by Elle East
Chapter 17
On my first day at Crestmoore, Headmaster Mullgrave had told me that a passing grade at the school was 70%, and if you fell below that you were immediately assigned a tutor and given detention until you brought it back up. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the least academically inclined King, Grayson, was failing most of his classes and needed a tutor. However, I was surprised to learn that that tutor was me.
“You can’t be serious,” I said to the headmaster as we stood in an empty classroom.
He had walked in right before the end of class and told me he needed to speak with me. The other students had snickered loudly because they thought I was in trouble, but one withering look from the headmaster and they’d all quieted down and hurried out of the room. The teacher had followed shortly after until it was just me and the headmaster left.
I was terrified of what he was going to say. The last time he’d come into my class, he’d been looking for the person who stole his watch. I’d gotten rid of it, but someone had snuck it back into my bag and he’d caught me with it. Luckily, I’d been able to avoid getting expelled for that prank, but I didn’t know if I’d be so lucky a second time.
“You have been assigned to tutor Mr. Moore. This is not optional and not up for discussion. You’ll do well to watch your tone,” he admonished.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I was just caught off guard, that’s all.”
“You’ll report to detention after school today. The teacher will assign you a room where you and Mr. Moore can work together.”
“Yes, sir.”
He started to walk out of the room but then stopped. “Ms. Baker, you are a very talented student.”
“Thank you,” I said in surprise.
“We’ve been having difficulties getting through to Mr. Moore. He’s had many tutors during his time here at Crestmoore, and none of them have been able to inspire him to take his studies seriously. You are very talented, and we are expecting a lot from you.”
“Oh, ok.” No pressure, I thought sarcastically.
“I am making it your responsibility to raise his grades up to passing. If you don’t, then it’ll reflect negatively on you.”
“That’s not really fair, is it?” I asked.
He looked me directly in the eyes. “You may have noticed not everything around here is fair. The world isn’t fair. Some people have advantages that others don’t, that’s just how it is. This school aims to prepare students to face real life after they leave here. I’m letting you know what my expectations are of you, Ms. Baker—fair or not. And that’s more than you’ll get from most people. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said quickly.
“Good.” And with that, he walked out of the room.
I was left standing alone in the empty classroom, a bit shaken by what had just happened. I didn’t want to be Grayson’s tutor. Besides the fact that we hated each other, I knew he was going to be an awful student to tutor. He wasn’t interested in studying, and the only reason he was at a place with such high academic standards as Crestmoore was because his family donated a ton of money every year to the school so they wouldn’t kick him out. If it had been anyone else, he would have been gone a long time ago—I guess that was what Headmaster Mullgrave had meant when he said things weren’t fair at this school.
We all knew things weren’t fair—the scholarship students more than anyone—but to have the person who was in charge of the entire school admit it, it just made me feel uneasy. If he knew things weren’t fair and was unwilling to do anything about it, then we were truly on our own.
Even though I would have never in a million years taken the job, it was now my responsibility to get Grayson to care enough about school to pass his courses—something no one had been able to do in four years. I was screwed.
I walked out of the class dejectedly. This school just kept stacking the odds against me, and I was powerless to stop it.
I walked towards detention, dragging my feet the entire way. I felt like a black cloud had been hanging over my head ever since my conversation with the headmaster earlier that day. I was dreading this. I was dreading seeing Grayson’s smug face the second I walked into detention.
I turned the corner and reluctantly walked into the room. Grayson wasn’t there. The only people in the room were the teacher and one student off in the corner who looked like a freshman.
Are you kidding me? I was being forced to tutor him—to help him—and he couldn’t even be bothered to show up on time?
“Hi, do you know where Grayson Moore is?” I asked the teacher.
He looked up disinterestedly from the magazine he was reading.
“Are you the new tutor? Or are you one of his paramours?”
I must have made a face because he just nodded and told me to sit down.
“Mr. Moore will be here shortly,” he said as he turned back to his magazine.
I took a seat in the front row and looked over at the clock. I wasn’t even in trouble. Actually, I was doing really well, and somehow Grayson had still managed to get me back into detention.
I watched the clock like I could will Grayson to come sooner just by staring at it. After five minutes, I sighed in annoyance and took out my own homework. I didn’t want to let him waste any more of my time, so might as well get some studying done.
He finally strolled into the room twenty minutes later. The teacher looked up and greeted him.
“Mr. Moore, this is your new tutor, Ms. Baker.”
“I already know her. Intimately.” Grayson smiled smugly and licked his lips.
Heat rushed to my face. I hated how easily he got to me. I slammed my biology textbook closed angrily and stood up.
“Where are we studying? I want to get this over with as quickly as possible,” I said.
Grayson and I glared at each other. I could tell the teacher was wondering what the hell was going on. He didn’t really care though because he just shrugged and told us a room number.
