Chapter Text
„You have to be kidding me.“
It was the first thing you said after Mrs Agathe went silent. Then, incredulous, you looked at her because she had to be kidding. There was no way she was serious.
“Well, I think…” your classmate next to you started, but he went silent when you shot him a look.
“Gaston, could you leave us alone for a second?” Agathe asked and looked at the tall guy next to you.
You decided to ignore him completely.
“Sure…”, he said slowly, looking at you and – finally – going out of the classroom.
“Before you say something….” Agathe started before you had the chance to raise your voice. “Let me explain it. I don’t say that you should do his work. But I ask you to help him.”
“Why me?! There are so many students in this class! Why, of all the people, me? He doesn’t even like me! And his friends too! You know what they do!” you said with evident anger in your voice.
“I know! But you are the best one. And he needs help. It’s necessary for him and part of the…well…let’s call it punishment after the last incident.”
You rolled your eyes.
“I’m not someone’s prison guard.”
“That’s true. But you want to go to Harvard.”
You wanted to say something, but Agathe raised an eyebrow, and you closed your mouth.
Damnit. She was right.
You crossed your arms and looked at her.
“Look, (Y/N), you are an excellent student. You only have A’s or A+’s. Your curriculum is phenomenal. You are in many clubs, part of three sports teams, and do a lot of extra work and help whenever we need help. Your application is more than impressive.”
“There is a but?”
“But…” Agathe continued with a sigh. “You also need recommendation letters from teachers.”
“I’m working on it! I already have four! Only one more! I’m sure I will find another teacher….”
“I have the fifth one for you.”
Questioningly you looked at her.
“I spoke with the coach, Gaston’s coach. He is the best soccer player in the team. The talent scouts are fighting to get him. He will get a scholarship.”
“Good for him.”, you said with a tone of sarcasm.
You couldn’t care less about Gaston or his life.
“But he needs good grades. So here is the deal. You help him with it. The trainer will write you a recommendation letter, mentioning your engagement to help our high school star get his scholarship. Also, what a helpful person you are in general.”
You rolled your eyes. It was unbelievable! Since your first day, Gaston was a pain in your ass. He was arrogant, selfish, manipulative and a show-off. Every other girl was madly in love with him, and you knew from Belle, your best friend, that he had fucked nearly every girl at the school. Almost every girl, because you and Belle were probably the only girls who couldn’t care less about him and had no wish to get fucked by Gaston. Or one of his even dumber minions, Stanley, Dick and Tom. It’s not like Gaston hadn’t tried it, at least with Belle. For nearly a year, he had flirted with her and wanted to make her his new girlfriend. Belle ended his behaviour with a cup of - cold - coffee in his face. Thankfully, he never noticed you. It was almost like, you were air or invisible. And you were happy with this. The constantly bullying from the minions or the three dumb girls who followed Gaston everywhere was enough to deal with. But now, you had to help him.
You sighed profoundly and nodded slowly. Agathe smiled.
“That’s great! I’m sure you can do this!” she said enthusiastically, and you didn’t miss how fake it sounded.
“Yeah…” you said while you took your bag and walked outside.
Gaston stood in front of an open locker…his locker, admiring himself in his mirror, making sure his hair looked perfect. But, unfortunately, it always looked perfect.
He noticed you in his mirror and quickly closed the door but winked at himself before he did that.
You felt the need to laugh…or puke. He jogged to you.
“So…?” he started and looked at you with his perfect smile.
Gosh, he really was awful, and you already started to regret this.
“There is a chance I’m going to help you.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! You are such a darling, (Y/N)! No one is a nicer person….”
“Save it.”, you stopped him and started walking.
Gaston followed you.
“Look, I don’t have much time, so I can’t help you with every subject. I will help you with this one, only this one! Find someone else for the other subjects.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Why not? You have D’s in all the other subjects?!”
“I need A’s to get the scholarships. Only two or three B’s. Depends on the university.”
You stopped so fast, Gaston nearly walked into you.
“Hilarious, Gaston.”, you said with a laugh, and he raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“You really wanna tell me that you, from all the people in this school, that you have A’s?!? Good joke.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Really! I swear it.”
