"I literally don't know," I sighed, my head in my hands as I sat on the end of my bed.

"Mal come on y'know this one," Esme stressed, with the sheet of questions and answers in her hand sitting on my desk chair facing me.

I looked up at her, sort of angry. If I heard one more person try and tell me that I do know this stuff I'm just not 'putting my mind to it' or 'Trying to act dumb' I might lose it. "I don't! I don't get this shit, he made the questions too hard for me,"

"No he didn't, they're not too hard they're fine you're just not thinking,"

There it is. "I am!"

"Alright alright... lets take a break." She breathed out throwing the sheet behind her. It slowly drifted down to the ground as I watched it. Stupid sheet. Stupid music. Stupid teacher.

I looked down at my hands, the marks I had left on the back of them digging my nails into my own skin in frustration when not knowing an answer. I had left a few marks, it didn't hurt massively. It just really fucking stung.

"I can't believe I have extra work now," I sighed throwing myself back on the bed and looking up to the posters on my ceiling, I didn't have enough space on my walls for them.

"Who's idea even was this? All this extra work and extra sessions? The at home tutor and the after school classes?"

"Billies." I answered closing my eyes. We both went silent before I realised. "Fuck- no! I mean Mr Armstrong!" I quickly corrected myself sitting back up.

She was looking at me confused and yet shocked. "Is that his first name... how do you know that?"

"I don't," I answered quickly.

"...yes... you do, you just said it,"

"No I didn't,"

"You just said it was Billies idea to give you extra music work. How do you know that that's his first name?"

"I d-"

She cut me off quickly. "-don't lie!"

I breathed out through my nose closing my eyes for a second giving them a tiny rest. "It's nothing weird... it just came out in a detention one time,"

I lifted my eyelids back up to see her slowly nodding before continuing to question me. "Do you...." She drifted off.

"...Do I...?"

"...Do you... call him by his first name?"

I mean- I did. But do you tell your best friend you call your music teacher their first name? It would that be dangerous to tell them... just in case they think anything about it and tell someone else. I mean- its obviously not normal to call them their first name... not even out of school.

"No," I finally answered after a long moment of silence.

She looked at me with a look meaning she didn't believe my bullshit. A flat and unimpressed expression.

"Esme I don't,"

"Mhm, alright," she sarcastically hummed.

"I just found out one time in detention and-"

"-alright alright I get it. Anyway, your breaks over." She grinned getting out the chair and picking the sheet back up off of the floor. She sat herself back down looking down at the sheet of paper.

I groaned loudly, laying back on my bed. Covering my face with my hands in exhaustion. I didn't have the time, the patience nor the effort to continue with these stupid fucking repetitive questions.

"Alright so, back to question one," I heard Esme say out loud.

But I had to do the extra work. Because for some reason Billie had put his faith into me... thinking I could do it and that I wasn't as hopeless everyone else thought me to be.

"I've been looking at her work recently, she's smart. She just doesn't seem to care," he told my English teacher.

"You're telling me,"

"Does she not realise it's her own future?"

"Of course she does, do y'know how many teachers have tried to tell her that? She's gonna fail hopelessly and end up somewhere she doesn't wanna be and-"

He cut her off quickly jumping in. "-I wouldn't say that much,"

"You wouldn't?"

"No, she just needs to realise. She's not hopeless at all,"

"Well I hope you've got hope Billie, because I know for sure she doesn't even have hope in herself," she said to him.

"And what makes you say that?"

"I've had Mallory in my class for years. She gets a kick out of misbehaving. It's just another form of attention to her. She'll focus more on anything than the work in front of her, she never understands, she never has a clue, she never knows what's going on around her unless it's about something she's just done. Don't put all your hope into a ship that's already sinking,"

"Sinking? She's not a ship-"

"-it's a metaphor,"

"Oh so you're going all English teacher on me?" He asked her.

I tried so hard not to laugh at the immaturity of his question, thankfully succeeding.

"Well yeah that's what I'm good at," She stated in an obvious tone.

"Well how would you like it if I went all music teacher on you?"

"What you gonna do? Sing me a guitar solo?"

"Wha- no! I am not! I can sing more than guitar solos,"

And for some other reason, I didn't want to disappoint him.

~

"And Mallory, did you do the extra work I set you?" He asked me walking in front of my desk. It was currently a normal music lesson, but I had different work to everyone else due to the fact that I'm catching up. That and I also had more work to do at home that Esme attempted to help me with.

