"Hey Sharon, wait up," Davey called pushing his way through the crowd, no mean feat for someone of his small stature.

Sharon let out an exaggerated sigh before stopping. Since she'd become single a few weeks ago Davey seemed to be lurking behind every corner.

"Hi," she said smiling through gritted teeth.

"So uh what are you doing?"

"Making my way to math class." She tried not to sound sarcastic for once since she didn't dislike Davey but she was totally not interested in him.

"Hey me too," he said falling into step beside her. "So what are you doing tonight?"

 Inwardly she groaned, would he just back off already?

"I'll be studying, I have an essay to finish." She gave him a pointed look. "You should probably do the same."

"Do what?" Louis Dimucci asked as he caught up to them.

"Oh, I didn't see you there," she said grateful for the interruption. "I was saying he should study tonight."

Louis looked at her for a moment and she realised she sounded a little too pleased to see him, and a little too keen on school work. Thanks for that, Davey! She smiled tightly and walked into the classroom, her heart sinking as it always did when she had math.

"I'll catch you later," Davey said as he sank into his seat and she couldn't help grimacing.

"Is everything okay?" Louis asked taking his seat beside her. They were seated boy/girl in alphabetical order as if they were still in junior high.

"It's fine," she said tightly.

"It doesn't look at it."

"It's just Davey, he won't leave me alone." Idly she twirled her hair around her pen but after one too many twirls it got tangled and she had to tug it free.

Louis tried not to laugh. "I can see he's winding you up, like literally winding you up."

"It's seriously annoying."

"Listen, do you want me to have a word with Davey," he said lowering his voice when Mr Hunter glanced their way. "I'm his friend, I might be able to help."

"Okay," she whispered, keeping her eyes facing forward. "I guess it's worth a try."

                                                                                             ~~~

The bell rang signalling the end of class, it was the final period of the day. Sharon closed her books in exasperation, she'd barely got through any questions, and those she had completed she was pretty sure were wrong. It was so frustrating! She got As and Bs in her other subjects without much effort but math was like a foreign language to her. She looked over at Mr Hunter and contemplated asking him to explain it to her again.

"Is something wrong?" Louis asked as she hovered by her desk.

"No," she said hastily grabbing her books. I can't speak to the teacher now, they'll all think I'm a nerd if they hear me asking for extra help.

Louis looked at her frowning. "Right well you seem even more wound up than you did before class started."

She scowled, he'd obviously seen she'd done little more than crossing out all lesson while he had whizzed through the questions. "I don't like math, that's all," she admitted with a sigh.

"Yeah, I noticed," Louis said and for once he wasn't smirking. "I can give you a hand if you like?" 

She paused uncertainly, she didn't understand what she was doing but could Louis Dimucci actually help her? "You really think you can help?"

"Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Why don't we go to Frosties and I'll have a look at where you're going wrong?" He was watching her while he chewed his gum, and she thought what an irritating habit it was.

"Okay but you're probably wasting your time." She was sceptical that he could teach her what Mr Hunter couldn't.

"Nah, it'll be easy."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

                                                                                            ~~~~

"Ahem, Sharon, how can I put this," Louis said looking at her work and trying not to grin. "It's all wrong."

"All of it?" She looked at him in dismay. She was glad they had sat in a booth away from prying eyes, this was so humiliating.

"Yeah all of it, you obviously don't understand the formula-"

"Yes, I know I don't understand it, that's the problem," she snapped. "Look let's just forget this, you are wasting your time." She might as well accept she was going to fail, god her mom would kill her.

"Stop overreacting, once you know the formula you'll get all of the questions right," he said opening a textbook and flicking through it.

She rolled her eyes, she found it so boring she couldn't remember math formula's for more than two minutes. However, she forced herself to concentrate as he went through it again, and eventually, it began to sink in.

"See I told you you'd get it," Louis said sounding cocky and she frowned wondering if he was laughing at her.

"Well, thanks for your help but I guess you want to get going now." She'd held him up for long enough and if he was going to sit there and tease her...

"Do you want a ride home?" he asked. "It's on my way."

"It's okay, my brother's picking me up." She looked at her watch, hoping he wouldn't be much longer.

"Right well I'll hang out with you for a bit," he said taking her by surprise. They never hung out, not by themselves anyway.

"Aren't you supposed to be seeing Rhonda tonight?" she asked reminding him he had a girlfriend. "Don't you want to get going?"

He shrugged looking unimpressed by the suggestion. "I see her all the time in school."

Sharon scoffed. "That's not much of a relationship."

"I never said it was," he said meeting her eyes.

"Oh, I see," she said unable to stop herself from prying. "Does Rhonda know you feel like this?"

"I'm sure she knows it's going nowhere." He reached into his pocket for a fresh piece of gum. "And it's pointless to keep dragging it on."

She nodded. "That's why I finished with Steven, it got so boring. All he wanted to do was play football, watch football, talk football. I couldn't stand it."

He laughed. "I can see how that would bore you."

"Yeah but now I have Davey pestering me." She let out a deep breath. "Honestly, what is it with you guys? You see a girl's single and you assume she'll be desperate for a date?"

"That's not true," he said. "Some of us have standards."

She looked at him frowning. What does he mean? Is he actually insulting me?

Seeing her face he quickly continued. "Look you're really pretty so, of course, Davey's gonna try it on, but guys don't go for any girl who happens to be single. Like if she was ugly or had a horrible personality. I guess if she was ugly but had a great personality then maybe-"

Sharon burst out laughing at his ramblings. "So I should be flattered by the attention?" she asked tongue in cheek.

"Well maybe not attention from Davey, you can do better than him." She felt herself flush. "I'm serious Sharon. Don't waste your time on Davey or that jock."

"You can talk," she said deflecting. "It sounds like you're wasting your time on Rhonda."

He nodded. "I'm gonna finish with her."

Her eyes widened, now this is a good bit of gossip. 

"Don't say anything," Louis added.

"No of course not," she said wondering why he was telling her this. I really should warn Rhonda but knowing her she'll shoot the messenger. "If you've made up your mind don't drag it out," she said carefully. "I mean we all hang out together, it could get awkward."

"Yeah I know, that's why I've been waiting for her to dump me. Cos I don't care but I think she might get a bit upset."

"She'll be upset if you string her along," she warned. Her brother put his head through the door, and she waved to him, letting him know she was on her way. "I'll have to get going."

"Okay," Louis said and she thought he looked slightly disappointed.

"Don't tell Rhonda you helped me out, she might get all weird about it." She knew Rhonda would, especially if Louis dumped her shortly afterwards. She'd probably think she'd interfered somehow.

"You girls get funny over the stupidest of things," Louis said standing up with her.

"And you guys don't?" she asked mock offended.

"Nah, not really."

"Well, thanks for your help," she said awkwardly. Impulsively she gave him a quick hug.

"Anytime," he said letting go of her, and now he was definitely smirking.

She flushed, quickly saying goodbye. Oh my god, I should not have done that. He's still my friend's boyfriend and she'll go batshit if she finds out. What was I thinking?

                                                                               ~~~~

Thank you for reading, please consider voting.