Chapter Text
The classroom had almost emptied by the time the final bell's chatter faded into the hallway.
Most of the students had already left, their voices disappearing further down the corridor until only the occasional locker door echoed through the silence.
Deniz finished stuffing her textbooks into her backpack without looking up.
She only realised someone was standing next to her desk when a shadow fell across her desk.
She glanced up and immediately rolled her eyes when she saw that it was none other then Teoman.
"So...What's your plans for the afternoon mermaid?" He asked with a smile on his face.
"It's none of your business, move aside" She said.
Then she shoved him aside.
Teoman watched her leave for a few seconds before following her out of the classroom.
Then he saw her walking over to Aras and Bariş.
Aras looked at him for a few seconds then shook head and left with Deniz and Bariş.
Teoman stood in the corridor for a few more seconds, watching the three of them disappear down the stairs.
Deniz didn't look back and neither did Aras but Bariş gave him a brief, uncertain glance before hurrying after them.
Teoman let out a quiet scoff then shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his jacket, and headed in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later, he walked through the school gates with Sıla walking next to him.
"My love, how about we hang out together this afternoon? There's this great place that Ezgi has been telling me about all week and..." She started.
But Teoman zoned out in the middle of it.
The afternoon air was warm, and the streets were beginning to fill with people leaving work and students heading home.
"Go find Ezgi and go together then" Teoman said.
Then he walked over to the car and the driver opened the door then he and Leyla got into the car and the driver started driving.
Teoman leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes.
His thoughts kept drifting back to the brief exchange with Deniz.
Minutes later the driver pulled into the driveway of the Akkaya house.
The large gates slid open automatically, and the driver parked before climbing out of the car.
Teoman and Leyla grabbed their backpacks, shut the doors behind them, and walked inside, the house which was as quiet and immaculate as ever.
The front door clicked shut behind them.
The silence inside the Akkaya house felt almost rehearsed.
No laughter...No television...No smell of dinner drifting from the kitchen.
Just polished marble floors and the faint ticking of the clock in the entrance hall.
Leyla let out a quiet sigh as she made her way over to her room.
"I'm going upstairs" She said.
Teoman responded with a lazy shrug.
"Didn't ask" He replied.
Leyla rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"One day you'll answer a normal sentence like a normal human being" She said.
"Don't hold your breath" He said.
Leyla let out a sigh before disappearing up the staircase.
Teoman stood alone in the hallway for a few seconds.
Normally he'd head straight for his room, throw his bag onto the floor, blast music through his headphones and forget that the rest of the world existed.
Instead...His mind wandered back to school.
To Deniz...Again.
To the way she'd brushed past him without the slightest hesitation.
Then to Aras.
The way Aras hadn't said a word.
He'd only looked at him for a second before walking away with Deniz and Bariş as if Teoman wasn't even worth arguing with anymore.
He knew exactly what Aras thought of him. He knew what everyone at school thought of him.
The rich spoiled idiot...The bully.
The guy who always had something sarcastic to say.
And usually that didn't bother him.
But lately it did bother him for some reason...Greatly.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and headed over to his room.
The second he walked in, he tossed his backpack onto the chair before dropping onto the edge of his bed.
Then he reached over for his phone out of habit.
Dozens of unread messages.
Most of them were from Sıla.
❤️ My Love: Are you okay?
❤️ My Love: Did I say something wrong?
❤️ My Love: Call me when you get home.
He stared at the screen for a few seconds before locking it again without replying.
He wasn't in the mood to explain something he couldn't even explain to himself so he leaned back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
For the first time in a long while...He felt strangely restless.
Because, despite everything, he couldn't stop wondering why he'd even gone over to Deniz in the first place.
And the more he thought about it...The less he understood himself.
He let out a frustrated groan and rubbed both hands over his face.
"What is wrong with me..." He muttered under his breath.
He wasn't supposed to care.
Deniz had never liked him, and he'd never made much effort to change that.
Half of their conversations ended with her insulting him, and the other half ended with him provoking her on purpose.
So why had he walked over to her desk? To ask for help from her of all people.
He frowned.
The answer had seemed obvious when he'd been standing there...Now it was gone.