“After you,” Grayson said and held his arm out like he was some kind of gentleman—when I knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.
I grabbed my stuff and stormed out of the room. He had a way of getting under my skin and pissing me off like no one else could.
I walked down the hall to the room we’d been assigned, not even bothering to look back to see if Grayson was following me. I stomped in angrily and put my bag down on the table. It was a study room, smaller and more intimate than the sizeable detention room we’d just been in. There was dark wood on the walls, and the window overlooked the forest and the ocean. There was a large, round table in the center with leather chairs surrounding it, and a fireplace in the corner which was unlit.
“I thought I told them to start a fire,” Grayson said as he walked in.
He sounded annoyed, and I just rolled my eyes. Only a King would demand that someone make a fire for them while they were supposed to be in detention.
“Who cares,” I said, as I started to take out my books. “This isn’t supposed to be nice or enjoyable. We are here to get this over with as quickly as possible and leave. I don’t want a fire or anything else to make this something it’s not.”
“And what is this?” Grayson asked.
I spun around. “I am here to help you study. That is all. I didn’t have a choice—because if I did, then there’s no way in hell I’d ever be here. You don’t deserve my help. You don’t deserve to be at this school at all. You have so much privilege you didn’t earn, it was just given to you because of who your parents happened to be. Other students, like the ones here on scholarships, actually deserve it because they earned it. You have all the opportunities in the world, but you’re just wasting them. Hell, I’ll even admit it. I think you’re one of the smartest people I know, but you’re wasting it because you can’t be bothered to try. You are lazy and coasting through life on your good looks and your family’s money and power—and that’s not fair. But like the headmaster told me earli
er, life isn’t fair. That’s why I’m here, standing in this room with you right now, because life isn’t fair.”
I finished my rant and took a deep breath. I hadn’t meant to say all of that to him, but the words just kept tumbling out, and I couldn’t stop them. I found the startled look on his face satisfying but was worried about the repercussions. He could get so pissed off that he just walked out the door, and I’d be screwed. If he didn’t raise his grades, then it would reflect negatively on me, like the headmaster said.
After a couple of seconds, he didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so I asked, “Should we start?”
“Guess I’ll have to cancel the wine and chocolates I had coming,” he said sarcastically.
We took a seat, and I noticed he sat uncomfortably close to me. I scooted over, and I saw him roll his eyes.
“So what courses are you failing?” I asked.
“All of them.”
“Of course.”
I finished pulling the rest of my books out of my backpack and placed them on the table.
“Which course are you failing the worst?” I asked.
“I have no clue what any of my marks are, Lips.”
My mouth pressed together in a hard line. The nickname irritated me, but I didn’t want to let him provoke me.
“Ok, well, which one do you want to start with?”
“You’re the tutor. I’m just the undisciplined, lazy, privileged asshole who doesn’t deserve to be here—though I am incredibly intelligent, apparently.” He raised his eyebrows, and I rolled my eyes.
“I regret saying that,” I said.
“Which part? The part about me not deserving to be here?” he asked with a smirk.
“No, I meant that one hundred percent.”
I realized he wasn’t going to make this easy for me. Did I ever really think he would?
“Fine. We are going to study history first because we have a test coming up. Take out your textbook.”
“Textbook?” he asked, pretending to be confused.
I groaned in exasperation. “Why do you always have to be such a pain in the ass?”
He looked at me wide-eyed and shrugged, pretending to be innocent. It just made me even angrier.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “We can both use mine.”
He took the opportunity to scoot closer, and I had to suppress another eye roll.
I started going over the material I knew would be on the test. He kept relatively quiet and so I took that as a good sign he was paying attention.
After about twenty minutes, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“Hey! What are you doing? Put that away.”
“Whoa, yes, Miss Baker,” he said as he slipped it back into his pocket. “You’re a strict teacher.”
“I run a tight ship,” I joked before changing the subject quickly. “Now pay attention. This part is important, and if you don’t understand it you are going to fail the entire test.”
I was unnerved by how quickly I slipped back into the dynamic we had last year, when he’d been pretending to be my friend. The casual banter happened so naturally. I had to make sure to be more careful so it didn’t happen again.
“I’ll be good, I promise. Don’t spank me.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“Focus,” I said sharply, but I could feel the heat rising to my face.
He was getting under my skin.
“You take control so naturally, it makes me wonder if you like to be in control at all times. Or would you give in… let me take the lead…”
He brushed his fingers over my arm gently. I couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through me, and he smiled cockily when he saw.
“Stop it,” I said firmly and pushed his hand away.
I looked him directly in the eyes and said as seriously as I could manage, “I don’t want you. And I don’t want to be here. I’m trying to help you, and you’re wasting my time. That’s not fair to me. I have my own work to do—a lot of it—and this is taking time away from that. Please take this seriously.”