"I mean- I tried?" I shrugged questionably. I took the crumbled up sheet of paper out of my hoodie pocket before tossing it over to him.

He caught it, looking at the ball for a second with an already disappointed face. He began to at least attempt to un crumple it.

After that, he held the paper in his hand inspecting it before sighing. "Did you even try?" He asked me looking up at the sheet, I could tell he hadn't read through the whole thing. But he probably didn't need to to see I had done the task terribly and hopelessly wrong.

"Of course I did,"

"Are you sure? It doesn't look like it,"

"I did try- I actually tried this time,"

"Mallory I don't think you did. You've scribbled all over the paper un neatly and you've even done doodles here." He reminded me turning the crumbled up sheet to face me, not to mention every one else, and pointing at my doodle of a dog. Even my doodle was as bad as my work. "Why have you drawn a picture of a aeroplane in the corner?"

I widened my eyes slightly scoffing as I heard Vee giggling beside me. "An aeroplane!? Are you kidding? Its a dog!"

"Are you sure?" He asked sounding surprised, looking back at the picture. He turned and titled his head, turning the sheet of paper upside down squinting hard at it. "It looks more like a skull now that I look at it from this angle,"

"Alright I get it, it's a shit drawing. But you're not exactly an art teacher,"

"I take pride in knowing how to draw a dog though," He chuckled slightly looking away from the paper and up at me.

"Well its suppose to be a dog. It is a dog!"

"I'm not sure I see it," He teased looking back down at the sheet.

I stared at him annoyed. I wasn't even in the mood to joke around with him, as much as I felt like I was being way too sensitive taking it personal how he said my dog looks like some sort of weird cross between an aeroplane and a skull I was still stressing.

I had stacks of paper building up on both my shoulders, I had my mom and dad nagging at me ever moment of every day, I had a screaming music tutor who I now have to deal with. So after I gave him my warning stare he sort of noticed my mood and backed down.

He carefully and neatly folded the sheet putting it into his pocket before making his way back to the front of the classroom. The lesson carried on, with me being in a mood and Billie wanting to actually teach me things it wasn't as fun as it normally was.

The next few music lessons weren't really fun either. I left each and every one with no detentions but yet more and more paper work. I was too frustrated to tease or piss Billie off. He was too focused on trying to catch me up to speed that he didn't even tease me anymore either.

Music had became boring again, but at least I could always still stare. Mood or not.

For a while, even after that, I was receiving more and more work. Harder and harder questions. My desk went from looking like a rubbish stack to an actual desk. Pens all over it, paper, notes, music sheets, notebooks, information booklets. There was even a guitar in my room now I needed to learn to play... I had already attempted a few times and it was safe to say I did so bad I'm scared to pick it up and try again.

I was having to stay behind school for extra lessons, I was leaving other classes to do more music, I even had a home tutor put in to help me. Which sadly was not Billie.

It was some other guy, he was pretty old and he had a short temper. So every time I got a question wrong he would pretty much scream at me.

I tried to tell the school he wasn't helping, basically begging them to give me another tutor or just not give me one at all. But they insisted he was the best for me, which I had to very strongly disagree to. If anything he was worse. He made me want to try less. And I didn't even know that was possible.

"I told you I don't understand," I sighed, my head still in my hands as I refused to look up at him.

"You do understand it! Come on look at the sheet!"

"I've told you, I don't,"

"Look at the sheet!"

"I don't get it-"

"-then look at the sheet!"

I breathed out dramatically looking up at the sheet. "I still don't get it," I repeated staring at the piece of paper.

He sighed, dropping his pen on the table as it rolled slightly.

There was one thing having to have a teacher in school, but another one sat with you in your house at your dining room table.

My dad walked through, looking over my shoulder at the work. "How is it going?" He asked nosily. Like he hadn't already walked through the dining room and asked that question two times already. Now three.

"Great dad," I muttered sarcastically.

"She just needs to understand that she knows what she's doing, she just doesn't want to do it," Mr Callon, the old tutor dude, said to him.

"Mallory don't be silly. If you know the question in front of you do it-"

"-I don't know it!"

"Do not raise your voice at me!"

Once again I breathed out. Shoving my chair away from the table and getting off it. Leaving the room.

I ignored Mr Callon and my dad shouting me back as I walked up the stairs and into my room, I picked up my phone and pressed Billies number. Which I had for 'educational' purposes.

It rang for a while, just before going to voice mail someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"I'm telling you I can't do this tutor thing at home w-"

"-of course you can," He motivated cutting me off my breakdown.

