Mistakes Will Be Made

The Dreaded End

The math classroom is basically the same layout as all the other classrooms at school. The only differences are the furniture arrangements and uses for the classroom. In most classes Perona is in the middle of the class, but not in this math class. Here, Perona is right next to Mr. Mihawk's desk which was in the back of the classroom. Windows that stretch across the whole wall of the room are to her right and at her front left side is the doorway. Her seat does not really bother her until the second half of class because this is when he comes back to his desk after teaching the lesson to the students at the board, which is at the front of the room. Perona enters the usual setting and believes that the classroom is empty. She walks over to her desk and sits down in it, and she pulls out a notebook, pencil, and calculator. Honestly, she knows that she probably will not be using it the entire year. She waits patiently for a few moments before she pulls out her phone and texts Cindry about anything to keep her from getting distracted by her boredom. She hasn't told Cindry yet about her encounter with Mr. Mihawk at the bookstore. She doesn't think she ever will. It is because it isn't really relevant, not that she thinks something more. Just a chance meeting between a teacher and student. Nothing to do with the age difference only being 7 years and how she reacted to seeing him. It is not like meeting a teacher outside the classroom by chance is something that is worth publication in magazine or gossiper. In fact, it is not even worthy of being school gossip in the halls that matter. 'So why is it still stuck in my head? Really, it was nothing? Keep telling yourself that Perona.' she thought to herself. "What's stuck in your head?" a deep-voiced presence cuts in from behind her suddenly. "It is none of your business!" she snaps a bit too quick and loud for her liking. As her face turns bright red, she turns around to face the voice and her jaw drops only a fraction at the sight of the one person she is trying to avoid. Of course with her luck, Mr. Mihawk is there now and his head is popping up from under his desk while he stares up at her in curiosity. He seems to take in her slight jaw movement and apparently audible gasp as shock at his sudden entrance, because he is then briefly scratching the back of his head awkwardly and searching the ground for a little while for an answer. "Sorry I dropped a thumbtack and I don't need any students to ruin their day with a tack in the foot." he explains. Nodding along with the explanation that she doesn't really care to hear to be honest, she turns her head away and slips her phone into the waistband of her pants. Soon after, students come into class and Mr. Mihawk goes up to the front of the room to begin the lesson. 'Great save Perona.' she thinks to herself, not aloud this time. About five minutes into class; she was done trying to focus. She tried, she honestly did, but it is math class for crying out loud so how do you expect her to sit there? She stares out the window absentmindedly as the drone of the lesson fills the back of her head. Out of instinct she looks towards the front of the classroom and meets Mr. Mihawk's gaze directly. Flushed, she quickly looks away and picks up her pencil and starts doodling in the blank pages of her math notebook. Her reverie is soon broken however when she hears Mihawk walking back to his desk. He makes his way over to his desk and is glancing at his students' work on the new assignment he just handed out. His eyes catch Perona's notebook and he stops walking towards his desk and instead pauses right at her side. He clears his throats and she looks up sheepishly at him a slight pinkish tint dusting the apples of her cheeks and she feels her ears burning with embarrassment at being caught red handed doodling by him. She sets her pencil down and then looks at him. Quickly she reminds herself that it isn't any of his business if he looks or not, and doodling isn't a crime. So with a quick 'hmph' she directs her attention back to her doodles with her cheeks and lips slightly puffed out. He clears his throat again and gazes at her, and she returns the gaze, but then looks away after a few seconds. "Perona, after class may I have a word with you please?" he says in a more hushed tone as to not disturb the other students. Even from that hushed tone she knows that he is not asking her to come, he was telling her that she's going to be there whether she will like it or not. She squeaks and then audibly gulps. Recognizing her defeat, she looks down and nods her head meekly in reply to his demand. She pulls out her phone for a couple of seconds and then types to Cindry to not wait for her after school is over today and then presses send. Perona continues to doodle in her notebook because she had already been caught anyways and needed to forget about her recent defeat, so she could deal with the consequences for her actions later.