You crossed your arms again.
“Ask me anything. I prove it. I’m smart.”
“Smart and Gaston are two things that don’t work together in one sentence.”
“Ouch. That was not nice.”
“Honest. The word you are looking for is honest.”
“Ask me anything.”
You looked at him, but Gaston seemed pretty confident and just smiled at you.
“What does DNA stands for?”
“Deoxyribonucleic acid.“
„What is the mission statement of the French revolution?“
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité.”
“Name all the elements of the periodic table.”
“Alphabetically or in order?”
“What?”
“Nothing. Well, let’s see. Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon,…”
„Ora et labora.“
„Pray and work. It’s Latin.“
„What is the capital of Monaco?“
“Monaco itself. It’s a city-state.”
You went silent for a second because you couldn’t believe it. Because it was just not possible. Gaston, that idiotic, dumb jerk, knew all the answers. But there was no chance this was actually possible. In every subject, he was near all the time silent, not paying that much attention and being smart was indeed something that wasn’t cool when you were the star of high school.
“That’s it?!” he asked with a complacent grin.
“No.”, you answered while you opened your bag and searched for a piece of paper. You quickly found it and gave it to Gaston. “Solve this.”
He took it and looked at it. Now it was your turn to smile. This was a highly complicated mathematical equation. Usually, this was taught at universities. So, there was no way Gaston would solve this. Maybe he had general knowledge, but this…
“8.”, he said and gave it back to you.
Your smile disappeared, and your eyes went wide.
“But…what…you can’t….”
You nearly snatched the paper from his hand starred at it. He was absolutely right…and you had needed almost 10 minutes to solve it.
“What?! Am I wrong?” he said, and when you looked up, he grinned again.
Gosh, how you hated that grin.
“How the fuck is it possible that you are smart?!” you nearly shouted.
“Did it ever come to your mind that you are not the only smart person in this school (Y/N)?”
“Of course, it came to my mind! But you are Gaston! You are supposed to be one of these dumb soccer idiots, who you can’t say what our capital city is!”
“Well, our capital city is….”
“Don’t you dare!” you interrupted him.
“Alright. First of all, ouch! Again. I have feelings too, you know.”
You only snorted and put the paper back in your bag.
“And second…” he continued unimpressed. “There is no correlation between being smart and playing soccer. And just because I don’t talk that much during class doesn’t mean I’m not smart. I prefer to be the silent smart type and not such an insufferable Miss-Know-It-All.”
“Excuse me?!”
“Sometimes you really are.”
You glared at him but said nothing for a while, then you started moving again. He still followed you.
“Well, if you are so smart, why do you need my help?!”
“Because Literature is the only subject I’m not good at. And I need a better grade at the end of the year to get my scholarship.”
“You do realize there is absolutely no reason why I should help you.”, you said. Still a bit angry about his previous comment about you.
“You need the recommendation letter from my trainer.”
“…besides that…” you answered with gritted teeth. “Your minions bully me all the time, and don’t get me started with your fan club, Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest.”
“I know…” he said and stepped in your way.
You crossed your arms and looked at him. But, to be fair, he really was attractive. The perfect body, his muscles visible through the tight shirts he always wore. His perfect chin and high cheekbones, nose, and full lips, who always smiled a bit, and that eyes, these perfect green eyes….
You blinked and wondered if you were mad or something. You had no time for a crush…and you absolutely had no crush on Gaston. He was an awful person.
“Look, I know, we hadn’t the best start.”
“You ignore me all the time. I’m actually impressed you know my name.”
“Right…” he said slowly and rubbed the back of his head. “Look, (Y/N),…” he started again. “I really, really need your help. I need that scholarship, and you are my only hope to get better in Literature. So…please, I guess?!”
You raised an eyebrow at this question. Gaston tried to show his charmingly smile, but you only rolled your eyes.
“Don’t try it. I don’t care about your smile. Fine, I will help you. I’m always home at 4, so…I can come over to you, and we can start….”
“No!”
“What?!”
“I mean…no…that’s not…possible.”
“And why?”
“Well, you can’t come to my house. Can’t we meet somewhere else?”
