Louis Tomlinson.
What could Lux even say about him? Except he was everything she hated about boys her age. He was rude and arrogant, and all his friends were just like him. She despised how loathsome he was. She wanted less than nothing to do with him – except it was nearly impossible, being as he sat directly behind her in English class and pretty much did everything in his power to thoroughly annoy her.
She was certain, she could feel his eyes blazing straight through the back of her head, and it made it incredibly hard to even pay attention. Every time he coughed or cleared his throat, it would throw her off even worse. But it wasn’t until she could actually hear his breath by her ear that she knew he was really screwing with her. She was sitting so still, almost afraid to move. Chills danced up her spine as her own breathing hitched. She was so distracted by what Louis Tomlinson was going to do next that she wasn’t even paying attention to their teacher.
He was acting so strange – even more so than usual. Lux could literally feel his breath on her neck. And she swore she heard him sniff her. It sent her mind into a tail spin. She had to know why he was acting the way he was.
She cleared her throat lightly as she tried to snap out of the daze she was in. She tried as hard as she could to focus on Mrs. Mackey’s lesson, but when Louis began humming quietly – so quietly that she was certain she was the only other person to hear it – she was lost again.
Lux looked at clock, realizing there was only ten minutes left of class, and that she barely took any notes on the lecture.She was certain she was going to need another seat assignment to learn anything that semester. Deciding to give it one last ditch effort, she hurriedly scribbled down everything Mrs. Mackey had written on the board, even though most of it didn’t make much sense. And just as she sat back to survey her writing, she felt her ponytail get flicked. Realizing it was him, Lux turned her head quickly and sent him the best glare she could muster. He sat back in his chair, looking at her with a smile on his face before he smugly bounced his eyebrows at her. Lux let out an internalized growl as she snapped her face forward and worked as hard as ever to ignore the little shit who sat behind her.
Louis had always been an odd character. One day out of the blue he just appeared – the new kid in town. Well, in fact, Louis was the new kid in the country. He was originally from the United Kingdom, and transferred in to their shit-hole of a school some time during their freshman year. Of course, being the new kid earned him instant popularity, and all of the girls swooned over his stupid British accent. But Lux saw him for who he was from day one – and egocentric jock, who didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself.
Now as a senior, he was captain of the soccer team and he had everyone in their damn school fooled into thinking he was a decent person, when he really wasn’t. Lux knew better. Louis Tomlinson was a phony. He was their hometown hero, but to her and everyone else he bullied, he was a menace.
As her shit luck would have it, Louis was also in her Trigonometry class, which came directly after English class. She felt like she couldn’t catch a break from him. He sat diagonally up one seat from her, so she couldn’t help but continue to steal glances at him during the entire period. She was annoyed with him and she was double annoyed with herself for giving a shit about what he was doing.
When they got their mid-term test results back, Lux was pleased to see she aced hers. Math was always one of her best subjects. When she saw Louis run his fingers through his hair, her eyes caught the large F and the words “see me after class” on his test. It looked as though trig was not Louis’ subject – no surprise there.
During the period Mr. Dixon also asked to see her after class, which had her on edge all throughout the period. She couldn’t help but dwell on it, wondering what she did to warrant a private meeting once all of the students left the classroom.
When the bell rang, everyone seemed to immediately scatter off toward their lockers, where as Lux was left gathering her books feeling anxious and apprehensive. Louis stayed seated in his desk, as cool as a cucumber, waiting on what their teacher needed to ‘see’ him about.
“Mr. Dixon, what is this about?” Lux asked as soon as her belongings were packed up.
“Well… it seems as though Mr. Tomlinson is not doing so well in this class…” Mr. Dixon said, looking over at his not-so-apt pupil.
“Thanks, teach,” Louis sneered, rolling his eyes, obviously embarrassed about his bad grade.
“Miss Carver, I was wondering if you would be willing to tutor Mr. Tomlinson for a few nights after school,” Mr. Dixon asked, causing Lux’s whole entire world to jump straight off its axis. Tutor Louis Tomlinson… after school… in her free time…? Holy shit, what? No, no, no, no, no.
“WHAT!? Do I get a say?” Louis yelped, sitting up straight at his desk, obviously appalled at the teacher’s statement.
