"Good morning class! Today I'll be introducing something that Oakleaf high has never tried before. We are going to have each student from advanced math mentor a student from the normal math class. This will go on for a week. You will miss a week of math to help them with their math, so if you don't like this class, lucky you. They are learning math that we have already learned, so you should know how to teach everything to them. The goal is to help them understand and teach them math strategies, so if we catch you just giving them the answers, you will get in serious trouble. I trust this class, and I hope my trust is not broken. We let the kids in the normal math class choose who they want to mentor them based off of who they think they'd work the best with. We all know that here at Oakleaf, a lot of the students in normal math have some behavioral issues, so it was a big risk for us to let them choose their mentor. So if things aren't working out please inform me. Alright. I'm going to give you slips with the person your mentoring's name on them. Then we will go to Ms. Brooks class to begin our first day." Announced Ms. Lacey. Courtney wasn't very excited. She knew all the kids in the normal math class, and she didn't like any of them. But that's probably because Tom and a few teachers were the only people at Oakleaf that Courtney actually liked. Tom looked at Courtney when he got his slip. His cheeks turned red. 'Show me.' Courtney mouthed, and he showed her that Corey had chosen him. Courtney was etastic! Tom had told her all about him and Corey seeing the movie. There was no kissing or hand holding, which disappointed Courtney. But she knew that this project would bring them closer. Courtney beamed in excitement. But her face fell, then twisted into a scrunched up mad face when she saw her slip. Why her? What did she ever do to deserve this? Of course he chose her. Of fricken course.

"Ms. Lacey, may I switch partners with somebody?"

"We haven't even started yet! Give your partner a chance and if things don't work out we'll figure something out."

Courtney sighed and gave Ms. Lacey a nod. Then she walked over to the normal math class with everyone else. Duncan gave her a smirk as she sat down. She glared at him.

"Get up on the wrong side of the bed today, Princess?"

"Do NOT call me Princess! My name is Courtney, and if you do not call me that, you'll regret it! Now just shut your big mouth and listen to Ms. Brooks so we can get this over with." Duncan laughed.

"What?"

"Your into me." He smirked even harder.

"What?! Am not! I can't stand you and I've barely ever met you yet!"

"Class please quiet down. First, we need to go over some guidelines. No goofing off! This is a serious thing and we need to concentrate for it to work. My class, I hope you know that this could really help you out. Second, be nice to each other. I don't care if some of you dislike each other, that gives you no right to be mean. Now. Go to question C-58 in your math books. I'd like you to get C-58 through C-65 done today. My class, we've already learned this, and the advanced math kids already mastered this, so I don't need to teach anything today. Now get to work. If you finish early I'll give you a fun bonus question. If you don't get to question C-65 you'll be held after class to finish. I know that seems crazy, but we are taking this very seriously, and I know you can finish before class ends. Now get to work!"

"Okay, C-58." Courtney flipped through the book.

"I like your freckles. Your really pretty." Courtney didn't know how to react, because she had never had a classmate compliment her, and he was actually being nice, and not just a jerk.

"Uh, thanks I guess." She found the page and read the question.

"Okay, here's the problem. It's an equation, so copy it into your notebook. As Duncan copied the question onto the page, he brushed arms with Courtney. He smiled at her. And it was an actually genuine smile, not an annoying smirk. She just looked at him in surprise and acted like it never happened. Duncan purposely rest his calf on hers under the table. She surprised him for the second time this week by kicking his shin under the table. He winced and pulled away. This made his crush on her even bigger. Courtney demanded they start to work on the problem. To Courtney's dismay, Duncan didn't understand any of the work because he never payed attention.

"If you payed attention in class you would know this!" Courtney huffed in disgust.

"It's not my fault class is so boring Princess!"

"Oh my god, how do you even have friends?"

"Everyone likes me."

"Really? Cause I sure DON'T."

"You want me."

"I. do. NOT. Now we need to get back to work."

Courtney took the next ten minutes helping Duncan with problem C-58.

"This is so boring!" Courtney didn't even listen to his complaint, she just glared at him then kept explaining the next part of the problem. Duncan was so clueless that by the time class ended they were only on problem C-61. The teacher went around checking for who finished.

"Courtney and Duncan, meet me in the classroom after school. I'm disappointed, you had more than enough time to finish the problems." Said Ms. Brooks. Courtney tried to hold back her tears but she couldn't. Some slipped down her face as she tried to hold them back. She quickly wiped them away. Courtney had never been sentenced to stay after school, and she never had any teachers feel disappointed in her. Duncan felt a pain in his chest when she saw her tears.

"It's okay, it will be fun."

"Shut up! This is all your fault." Courtney took a shaky breath through her nose.

"Class, I have good news! This seems to be a very effective strategy. Only one group didn't finish! So thank the rest of you for your hard work and concentration." Ms. Lacey came and took the advanced class back to their classroom to get their stuff then go to next period. After the class cleared out, Courtney went over to talk to Ms. Lacey.

"Ms. Lacey, I don't think that my partner is working for me. He is very rude and cannot get things done."

"Courtney, you know what? I was glad when Duncan picked you. Because you're unstoppable. You can do anything you put your mind to. Don't tell the others, but I think you might be my best student. So as my best student, I'd like to give you a mission. It's sorta like an extra credit assignment, but instead of getting extra credit in my class, it pays off in other ways. I'd like you to work with Duncan the whole week. And I'd like all the work to get done, whether you have to do it after school or not. But you wanna know what the most important part of the mission is? I want you to get through to him. Because I know for a fact that jerk or not beneath every student who goes to Oakleaf high is a good heart. Duncan has had a lot of troubles since he got here. He's gotten only D-'s and F's. He never pays attention, always gets in trouble, and has been called a bully by many people. But I'm choosing you to find the beautiful heart I know he has. This is a hard mission. Do you think you can do it?" Ms. Lacey smiled at Courtney, silently hoping she would accept.

"Yeah, I'll do your mission Ms. Lacey. I won't fail you."

Ms. Lacey beamed.

"I know you won't."

Ms. Lacey watched the girl walk off. Truth is, Ms. Lacey wasn't just an expert at math. She knew a lot more than that. She knew how people worked. Ms. Lacey had gotten a lot of complaints about Courtney, too. "She's too bossy." Or "She's judgemental." She'd even heard kids in the hall saying things like: "I'm surprised Tom can even stand being her friend. I'm surprised she even has a friend." But Ms. Lacey knew that Courtney had a beautiful soul somewhere inside her. And by putting her on this mission, she was helping Courtney just as much as Duncan. Because she knew, or at least hoped, that if she stuck two opposites together, they'd bring out the best in each other and learn to embrace each other's differences. She just hoped her plan worked.