Alexia’s POV

        “Mhm,” Colin hummed absentmindedly as I once again explained the problem to him. After what happened Thursday, he had been relentless in his pursuits to keep me as his tutor. 

        And it worked. 

        Part of the reason was because he claimed he wouldn’t stop pestering me until I agreed, and the other part was because I was genuinely curious to see what he’d do. 

        After his bold proclamation that he’d get me to agree to a date, it piqued my interest. I would never agree of course, but it’d be interesting to see what he’d do. 

        “Are you even paying attention?” I fumed, giving him a sharp look. 

        He had his head resting on his hand, propped up with his elbow. “Yup.” 

        I raised a brow. “Oh really? Then what did I just say?” 

        “You asked if I was paying attention.” 

        I thumped him on the forehead. “Before that you dope.” 

        “Oww,” he whined, rubbing at the spot with a pout. “You’re mean.” I had to admit, Colin looked cute with his bottom lip jutting out like that. Paired with his big blue eyes, he reminded me of a little blonde puppy. 

        “No, I’m trying to be productive. We only have,” I paused, letting my eyes linger up to the clock. “Fifteen more minutes before this free period is over, and didn’t you say that you had some sort of quiz coming up?” 

        At the mention of the quiz, he snapped out of whatever he was dealing with and he was suddenly alert. “Oh crap, I forgot about that! We do have a quiz tomorrow, and I.. well, I don’t get it.” He scratched the back of his head, eyes wandering around the room for a bit before coming back to me. A sign that he was embarrassed. 

        “Exactly. We should probably focus then,” I told him sternly, and he nodded. 

        I went over the problem again, explaining things slowly, making sure he was paying attention. His eyes were running over the problem as I went through it, nose adorably scrunched in confusion. I could see him working things out in his mind the more problems I showed him.

        “Oh, I get it now!” he exclaimed after I went over it. Taking a pencil, he started on the next problem, mumbling things as he solved it. “So you just need to rearrange this into E equals P(x) minus the solution to 4.963e-10 times seven. Then you just take the answer and… done!” Sliding the paper over to me, he grinned proudly. 

        I didn’t even need to look at the paper to know it was correct. I had been watching him as he did it, noting that he did everything the right way. 

        “Yup, good job Colin.” I gave him an appraising smile.

        He gave me a toothy smile, pearly whites shining. “Thanks!”

        We sat, staring at each other, waiting for someone to say something.

        The silence felt heavy,  and as I gazed into the sea of blue, I felt everyone else in the room melting away, Colin and I the only ones remaining. 

        “Alexia?” he murmured, eyes solely trained on me.

        “Yeah?” my voice was hushed, air growing thicker by the second. 

        “K—“

        “Colin!” something akin to a banshee screeched, shocking both of us out of our little moment. I nearly growled in annoyance, I wanted to know what Colin was about to say. 

        A petite brunette popped out of nowhere, leaping like a gazelle that had its leg chewed off and landing right on Colin, who crashed to a ground with a pain filled ‘oof’. 

        “Ashley, where did you—“ 

        “I missed you bae! Where have you been? Everyone keeps saying that you’ve been avoiding me, but we both know that’s not true, isn’t that right boo? Cause it wouldn’t make sense for you to avoid me, we are in love after all,” she said in one breath, effectively cutting Colin off. Then she kissed him almost aggressively, and I blushed before looking away. 

        “Uh…” I coughed awkwardly. 

        “Oh, oops, sorry! I get a little carried away sometimes, especially when I see my honey-buns here. I’m Ashley, and you are?” The girl batted her eyes, eyelashes caked with mascara. She smiled so broadly and calmly, that it was as if she didn’t realize she had just made out with Colin where everyone could see and was still seated on him. 

        “Alexia,” I murmured, unsure how to perceive her. From what I could tell, she was really hyper and straight forward. Other than that, I was taught not to make assumptions about people. So I decided not to delve into any further thoughts regarding her until I got to know her better. 

        “Uh, Ash? Could you get off please?” Colin grunted, just as the bell rang. 

        The brunette looked thoughtful for a second, tapping her chin. “Nah, I think I’m comfortable here.” She smiled smugly, crossing her arms firmly across her chest. 

        “I have practice,” Colin tried again, and this time Ashley sighed. 

        “Fine,” she grumbled as she climbed off him. 

        “Thank you,” he muttered, standing up and grabbing his stuff. “Bye Alexia, and thanks again for all your help!” Ignoring Ashley, he promptly left, walking quickly out of the library. 

        As soon as he left, Ashley started laughing, loud guffaws that echoed slightly around the room.

        “Oh god.. that was so.. great,” she wheezed, every few words interrupted by her gasping for breath.“Did you see his face?” 

        I nodded slowly, confused. Doesn’t she like him? Why would she be laughing at his expression?

        After Ashley had calmed down, she wiped at her eyes where tears of laughter had gathered. Her finger came away with a dark black smudge from the mascara. 

