Bait // Thiam

Chapter 5

"So, do you understand it now?" Hayden asked me, taking a sip of her coffee and getting the froth on her top lip.

"Yea, so to find the value of x, you need to multiply a and d, but the divide it by three." I told her, writing it down and trying to figure it out. "So, if a and d equal 246, you have to divide it by three. And the you get the answer of, 82. In the end, x is 82?" I asked her, unsure if I did it right or wrong.

"I never knew someone could learn so fast." She laughed, putting a red tick next to my answer. "For someone who's failing math, you seem to be pretty smart." She smiled, writing down another equation for me.

"I just have a good teacher." I smiled, realising how cheesy that comment was. I bit the bottom of my lip, hoping she didn't hear what I said, and I don't think she did. She didn't smile or say anything, she just kept writing down my next equation. "Okay, that one looks a little harder." I admitted, knowing that I was going to fail straight away.

"Trust me, it's easier. I know it looks harder, but that because there's an extra number. You do the exact same thing, but change one thing, when you're working it out." She told me, handing me my book and waiting for me to solve it.

I looked at it and started thinking about it. There only one thing to changed to, but that could be anything. I wanted to say what I thought, but I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Hayden, when I've already proven that I am capable of doing it. I looked at her and smiling, trying to think of what to say.

"Look, you need to leave. You just sit here and look out the window. We have other paying customers that want this seat. Unless you're buying something, you need to go." I heard someone say, from the other side of the café.

I sat up straight, looking behind Hayden and saw the lady that was talking. She was tall and looked about 30, but she looked angry. She was looking at someone, giving them a death stare and shaking her head. Once I realised who's table it was, I stood up and got a closer look. Theo was at the table, reading a book with an empty coffee cup in front of him.

"I have brought something though. This cost like freaking 10 bucks and it doesn't even taste that good! I come here to drink coffee and read my book, not to have people like you coming here and yelling at me." He rolled his eyes and looked back to his book, trying to ignore the lady.

"If you don't leave, I'll be forced to make you." She pointed to the door and death stared Theo. "I'm gonna count to three, and if you aren't out of here, I'm calling the cops." She threatened Theo, pulling out her phone and unlocking it.

"You can do that." I interrupted her, walking over to them and looking at Theo, smiling. "He hasn't done anything wrong, so you can't go and call the cops. What are you going to tell them? Someone brought a coffee and isn't buying anything else, so I want him to leave?" I asked her, hearing Theo laugh in the background.

"Who are you? You have nothing to do with this. Go back to studying or whatever you were doing." She waved her hand in my face, indicating for me to move away. "Now, like I was saying, you need to leave." She looked back at, Theo.

"No he doesn't. I think you need to go back into the kitchen and make some more coffee's. Bye." I sarcastically said, sitting the opposite side of Theo and looking at him. "You're still here?" I laughed.

"You're a little Smartass. What's your name? I want to make sure I report you as well." She pulled out a notepad and waited for me to say my name. I looked beside her and saw Hayden there, looking at me with a smile on her face.

"The names Liam Dunbar." I said, smiling and watching as she wrote down my name. "What are you going to report me for? Completely owning you in front of everyone?" I laughed and looked directly into her eyes.