“Could you please focus?”
“I am,” he responded glibly.
“The exam material is written on the paper in front of you, not on myface.”
“But your face is so much prettier.”
Her mouth tightened into a thin line, her irritation making him grin.
“Listen. Your mother requested that I tutor you as a favour to them. It’s been over a month, and you haven’t progressed much.”
“Because you refused to be my friend for the longest time. I can’t concentrate in hostile environments.”
She rolled her eyes at him when he blinked innocently at her.
Day after day, spending time in close quarters with a boy who’d suddenly decided to only say nice things to her after a lifetime of bullying had left her feeling disoriented. Suspicious of his reasons at first, she’d reacted with her usual snark. Somehow, the pricklier her behaviour, the more charming he’d gotten, disarming her with his patience. He’d worn her down and befriended her, even if she didn’t like to admit it. The more she understood him, the harder it became to dislike him.
Despite his immaturity and penchant for taking things for granted, Vera had come to realise that Vihaan was not bad at heart. He could be generous and kind, was quite the protective friend, and when he put his mind to it— extremely determined. His real self was hidden under layers of superficial detachment and a fuck-it-all attitude.
But he was changing, and with that, so were her feelings toward him.
“Just study,” she grumbled, tapping at his notebook.
“Organic chemistry or Vera and Vihaan’s chemistry?” Vihaan pretended to think, both palms open as he raised them up and down, like two sides of a weighing scale. “I know what I’m more interested in.”
He winked at her, apparently proud of that comparison.
“I swear you sound drunk,” she complained.
“On you.”
“Vihaan!” She slammed her pen on the desk in exasperation, willing the slow heat rising within her to subside.
“Yes, Princess?”
“I need you to stop flirting with me. Go do it with one of the girls in your posse.”
“I don’t hang around with them anymore.”
She peered curiously at him. “Why don’t you hang out with your friends?”
“They’re not my friends,” he responded with a nonchalant shrug. “After that stupid prank they pulled on you, I didn’t want them as friends.”
He’d ditched them for her? Vera’s heart thudded a little harder at the realisation that Vihaan had picked her over people who’d hero worshipped him for years. Her, the girl who’d left no chance to insult and rile him up since they were old enough to talk.
Perhaps he misunderstood her silence to be disbelief because he sat up, pushing his chair back a little to make space before shifting to face her, his knee bumping the side of her seat.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” he began, a layer of impatience in his tone, “I’m actually attending classes. Which you really should have noticed considering I sit about eight inches away from you through most of the day. And after classes, I come home and wait for you to begin tuitions. I’m trying really hard not to give you reasons to hate me anymore. I’m being a good boy.”
Vera bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling when he called himself a good boy when everything about him screamed mischief.
“Good boys don’t annoy their bench-mate through every class,” she muttered, her tone giving away the fact that she wasn’t truly bothered by him.
“You don’t like my amazing commentary when the teachers begin to drone on and on?”
“I don’t.”
He leaned in, eyes twinkling.