His thoughts drifted back to the conversation he'd overheard in maths class the day before.
Deniz explaining a problem to Bariş patiently.
She hadn't simply given him the answer. She'd made him work through it until he understood.
Even when Bariş had complained, she'd refused to let him give up.
Teoman stared at the ceiling.
"She actually likes helping people" He said.
The words felt strange to say, even if only to himself.
He turned onto his side, reaching for the workbook he'd shoved into his bag that morning.
It landed on the bed with a dull thud.
His eyes settled on the latest maths assignment.
Half the questions were blank and the other half had been guessed and all in all he got a terrible grade like usual.
He clicked his tongue.
"Pathetic" He said.
Normally he'd have copied someone's homework before class started or not done it at all.
Instead, he found himself remembering the words he'd almost said to Deniz before she'd pushed past him.
Can you help me?
He hadn't even realised those were the words in his head until now.
The thought made him laugh once...A short and humourless laugh.
"She would've told me to get lost" He said.
He couldn't even blame her if she had.
After everything he'd said to her over the years, why would she waste an afternoon helping him?
And then there was Aras and also Bariş...Her friends.
Up until this morning he had pulled a prank on Bariş.
He closed the workbook again and dropped it onto the bedside table.
The room fell silent once more.
Outside, he could hear birds somewhere beyond the gardens and the distant hum of traffic.
Inside, there was nothing except the ticking of the clock.
For the first time in years, the silence didn't feel peaceful...It felt uncomfortable.
And somewhere under the annoyance, the confusion, and the stubborn pride he refused to let go of...
A quiet thought lingered.
Maybe Aras was right to look at him like that.
The idea irritated him enough that he immediately sat up.
"No" He muttered as he shook his head.
But even as he said it...He wasn't completely convinced anymore.
The next day he walked over to Deniz's desk once again.
He wasn't sitting on a nearby desk like he usually would but he wasn't smirking or making some sarcastic comment either.
He was simply standing there with one hand gripping the strap of his backpack, looking strangely uncomfortable.
Deniz raised an eyebrow as soon as she noticed him.
"You need something?" She asked.
Judging by the look on his face, whatever it was couldn't be good.
Honestly, she wasn't interested.
Teoman hesitated for a few seconds.
"No, nothing" Teoman murmured.
Then he walked over to the door once again.
Deniz frowned in confusion as she looked at his retreating back.
Then she shook her head and grabbed her backpack and left.
"What did he want?" Aras asked as soon as she walked over to her friends.
"He's looking at us again" Bariş said.
Deniz turned and saw Teoman looking at her and not just Bariş or Aras.
She raised an eyebrow and for a second there she considered asking about what he wanted but Sıla walked over to him and clung to his arm.
Teoman reluctantly turned his attention away from Deniz.
But the next day the same thing happened the next day as well.
Teoman stood in front of her desk like usual.
He seriously considered turning around and pretending this had been a terrible idea from the beginning.
And it probably was because why the hell was he suddenly interested in improving his grades.
But this time he told himself that he was already here.
"Do you need something?" Deniz asked, trying her best to keep her voice polite.
So he let out a quiet sigh.
"Yeah" Teoman said in an awkward voice.
Then he stopped talking for a few seconds and chewed on his bottom lip.
"I need help with maths" He continued in a small and uncertain voice.
Deniz blinked twice then looked up in complete surprise.
Out of everything she had expected him to say...That wasn't even on the list.
"You?" She asked, unable to hide the disbelief in her voice.
Teoman only gulped nervously and responded with a nod.
"Since when?" She asked.
Teoman only shrugged because he really had no idea why.
"I just keep failing it and sometimes I wonder what it'd feel like to get a decent grade for a change" He replied.
The answer was simple and reasonable.
Even if it sounded strange coming from him.
Normally he wouldn't have cared.
Grades had never mattered enough for him to ask anyone for help.
He would've copied someone else's homework, cheated on a test, or simply accepted the bad mark without thinking twice.
If he'd asked Kutay or Evren or Sıla, they'd probably let him copy the answers or give up after trying to tutor him for one lesson.
For some reason he had this strange belief that Deniz wouldn't.
She'd make him solve every problem himself.
