTED

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©️ Emrys Noah 2021

BETILLA

I was oddly looking forward to the next day at school. It was probably because I had an excuse to talk to Archer that day. Mae would be very disappointed with me if she could hear my thoughts. So what, I never stopped loving and I couldn't just stop all of a sudden. It was easier said than done. Mae smacked me in the head as we walked to school. Anne and Kayden had gone ahead of us. I gave Mae a look, she shrugged. "You were thinking of Archer again, weren't you?"She said. I looked away from her, she stopped walking. "Bee, we've talked about this. He's no good for you." I nodded, knowing that it's best to leave it at that. I knew that he wasn't good for me but I could make him good.

Once I reached my shared locker, I dumped all my books into it and scanned for Kayden in the hallway. Not a sign. I looked in my bag to find the book Archer lent me. I still hadn't copied the notes and there was no way he'd give me one more day. I sighed as I closed the locker and made my way to my first class. Mae headed straight to hers. So far, the school wasn't that bad. Archer wasn't in my first class and I felt kinda sad.

I had zero classes with Archer that day. It was as if he transferred out of the classes that we had together. I knew it was something he could do so I was kinda worried. During the lunch break, I scanned the cafeteria for him. Ignoring Mae's disapproval, I walked to his table and stood there awkwardly. It was as if someone hit pause on the world. They all stopped to stare at me. Only his eyes were meeting mine. It was breathtaking. He rose an eyebrow at me. I motioned to the book which almost fell because of my loose grip. I dropped the note on the table and started to make my way away from their table and to my surprise, he didn't stop me to say anything hurtful. I had shunned him.

The day went by really swiftly and I was about to make a run for the dormitories with Mae until my name was announced on the PA system. I was being called to the principal's office. My blood ran cold and I didn't know what to do. Mae was as confused as I was. Mae surprisingly escorted me to his office and I made my way inside. I was greeted by his assistant. I returned it and headed for the office until Archer stopped me. Yeah, you read right. Archer stopped me. Then the assistant came to me, "Actually, the principal is out at  the moment but he said to inform you of a slight adjustment." I could feel the confusion written clearly on my face. She pointed to Archer, "Archer here, is going to be your student. As a result of your good grades, especially in the subject Biology, you're the recommended tutor for him." My jaw dropped. 

Wait, he wanted me to tutor him. I looked at him as if looking for confirmation of some sort. He gave me a curt nod. "You will be required to meet with Archer every day till your stay in this school is over. Your efforts will be highly appreciated." She finished. I didn't even utter a word. Deep down, I was excited about this. "I'll meet you outside, yeah?" Archer whispered in my ear. I turned around and almost collided with his rock-solid chest. He was startled and took a step back at our proximity. I only nodded and left the office. Mae was outside as expected and I squealed at her. She gave me a look that read 'what the fuck'. "You won't believe who I'm tutoring every day till we leave Mae!" She thought for a second then said, "Oh, is it that guy from lunch that we both agreed he was cute?" My smile dropped. "No," I sat near her. "Archer."

Mae had never been more disappointed in me than in that moment. She wore a scowl as we watched Archer come out of the office and walk towards me. At that moment, I told Mae about the plan of going to help him and how it required me to go with him after school each day. She wasn't happy but she agreed nonetheless. Archer walks up to me a gave me a weak smile, I frowned at that. He had never smiled at me, why start now? I kept the frown as we made our way to his car. The parking lot was mainly empty and I waved bye to Mae as she walked to the dormitories. She flipped me off, but I assume it was intended for Archer. The ride to his house was awfully quiet. I glanced at the neighbourhood. He lived quite far from school. He finally parked in the driveway of a modern building. He opened his door and started to go out but stopped to say, "My sister's not coming home today." Then he walked to the front door. 

I rushed to meet him and I struggled to keep my thoughts from getting all jumbled up. What did that mean? He was telling me that this was his sister's house probably. I shrugged off all those thoughts as he pulled me in by hand. I was shocked by the contact. Archer wasn't one for physical contact. Who's the imposter? I started to wonder until he made a joke, "Keep frowning and you'll have wrinkles before you're 20, Betty." I was too uptight to even respond, my feelings were all over the place. "Come on to my room, my books are there." If I hadn't known Archer before, one would say that I was definitely getting laid that day.

We were situated in his room and I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it, "I know I prefer my other room to this too." I rose an eyebrow. "That wasn't what I wanted to say." he only looked at me.  "What I wanted to say is, thank you for having me." He looked at me for a very long time and finally said something I would have expected him to say. "It's harder than it seems trust me." I pushed his words away and brought out my biology textbook. "Biology?" He nodded. He had a study table here too but I preferred the old one to this. There was only one chair, which he insisted I sit in. Then he wheeled the chair all the way to his bed, which he sat on. Our legs touched. His head was tilted down and I expected him to recoil. Instead, he made a small movement that seemed to send my heart into overdrive. My breath hitched in my throat as I looked up to meet his gaze.