“And why I can’t come to your house? Are you hiding bodies in there or what?!”
“Well, you are…you and I am…Gaston…”
“Are you trying to tell me that me, the school loser, can’t come to your house because you are so popular and the star and no one is supposed to see us together?!”
“You are so smart, (Y/N)!”
For a brief second, you thought about punching him.
“I am home at 4, my place. I will send you the address. Bring your stuff. We start today.”, you said with a cold undertone.
“Well, today is bad, because I already promised Claudette to go to the cinema with her. Or was it Pauline? Or the other one? I always forget who is who…” he mumbled at the end, and you couldn’t believe you actually had that conversation.
“Tomorrow. No excuses. 4 and don’t be late.”, you said and started to walk again.
“You are the best!” he screamed after you.
You only showed him the finger because he could go and fuck himself.
“I still can’t believe it!” Belle said and closed her locker door.
She leaned against it, and you just had told her all the details of your encounter with Gaston yesterday. You already had told her in a three-hour phone call, but she wanted to hear it all over again.
“I know. I can’t believe I actually said yes.”, you added with a grimly mood.
“Well, if this means you can go to Harvard, isn’t it worth it?”
“If he is always like that, I’m going to murder him, and I’m pretty sure Harvard is not going to take someone with a jail record.”
Belle laughed.
“Maybe it’s for the best you two keep it a secret. The Bimbettes would kill you.”
“Mh.”
Before you could say more, Adam appeared, still in his sports clothing.
“Hey, (Y/N)!” he greeted you and smiled brightly at you. “Hey, my beauty.”, he greeted Belle and kissed her.
“Hey.”, she answered with a smile and kissed him again. “How was training?”
“Good, the captain is happy with me. I am happy with myself. And I can’t wait for lunch. I desperately need something to eat, or I turn into a beast.”
You and Belle laughed, and Belle gave him a lunch bag.
“I made one for you this morning.”
“You know me so well.”, Adam said with a smile, and they kissed again. “Isn’t she the best girlfriend, ever?!” he asked you, and you smiled.
“Well, I can only talk about friendship, but she is the best best friend because she is my best friend, so I’m pretty sure she is also the best girlfriend.”
“Wise words. Belle told me everything about your Gaston situation. So, you can handle it?”
“I hope so.”
“Well, a long time ago, we were friends, and he was a decent human being.”
“Isn’t he full of surprises,” you said sarcastically.
“Ah, my favourite students! You are ready for the French test?!” you suddenly heard the voice of Mr Lumiere, who walked down the corridor.
He stopped and smiled at you.
“Oui.”, Adam said and showed a playful unsure smirk.
Mr Lumiere started to laugh.
“That’s good! That’s good! You already have an F!” he said with his heavy French accent.
“I hope the test is not too difficult, and someone will get a headache.”, a female voice added, and Ms Plumette appeared.
It was an open secret that these two were a thing. They had met in school because Plumette was the school nurse and Lumiere was the French teacher.
“Of course not.”, Lumiere answered and smiled as bright as fire. “But maybe I need medical support after I graded them all.”, he said with a wink, and Plumette turned red.
Before she could say something, there was loud coughing.
“You two are talking in front of students! Would you stop making such comments!”
Mr Clockworth, the history teacher, appeared behind these two.
“Don’t you have to work?!” he asked Plumette, who rushed away. “And you have a class, if I’m not mistaken.”
“You are never mistaken, my dearest Clockworth.”, Lumiere answered with a mocking undertone and Belle, Adam, and you had to giggle.
Clockworth glared at the three of you and walked away. Lumiere pretended to be scared, grinned, winked at all of you and followed his colleague. After they were gone, you three started to laugh.
“Now, I feel better.”, you said after a while, and Belle smiled at you sympathetically.
“Would you mind if I go with Adam and we see each other in class?” she asked, and Adam took her hand.
“Of course not.”, you said, and Belle kissed you on the cheek before she walked away with Adam.
