Chapter 3: Work for it.

'Library. 1300 hours. Don't be late!' Perse had made sure to send that text at 4 a.m. so it would be the first thing Asher saw when he woke up. She knew he had read it by the two blue ticks on the text. So why was it 1.35 and he was not yet at the library? She made sure to highlight in bold that he shouldn't be late so he couldn't have missed it. She skipped her lunch so she could make time to tutor him. The least he could do was show up.

'WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! I'VE BEEN WAITING LIKE FOREVER!!!' She hit sent, and stared at the screen like that would magically make him reply. Nothing.

'ASHER! If you're purposely ignoring me I swear you'll regret it! I don't have all day'

'Dude! It's 1.40! I have 20 minutes left till my next class and I'm not going to be late because of you. Seriously. Where are you?!'

And she waited. And waited. And waited even more. She even did a quickfire test, and read poetry and three chapters of her book hoping that Asher would make a surprise pop-up. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she decided to forgo eating lunch for this. She realized then how terrible of an idea that was.

'Asher Jayden Thorne! It's 1.53. If you aren't here in two minutes you're going to tutor yourself!' he shot him another text. And she watched as the gray ticks finally turned blue. He had read the texts. Somehow, that made her a bit relieved.

She watched as three dots appeared on the screen. He was typing. Perse couldn't help but hope that he was giving a good reason as to why he was late.

'You won't believe what happened,' Perse read Asher's text, and she sensed an excuse coming.

'It had better be you having been run over by a train. Otherwise, I'm going to have to arrange it for you!'

'Close enough cheer squad. I had some issues to iron out with some jerks at the cafeteria. School gossip spreads fast. I'm sure you'll hear about it soon.'

'Do you not realize that you're 56 minutes late?'

'I'm not late... you're just early:]'

'No! You're definitely late!' she replied. Her fingers tapped the screen harder than it was necessary. Even from a distance, it was obvious she was angry.

'Well, time is overrated anyway. Let me just wrap up my meal and I'll be with you shortly.'

Rage. Pure hot and uncontrolled rage. She felt it in large amounts and had to take deep breaths to keep herself from exploding. She had just spent her entire lunch break waiting for someone who was busy showing the school who the alpha male was. That's an entire hour she'd have spent doing something more meaningful. Couldn't he have told her that he won't be able to make it? Instead of making her wait for almost an hour before telling her that he ran into trouble.

'Time is overrated? TIME IS OVERRATED?! I've been waiting for you since 1. I strictly told you to NOT be late! I skipped lunch so I could make time in my schedule and then you go ahead and STAND ME UP??!!! Do you have any idea how valuable an hour is so you can have the freaking audacity to tell me that time is overrated?! So now I've wasted an entire hour doing a lot of nothing, I haven't eaten lunch so I'm hungry as hell! And I'm SUPER PISSED OFF at you for not to showing up! May I remind you that I'm the one doing you a favor, not the other way around! Don't bother coming___ it won't make much of a difference.'

She pressed send. And she didn't wait to see if he read it, or if he was going to reply. She packed up all her books and supplies and stashed them in her bag before exiting the library, a glint of anger noticeable in her footsteps.

She heard her phone ping, an alert of an incoming text. Her mind was in turmoil over whether she should read it or not. It was undoubtedly from Asher, and she didn't want to hear anything he had to say.

She went to her locker and grabbed the books she needed for her next class just as the bell rang. She tried to take deep breaths to calm her erratic heart and help subside her rage. But every time she thought of Asher, she just lost her cool all over again. World History ought to get her mind off things. It was among her list of top five favorite subjects. She briskly walked to class, making sure to avoid hallways often used by Maya and the squad. She didn't think she could handle being around her then.

In class, the constant questioning by Professor Morgan kept her attention on the lesson and prevented her mind from straying back to Asher.

"Now, I hope all of you have prepared your presentations___" Professor Morgan announced, a wide smile on his face, and the students grumbled, a majority of them not having completed the assignment. If it were any other teacher, the students would have assumed the teachers just found pleasure in tormenting them. But Professor Morgan is widely adored for his rather optimistic attitude and his zeal for positivity. He was never not smiling, which may have been one of the main reasons why his class was the most well performed in the school.

"Awwww come on. We just recently did a test. We had no time to prepare for this presentation!" a student complained.

"That was a month ago Chris," Professor Morgan said with a chuckle and the whole class burst into fits of laughter.

"It was? Well... whatever. It still counts.

"It doesn't. I've given you over a month to complete that assignment, and if you haven't by now, what assurance do I have that any extension I give you will make a difference?" he asked, and most of the students pouted in response, making imploring gestures at him. "Carlisle?"

"Yes?" Perse looked up at the professor, her attention finally snapping back to class and away from the doodling she was doing at the back of her book.

"Tell me that at least my favorite student did that project," he said. The class murmured something under their breaths as others hooted. Everyone knew that Perse was the favorite to most, if not all of the teachers in school. She was everyone's favorite. If the school were to vote for the most likable person, it would be her, there was no doubt about that.

"Well-" Perse chuckled nervously, feeling a shyness she wasn't familiar with.

"Oh no Persephone__! Not you too,"

"No no no! Of course, I did it___ It's just___"

"Then come on up here and present it to us," Professor Morgan gave her an encouraging smile. Perse couldn't help but chuckle nervously. Despite having boosted her confidence through cheerleading and all the social gatherings she's had to officiate and give speeches in, she couldn't help but feel anxious being put on the spot like that. And she certainly didn't want to be the only one in the class giving a presentation. Maya had already made it very clear what she thought about her 'know-it-all' attitude. Perse couldn't care less though. She's always enjoyed being the smartest person in the room.