He wasn't looking forward to that.
But maybe that was the point.
Lately, he kept asking himself the same question.
Why not?
Why not try?
Why not stop making everything harder then it had to be?
Why not become someone different?
Deniz zipped up her bag.
"I can't help you" She said.
Teoman frowned slightly.
"Why not?" He asked.
Even though the answer to his own question was really obvious.
"Because someone else can" She said.
And she was right...Teoman knew that she wanted nothing to do with him...At all.
She slung her backpack over one shoulder.
"Find them and stop bothering me" She continued.
He gulped once again then rubbed the back of his neck.
"I've got something to offer" He said.
She looked at him and frowned in confusion.
"I'll give you something in exchange" Teoman continued.
Deniz folded her arms over her chest.
"Why are you asking me?" She asked.
Teoman hesitated for a few more seconds.
The honest answer sat on the tip of his tongue.
Because she'd never let him take the easy way out.
Because she'd make him earn every answer.
Because somewhere along the way, he'd realised her opinion mattered more than he wanted to admit.
Instead, he settled for something simpler.
"Because I know you'll say no to everything else..." He murmured.
He met her eyes for a brief second.
"But you'll probably say yes to this" He said.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked him over from head to toe.
"What other things?" She demanded.
Teoman shifted the strap on his shoulder.
"Nothing important" He said.
"Liar" She said.
He didn't argue.
The silence between them stretched for several seconds before he finally spoke again.
"It's about Bariş" He finally said.
Deniz's expression changed immediately and he noticed the way her shoulders stiffened.
"What about Bariş?" She demanded.
"There isn't a catch" He said.
"There always is with you" She almost snapped.
"I mean it" Teoman insisted.
She stared at him, waiting.
Teoman looked away for a second before speaking.
"I'll leave him alone" Teoman murmured.
Deniz frowned.
"No comments...No jokes and no messing with him anymore" He said in a calm voice.
Then he let out a sigh.
"Nothing" He continued.
She searched his face, expecting to find the usual smug grin but it never came.
"So...If you tutor me I'll stop bothering Barış" He said.
Deniz fell silent for a few seconds.
"So this is a trade" She said.
He shrugged.
"If that's what you want to call it" Teoman said.
She shook her head.
"That's not how people usually ask for help" She said.
"I know" He said.
He sounded almost embarrassed admitting it.
The classroom suddenly felt much quieter than before.
Deniz studied him properly for the first time.
He looked tired...Not physically.
But he looked different in a way she didn't understand.
Less interested in putting on the usual act.
"You know..." She started.
Then she adjusted the strap of her backpack.
"You could've just stopped bothering Bariş" She said.
Teoman clenched his jaw tightly.
His fingers curled a little tighter around the strap of his bag.
He knew that.
He'd known it before he walked over.
The tutoring wasn't really about maths anymore.
It gave him a reason to come back, to spend time with someone he'd treated badly, and maybe prove slowly, awkwardly, without speeches that he wasn't trying to be the same person.
He still wasn't ready to apologise...Not yet.
But actions felt safer than words.
"It's easier..." He started.
Then he stopped talking as he searched for the right words.
"If there's a reason" He in a voice that came out quieter than he intended.
There wasn't any pride in it...Only honesty.
His parents had taught him that nothing came for free.
That everything had a price.
That everything had to be earned, bought or exchanged.
Kindness...Forgiveness...Respect and even silence.
Deniz looked at him for a few seconds.
For the first time, she realised he genuinely believed what he'd just said.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"You really don't have to bargain just to do something decent" She said.
Teoman didn't answer because he wasn't sure he believed that.
Or maybe he simply didn't know how to believe that.
Deniz let out a sigh then she reached down and picked up her notebook.
"Fine" She said.
He looked up.
"I'll help you" She said.
A few seconds followed after she said it as she thought about how this arrangement should go.
"After school...But if you waste my time even once..." She started.
Then she pointed a finger at him.
"I'm leaving" She said.
Teoman only nodded once.
"Okay" He said.
He didn't argue or say anything sarcastic.
Deniz stared at him for an another second before turning over to the classroom door.
Teoman waited until she had walked a few steps ahead before following right behind her.