You looked after them and couldn’t stop a sigh. You really were happy for them. In the beginning, Adam seemed to be a jerk. But it turned out he actually was a nice guy. And when Belle and Adam started a relationship, you were happy for your best friend. But sometimes, it was hard to see them that happy because you realized you were alone. But then you reminded yourself that you wanted to go to Harvard, and you absolutely had no time for such a silly thing as a boyfriend. There would be enough time at Harvard and, most of all, many brilliant and lovely guys.
To your surprise, you heard the doorbell at 4. Gaston had completely ignored you the whole day, and you were pretty sure he had already forgotten what you had told him. But when you opened the door, he was standing in front of you, car in your driveway – of course, a big and expensive Audi – bag at his shoulder, a dumb and perfect grin on his face.
“Hello, beauty.”
The urge to slam the door in front of his dumb face was nearly too big.
“I have a name.”, you simply said.
“I know. But beauty is much more fitting.”
The urge to punch him was also pretty big.
“Okay, Gaston, here are the rules. First, you do what I say. Second, you stop with the sweet talk. And last but not least, you work, or I will kick you out before you can say your name. Is that clear?”
“What is the problem with my compliments?”
“I don’t care about them, and they are not compliments. It’s sweet talk.”
You stepped aside to let him in. He looked around, and you closed the door.
“Are we going to learn in your room? At your bed?!” he asked, and his grin was way too dirty.
You raised an eyebrow, and the grin disappeared.
“Alright. You are serious. Got it. I promise I’m going to be a good boy.”
Maybe, after all, a jail record wouldn’t be so bad, you thought.
“Honestly. I’m thankful you help me, so I’m going to behave.”
For the first time you talked with each other, he actually looked and sounded honest. You two looked at each other again, and you noticed something was different in the way his eyes looked like. They were much…softer. Open. More honest.
“We are going to learn in the living room or the kitchen. What do you prefer,” you said and walked towards the rooms. Gaston followed you.
You went through the kitchen into your living room. It was nice, big, but at the same time cosy. You loved it.
With a lot of curiosity, Gaston looked around.
“Wow, that room is pretty nice. Your mother has a nice taste.”
“Actually, it’s my taste. When we moved into this house, everyone got room to create, and I chose this one. I bought all the stuff and decorated it.”
“That’s pretty impressive, what you did here.”, he said, putting his bag next to the couch and walking to the big and numerous bookshelves.
One wall was covered with them, and amazed Gaston looked at the books.
“Now I know why you are so good in Literature.”
“I grew up with books. They were always a part of my life.”
Gaston only nodded, still looking at the books.
“So…” you started, and Gaston turned around. “Here or the kitchen?”
“Well, the kitchen was pretty nice too, but, I think, I want to stay here.”
“Alright. Let’s start, shall we?!”
The whole thing turned out better than you thought. Actually, much better. And Gaston really was full of surprises.
Sometimes, you wondered why he needed help with Literature. Because sometimes, his answers, ideas or works were so deep and thoughtful, you were impressed. But most of the time, it was difficult for him. He understood everything but needed someone to talk, so he could think everything through. In the end, he always found the correct answer, and they were excellent. You actually enjoyed it, exchanging ideas and views and talking with him. At some point, you also talked about other things besides your current topic. A bit of personal stuff, mostly only you, or school-related things, but most of the time, you spoke about literature and culture and art and history and the world, religion and everything together. Every topic you could find in the book you worked at. And you were pretty sure Gaston forgot everything the second he walked out.
He would always stay for 2 or 3 hours, then go home. But at some point, he started to stay a bit longer, and you two also did the homework together. So, sooner or later, your parents were quite surprised to find someone else in their living room when they came home. At some point, your mother invited Gaston to stay for dinner. He rejected the invitation, but your mother insisted, and a new ritual was born. Gaston would stay for dinner and go home after that.
Belle was shocked, in the beginning, when you told her about Gaston, but in the end, also positive surprised. And you would never say it out loud, but you actually enjoyed his company. It turned out he also had another much friendlier, intelligent, thoughtful and charming side. He could be lovely, funny, witty and clever.
Of course, nothing changed much in school. He still ignored you because he was still the superstar, and you were the school loser. But you stopped to be a Miss-Know-It-All in class, and Gaston managed to speak a bit more. The teachers noticed the changes too but said nothing.