𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖉 (hiatus)

iii. YOU NEED A TUTOR

MAX AND LUCAS had confirmed their 3 rules by the time lunch was over. as el and max walked toward their next class, science, max continued repeating those rules in her head, planning to write them down once she got to class. although max was a very smart girl, she was also very forgetful. whenever it came to a test, she became very stressed - you could never see her without a book in her hand. most of her pupils wondered why she was so anxious, she was the smartest kind in most of the school, but max already knew that. the problem was, her mind would forget half of the things she revised and if she messed up on the test, she wouldn't meet everyone's expectations. when you're an average student, failing a test isn't so bad: you're next expected to get everything right. being an above-average student, however? failing was probably the worst thing that could happen to you after you take your test. you feel humiliated, not only by teachers but by your peers.

science was at the other end of the school, so max and el had taken a while before they reached their class. most people were already in the class, chatting away while they wait from their teacher to arrive. as the two entered the classroom, they were shocked to see one of their signature seats taken by some random blonde girl - it was max' seat. on any normal day, max would have put up a fight. today, however, had shown not to be a normal day and so because max was too tired to say anything, she quickly reassured el.

"don't worry, i'll find another seat for today." el frowned but nodded as she headed towards her seat. max searched around her class. there seemed to be no seats left. that was until she found an empty seat at the back and in the seat next to it, someone she never had expected to see.

"lucas?" she hissed sitting down next to him, clearly not expecting him to be there.

"hey, max" lucas replied, amused at how shocked she was.

"since when were you in this class?" the girl asked time. lucas laughed, finding hilarity in the situation.

"i've always been here, i just sit at the back so i cant be seen. mr shaw never asks me questions." that made a lot of sense to max, she liked to sit right up front so she could be seen by the teacher and answer questions.

"i sit-"

"right up front?" lucas cut off, "i know. you really like answering questions, don't you?"

red rushed through max' cheeks. there was no way this was happening to her - she wasn't that much of a goody-two-shoes, was she? she looked away, not wanting to embarrass herself furthermore.

lucas seemed to have noticed her changed because he soon after responded with, "it's not a bad thing, you know, being smart. sometimes i wished i focused a lot more on my schoolwork when i was younger. i probably wouldn't find classes so hard." he laughed, but max could see that he really meant what he was saying. she didn't know what to say, although they were supposed to be "dating" they didn't know much about each other. it wasn't until she opened her science book (to read over her notes while they waited for their late teacher) that she knew what to do.

"i could tutor you?" max immediately grimaced, she hardly knew the boy, he wouldn't want to be tutored by her.

max' theory was apparently wrong, however, as a bright grin covered lucas' face. max was almost too dazzled by how white his teeth were to take in what he said.

"that would be great!" by now both of them were smiling, lucas because of how appreciative he was of max' offer, and max? she didn't really know why she was smiling, maybe it was because of how happy he seemed, or maybe it was because of how cute he looked when he smiled. snap out of it max, remember rule 3, she scolded herself.

max ripped a page out of her science book and took her pencil case out of her backpack. as soon as she took retrieved her pen, she began scribbling on the paper, not wanting to forget the rules before it got on paper.

rule 1: 'this "relationship" only lasts for a week after the snowball (so it doesn't look like we only got together because of troy's bet.'

rule 2: 'no kissing unless we really need to (kissing on the cheek is fine).' the first part of rule 2 insisted by max, the latter by lucas.

"what are you doing?" lucas asked, leaving over max' shoulder to see what she was writing.

"nothing," she quickly answered but then remembered lucas had to follow what she was writing too, "well, actually i'm writing down the rules that we set."

"oh." lucas had simply said. the teacher had finally joined the classroom, apologising for being late, once again. max had decided then to continue with writing down the rules. she only had one more left - rule 3: 'don't fall in love with eachother.' at first, they had only agreed on two rules (too many rules would make it not seem as natural, according to lucas, although max didn't agree so much with the statement.) it wasn't until they had finished their food that lucas had added the extra rule.

"also, one more rule," lucas whispered into max' ear as the started to leave the cafeteria, "don't fall for me."

max had chocked on the air, going a vibrant red when hearing this

"i'm sorry, what?"

"you know, because i'm so irresistibly handsome. it'll be pretty hard not to fall for me." max snorted at how confident he was.

"well in that case, we should change it to 'don't fall for each other' because i'm pretty damn hot if i do say so my self."

"okay, then it's settled."

"cool."

"totally tubular." max burst out laughing, tears brimming at her eyes. she had never heard anyone say such an alien phrase before.

"i'm sorry, what?"

"you're from california, right? i remember you saying that in 7th grade." max stared at lucas in disbelief, how could he remember that far back?

"well, i heard people in california say weird stuff like that."

"i have never once heard such phrase, that's almost as bad as gnarly!" they both chuckled at the fact that these words exist and spent the rest their time mocking surfer slang until they had to split ways - the party going one way to class, el and max the other.

after max had finished writing her rules, she stuffed it in a secret pocket in her bag. she didn't want anyone finding it. she turned her attention back to her class but for some reason she couldn't focus on the teacher. she was distracted by something else, or rather someone else.

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sorry for taking so long to update, i was so busy with my work during this quarantine HAGSKSNDJ