Finally, the bell rings out and she gathers her things to get up and leave this wretched class, but quickly stops on her way out realizing that Mr. Mihawk is standing over by his desk with his arms crossed as he waits for her to make her way back over to him. She huffs and then turns around to head over toward him, sulking the whole way of course. By the time she gets to him, the classroom has emptied besides the two of them. Suddenly, she is very conscious of herself and fiddles with the ends of her shirt. With his desk being the only buffer between them, she did start to feel the proximity between them. Did she mention that she isn't the luckiest person on the planet yet? She swore off whatever force keeps bringing her to Mihawk. In fact, she usually didn't even think twice about this stuff, but seeing him yesterday had made it otherwise. 'Boyfriend?' she thinks to herself and takes a glance at the teacher looking down at her for a second. He is always gazing directly at her and for once she doesn't break the eye contact.  'Talk about Mr.Bad-at-reading-the-atmosphere -and-can-only-gaze-over-everyone'. He begins to speak about how she isn't putting in effort and the like. It isn't like Perona hasn't heard this before from her math teacher. She sighs at the frustration building up. She tries her best studying and practicing for math, but to no avail. She made colorful notes and flash cards one time, and it still didn't make any difference. What more can she do? Suddenly, she is snapped out of her thoughts because something catches her ears. Tutor. Perona was about to scream. He does not just recommend someone, no something like that. Not only is she broke, but she is uncooperative, bratty, and pouty. She is spoiled, she knows. "What?" she sharply interjects into what he was saying. He clears his throat for the one millionth time, which makes Perona want to scream, and then he crosses his arms. Even under the loose dress shirt and slacks on him, there is a subtle outline of his firm and muscular body being hinted. "As I was saying, I believe that you should get yourself a tutor whether it be a friend who is good at math or someone for hire." he finishes. Thinking, Perona tries to contemplate a good candidate to be her tutor. Perona thinks back to her trip to the mall and how she spent most of her savings on clothing and then how she had seen him in her chair and- that was enough thinking for her. So with her being broke, someone for hire is out of the question. She thinks about her closest friends. Cindry is smart but she is a year below her, and not smart enough to be put in the advanced math class. Zoro is dumb as shit and there is no way that she is going toask for his help. "Well?" Mr. Mihawk asks while he glances up at the clock on the wall. "Mr. Mihawk, to be honest, I am flat broke and can't afford to hire a tutor. Plus, I do not have any friends who excel at this sort of math thing-class. I am also busy most of the time after school." the pinkette answers in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone. Sure, she stretches the truth a little about being busy after school, but don't we all do that once in a while or so for the greater good? After a few moments of prolonged silence from him she gets bored of waiting for a response and starts to play with her nails that she had gotten done in a pink that is the same shade as her hair. Finally, she looks up at her math teacher expectantly and waits for him to give up on her ever being productive in his class. Most of the time she gets her way and she isn't about to lose that now. Unknowingly to most, it is statement to say that Mr. Mihawk is one of those teachers who wants all his students to succeed in life but in the down low sort of way. She isn't aware to her dismay. He thinks for a while lost in thought. How will be able to sit through the bar with Shanks on this impulse? He will never hear the end of it from his friend, but he knows it is his pride against a student's success. His pride could take a few swings for a student's future. He looks down at the sulky and bored student. 'This is for a good future for her' he reminds himself. He takes a deep breath and tells her,"I can tutor you.". She plays with her nails still for a moment, she is still expecting a sigh of resignation. Wait, what? She drops her hands to her sides and stares up at her math teacher in disbelief. Her mouth drops to the floor in astonishment over what he has just said to her.  "What the-"

Helloooooo this is coming along pretty smoothly I'm happy to say. Right now I would say that this is the last chapter of the introduction. In these three chapters, we see Perona having her main problem presented, which are her poor grades in important classes. There are also small hints of Perona's developing feelings for her math teacher in this chapter, which she is trying to fight back and label it as false. Next chapter forward will start to bring out the dynamic relationship between the pairing and her inner turmoil that gets pretty deep. Finally I get to plan out the cute stuff...and some pretty deep stuff too. Thank you for reading as always 😊.