“Mr. Tomlinson, I suggest that if you would like to graduate high school and continue on to some form of higher education, that you take this opportunity and run with it,” Mr. Dixon said sternly, causing Louis to shut up almost immediately. Mr. Dixon turned his attention back to Lux for an answer, and all she could do was look between the two of them, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“Uh… I-I guess I could… for a little while,” Lux stammered, feeling incredibly shanghaied into something she really, really did not want to do.
Seriously, the least Mr. Dixon could have done was talked to her about it in private instead of practically forcing her to tutor that dumbass jock by asking her in front of him. She felt the annoyance festering inside of her as she looked over at Louis skeptically and he stared back at her in the same manner before he scoffed and looking away. Seriously, what an ass. Lux was about to do him a favor and he couldn’t even pretend to be grateful.
“Great! How about tonight?” Mr. Dixon asked with a smile as he clapped his hands together.
Louis shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes, and it made Lux want to completely call off tutoring him altogether. But she was soft-spoken and shy by nature and knew she would never say no because she hated confrontation more than almost anything. She would do it a few times and hopefully be done with Louis Tomlinson faster than he could even spell out the word ‘Trigonometry’.
“I guess that would be okay,” Lux said hesitantly.
“Wonderful! Mr. Tomlinson, I suggest you pay close attention to this one. She just might be the one to save you from failing my class,” Mr. Dixon said with a smile on his face as he glided back toward his desk, completely pleased with himself.
Lux sent a short glare at the back of his head, even though she liked him as a teacher, and proceeded out the classroom door to get as far away from the nightmare she just signed on to. But it was easier said than done, because seconds later, Louis caught up with her at her locker.
“So, my place or yours tonight?” He asked as he leaned up against the neighboring locker. Lux nearly choked on her own saliva as she looked over at him, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“Uhh…” She stuttered as her brain lapsed to an infantile state. She wasn’t aware they were studying outside of school.
“My place. 6ish. Don’t be late,” Louis said, making the executive decision, as he casually pushed himself off of the bank of lockers. Lux could do nothing but nod as she watched him back away from her.
Luckily, Lux knew where he lived because it was only two blocks away from her own house. They rode the same bus to school for the first couple of years he was around – well, up until his daddy bought him a bitchin’ new car.
Louis gave Lux one last look – a full body once over. Then she got another raise of his eyebrows and he was off, down the hallway toward Andy Walker – his best friend and fellow bully.
6ish, he said. That meant she had the option of showing up between 6:00pm and 6:59pm. And there was no way in hell she was going to show up too early. She chose to keep it safe by showing up at 6:15pm. And when Louis answered the door, it was like he was waiting by the door for her.
“You’re late,” he said, checking the imaginary watch on his wrist.
“Last I checked, ‘6ish’ wasn’t a specified time,” Lux said with as much attitude as she could muster. He smirked, looking amused, and let her inside.
The two of them went down to the basement in the TV room, where of course, Louis was watching a soccer game.
“If this is how you study, then it’s no wonder you’re failing trig,” Lux snapped at him as she set her books down on the coffee table.
“I failed a test, I’m not failing trig,” Louis snapped back as he snatched the TV remote from the table and made it a point that she saw him turning off the television.
“Tests are a third of the grade,” she countered, and Louis sent her a glare.
“Let’s just… come on. We don’t have all night,” Lux sighed, rolling her eyes at his attitude.
He seemed to do a good job of paying attention, which was surprising. Lux could tell he struggled a lot with math, but he seemed to give it a good effort. That is, when she wasn’t catching him staring at her.
“What?” She snapped at him, after the third time she felt his eyes on her.
“What?” He smirked, as he looked down at his practice sheet.
“Focus,” she said, trying to sound stern as she failed to stifle the smile that tugged at her lips.
“I am,” he replied, looking back up at her through his long eyelashes, cocking his eyebrow slightly.
Lux shook her head and rolled her eyes as she looked back down at her book, feeling exceptionally weird over the moment they just had. Everything about the situation was weird. And Lux just felt awkward and weird.
Louis was being a perfect gentleman, which was simply unbelievable. She never knew Louis to be a gentleman. Nobody ever knew Louis to be a gentleman. He even walked her to the door when she was leaving. And he watched as she walked away – still standing in the doorway as she got into her father’s car.
Did she mention it was weird? It was going to be interesting tutoring him, to say the least.

Notes

Let me know what you think! Thanks! Also, you can follow me on tumblr if you'd like -- smile--styles.tumblr.com OR lisavslisa.tumblr.com