"Billie joe I can't. I've tried to tell you and Mr Watson a million fucking times this stupid fucking tutor they've given me is an asshole,"

"Is he that bad?"

"He screams at me every time I get things wrong and he makes me out to be more of an idiot then I am. He frustrates me to the max and he's making things worse for me. The other day we went back to my guitar lessons and every time I did the wrong thing or- or held the guitar wrong he just screamed." I explained becoming more angry as I went over how much of a jerk this guy really was. "Please can you just like- get me another tutor? I beg you, please. I can't deal with this guy,"

I heard Billie take in a deep breath. Before exhaling. "I'll see what I can do,"

"Really? You mean it!?"

"Yes but I-"

"-thank you! Thank you so much I literally hate that stupid tutor!"

"I can tell,"

Once Mr Callon finally left. I was dealing with a lecture from my parents. He left early since I exited the session and refusing to come back down to finish it off, and least to say my mom and dad were very angry.

I sat on the sofa, just starting into space as the both of them paced around the room. Going over how disappointed they were in me and how they know I can do do much more better.

They continued with their speech before there was a knock at the door. Pausing and looking over at me, I shrugged at them as my mom left the room to go open up the door.

"Who's that?" My dad asked me.

"Dad I don't know, Mr Callon probably left some stuff here or something and he wants to pick it back up,"

"I want you to give him an apology,"

"Are you joking? Dad he was screaming at me I didn't understand th-"

"-I know you understand the questions you just don't want to do it. You want to be an imbecile," he grunted.

"Dad why would I want to be an imbecile? Nobody wants to be an imbecile, nobody at all wants any part of that."

My mom walked back into the room, still not looking impressed as she turned to me. "There's someone at the door who wants to talk to you Mallory." she informed me sitting down.

I sighed, getting back to my feet and leaving the room that was filled with anger and tension. Both that were aimed at me anyway.

I made my way to the front door, which had been shut but not properly. I opened it again to be met with none other than the only teacher and tutor I could stand. Mr Armstrong, or Billie joe as I seem to call him now.

"Well hello?" I questionably laughed.

"Guess what,"

"What?"

"I got you a new tutor," He smiled excitedly.

It skipped my mind on why he came all the way over just to tell me that new. I was only focusing on the fact that I wouldn't be dealing with Mr Callon anymore.

With out thinking I pulled him into a hug excitedly. Once I realised what I did, I went to pull away. But he put his arms around me hugging me back.

I didn't think the hug was awkward... was a hug with you teacher suppose to be? I didn't exactly go around hugging them. But Billie hardly felt like a teacher anymore.

At times, I was reminded he was. Like when he was actually trying to teach me and getting frustrated at my poor efforts. But other times... like now. I guess it just left my mind at times like now.

We pulled away from hugging at the same time... not completely though. His hands still laid on my hips as my hands hung over his shoulder. Only now I wasn't up against him. "Wait," I asked as I pulled away. "Who is it? Don't say its another asshole teacher because if it is I'm just gonna drop out- I don't even need school I'll just-"

"-You're not dropping out of school,"

"Well are they an asshole?"

"I would say he is,"

I grunted loudly removing my hands from around him, he did the same as I rubbed my eyes in frustration. "I'm dropping out," I grumbled.

"No you aren't,"

"I will if you're right and he is an asshole, I swear to god,"

"He is,"

"Who is it...?" I asked him hesitantly. I wasn't exactly sure myself if I was interested in knowing the answer, but in the end I would always find out. Because I would have to face this supposed asshole sooner or later. By sooner or later I mean my next at home class. And by next at home class I meant tomorrow. I would have to face this supposed asshole tomorrow.

After a moment of staying silent, which was probably to build up suspense or something unnecessarly stupid like that. He began to smile happily. I furrowed my eyebrows in question before he finally gave me my answer. "Its me," He grinned. "I'm the asshole,"

"You're the asshole?" I slowly smiled. "As in... you're my tutor?"

He nodded, the corners of his lips still lifted upwards in a smile. "Still wanna drop out,"

"Not so much,"

"Y'know what that means..." He slowly edged on.

"What does that mean...?"

"Armstrong: Two, Valentine: One,"

"I don't know... Id say that's a win for me too,"

"Whys that?"

"Because I have you as a Tutor instead of Mr Callon, seems like a win to me in my book,"

"Well did you want me as a tutor?"

"I always want you," I said, before catching myself out. "As a- as a tutor, As a tutor and a teacher all that junk not- not like.... not like in any other way,"