You flip the page of your book, listening to your desk mate, Seungwan, who is ranting about her new love interest. She goes on and on about him flirting but never really showing deep interest in their conversations. As she sighs, you chuckle at her, already knowing what she is probably going to say next.

Your best friend talking, with your classmates chatting in the background, and you doing some quick revision, is how your typical morning looks like. It is almost like a routine, with the only difference being the topic of conversation or the subject you are revising. And if everything's a routine, Kim Junmyeon should barge into the classroom about half a minute before the school bell rings.

Kim Junmyeon. He is the person notorious for bending the school rules as far as they can go, barely passing his classes, and being the younger brother of the school's pride, Kim Minseok. He and his friends like to think of the school as more of a playground than a place of education.

To be honest, Kim Minseok is the reason why you pay so much attention to Junmyeon. Minseok was your senior, before graduating two years ago. He excelled in academics, football, and he even performed songs at school functions. He was everything you wanted to be, and you were also a little infatuated with him for a short while too, so it made sense with how fascinated you were at the fact that his brother was so different.

Just as you predicted, Junmyeon saunters into the classroom, a lazy grin plastered onto his face. Having his friends in different classes does not deter him from acting as if he is a movie star, with the wind blowing in his hair and half-lidded eyes. You wonder why the school doesn't filter the students by grades in classes. Instead, students are separated randomly. The way Junmyeon acts always distracts you from your work, and today is no exception.

"Why does he look so unbothered? Isn't he afraid of our test results?" Seungwan comments, reading your thoughts exactly. "He looks more confident than you, and you're the smartest kid in class. Ugh, I think I messed up the last section. Why is maths so difficult?!"

"You'll do fine," you assure her, patting her on the arm for good measure. "You always do."

And it's true. Despite how she seems so nervous, she usually is one of the highest scorers in class. Junmyeon, however, seems to be the opposite. He always looks confident, but the digits on his test papers prove otherwise.

He catches you staring at him and you quickly avert your gaze. Somehow, he always manages to make you blush amidst your disapproval of his rule-breaking.

You wait for about ten seconds before looking back, and Junmyeon looks like he hasn't lifted his gaze of off you at all. He looks amused and you berate yourself for liking his smile a little too much. The redness on your cheeks brings no help to playing it off coolly.

Finally, the bell rings and the teacher enters the classroom with a frown on her face. It doesn't take much to know that the exam didn't go too well. The greetings go as usual before everyone is staring at her expectantly, silently.

"I was very disappointed marking your papers from last week's test. Did any of you even study?" she remarks loudly, making you gulp. "Almost every one of you couldn't answer the last few questions. Was it that difficult?! Only three of you managed to get As for this test. I expect all of you to buck up and do better on the next one."

At the mention of only three people getting As, you cross your fingers tightly. You spot Seungwan doing the same thing from next to you.

"I'll hand out your papers now. We'll go over the whole paper so you can ask me anything you're unsure about. You should also check if the scores are added up correctly."

Miss Jung heads to your desk first, making your heart thump in your chest. She smiles. "Congratulations. You scored the highest this time."

It takes a moment for you to register her words before the corners of your lips pull upwards involuntarily. Happiness blossoms inside of you, and you do a mental happy dance.

"Congrats," Seungwan tells you, punching your shoulder. "As expected, our class' top girl."

You laugh. "Congratulations to you too. I'm sure you got an A and I don't have to even look at your paper."

"Actually..."

You finally have a look at the paper on her desk and your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She is only a few marks away from an A.

"Oh, well, it was a difficult test! Let's study harder together for the next one."

Seungwan chuckles, looking a bit sad. "I told you I messed up the last section."

Giving her a reassuring smile, you turn around to see where the teacher has gone. You're eager to go over the paper.

You find her standing over Junmyeon's desk, speaking to him with a stern look on her face. That's not a good sign. On the other hand, Junmyeon does not have his usual confidence with him, looking a tad nervous as he listens. His eyes widen as the teacher says something.

It looks like the exam didn't go to well for everyone in the class. Even for yourself, only barely getting 2 marks over the A mark.

Miss Jung goes back to the front of the classroom. "This was a tough paper. So, let's go over the questions one by one and please raise your hand if you don't understand something."

She turns the projector on before the answer scheme is displayed on the whiteboard. Everyone immediately starts copying down the right working and answers without her having to say anything. You do it as well, before someone stands over your desk and casts a shadow over your book.

