I watch Ashley as she runs out of the library. Although she’s not very tall, she’s running faster than the average girl would. It makes me wonder if she was ever on a sports team because nobody can run like that if they’ve never practiced. But, that’s not the point. I should focus on what she just said.

Ashley never wanted to tutor me in the first place if I heard correctly. That’s why she has been avoiding and declining all my requests. But why? I didn’t even do anything to make her hate me this much. We barely even know each other well enough for her to hate me like this. But, I think I know more about her than most people would think.

She’s caught my eye since the beginning of the school year. She wasn’t very talkative and outgoing which causes her to seem even more invisible than usual. But, Ashley has always seemed more interesting in my eyes than other people.

What I know is that she wanted to be invisible as she had so many opportunities to shine in the spotlight, such as being one of our grade’s top students. But she never took the chance. Why didn’t she want to take the chance? Because most likely she didn’t want to be seen or be talked about. Interrupting my thoughts, I hear a door creak open from behind me and I see the familiar plump figure of Ms. Darian come out.

Her facial expression is grim and she catches my eye. “I-I am so sorry. William. It wasn’t supposed to be like that,” she says as she slowly walks up to me.

I clutch my laptop in my arm. “It’s alright, Ms. Darian. This has been going on for a while and I want to know why Ashley has such a burning desire of hatred for me. I mean, you can’t hate someone for no reason. So I am going to figure out that reason,” I declare.

“Will, it’s not that easy. She’s very closed off, even with me after I took her in to become a tutor. It already took a lot of persuading for her to tutor you yesterday. The only thing that persuaded her was the fact that you paid me money and she felt guilty that you did. But now, you paid even more money, Ashley doesn’t know what to do anymore. If she doesn’t want to tutor you, then don’t push it. I was wrong to push her and look at where we are now.”

I sigh as I think about what she’s saying. Ms. Darian is right. Why do I even want to figure out the reason why Ashley hates me? Isn’t it just a waste of my time to figure out why? Ashley’s just another student that happens to be in four of my classes. But you need her to help you get your grades up and possibly more.

“Let me go find her,” I finally remark as I turn my body towards the door.

“Will, think about what you’re doing right now. You don’t want to cause another disaster,” Ms. Darian warns from behind me.

I turn my head to look at her over my shoulder. “I got this. You know I always do.” I add a wink as I put my hand on the doorknob to twist it open. Once I exit the library, the first place I head to is the girl’s bathroom. That’s where most girls go to when they cry. It’s always shown in the movies. A couple of people walk past me as they are smiling at me but I ignore them. I have better things to do than just smile back.

To avoid being in an awkward situation, I look around to see if there’s anybody else around. Once the coast is clear, I walk up to the girl’s bathroom door and place my ear on it. I try to focus on the sounds inside, but it seems like there are no crying noises. Then if life couldn’t throw any more lemons at me, I hear someone clear their throat from behind me and I freeze.

“Will? What are you doing leaning against the girl’s bathroom door?” I hear a familiar voice ask in a small voice.

It’s her. I forgot. Her locker is just around the corner from the bathroom. I grimace in frustration. Slowly taking my ear off the door and facing Ashley, I notice that her eyes and nose are a little red. She must’ve been crying. But I am pretty sure my face is redder than hers. “I-I...uh…” I trail off as I scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment.

She seems like she can’t hide her smile as she places a hand over her mouth. Her brown eyes are twinkling with amusement. “It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me. Boys do weird things anyway. It’s not my position to question their actions anymore,” she elaborates as she shifts her backpack around in anxiety.

I laugh softly as I am lost for words. “I just wanted to find you and since you stormed out like that, I thought the first place you would go is to the bathroom. Hence this,” I remark as I pat the bathroom door a couple of times. “Please don’t tell anyone I did this. I want to save my sanity,” I whisper.

“I have no one to tell anyone. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.” Ashley shrugs. “Well, I approached you because I believed that I owe you an apology.” She continues to twiddle with her fingers and averts her gaze from mine. “I’ve been acting kind of unfair to you about this whole tutoring business. And although I won’t explain to you why, I just want you to know it’s not your fault. It’s mine. So, I will try to tutor you to the best of my ability until the end of the semester. After all, that’s why you came to me in the first place.”

She finally has the willpower to look at me in the eyes as she finishes. “Y-You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” I close my eyes as I realize that I shouldn’t have said that. I did want her to tutor me. But it’s what she wants, not me. I can find someone else to tutor me. It doesn’t have to necessarily be Ashley. But you want to learn more about her.

“So, you don’t want me to tutor you?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I-I mean, I do but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because you-”

She interrupts me as she says, “I need a yes or no, Campbell. I don’t need a whole life story.”

Her fiery attitude has me shocked. I never thought she would say this in any way, shape, or form. Something starts stirring in me and it isn’t anger. It’s more of an unknown feeling. I gulp as I study her one last time. “Yes.” The words roll off my tongue easily.

“Good. When shall we start?”

Assuming that Ashley doesn’t want another a long answer, I answer, “Right now.”

She smirks. “Seems like you’re getting the hang of this. Okay. I think we can go to the quad. I don’t think I’m going back to the library after what happened. I need some time to think about how I am going to apologize to Ms. Darian for lashing out at her like that.” Ashley rubs her face in frustration.

I nod slowly as she starts walking towards the quad and I trail her. Ashley then turns her head to gaze at me. “But why pay five-thousand when it’s a free service?” she asks.

“Because I was desperate and needed somebody to help me raise my grades,” I answer as I walk beside her. But in reality, you just wanted to have someone to relate to. Someone that wasn’t as popular and someone that took you seriously as the person you are. And possibly cure my curiosity of this girl that’s walking beside me. That’s why I paid so much.