He was late. He hated being late. It was maths, and he hated maths. The engineering subjects he loved, particularly the practicals. He'd been good at maths at school, but this esoteric stuff on fluid flows he just couldn't get the hang of at all. He hurried down the corridor, knocked on the door and slipped in muttering an apology. He looked blindly around and at first couldn't see a seat. Then he spotted one near the back, and his breath caught in his throat. He was sure the person occupying the other seat at the table was an angel. Translucent skin with a dusting of freckles over the sculpted nose. Full lips. Delicately delineated eyebrows over piercing green eyes. And a cascade of wavy chestnut hair.
She was bored. She loved maths. But this lecture was going over old ground. Then there was a tentative knock on the door, and one of her most hated species came into the room. To be fair, he did seem embarrassed that he was late and muttered an apology. His face flamed as he searched blindly for a seat. To her surprise she felt a twinge of sympathy, knowing how difficult it is to see things when under pressure. She saw he had spotted the empty seat, and his eyes widened with a reaction that she had come to hate. As he headed to the seat beside her, she cursed the absence of her maths buddy.
He sensed the negative vibes coming off the girl with the face of an angel. He did his best not to succumb to the urge to glance at her face and fill his eyes with her beauty. And he tried not to sit too close. He had to admit she was distracting him from the maths. And boy was today's lecture trying. He knew he needed to understand, but it was just so difficult. He sighed again and bent to his books, noticing that she was jotting a few notes but mostly doodling and looking around. That made him pause for thought. Maybe it wasn't just that he was sitting there that was making her annoyed. Maybe she was like the others, a bit of an air head and couldn't do the maths either. He was puzzled. He shrugged his shoulders and dragged his attention back to the maths.
She was puzzled too, by his frequent sighs. She took a surreptitious look at his book, and her lip curled in disdain. Yep, he was a typical jock without a hope of understanding this level of maths. His notes showed that he'd missed crucial steps, misunderstood others, and was up a blind alley. She couldn't help grinning as he sighed again. She was delighted with the thought that he'd fail this paper even if he was a miracle at sport.
He castigated himself for being distracted by a pretty face. He kept pulling himself up and willing himself to concentrate on the maths. He kept reminding himself why he didn't want to go there. "I won't speak to her. I won't." He reminded himself continually. And went back to the hopeless task of following a lecture he'd lost track of long ago. As the lecture ended, he turned to her, was stunned again by her face, and much to his chagrin couldn't stop himself opening his mouth:
"I see you shared my difficulty with the maths."
She laughed contemptuously at him, and said with sugary sweetness, "Actually, no. It was too easy."
The surprise showed on his face. "You understand it? I wish I did. I love my subject, but I just can't do maths. Unfortunately I have to pass to graduate, and this is my third attempt."
It was her turn to be surprised. First by his straightforward reaction to her sarcastic remark. Then by his obvious frustration. Perhaps she'd misunderstood. Anyway, when she stood up he'd realise and leave her alone so she wouldn't have to worry. She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "Good luck with your studies." And she stood to leave. Much to her surprise, he called out to her.
"Wait. If you understand it so easily, would you mind trying to explain it to me? I really need some help here."
He definitely wasn't a normal jock. If he had been, he would have left her alone as soon as he saw her very overweight figure. A normal jock might have been attracted to her face, but would have been completely turned off by her figure. She couldn't deny that he was exactly the sort of man she would love to have as a boyfriend, but she wasn't going there again. But what if he was genuine? How could it hurt if she just helped him?
"OK." She couldn't believe she'd agreed to spend any time with a jock. What an idiot.
He gave her a great big grin, lighting up his whole face and shining through his eyes.
"Thank you. I can't tell you how grateful I am. And I'm sorry I had to sit by you. I know it made you uncomfortable. Well, actually I'm not sorry for me if it helps me get my maths, but I am sorry it made you feel bad."
He noticed? Wow. Since when had a jock ever noticed how a girl felt? Ok, she was jaundiced, but even so this guy was different. He seemed to act normal, not like the world owed him a living. He wasn't put off by her gross figure. He didn't react badly to her sarcasm. She began to think she had totally misjudged him.
The girl with the angel face had just agreed to help him with his maths. He was out of his mind. What the hell was he doing asking any girl to help. Seduced by a pretty face. Again. What the hell. He'd just get the coaching then walk away. She was fairly hostile anyway, so there was no danger.
"When would be convenient for you?" He continued.
He was asking? Why wasn't he telling her when he could fit it in? "Um. How about after my last class later today? Or same time tomorrow?" She suggested.
"Fine with me. I had a practice booked, but I'll cancel it. Can we do today? I really need this."
She had misjudged him. He was cancelling a practice to do maths. Now she needed to get the first strike in for where, because she definitely wasn't going to meet him anywhere alone. "How about we meet in the library at about six then?"
"Thank you. I'm really grateful that you're taking me seriously."
As she walked away, she suddenly realised that he had not challenged her statement about understanding maths. The bastard who'd hurt her so badly hadn't acknowledged she had a brain - ever. Who was this bloke? Why did he upset her equilibrium? Why couldn't she just carry on behind her defences and get her degree? She mused on imponderables until the lecture on quantum mechanics took her mind off them. She was fascinated by string theory, and didn't think about her appointment again until after her next lecture.
As she wandered slowly across to the library, she asked herself again what she was thinking of when she agreed to this. She was just thinking she would tell him it was a mistake and go back to her room when she saw him. As soon as he saw her, a smile lit up his face, and all her resolution left. "Hell, it's only maths tutoring. What's the harm in that?" She thought.
He looked up, and suddenly there she was. He was stunned all over again, and felt his face split into a huge grin. He also took in that she was overweight. "Funny." He mused, "I thought I liked tall thin girls. This one is tall, but she's not thin by anyone's standards." Then she grinned back at him. This time the smile reached her eyes, and he almost gasped. As she came up to him, he spoke:
"Hello Angel. Thank you so much for coming."
She was stunned all over again. He was polite and treated her like an equal. Suddenly she realised what he'd said.
"My name's not Angel."
"But you are to me. You're my angel of mercy. Or at least my angel of maths!" He laughed.
It was infectious, and she grinned back at him. "We'll see about that."
It was hard. She couldn't get through the concepts that she found so simple. Suddenly he said something about an integration, and she realised that the problem wasn't this particular method, he didn't understand the basics.
"OK. So how do you calculate the area under a curve?"
He looked at her with a puzzled frown. "What do you mean? I don't understand how that's relevant to this method."
"Do you trust my maths?" She asked.
"Sure." He said easily. "Why shouldn't I."
He did trust her. And he didn't question that she had a brain. She still found that hard to accept.
"OK, then let's look at areas under curves. We'll start with the most straightforward."
After two gruelling hours of work, he suddenly said, "That's it. Now I can see why I couldn't understand the flow methods. You're amazing." And he grabbed her and gave her a big bear hug. "Thank you."
As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he let go of her, and asked, "You know you said tomorrow was free as well?"
She was totally flustered by the hug, and braced herself for the date question.
