Chapter Text
As the bell rang, students hurried into the classrooms.
Austin glanced down at his schedule to see what subject he was going to have now - Math, his least favorite subject. Austin has always hated this godforsaken subject, but this year, he had more of a reason to at least tolerate it.
His new math teacher, Mr. Johnson, was much more different from all the other boring math teachers Austin has had to deal with before. Mr. Johnson was charming, soft-spoken, and most importantly - he was incredibly handsome. Austin could spend the whole period pretending to listen, when in reality, he was just staring at his teacher's body.
Mr. Johnson must have been around forty years old, with a muscular physique, brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. Something about him would make Austin giggle and swing his legs under the desk like an excited little kid.
Austin walked into his class, hoping he wasn't too late. He took his seat and pulled out his notebook from his bag, trying to look like the perfect student.
Across the room, Mr. Johnson stood behind his desk, sorting papers, his forearm muscles flexing as he organized the stack.
The class was still loud - students laughing and chatting. There were two boys fighting right behind him, but Austin barely noticed them, all he could focus on was the man in front of him.
"Alright, quiet down everyone," Mr. Johnson said in a firm voice. "I have graded your exam papers from last week."
Austin gulped. He had totally forgotten about the exam they had the previous week. It was horrible, he could barely understand anything that was written, as if it was some unknown ancient language. But he must have managed to get at least a D, right?
"The results are not very good. You guys should have studied more," Mr. Johnson continued.
"Teacher, are there any Fs?" a student asked.
"There is one F. Most of you have Ds and a few Cs," Mr. Johnson replied.
Austin calmed down. He couldn’t be the one idiot with an F, he must have a D or maybe even a C.
As Mr. Johnson walked around the classroom, handing back the graded exam papers, sounds of both relief and disappointment filled the room. When he stopped right by Austin's desk, the boy's chest tightened. Mr. Johnson bend over slightly to meet his eyes as he gave him the paper.
“See me after class, okay?”
Austin looked down. A bold, red F stared back at him. What? How could that happen? he wondered. It's not like he studied for the exam, but he sure didn't think he would be the only one in class with an F.
Austin nodded, his face flushing with embarrassment. Mr. Johnson gave him a small smile and a pat on the back before returning to his desk. The touch of his teacher's hand left a burning sensation on the boy's skin.
"Now that all of you know your grades, open your books to page fifty-seven."
Austin dreaded the end of class, knowing he would soon have to face whatever Mr. Johnson had to say to him. Maybe he will scold him, call his parents, or worse - embarrass him in front of the whole class. Whatever it was, he would find out soon.
...
When the class ended, the students hurried to get out of the classroom, all except Austin. Austin slowly packed his things, hesitating before approaching the teacher's desk. He stood there awkwardly as Mr. Johnson was cleaning the white board, before the man turned his attention to him.
"Ah, Austin. You saw your exam, right?"
"Yes, sir." Austin stared at the ground, his fingers fidgeting nervously.
“That’s your fifth F this year, Austin. You know if you finish the term like this, you’ll be stuck here with me all summer,” Mr. Johnson said as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.
Austin nodded. "Yes, I know."
"Can you tell me what you're struggling with?"
Austin scratched his arm. He knew so little about math, he didn’t even know what exactly he didn't know. After a brief silence, he shrugged his shoulders.
"Alright, Austin," Mr Johnson said with a sigh, "I have a proposal. I offer extra lessons at my house, at no cost. If you are willing to put in the effort and come study, I will raise your grade to a D. How does that sound?"
"Oh, um, okay," Austin replied, looking up at the man.
Mr. Johnson smiled. "Good. The lessons are every Thursday after school. I could drive you there when you finish your last class."
"Okay," Austin smiled back shyly.
"That's all I wanted to talk about with you, you're free to go now. See you soon."
"Goodbye sir!" Austin quickly turned and walked out of the classroom.
Austin's friends waited just outside, laughing as they saw him all flushed. "What did he say?" His friend, Mark, asked.
"Ugh! It was so bad! He said I need to stay after school for extra lessons." Austin complained.
"Oh no, good luck with that."
"Thanks, I guess."
"Let's go! We need to reserve our seats in the cafeteria before someone else takes them!" His other friend, Jack, called out.
The boys headed towards the school cafeteria, chatting about their plans for the afternoon. Austin wasn't listening. He was too busy worrying about these "private lessons" with his teacher. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal. There will surely be plenty of other dumb kids like him there. It will still be like school, just more inconvenient.
Tomorrow was Thursday. He would soon find out what this was really about.