My words seemed to surprise him. He looked into my eyes, and I tried with all my might to look like I meant what I said. I wanted him to know I was serious and that I needed him to take this seriously too. I needed Grayson to pass. The headmaster told me this was my responsibility—but there was no way I was going to tell Grayson what the headmaster had said. He’d only hold it over my head and try to use it against me.
Eventually, Grayson seemed to decide something and nodded.
“Ok. I’m all yours, teacher. Educate me.”
“Good.” I turned back to the textbook. “Where was I?”
“You were talking about the role the United States played in World War II, and the event that finally motivated us to officially join the Allies in their fight against the Axis powers. That event was the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which was a couple of years after the war began in 1939.”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, a little perplexed.
Did he already know all this stuff and was just toying with me? Or could it be that he was actually listening?
“Ok, let’s cover the rest of this section,” I said and continued teaching.
He was quiet for the rest of our time together, and I had the tiniest amount of hope he was actually paying attention and would actually pass his upcoming history test.
He didn’t try anything else. There were no more innuendos, and I was grateful for that, but I could still feel the place where he caressed my arm. It felt like it was on fire for the rest of the lesson.
Chapter 18
After our first lesson together, Grayson and I started meeting several times a week after school. He was behaving himself for the most part, but he couldn’t resist a couple innuendos here or there. I just tried to ignore them and continue with the lesson.
We’d meet in the same study room and usually he would have them light a fire to keep us warm. The school was huge and couldn’t help but be drafty. I was happy about the fires but never told him. I didn’t want him to know I appreciated something he did—he would just find a way to use it against me. That was what the Kings did.
Dean hated that I had to tutor Grayson. When I told him about it the day after our first lesson, he’d tried to make me quit immediately. I let him know that that was impossible. The headmaster had assigned me, and there was no way to get out of it.
He had reluctantly backed down, but still insisted on walking me to each session. He and Grayson would spend a couple of minutes glaring at each other then Dean would finally leave.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay, Maddy? I’m happy to wait for you,” Dean said after dropping me off one day at the study room.
“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks, Dean,” I said.
Dean and Grayson glared at each other.
“Are you sure? It’s no problem.”
“I’m sure,” I answered as I looked between the two guys.
They looked like they wanted to rip one another’s heads off.
They were so different in both looks and personality. They were basically each other’s opposites. The only thing they had in common was they were both super hot and dominant—just in different ways.
“Thanks, Dean. I’ll see you later,” I said, trying to get him to leave.
The tension between the two guys was palpable, and I was worried it was going to come to blows if they kept it up much longer. Dean reluctantly dragged his eyes away from Grayson and looked down at me. They immediately softened.
“Ok, I’ll see you later. Stay safe.”
“Will do.” I gave him a smile.
With one last glare at Grayson, Dean turned and walked slowly down the hall.
“Geez, can you tell your boyfriend to be a little less hostile when he drops you off? Every time he comes we have to have a fucking staring contest,” Grayson grumbled as he took a seat in one of the chairs.
“A contest takes two people you know. It’
s not just him. And he’s not my boyfriend.”
I took a seat next to him and started pulling out my books. I could sense he was watching me, and I looked up.
“What?” I asked in annoyance.
“Nothing.” He looked away with a little smirk, and I rolled my eyes.
I didn’t know what he was thinking—and I didn’t care.
“This just reminds me of old times, you know? You and me, hanging out and working on schoolwork. It’s like last year,” he said almost wistfully.
“Don’t remind me. That was one of the stupidest mistakes of my life,” I said without looking up.
He didn’t say anything for a while, and we sat in silence as I flipped through the textbook to find the section we needed.
“Those were some of the best times I’ve had at this school,” he said, and he almost sounded sincere.
I scoffed. “Please, I know your game by now. You don’t have to pretend anymore. You’re not going to be able to fool me as easily as you did last year.”
“I’m being honest,” he said, and when I looked into his eyes, if I didn’t know better I would have believed him.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, Grayson, but don’t,” I said sternly.
We both turned back to the textbook, and I started the lesson.
After about an hour of studying, Grayson said quietly, without looking up, “I’ve just been so lonely since my parents died. My grandparents are too busy with their own lives, traveling around the world and attending galas, to bother with me. I have the guys—and that helps a hell of a lot—but hanging out with you again felt like old times, when we were young.”
“Grayson—” I started, but he quickly changed the subject.
“So, how’s your art going? Made any new pieces lately? I’d love to see them.”
“I haven’t had time lately,” I answered honestly.
Ever since I’d come back to Crestmoore, I’d been insanely busy. The classes were hard, and I had to study for several hours every night, and most of the weekend, just to not fall behind. Also, a lot of my time was being taken up with Dean. We were constantly hanging out together—not that I was complaining. But I did miss doing art. It was my passion and when Grayson brought it up it, just made me remember how much I missed it.