"Excuse me, please see me during your break," the teacher tells you all of a sudden in a quiet voice as everyone is too busy with their own work.

You can only nod before she returns to the front to start explaining. Feeling curious and a little afraid of what she has to say to you, it is difficult to listen to what she is saying. Could it be that your exam results were much worse than usual? Would she punish you, or maybe call your parents? Surely it wasn’t that bad.

The bell rings and class is over before you know it. It is still a few more hours before your recess, and the nervousness makes everything pass by like a blur.

-

Finally, the bell for recess rings and the whole class erupts in chatter. And you will finally get to know why you were called in by the Maths teacher. You hardly paid any attention to the previous subjects, trying to figure out why she wanted to see you.

You hurry off to the teachers’ room, very eager to know what is going on. However, it has to be put on hold, as she is not at her table and probably finishing up with another class. Tapping your foot, you bite your lip anxiously.

Suddenly, someone appears next to you, and you are surprised to see that it is Kim Junmyeon, with his usual lazy look, as if he couldn’t care any less. He grins at your expression.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, half-curiously. “The only reason you’d ever be called to see a teacher is to get an award, and I don’t recall anything being awarded lately.”

“I’m not here for that actually,” you reply. “It’s for something else.”

There is a moment of silence as he thinks of the reason why you’re here. “Wait, were you going to ask her a question about Maths? You should’ve saved that for after your food. You know how the line is always really long.”

It is conversations like these that make you forget that he is famous for rule-bending and whatnot, because he seems like such a normal guy, like a random kid you would find in the hallways. He is not sarcastic when he speaks with you, and his tone isn’t even rough. He seems to be almost gentle.

You don’t look at his eyes when you answer. “No, no. Miss Jung asked me to see her. I don’t know what for, actually.”

“That’s funny,” he grins. “She asked to see me as well.”

You spot the teacher coming in from over his shoulder and he catches on too, turning around to bow towards her. She greets the both of you before setting her bag onto the table.

“Nice to see the both of you being friendly with one another,” she says, drumming her fingers on the table. “The reason I asked to see you two is because of the recent Maths test you sat for.”

Junmyeon glances at you in confusion. “I thought you got an A?”

“I was just getting to that. You see, Junmyeon, your grade was the worst in the class, and the worst you’ve ever gotten for a Maths test. In fact, I’m wondering how you’ll be able to sit for the final exam at this rate. Do you even understand what’s going on in class?”

It feels awkward to be just there when a teacher is scolding your classmate right in front of you. Out of nowhere, her gaze softens and she turns to you. Somehow, you can predict where this conversation is going.

“This is where you come in. You see, it would be very much beneficial for Junmyeon if he had a tutor. One on one studying is perfect for students who are falling behind. Of course, I can provide him with some extra lessons, but a tutor would help him take a huge step forward. And you’ll get some cocurricular points as well. I know you have some tutoring experience with younger students, so it’ll be easier for you to do this.”

Your jaw hangs open as you realise that your predictions have come true. Though the extra points are very enticing, it requires a lot of energy and time. You aren’t sure if the pros outweigh the cons, but you don’t have it in you to refuse her.

Junmyeon senses your hesitation. “You don’t have to if you can’t-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” you cut him off, almost automatically. “I can do it.”

“Don’t think you can get out of this,” Miss Jung warns him, waggling her finger for good measure. “I’ve made sure that you’ll be left in good hands. I expect to see commitment from you and improvement in class.”

He sighs, slumping his shoulders. He looks like he doesn’t want to do this at all, which is understandable. However, this makes it a bit more difficult for you. There is one thing that most teachers have in common; they hate students who are unconcerned about their work. Junmyeon doesn’t look like he’s going to be an easy one, by the looks of it.

She smiles. “I’ll leave the both of you to it, then. You may leave for lunch.”

Right after she says that, Junmyeon exits the room with a half-hearted bow. With his long strides, he leaves you stunned, staring at the door as it swings shut. He really does not want to do this, you realise.

“I will try my best in tutoring him,” you say, regaining your senses.

She nods, and you quickly head out of the teachers’ room to find Junmyeon. There are a number of students out in the hallway, but none of them are the person you are looking for. Despite only exiting the room a mere minute earlier, he is a