Your maths class was uneventful, like any other day. You didn't hate maths but you didn't particularly love it either. All you did was complete exercises and scribble notes down from your teacher, hoping you would remember them the next day. You had pretty decent grades in most subjects, often getting B's and rarely a bit lower. But maths covered all types of topics to which some you struggle in. But that was hardly the case.

After stopping by at your locker and getting your equipment and assignments, you and Leon chatted and walked. As you got more familiar with Leon, you realized how friendly and charismatic he was under the shy exterior, despite all the stammering. It felt wonderful to have made another potentially close friend. In the end, he agreed to meet you at the rooftop at lunch, where you usually ate. You waved him goodbye and left. When Leon finally got to his class, you waved at him and left to your class which was a few doors down.

You entered the room, quickly sitting down on your usual seat next to your maths partner, Sasha. Her black hair was always tied up in a ponytail, emphasizing the size of her red rectangular glasses. Her lips protruded a bit as she wore colourful braces. But despite all that, you thought she still looked amazing. Leaning sideways and closer to her ear, you whispered to her, asking about this lesson's topic.

Sasha whispered back in a slight lisp, "Quadratics, something about solving equations and drawing graphs I think."

You winced at your previous experiences of such topics. Quadratics has always been your worst nightmare. No matter how hard you studied, how much help you got from the internet, how much help you got from all your previous maths teachers, you still didn't understand the material. Lizzy, who was in a lower class than you, understood but didn't help you because she couldn't teach and said you needed to learn by yourself. In summary, you were a hopeless case. Sasha was out of the question; you asked her to do so many things and you've finally decided not to suffocate her with your questions because that would just be annoying.

While you were reminiscing the hard old times, your teacher suddenly strode swiftly into the room with thick textbooks in his hands, like he owned the place. Oh, wait. He kinda did.

"Quadratic equations," Your teacher, Mr Davis, slammed the books onto the desk, "We're going to learn more about quadratics equations. I believe you've already learned it for the past few years and I expect all of you to know, or else you wouldn't be in one of the best classes, would you? And because of that, I'll start by briefly summarizing the basics and then we'll move onto more complex topics." He wrote the title and the date and opened his textbooks, skimming through what he was meant to teach and the exercises he was going to give the class.

Mr Davis wasn't an extremely strict man, but he wasn't a nice one either. He had higher expectations for higher level students (meaning you and your class) and does at least 3 surprise quizzes per month to keep you on your toes. Mr Davis is known for humiliating students who misbehave or don't pay attention, but that hasn't happened to you yet. Luckily, he only picks on the students who raise their hands unless no one raised their hand up previously, which is very rare.

"In algebra, a quadratic equation an equation which contains at least one term that is squared. That's also called a polynomial of the second degree..." Everything became a blur to you. You didn't really understand what Mr Davis was saying and you were unable to write proper notes, copying down everything he wrote to study later. He was teaching so fast, you felt like your maths teacher was speaking a foreign language. However, you looked to your side and saw Sasha writing diligently like she understood everything. And she probably did.

After the teacher set tasks for everyone to do, you did them one by one and eventually zoned out and stared at the board ahead of you. You didn't notice that time passed by until you heard Mr Davis' stern voice called out your name.

"Let's see who to pick on then... Y/N L/N. Care to share your answer for question four?" You felt the tone he called your name in meant that you were in trouble.

You cursed, knowing you were only on question two. "I don't know," You said quietly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you." He mocked by cupping his ear.

"I don't know." You said, a bit louder this time.

"Still can't hear you~" Your teacher repeated with his booming voice.

"I don't know!" You almost yelled, knowing full well he could hear you. Sasha looked at you in pity. He sighed in disappointment, "This is what you get for daydreaming. See me after class. And because she doesn't know, can someone at least guess the answer?" Some of your classmates, having enough confidence now, raised their hand up. You, on the other hand, was still flushed with embarrassment.

After that, time passed on quickly. Your embarrassment sort of faded away until the end of class where you had to face Mr Davis again. Finally, you stayed behind the class, waiting for Mr Davis to scold you or humiliate you further. He looked evil with his bald head and huge ass ruler placed next to him.

"Now, according to the surprise quiz last week, it seems you are struggling quite a lot with quadratics. " He took a sip of his now-cold coffee. Your teacher wasn't looking at you but opening up a new tab on his laptop. "I've also checked your previous records and have concluded that this was your worst subject. Correct?"