        She grimaced. “Ugh, this stuff is gross.” She wiped at it a bit more, and it continued to smudge. “You look confused. Come with me to the bathroom so I can wash this gunk off and I’ll just explain what happened. I’m not crazy, I swear.” She chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand. 

        Leaving the library, I followed her, my bag hiked up on my shoulder. 

        Once in the library, she splashed water on her face, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin as she spoke. 

        “You’re probably wondering why I did what I did in the library.” She looked at me through the mirror, still wiping her eyes. I gave a wordless nod. “Well, the short of it is because it’s fun. People now know me as ‘crazy’ or ‘slutty’ or whatever you want to call it. The rumors they come up with about me are absolute gems, they’re so far-fetched it’s hilarious.” As if to emphasize her point, she laughed in remembrance of some of these rumors. “And the only person who knows they aren’t true is Colin. We’ve been friends since we were kids, and I’ve always been kind of shy. Once we hit high school, he encouraged me to be more confident in myself. One day, I was. I grew a backbone and decided to do what I thought would be fun. That typically meant making people feel a tad uncomfortable by any means, and soon it escalated into me kissing random guys in the hallways. Thus my legacy was born.” She finished cleaning off her eyes, throwing the last of the napkins away. Under all the makeup, I realized that she was really pretty, with smooth skin and straight brown hair with highlights. “I wear this crap because I know it annoys the hell out of Colin, and it bothers him when I kiss him like that. Of course, I don’t actually think of him in that way, which is why I’m telling you all this.” She shrugged as if this was all normal. 

        “So you go around doing things like this.. for fun?” I asked, slight amusement and bewilderment embedded into my tone. “And you and Colin are friends? Then why does he act as if he hates you?” I blushed madly when I said that, wishing I could take the words back. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that he does hate you or anything, he just seemed  a little.. uh.. upset when he left and he kind of completely ignored you and stuff. Wait! I didn’t mean to imply that he—“

        She laughed again, holding up her hand, and I stopped abruptly. 

        “It’s fine, I know what you’re trying to say. I’m a big girl, I can handle a few insults.” She gave me a toothy grin, and I opened my mouth to protest that I wasn’t trying to insult her. “I’m just joking around, I know you weren’t insulting me. Like I mentioned before, I love making people feel a bit uncomfortable. I’m a bit of an attention whore, if you couldn’t tell. Which is why I do all of this, as annoying and slutty as it may seem. At the end of the day, it makes me laugh to recount the things I had done during the day, and it’s not like I’m hurting anyone’s feelings. So nobody gets hurt, it’s all just fun and games.” 

        I really had to admire her; the confidence she exuded was astounding. It appeared that she didn’t take crap from anybody, and I wish I could be more like her. Yet I knew that it would be a while before I grew my own backbone. 

        “As for Colin,” she continued, “well, he was just embarrassed that I would do that in front of you. He gets a little pissy whenever I do things like that in front of people he likes, and based on what I saw, he likes you a lot.” There was a mischievous glimmer in her dark brown eyes as she looked at me, one that told me she was enjoying my uncomfortable silence and deep blushing. 

        “He does not..” I murmured, my words unconvincing. 

        She laughed again, and I couldn’t help but smile. She might just be one of the happiest people I had ever met; it was nice to be around someone who took laughed so much. 

        “Are you kidding? If I hadn’t interrupted you he totally would’ve kissed you!” I was positive my cheeks grew darker as she spoke, and she just gave me another wicked grin. “I guess I should probably apologize for disrupting your little moment together, but I couldn’t help myself.”

        I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have kissed him..” Again, my words were weak and showed no real conviction. 

        “Sure you wouldn’t have,” she winked. 

        “I wouldn’t!” This time my words came out stronger, and I folded my arms.  

        “Of course not,” she said in a sing-song voice, waltzing out of the bathroom. 

        “I’m serious!” I exclaimed, scurrying after her. 

        “So am I!” she called back. 

        I harrumphed, my arms crossed as I watched her walk away, a light bounce in her step that gave her a graceful quality.

        “Oh!” she cried, turning around before she reached the main doors. “And when he texts you tonight apologizing for my behavior, you should say yes after he asks you for another date! Trust me!” she yelled from down the hall. Then she left, the doors closing behind her. 

        I found myself standing in the hallway alone, a blush prominent on my cheeks, and a smile lighting up my face.

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so what do you think of Ashley? c: at first, did anyone think she'd be a total cliche slut who would end up being Alexia's rival? XD 

let's face it though, Alexia needs a friend and Ashley seems cool. i wish i had her confidence omf. i don't care that she's fictional. 

opinions on chapter? c: and i'm a big girl, i can take insults :p 

oh and all that stuff when they're doing chem problems i completely made up. it's all a bunch of hullabaloo. i know nothing about chem, i'm in chem level 1 this year so i'm just beginning to learn this stuff XD .. not sure why i chose AP chem for her to tutor him in but oh well.