"So you need to remember that tan(theta) is opposite divided by adjacent according to the triangle," I said, sitting comfortably on Hunter's bed.

We had a math exam the next day and it was always obliged upon me to make sure Hunter passed.

He said I owed it to him; I'm not really sure why but everytime I ask him he keeps mumbling on what a task it is to be friends with me.

As if.

It had been two weeks since school reopened from the winter break and teachers had already begun with their internal assessments.

"However, tan(theta) can also be written as sin(theta) upon cos(theta)."

I looked up. Hunter hadn't been responding to what I'd been saying.

"Hunter, are you listening to what I've been saying? Hunter..?"

"Mhm", he muttered, his gaze fixed on the wall behind me.

I looked at him in disbelief. I could have been easily studying on my own but here I was dedicating my time to a useless, disinterested boy who was going to drown in tomorrow's trigonometry exam.

Suddenly he turned towards me, and stared at my face for about 2 minutes before asking, "What do you think about Lea?"

"What? Wait, did I hear you right?"

"Well yeah, I mean I don't know. I said, Lea. What did you hear?"

"Lea? As in Lea Collins? The Lea who lost weight, that one?"
I was taken aback. I was not expecting this.

"Yup, same one."

"She's great. I mean she's a sweet girl," I said looking at him. "What's going on?"

"Well........," he said shyly.

"Uh-huh. I'm waiting."

"Well, we started talking and I... I think she's really pretty. She has these dimples that form when she smiles. And I just feel like it's so easy to talk to her, you know?"

I looked at him quizzingly. "How did you two even get talking? I mean your friend circles are way different."

"We have biology together. A few days back professor happened to pair us together for a lesson and yeah, we hit it off."

"A few days back? And you're telling me this now because.....?"

"Because I didn't think anything of it until recently."

"Think anything of it? What does that mean?"

"That I actually might like her. Geez, what's with so many questions?"

"I wouldn't have to ask so many if you'd just tell me everything properly with details." I looked at him, clearly annoyed.

"Mhm. You almost sound jealous", he said, smirking slyly.

"I'm not jealous. I'm curious. And far as I know, curiosity kills the cat."

"And I'm guessing you're the cat here?"

"Yes."

"Okay well, there's nothing more."

I nodded. "But why notice her now?"

Hunter was taken aback. "What? What do you mean notice her now?"

"I mean like, is it because she shed off some pounds and looks more appealing now? If yes, then you're just one of those who judge a girl by her weight."

"Whoa. No. I mean maybe a bit but not entirely. I didn't notice her before because she barely spoke to people. At least the ones she didn't know well. Now she just seems more confident and outgoing. She was the one who initiated a conversation with me. So I guess I liked that."

I smiled. "Okay, that's great. I mean after everything she's been through, this is good."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is good", he said smiling too.

"Okay so before you flunk tomorrow's exam, we should probably continue with trigonometry."

------

45 minutes into the exam, the bell rang, indicating the time was up and Mrs. Gibbins began collecting our papers.

For a 25-mark test, I think 45 minutes was good enough for a grade 10 trigonometry exam. I'm not sure I could say the same for high school Trigo though. Sigh.

I waited for Hunter outside class. I would kill him if he flunked this one.

I saw him zipping his pouch and slinging his bag over his shoulder, walking out.

"So how was it?", I asked.

"I'll pass."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Fine. I'll more than pass."

"Good", I said smiling. I saw him staring at something behind my shoulder. I turned to see him looking at Lea. She was near her locker, talking to her friends.

"So what's the plan?", I asked, nodding toward her.

He looked back at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when are you going to start calling her your girlfriend?"

He laughed lightly. "Not so soon. I mean, I barely know her. I guess we'll just hang out some more and see where it goes."

At that moment, Lea turned towards Hunter. She saw him and waved. He waved back, signalling for her to wait for him.

"Oh that reminds me, she's coming over today to teach me Bio. I don't understand a frickin' thing in the Hereditary chapter. You should join us later. We could watch a movie or something."

"Are you sure you're just gonna be studying? And besides, I wouldn't want to ruin your study date", I said, smirking.

He playfully hit my arm. "Shut up. All right, I gotta go. I'll see you later."

He wrapped me in a hug, "I'll call you", and walked off with Lea.

"Is that what I think it is?", Abi said from behind.

"Yup."

"Damn. The boy's all grown up now."

I laughed. "C'mon, let's find Heather and get something to eat. I'm craving a sub."