"Yes, sir," Was all you could say, your shoulders stiff with tension. You wrung your hands anxiously in gawky silence,

"Let's see..." Mr Davis tapped his fingers on the table as he waited for his screen to load, "I have compiled a list of tutors for you to pick from. These people may be from different classes, but they are just as capable as the other."

You grimaced at the thought of getting a tutor. It was always so awkward between the two of you. When the tutor leans over to explain something, you'd nod and pretend to understand because you were too embarrassed to ask them to repeat again, even though it's their job. They don't even laugh at your jokes, which you couldn't blame them because people had different senses of humour.

"Oh."

He turned his laptop towards you, displaying all the names of a potential tutor. You looked through them.

Scarlet Flores, Leon Harts, Gabriel Miller, Melody Park-

Wait, Leon's on the list? This sure makes the process way easier. Hopefully, he doesn't mind you picking him.

"Leon Harts," You answered. He raised an eyebrow. It was a rare student to choose such a quiet boy.

"Are you sure? I taught him last year and he was a very quiet student."

You nodded. "I'm sure."

Shrugging, Mr Davis clicked the checkbox next to his name and slammed the laptop shut, "Okay, I'll have his response by the end of the day and you can set arrangements for yourself. Remember, I expect your results to be better next month."

"Okay. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome. You are dismissed."

After your talk, you mindlessly moved from class to class, trying to forget what happened in the morning. Soon, it was lunch time already and you jogged towards the rooftop, eager to meet your new friend again. Sadly he wasn't there. You placed your bag and walked towards the cafeteria, hoping that Leon recognised your bag and that you only went out to get cafeteria food. You used a more isolated route this time because today was more crowded than usual.

On your way to the canteen, you heard a familiar voice struggling for help.

"S-stop it, p-please!" It sounded like Leon! But you had only known him for one day so surely it isn't him. You hoped it wasn't. Following his voice, you peeked around the corner and confirmed the identity of the helpless male who was who you thought he'd be.

The shy boy was uncomfortably moving to escape against the strong grasp of some bulky guy who was accompanied with a few more people. You know some of them to be the people on the school bus who were laughing at Leon. What was so funny about him? You didn't understand. The muscular boy holding Leon's arms back was lean but it was clear to everyone that it didn't take much to keep the lanky male down. You had seen him around, with his stupid smirk, healthy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. You never liked him.

The second guy took Leon's bag is very muscular. His thick hands wrapped around Leon's bag with an evil expression on his face. Everything about his face just screamed idiotic to you. When he grinned, you could see his crooked teeth and his already narrow eyes shrink as small as it could. Though you've seen both guys around, you didn't know who they were.

Around them were four more people, a girl from your PE class called Annalise who was scrolling through her phone in disinterest, another girl who you've seen before but didn't know, an annoying douchebag from your chemistry class named Jonathon, and their leader.

Their leader, Monika Hayer, had her arms crossed and stared down arrogantly at Leon's kneeling figure. She was a friend of Lizzy's, one that you didn't particularly get along with but still put up with because she's your best friend's friend. You usually interacted with her with politeness but today was a special exception.

Before you could say anything, the guy with the crooked teeth shook Leon's bag violently. A whole load of books and assignments tumbled out, along with his pencil case, a calculator and other school supplies. The object that took the worst damage was his laptop, which had its corner shattered due to the impact on the floor. Leon struggled to keep the tears in his eyes as he bit his lip to stop any noise from coming out.

"Take his homework and leave the rest since they're worthless pieces of trash," Monika ordered, chewing on her gum. The crooked teeth guy flung your friend's bag out of the way and randomly grabbed a bunch of papers that seemed to be important. She then added, "Oh, take the laptop as well."

The guy roughly handled the damaged laptop, throwing it towards Jonathon who caught it with ease.

"P-Please! Give it back." Leon cried, blindly attempting to reach his device.

That was what it took for you to take action. At first, you were a bit reluctant to go against people that were so intimidating but this was a bit too far.

You took a deep breath and strode into the fun scene with fake confidence. Monika's eyes turned towards you in annoyance, wondering who it was that interrupted her precious time. Identifying you to be Lizzy's friend, her eyes lit up in insincere politeness.

"Oh! You're Lizzy's friend aren't you?" She smiled at you, "As you can see, we're just finishing some things up with this guy. Would you like to join?"

Leon gave you a look of betrayal, realizing your assumed association with them. You ignored his looks and instead focused on talking with Monika.