"Ummm__ sure. I'd love to," she said as she stood up and walked to the front of the class, making sure to avoid eye contact with Maya who she knew was undoubtedly shooting her a nasty disapproving glare.

"Take it away Persephone," the Professor stepped away, giving Perse room to do her presentation.

"Hey everyone. For all who don't know me, my name is Perse; and I'm going to present a brief overview of___"

Bang!

Hers and the attention of the entire class diverted to the class entrance, where none other than Asher had decided to make a grand entrance, as usual. Perse watched with undisguised agitation as Asher confidently walked inside the class, shades covering his eyes and an aura of arrogance surrounding him. She hated how everything stopped when he stepped into a room... and hated even more that he had ruined her presentation.

"Asher Jayden Thorne___ You're late!" Professor Morgan said as he briefly glanced at his watch. He didn't even look like someone who was shocked. He was used to him at this point. He was admittedly shocked that he even showed up to class to begin with. He hardly ever does.

"My bad," he replied, a playboy smirk adorningon his face as he looked in Perse's direction. "I had a few... errands to run. I hope I didn't interrupt?" He feigned politeness. Perse was about to say that he was interrupting and that he should go back to where he came from, but Professor Morgan beat her to it.

"No. Not at all. I'm glad you could join us. Please, have a seat,"

Asher gave a humble nod as he walked to an empty seat.

Perse closely watched him as he skipped the first two rows and sat on the empty chair on the third row... on her seat!

She couldn't believe the audacity he had. After failing to show, today, of all days, he decided to go to History class. A class he never attends. And out of all the empty seats, he decided to take hers. He could see her things on the desk, their red color was hard to ignore. Plus everyone knew that he preferred sitting at the very back of the class. Why would he randomly decide not to today?

The class exchanged glances between the two. Maya, who was now positioned two rows behind Asher, stared at his back with contempt.

"Perse? Care to continue?" Professor Morgan stated, returning his, and the attention of all the students, back to Perse.

"Umm..." Perse cleared her throat, making an effort to switch her mind back to her presentation and not the arrogant jerk sitting in her seat. "Sure. Sorry. " she shook her head, put on her confident smile, and just like that, she was ready to tackle this problem.

"So what are you presenting to us today Carlisle?" Professor Morgan asked with genuine enthusiasm.

"I'm going to give a brief summary of 'Colonialism in World History'." she said and the teacher nodded for her to continue. "Ro__ Kill the lights,"

Rory, who sat closest to the switch, obliged her request. Perse grabbed the remote, connected her flash drive to the projector, and turned on the project. An image of 'an illustration of Christopher Columbus and his ships arriving in the Americas' was displayed on the screen for the class to see.

"This is Christopher Columbus__ an explorer who embarked on a historic journey, aiming to find a western route to Asia." the first sentence heightened her confidence and she continued. "He landed in the Caribbean, which he believed was Asia, marking the start of the European exploration in the Americas. His voyages laid the foundation for the further exploration and colonization in the New World."

Asher, watched with fascination, as Perse explained, briefly and with so much enthusiasm, about Colonialism. Despite Perse using pictures and videos and explaining it as best as she could, he couldn't understand a single thing. She moved to the next picture and went deeper into explaining it.

Asher couldn't help but wonder how she did it. She explained almost everything he had briefly crossed in his textbooks, and she had absolutely no references or flashcards. She didn't have a phone to confirm the details from, or summary points jotted down somewhere to guide her. All her attention was on the class, occasionally passing her gaze to everyone as she spoke.

'How was she so good at everything?' he couldn't help but wonder.

She nailed algebra. She's acing history. And he confirmed that she was the best cheerleader he'd seen when he saw her the previous day at practice. Everyone seemed to respect her, the teachers obviously liked her. She's the school's student treasurer, and she's the chair of the student honorary council. He, on the other hand, was only focused on football, and he didn't need anyone to tell him that his academic life was pathetic, to say the least. How can one person be so incredibly smart while another one is so incredibly dumb?

Was this the reason the coach assigned her as his tutor?

He would have loved to contribute to the discussion or ask a question just so he could get her attention for just a minute. But he had no idea what she was talking about and he was too physically and mentally exhausted to find out. Plus it was obvious to him that Perse was avoiding looking at him. She was undoubtedly still angry at him.

He realized he had zoned out when the entire class applauded, the lights coming back on moments after. He had missed the entire presentation. No surprise there. Perse gave a curtsy as Professor Morgan praised her.

"And this is exactly why you're my favorite student," he nodded approvingly, and Asher resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that.

"Thank you, Professor," she said, a proud smile on her face and a contrasting humble expression. Asher couldn't help but wonder how she managed to do that too. Be proud and seem humble at the same time.

"You're lucky, yet again, that Carlisle has saved you from taking a pop quiz," he announced and the class cheered. He was saying something else but Asher's attention wasn't there anymore. His eyes followed Perse as she gathered her belongings. She would have to look at him. She would have to talk to him. Afterall, how else was she going to tell him to get out of her seat? He's been banking on talking to her since yesterday. He was secretly hoping she'd openly rant about how mad she was at him for failing to show up at the library. He was counting on it.

But Perse walked to him, picked up her books, and walked right past him without as much as sparing him a glance. She walked two rows down where Maya had chased a guy so Perse could sit. She watched as the guy scrambled fearfully to collect his things, but Perse shook her head, whispered something to Maya and the guy, and then proceeded to sit at the very back of the class.

She hated it. She hated sitting at the back of the class. But nothing was enough to make her talk to Asher , not even him provocatively choosing to sit at her place. It felt good giving him a dose of his own medicine. If it's her attention she was looking for, he was going to have to work for it.

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