"Wake up, my little lawyer." My mother's soothing voice says the next morning.

I stretch and rise with a smile on my face. "Good morning." I say, the thought of working at a law firm bringing joy to my morning.

"I'm leaving for the hospital, right now." She says. "Are you getting the math test scores, today?"

"I should be. It was multiple choice." I explain.

"Okay, great. Text your father and I a picture when you get it." She says. "I'll see you, later. I love you." She adds before exiting my room.

I pull myself out of the bed and begin to get ready for the day. After running through my normal routine, I pull on some black jeans and a white v-neck knit sweater. About an hour and fifteen minutes after waking up, I pull up in front of Ruby's house. She jogs out to my car about a minute later.

"Good morning, Aquamarine." I grin.

"Good morning, Stone." Ruby smiles back.

I raise an eyebrow as I begin to drive off. "Stone?"

"Yep. Rox. Rocks. Stone." She says, simply.

"Leave the corny jokes to me." I tease, laughing at her creativity.

We talk and joke around until we arrive at school.

"Sup, Roxie." Damien calls out when Ruby and I near their usual spot.

"Hey." I respond, hoping he doesn't bring up my quick exit yesterday. Ruby notices Zaria approaching and goes to talk to her.

"So... Have you thought about letting me take you out?" He says, doing exactly what I didn't want him to. "I'm available anytime, for you, so you let me know." He adds, intertwining his fingers in mine.

I'm searching for a kind way to let him down when I hear someone call my name. I turn to see Hakeem approaching.

"I need to ask you something." He tells me, standing close enough for me to smell his cologne.

"I'm talking to her." Damien interjects.

"It's important." Hakeem pleads, ignoring Damien.

It must be, since he is willing to approach me in public for it. "I'll talk to you, later." I say to Damien. I pull my hand away and quickly follow Hakeem into the building.

"What's up? Are you okay?" I ask, looking him over for any visible bruises. He's wearing a navy pull over sweater and dark jeans, so I can't see much. But, his visible skin looks fine.

"Yeah, I'm good." He says, examining my outfit.

"So... what was important?"

"Getting you away from Damien." He says, his eyes returning to meet mine.

"Getting me away? He was asking me out. This is the second time I left him with no concrete answer." I say, although I am glad to have some more time to think about my response.

"You want to go out with him?" He asks, closing the distance between us. My body reacts to his proximity and I find myself struggling for words. My eyes linger on his full lips. I remember how they felt that one time he let his guard down.What were we talking about? I think to myself as I look up at his smirking face.

"Oh... uh, no." I say aloud, remembering the question.

"So, I helped you." He says, beginning to back away. "You're welcome." He adds over his shoulder as he leaves.

What a weirdo. I think to myself.

Later in the day, I walk into trig. Anxiety taking over my brain. "I really need a good grade on this test." I tell Ruby, sliding into my seat.

"You definitely did well. You studied so hard." She assures me.

"Good morning, class." Mr. Smith booms from the front of the room. "I graded your tests last night."

The class responds with a chorus of mumbles and groans.

"This might have been the best test average all year." He grins, eliciting a more cheerful response.

He begins handing back the graded tests. I nervously tap my fingers on the desk, waiting for my paper to land on it.

Mr. Smith approaches. "Nice improvement." He compliments, placing my paper on my desk. I look down to find a big, beautiful 91 written at the top of my page.

Joy fills my body and I immediately turn to show Ruby. I let out a squeal as I wave the paper in her face. Mr. Smith clears his throat from the front of the room. "How did he get up there so fast?" I mutter.

"Good job." Ruby says. "Looks like Hakeem was useful after all." She adds with a wink.

I giggle. He's going to be proud of me, for once. I sit through the rest of the lesson with a newfound excitement. Now that I know I can understand math—with help—I am willing to put more effort in.

This buzz lasts all through class and lunch. I'm so excited to tell Hakeem the good news that when I see him outside our History room, I leap into his arms. He manages to catch me, but I can see the shock on his face. I wrap my legs around his abdomen and grip his shoulders for stability.

"I got a 91 on the math test!" I grin.

"You're ruining my reputation. People are going to think I'm friendly if you keep doing things like this." Hakeem says, looking around.

"Are you telling me you care what other people think?" I tease, looking down at him.

"You're right. I don't." He concedes. "Good job on the test. I've taught you well."

"Thanks." I smile.

"Did you take it?" He asks, reminding me that Zaria is behind me.  He pats my back twice, indicating that he's going to place me back down.

"Yeah. I got a hundred." Zaria says, casually. I stand and look at her in disbelief.

"You got here a day before the test." I point out.

"That's very impressive." Hakeem nods.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I look at it and see that my mom has responded to the text I sent about the test during lunch.

She congratulated me about my grade and asks me to invite Hakeem over for dinner to thank him. I show Hakeem the text. "She's so extra." I say.

"I love your mom. You should be more like her." He says. "Tell her I'd love to come."

I shake my head at him before typing back a response to her.

"Looks like you're a part of the family now." I joke, walking into class.

---------

Hey!

First, I want to say thank you guys so much for 1K reads!! I'm so happy that you are reading and enjoying this book so far.

Remember to vote and comment! I don't bite ;)

If we can make it to 200 votes by tomorrow, I'll upload three chapters! So, if you haven't voted on every chapter and you want three chapters... you know what to do ;)

p.s. That's Hakeem at the top

xoxo
-Gaëlle