Claire's POV

"I personally think that maybe it's not me that is a bad student but it's you that is a bad teacher." I try to place the blame of yet another failed math test on Mr. Styles. It's a rainy Wednesday afternoon and instead of going home to sleep in my cozy bed, I'm at extra help. Love it.

"Claire, we've been sitting here for two hours and you still can't memorize the quadratic formula... It's not me." He chuckles, sitting on top of his desk and smirking at me with his big dimples.

"It's too long and confusing and I don't have anymore energy to learn today! Can we stop? Please?" I put my hands together push out my bottom lip, pretending to beg for him to end.

"Just repeat after me one last time." He sighs, crouching down to my level and staring into my eyes.

"Fine." I mumble, looking back into his.

"X equals negative B..."

"X equals negative B..." I repeat.

"Plus or minus...." He says, and my mind starts scrambling as he leans in closer.

"Plus or minus...." I repeat after him.

"The square root of B squared minus four AC divided by two A!" He finishes, urging me to copy him.

"The square root of... 4 squared minus B AC divide by two C?" I say as more of a question and he stands up, sighing in frustration.

"You're getting there, but that's not it." He lightly laughs.



"I hate math." I mumble, packing up my notebook and pencils and pulling out my car keys. "Thanks for helping me though, I think I'm getting... somewhere." I giggle, standing and helping him clean off the board.

"It's not easy but you'll get it eventually." He smiles, and then there's silence. I'm not gonna lie either... it's a little bit awkward.

"So how are things with you and Zayn?" He asks as we walk out of the school together. I have to admit, it feels a bit weird to be leaving the school at the same time but that's what happens when you're almost the last ones left.

"They're ok I guess." I respond with a slight chuckle. "I find it so weird that you guys live together," I add. Yes, Mr. Styles and Zayn live together which is exactly why I didn't go back to his place after the pep rally... or their place I guess.

"Why is that weird?" He asks, as we step outside into the parking lot. We stop under the little pavilion so we're not getting soaked from the rain and lean against the wall.

"I don't know... Cause you're my teacher and he's my--"

"He's also your teacher, love." He adds and I nod knowingly.

"I'm aware, but you know what I mean!" I smile nervously, making him smile down at his feet. "It's just weird cause Zayn and me are like, well you know," I laugh, "and then you're like my strict teacher and extra help guru--" my voice is cut off by faint giggling in the parking lot.

"What was that?" Mr. Styles asks, looking around the parking lot. We both step out into the rain a bit and my heart nearly fucking drops to my stomach.

"Is that Zayn?" I ask, pointing towards the tall figure leaning against his car soaking wet and chatting it up with my new study hall teacher.

"I guess so, and that's Perrie Edwards." Mr. Styles remarks, walking towards them. Little does Zayn know, I'm parked right beside his car. Without thinking, I grab Mr. Styles' arm and drag him over to the flirty pair standing outside in the rain.

"Claire?" Zayn's voice is full of surprise when Mr. Styles and I are now standing before him and Miss. Edwards. "What are you doing here still?" He asks, rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous habit I've noticed.

"I was just leaving extra help with Mr. Styles and we wanted to say hi! Right Mr. Styles?" I nudge him and he nods his head.

"Hi Claire, how are you?" Miss. Edwards giggles at me sweetly. I look at her as if she's a fucking moron and I mentally groan.



"Just peachy." I smirk, and she nods her head, fluffing out her soaking wet hair.

"Well I better get going before I catch a cold from this rain... I'll see you tonight, yeah?" She smiles upward at Zayn before hopping into her car and pulling away. I stand there staring at Zayn furiously while Mr. Styles awkwardly shuffles with his feet.

"What are you doing with Miss. Edwards tonight?" I say through gritted teeth. What the fuck is going on?

"What? Oh that's nothing babe, relax!" He steps forward, putting his hands on my shoulders but I quickly shrug them off.

"It didn't look like nothing to me!" I bark back, holding back tears. "Do you have a date with her?" I whisper, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.

"She's coming by to help me with grading, she was an art minor in college and--" He stops himself and wraps his arms around me. "I would never do that to you, Claire." He whispers into my hair. I nod my head into his chest before pulling away quickly.

"Okay." I sigh, shaking my head. "Sorry I jumped to conclusions." I whisper and he gives me a playful smile.

"It's alright, love." He adds and I look up at Mr. Styles who has a confused look on his face.

"Well I'll see you both tomorrow... Bye?" I chuckle, quickly kissing Zayn's cheek and scurrying off to my car and turning on the heat.

I've seen Zayn and Miss. Edwards talking before in the school but Mr. Payne or Tomlinson were always around too so I guess I never thought about it. I don't understand why they looked so cozy... Fuck I should have just told him not to hangout with her. FUCK. I pull out my phone and decide to send him a quick text.

Me: Come hangout at my place tomorrow night? It could be fun and my mom won't even know you're there!
Z: It's a date, love.

I get that same giddy feeling inside that I've been getting since the first day that I met him as I drive home. He's gonna come to my house and hangout with me... This is starting to become more than just an in school hook up and I fucking love it.

If only I loved the quadratic formula as much as I love spending time with Zayn, my life would be pretty sweet.


Harry's POV

"So Perrie is coming by to grade?" I chuckle as Zayn and I both enter our apartment at the same time. He looks at me with a slightly devilish grin and shakes his head.

"Actually I'm going there to help her move into her new apartment." He smirks, taking a bottle of water and drinking it quickly.

"But aren't you and Claire like... a thing?" I ask, sitting down in my usual grading spot and pulling out a stack of papers. But be nice to be an art teacher, painting and hooking up with the prettiest girl in the whole school.

"Yeah we are." He smiles, sitting down across from me. "Claire is like beautiful and all but Perrie is older and more mature... you know, mate?" He asks, and I cringe inside.

"If you're gonna do anything with Perrie then you have to end it with Claire. She's young and I don't want to see one of my students get hurt." I say as calmly as I can. I've noticed that Claire gets very passionate about the things she does and Zayn will just break her heart if he's not careful.

"I am not ending things with Claire anytime soon, mate," he chuckles lightly, "I've actually got a date with her at her place tomorrow night. Should be fun." He smirks and I roll my eyes.

"Whatever, Zayn." I sigh, shaking my head back and forth. "Just don't hurt Claire, alright? She's a good kid." I warn him one last time.

"She's an incredible girl, that's for sure. Sexy as hell too, right?" He eggs me on to say something about her but I won't. "C'mon Hazz, I'm not gonna hurt her. Perrie and I are just friends, relax!" He throws a football at me from across the room, making me laugh.

"You're a real dick." I chuckle, throwing it back at him and watching as it misses and knocks over a lamp.

"I'm not cleaning up that up." He laughs, slamming his bedroom door. The beauty of living in an apartment with your best mate is that you don't have to worry about it being clean or neat so...

"Me either." I shout back to him and begin grading the tests I brought home with me. In the back of my mind, I'm praying that Zayn doesn't hurt Claire and that if he does, she'll be ok.

Notes

hiii :) happy super bowl sunday! p.s. I hate football hahahaha

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