Page 10 of Disobedient Pawn

I looked around to see a redhead I vaguely remembered wiggling her fingers at me. “Hey babe, you’re lookin fine. You wanna get together later?”

“No, he does not want to get together.” I rolled my eyes at the sound of Theo’s voice. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as he came up behind me. “That is a cue to go away,” he said, and her face fell.

“Are you a fucking vampire, man? I swear you’re everywhere and have supersonic hearing.”

“No, but we do have first period together, and the door is there,” he said, his voice dripping with the usual arrogance and sarcasm that wafted off him like too much cologne. Theo held his hand out as he guided me toward the open door that felt like a prison.

I hated calculus, and whoever decided that it should be the first fucking class of the day needed to be tied to a set of train tracks. Walking in, I plopped myself down in the seat beside Theo and laid my head on my arms. He was the only reason I still came to this or any class, really. I hadn’t met a worse nag. Not Ma, the teacher, or hell, even Coach compared. Theo was like a fucking stalker. He didn’t get annoyed or offended and told on you worse than my little brother Lip would.

The door closed with a bang, and I groaned, pushing myself upright before Mr. Willis could yell at me. It would be fine if he simply sent me to detention where I could fucking sleep, but no, he liked to sit me at the front of the class with him where he had a wide assortment of fucking loud bells and buzzers. He was a torture master.

It only took a few times till I never wanted to do that again. I still saw those equations dancing behind my eyes. Nothing was less sexy than math equations popping in your head when you were jerking off. I thought that man ruined me for life.

“Good Morning, class. Actually, let me revise that. It would be a good morning if more of you were passing,” Willis said, glaring around the small classroom. “I have your latest test scores, and to say they are abysmal is putting it mildly.” Most of the class groaned. I just crossed my arms. I hadn’t bothered to study for the last test. I hadn’t studied for any of them and knew mine would be shit. Why groan? It wasn’t a fucking surprise.

Mr. Willis walked around the class and handed out the papers. He glared at me as he placed the test and the circled mark of one out of a hundred in front of me.

“Although, we do have some good news. I’d like all of you to welcome our newest student joining us today, and thankfully she has a better average than almost all of you combined.”

The only new person I could see looked like she could be our school librarian from the back, with the same white hair done up in a bun on her head. I couldn’t see her face from where I was sitting and didn’t really care. I was tempted to nod off for a few minutes.

“I’ve decided to mix things up, and we are starting with a tutoring buddy. I will be giving you all designated seating, and whoever you are paired with will be your tutor to help you get your grades to at least a passing level,” Mr. Willis said, and I sat up straighter. He better not put me up at…. “We’ll start with our class clown, Mr. McCoy. Please stand. Also, Alisha, Leeanne, Tash, Silvia, Robert, Sam, and Elijah.”

“Fuck.” I swore under my breath as we all slowly stood.

I saw the new girl’s hand rise. Her fingers pointed straight up like the fin of a shark. “Yes, Ms. Davies?”

“My answer is no,” she said, and the room went dead silent. Not a paper fluttered or pen tapped on a desk. I craned my neck around those standing to get a better look.

“I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?”

“Oh, are you hard of hearing? My apologies. I said, no, I will not tutor anyone,” the girl practically yelled. I snorted and cleared my throat as others weren’t quite as successful at holding back their snickers.

“I’m not hard of hearing.” Mr. Willis put his hands on his hips. “I am still the teacher in this room, so if I say you will help out your fellow students, then you will.”

“No,” she said again. My curiosity was piqued. I just had to know who this girl was.

“Man, are you not finding any of this hilarious?” I whispered to Theo, who was busy making notes on the day’s lesson even though it hadn’t started yet.

“Yes, hilarious,” he answered dryly.

“Let me be clear, Ms. Davies. You will do what I ask,” he said, and we all turned our heads in unison to see what she would say next.

“I’m not sure how better to say this, Mr. Willis. I not only have no intention of teaching those who would rather sleep through class, but I’m technically a student, and you’re the paid professional in the room.” My mouth fell open. “If it is anyone’s responsibility to teach the students that are not doing well, it is yours. Last I checked, I do not have a professor’s salary going into my bank account, and I refuse to allow someone else to bring down my grades because I cannot spend the time needed to keep them in the impeccable shape they’re in. Now, by all means, feel free to assign these students to whomever you’d like, just not me.”

“I think I’m in love,” I said to Theo, who’d actually lifted his head to watch what happened next. It took a lot to get his attention.

“Am I going to have to send you to the Dean’s Office on your first day?’

“If you do, I will explain the same thing to him, and I’m sure he will be more than happy to rule with me.”

“Is that so?” Mr. Willis nodded and pulled out a thick folder from his bag. It took him a few minutes as he scribbled something across the top of the pages and sat them aside. He could’ve done that for the next hour, and I would’ve watched to see what he was planning.

“Since I’m the teacher and I’ve been given permission to change the curriculum as needed, I’ve decided to add a new points scale. As of today, twenty-five percent of your passing grade will be based on tutoring. All those who are failing will be the opposite. Twenty-five percent of your passing grade will come from your tutoring sessions and understanding of the material. If either partner does not make their new goal, then you will automatically lose twenty-five percent of your grade.” The class collectively groaned.

The girl with the white hair burst from her seat, and as she did, I almost sat down. She was fucking adorable. Beautiful in a naughty but good schoolgirl kind of way with fucking silver eyes.

“This is an outrage. You don’t even know if I can teach,” she said, her hands balling and going to her hips as she faced off with Mr. Willis.