Going to the lecture with Leon was even better than I had hoped. Not only had I learned more about history than I'd ever thought I could in one sitting, Leon had offered to spend time afterwards at a local cafe to go over our notes together to see if he caught anything I might have missed. By the time we had finished trading notes back and forth, discussing points of interest from the lecture and eventually just talking about life in general, hours had passed and the sky had started turning dark. Seeing how late it was, Leon had offered to take me home, his concern for my safety warming me up inside.

I couldn't fight off the blush when he gently took my hand and held it the whole walk home. I didn't even care when he sent dark glances at random guys we passed, I was too busy enjoying how warm his hand was.

--------

A couple weeks passed and I could tell Leon was close to making the goal for his History grade. I really didn't want to stop meeting him for study sessions though, I was enjoying that extra time with him each day far too much to give it up... I wonder if he would mind me raising the goal? Walking into the library, I made the decision to bring up the idea with him as soon as I sat down. I smiled at him as I started bringing out my notebooks, both from class and from the lecture, since you never knew when it might have something relevant to the conversation.

"Leon, is it ok with you if I discuss our study sessions?" I asked softly as I opened my notebook to the first page of notes from today's class.

"Huh?" He looked at me, his eyes wide.

"Don't worry! I don't want to stop our study sessions!" I laughed a bit before continuing on. "In fact, that is kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. If it's ok with you, since you are so close to making a B grade average, how would you like to raise the goal to a solid A?" I began playing with my pencil as I waited quietly for him to respond, my head lowered as I hoped he wouldn't disagree with my proposal.

"Shina, I would be more than happy to continue our study sessions. Working with you to bring my History grades up to an A would be more than acceptable to me. In fact, I had been thinking of asking you about continuing our studies, although for different reasons." I could hear the relief in Leon's voice clearly. He must have thought I was going to call a halt to our study sessions. I'm so glad I am not the only one who wanted them to continue.

"What reasons did you have? I know for a fact you are at or above a B+ for your other classes Leon. You're not like all those slackers in this school. Did you know another boy dropped out yesterday? Halfway through lunch he just stood up and went home! That makes the seventh student this month, if you could the girl that ran away from home. How could someone give up on their education, their whole life, like that?! People like that are so disappointing," I sighed at the memory before sending Leon a warm smile. I was so proud of how dedicated he was to learning, he really was so perfect.

"Well, I'm honored you think so highly of me. Perhaps I shouldn't have shared all my grades with you though, because now you might be disappointed in me. I'm afraid my grades in English have begun to slip a bit. It's rather embarrassing to be honest but I was hoping maybe you could find some time to help me raise it back up a bit?" The cutest blush spread across his cheeks as he asked for help.

"How could I ever say no to you, Leon? You're my best friend, how could I not help you when you need me? So just show me where you are having the problem and we will work on getting you back up where you want to be!" I reached across the table and gave his hand a small squeeze before reaching into my bag to pull out my English notebook, completely missing how dark his eyes had become.

"You're important to me too, Shina."