It was 9 am, the start of the morning of his Pre-calculus class. Mr. Dixon wasted no time to get on to the lesson plan of the day as he began the lecture of his class. 

His class was the type of class that wanted his students to be as expeditious as possible and on top of everything. He was a man that valued his knowledge for math and shared that strong intensity with the class. 

He didn't have a podium in the class, as he believed it was better to be at the center to talk directly. 

Joshua took down notes of whatever he said. While students preferred that the teacher writes down notes on the board, he was an auditory learner. 

Mr. Dixon wouldn't even tell what might be important or not, it was up to them to figure if they would study the parts he told or not.

After Mr. Dixon lectured the concept of the lesson, he finally went to the chalkboard where he first showed an example of the problem and solved it. 

This soon became the part where he called up students randomly to solve the problem written down.

"Nataly," Mr. Dixon called. 

Nataly droned herself silently in her seat before she stood and walked to the board. 

Mr. Dixon turned when he heard the chalk being put down and saw her return to her seat. 

He looked at the board, adjusted his reading glasses, and began to tell the class about the problem and correct her mistake.

"Thank you," he said to Nataly and put the next problem on the board. 

When the next problem on the board surfaced, Mr. Dixon chose Joshua next to solve the problem. He got up on his seat and walked slowly to the front of the center. 

Joshua glanced at the problem and thought. This was a problem which one of the formulas had only been mentioned once in the class. He first went through a rundown in his head, decidedly plugging formulas that would fit and choose one that makes the most sense.

It took him a little bit before he knew which one worked well. He picked up the white chalk, writing down the steps and solving. 

"That was excellent," Mr. Dixon said when Joshua turned around. "How'd you know?"

He stood tall and composed himself. "I remember you talked about this once and I had to look more deeply into it."

Pushing his glasses up a bit, he answered the questions Mr. Dixon asked him and also explained out what he did, touching the steps on the board as if he claimed his writing. 

"You have to cancel out this factor in order for this number to work," he said when pointing out the same common factor. 

After Mr. Dixon nodded, Joshua was free to sit back down. He glanced around his surrounding of his classmate and then he blinked.

Why did he forget that Coral sat in the front row?

He had it easier when the teacher was the only one he could focus and that he could put her out of his mind since he wanted to learn the subject. He could almost relax.

Joshua rushed back to his seat. He scribbled on his notebook to look busy. His black pencil lead created circles. 

Thinking he finished his short distraction, he faced forward but caught her looking back. His eyes were fixed on her half confused look.

He didn't have anything on him that looked funny, did he? He wouldn't know what's on her mind. 

Could she remember what he said to her last time?

He was still, and it was as if she was trying to figure something out although her expression was unreadable. 

They were still strangers, after all. 

It wasn't like she would want to do anything with him. What great could that come of? 

Coral soon enough turned back to the front and that moment felt like it never happened. He thought it might be the first that she really looked at him and took aware of his appearance. 

He wasn't uncool when he was up there doing math, but it could take a second to look nerdy if she had pay attention. 

Joshua's shoulders shrugged. It was strange to think that she was his classmate. They hadn't been before. 

Even with this fortunate opportunity, he wasn't fortunate enough. 

--

Sorry it's been a long time since my last update. I feel so dry doing my best to come up with ideas of ways to get them closer! Could you imagine trying to write out scenes about this awkward yet sweet couple? But I hope this episode makes you think of something! I'm also done with the semester and now I'm ready to transfer. Oh boy. I'm a do my best to come up with bright ideas so that you can find some sweet ways to love them a little bit more when they interact more. So, be patient! Aha. And thank you sooo much for the love and support for this book! 

I have no idea that many readers are reading and are adding it to their reading list. You don't know how happy that makes me feel considering this is my first short story that I was sure was not gonna get noticed in any way and it'd only be me writing. Please continue to spread around to other readers if you could! Vote and comments are always appreciative so I encourage that as well. 

I hope everyone had a good Merry Christmas and throughout, happy holidays!