"What do you plan on doing to him?" You asked the bully.

The shy boy looked down and sobbed, realizing that the first friend he made wasn't even a genuine one. He couldn't believe that he trusted you.

"Oh, you know, everyone has a few assignments coming up that we forgot to do. We were going to ask him nicely to do it for us."

"Er, why don't you do it yourself? Maybe you'll learn something while doing those assignments." You tried suggesting it in the nicest way possible.

Leon's sobs calmed down to sniffs, confused on who's side you were on.

Monika rolled her eyes, her patience thinning. "Why would I do that?"

"I mean, it's for the future I guess."

"What's the point? My dad owns a cosmetics company. He said after he retired, I could have it."

You sighed. You were done talking all that bullshit. "Look, this is bullying. This type of behaviour is just plain rude, repulsive and damaging to someone's self-esteem."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Now let me ask you nicely. Please give back Leon's things." You walked slowly towards Leon's fallen possessions, starting with his school bag. You picked up his things one by one and neatly sorted them into his bag. Finally, you gave your bag out to your friend who had been released by the blonde guy. He shakily took his bag back and brushed his bag to get the dust off.

"Now as for the assignments and laptop. May I please have them returned?" You requested the crooked teeth guy.

"Nah. I don't think you need it as much as I do." He shoved the paper into his bag, planning to share it with his friends later. You turned and looked expectantly at Jonathon, who still had the laptop.

Jonathon shrugged. "Fine. I don't need this piece of junk anyway." He carelessly threw the laptop onto the floor. Shattering it beyond repair.

"No!" Leon was so furious. Furious that he's been trampled on. Furious that he can't do anything about. So instead, he started to cry out of frustration. "This was my family's only laptop!"

Before anything else could escalate, your former English teacher, Ms Rayes, stormed into the chaotic scene. She had been patrolling the halls a few minutes prior and had heard everything.

"This behaviour is absolutely unacceptable! Come with me immediately and we will discuss your punishments. Leon, you will need to come as well. And if you want, you can bring a friend."

Leon peeked shyly at you as if asking for your permission. You nodded encouragingly and held his hand, squeezing it for comfort. Your friend's whole face turned red at the sudden display of affection.

You and Leon followed behind Ms Rayes, along with the group of bullies. Do you really consider him as a friend? For some reason, thinking of you made his heart beat really fast and his hands tremble. Just a simple touch from you could make his knees as weak as noodles. He just wanted to melt right then and there. What is this feeling?

'Maybe we can stay like this forever.' He sighed dreamily at your current hold on him. Leon squeezed his eyes shut, going back to reality. Of course, you were going to let go eventually.

In the end when the situation was sorted out and Ms Rayes had given the group two weeks of suspension. Jonathon, the guy who threw Leon's computer was required to pay back the money the laptop cost within three days. 'This will definitely be on their permanent record', was what the teacher said.

"T-thank you again", Leon breathed out. His thoughts were a mess on the inside. What just happened? You were so brave! If only he could be more like you. To think that you'd ever betray him; how dare he ever thought of that!

You beamed, "It's fine, let's go eat lunch. Did you bring or buy lunch?"

The pure cinnamon roll looked down, blushing. "I don't need lunch." He looked down, hoping to hide his family's situation from her. He didn't want you to look at him in pity.

"Oh! Did you forget? It's okay, I'll buy it for you for today." You offered. He started panicking, not wanting to burden you into leaving him. "N-no! It's fine, I'm already much indebted to you." He mumbled, trailing off.

"I insist. You can think of this as a favour to return." You don't care what he said, you're still buying him lunch. You could always ask your parents for more money if required. They wouldn't even know that you had been buying for two. You walked past Leon, who was still immersed in his own thoughts.

'Ah... she's so pretty...' Leon mused, 'Does she have a boyfriend?' Surely someone as amazing as her can't possibly be single.

He snapped out of his thought and shook his head rapidly. What was he thinking? Someone like her would never be with someone like him.

~~~

As said before, I don't have anything planned so I have no idea what's to write about to make Leon fall into a deeper in love than now. Sorry this chapter was less fluffy. THE FLUFF HAS YET TO COME.

I need suggestions guys (e.g. amusement park date, study date, etc) and I'll take my favourite ones and try to write them. Of course, you'll have to be more specific than 'study date', give me a scenario.

My motivation is at its peak so I'm trying to write as many chapters as possible before turning unmotivated. :D

Constructive criticism is encouraged!