Learning to Live

Chapter 10

Scott's reaction was mild compared to Stefan's and Lia. He was just pissed off Hunter and I started dating before the end of the week. Apparently, he and Jason had a bet going on, and he lost.

So at lunch, Jason joined us with a loud hoot that melted into the cafeteria's noise. He slammed his tray down, sloshing his already open drink everywhere. Lia wrinkled her nose next to him and moved her tray away.

Hunter was sitting next to me, closer than usual.

"Scott! Pay up!" Jason said, wiggling his fingers.

"I don't have cash right now," Scott said. "I'll pay you later."

"What the hell! You knew they were dating since last night. You should've brought cash."

Hunter leaned in closer to me as Scott and Jason bickered back and forth. "What are they talking about?"

"They had a bet going on," I said. "Jason said we'd start dating before the week is over. Scott gave us until the end of the month."

"Mhm," Hunter said.

I glared at Jason. "How did you know we'd start dating?"

He grinned. "How couldn't I know? You're the only one who didn't."

"It did happen rather fast," Lia said. "I expected you to last a couple of months at least."

"Damn, should've made a bet with you too," Jason said.

The pickles in Hunter's tray were untouched. He pushed the tray closer. "Take them."

I glanced at him. He was so close I could smell him. The brown of his eyes looked lighter today. "Are you sure?"

He rolled his eyes and pushed the tray closer. I grinned and snatched them. He offered, who was I to argue?

"Awe, look at the love birds," Jason said.

Scott gagged. "Dude, stop. Gross. That's my sister."

I rolled my eyes, pushed my tray aside and pulled out my notebook.

"Calculus?" Lia asked. "Do you want to copy my homework?"

"I already did," I told her. She'd ended up spending the night yesterday and I'd copied her homework. She hadn't even noticed because she'd been so engrossed in teasing me about Hunter.

"So what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm trying to make sense of it," I said, tuning them out. I pulled out a pen and started working on the first problem.

After a few minutes, my temples started to throb. I groaned and scribbled the nonsense on the paper.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked, leaning closer.

"Calculus. That's what's wrong," I grumbled.

He looked at the problem, his dark lashes fluttering down. Then he took the pen from my fingers. "Watch."

I frowned, following as he solved the problem step by step.

"Use this," he said, circling a formula at the top of my notes. My brows raised. The glyphs on the sheet of paper began making sense.

Hunter worked through the problem with deliberate slowness, writing notes between every two lines. He didn't speak a word, yet the veil of mystery that shrouded calculus disintegrated. I gaped at him, hope filling my chest.

"You're good at calculus?"

He shrugged. "Good enough."

I looked at the meticulous notes he scribbled down on my notebook. He was brilliant. "I actually understood how you did that," I mumbled to myself. Then beamed at him and blinked my lashes. "Will you tutor me?"