A/N: Oh, how I must stop starting new fics! I can't help it, this idea has been itching to be written/posted for too long! Its a little different to my usual, which is pure LoVe with a side of MaDi. This is a total Mac/Dick story, and hopefully it'll be as popular as my other fics :-) Shout out to 'a blurred someday' who wrote the awesome MaDi fics 'The Great Graffiti Caper' and its sequel 'The Odd Couple', without which I may not have decided to write this story - she was at least fifty percent of my inspiration :-)

Summary: Dick Casablancas is having some problems, both academic and romantic. The only cure to his problems? The last girl he ever expected... MaDi

Disclaimer : All recognisable characters belong to Rob Thomas and other important people who aren't me. Unrecognisable characters belong to me.

Chapter 1

"What's up, man?" Logan asked his good friend as he sat down beside him at the lunch table that had yet to draw a crowd.

"Dude, it is so not cool!" Dick complained loudly, "Madison is holding out on me and being a total bitch about everything, and my Dad is so on my back about my grades" he shook his head, opening up a take-out carton and staring into it as if he hoped to find the meaning of life or similar in there.

"Wow" Logan nodded thoughtfully, as he considered those problems, "So it's like your Dad won't stop riding you hard, and Madison won't start?" he smirked, even as Dick gave him the finger for a joke he did not find funny.

"You're such an ass, Logan" he complained, putting his food to one side because for once he just wasn't hungry, "but my Dad is threatening to cut my allowance if my grades don't go up soon. I tried telling him I'm rich and hot and that studying is like 'whatever, dude', but he won't listen"

"Stupid parents" Logan shook his head as he snagged his friends abandoned Chinese food and dug in, "All they do is try to make us get an education and be good people. How the hell will that help in life?" he dead-panned with a roll of his eyes.

It clearly didn't matter what he was saying since Dick so wasn't paying attention anymore, and as the rest of their friends started to gather around the table, they too began to notice Dick's un-Dick-like mood.

"What's wrong with him?" Casey asked Logan, "Woman trouble?"

"That and parent issues" he explained, "Daddy Dearest is threatening to tighten the purse strings if Dick here can't bump a few Ds to Cs"

"So get a tutor, man" Casey advised the blond as he slapped him on the shoulder, "Seriously, it worked for me"

"A tutor?" the look on Dick's face was a picture as he squinted up at his friend, "You mean like pay a geek to do my homework for me?"

"I don't think that's quite how it works" Duncan threw in with an amused smile, "The idea is that you pay someone to help you learn to do your own homework and to pass tests and stuff" he explained it in as simple way as he could, "Y'know there are a lot of smart kids that'd help you out, they could use the cash"

Dick looked oddly thoughtful as he considered it. Spending time with some geek, trying to learn Math and English and other boring things when he could be out surfing or drinking or working on getting his girlfriend to let him get past second already! The idea certainly didn't appeal, especially if he was going to have to spend a chunk of his now smaller allowance for the privilege of such pain. Still, it had to be worth it, to make his Dad proud of him. It was a miracle that Big Dick even knew how his eldest son was doing in school, it would almost be worth proving he could do this just for the praise from his father that was rarely given.

"Hey, D-man" he called to Duncan, interrupting the conversation he'd struck up elsewhere, "You know some cash-strapped geek that'd help me out?" he checked, as the young Kane shook his head.

"I don't know if she'd appreciate you calling her that" he said with a look, "but you know that girl that sits the row over from me in our English class? She has blue in her hair?" he made a gesture at the side of his head as he described her.

"The chick from Ghost World?" Dick said as he pictured the girl in question who he'd always thought was oddly hot for a geek from the poor side of town.

"I think her name's Mac" Duncan nodded once, "I heard her talking to her friend about looking for a part-time job to earn extra money, and you know she's smart"

"Yeah" Dick nodded as he thought it over.

Being tutored by a girl who wasn't completely lacking in looks and 'tude was certainly preferable over some nerd boy with glasses and a retainer, who Dick would be embarrassed to be seen with anywhere at any time. If he must spend time and money on this, it seemed the best option was the one Duncan had suggested. He'd learn stuff, pass a couple of classes, Big Dick should be proud of him, his allowance would be reinstated in full, and then he could take Madison out in style and give her the night of her life, for which he hoped she would return the favour on later.

"So, you gonna do it?" Logan asked his friend, who looked thoughtful still, an odd expression for one whose brain usually didn't work all that fast or well.

"What do I have to lose, dude?" Dick shrugged his shoulders, as he scanned the quad, looking for the very girl they'd been talking about.

Mac was sat alone on the complete opposite side of the lunch area, and the irony was not lost even on Dick as to how appropriate that was. They were as far apart on the social and monetary spectrum as any two people could be, but he'd meant what he said. He had little to lose, after all, there was no particular shame with needing a tutor for the tough stuff like Math.

Getting up from his seat, he muttered a 'see you guys later' to his friends and strolled over to where Mac was tapping away on her laptop. At first it was as if she hadn't even noticed he was stood there, til he moved over some, blocking out the sunlight and casting a shadow over her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, a little wary of her phrasing, after all Dick Casablancas was famous for twisting people's words to make the very dumbest double-entendre he could possibly find.

'No doubt he's been dared to come over here and ask me what colour my panties are or something' Mac thought to herself as she stared up at the dumb blond and waited for his reply. He looked weird, like he didn't even know himself what he was over here for. Just when Mac was about to prompt him in some way, he actually spoke.

"You're Mac, right?" he checked, "The chick who gets As?"

"Correct on both counts" she nodded once, still a little wary of where the hell this was headed and confused too if she was honest.

"Awesome" he said with a grin, suddenly sitting down beside her and getting a little too into her personal space.

Mac shifted over as far as the bench seat allowed and closed the lid of her computer when she realised he could see if he wanted to. It wasn't that what she'd been doing was particularly private but still it was no business of some surfer dude 09er that she barely knew.

"So, I don't do so well with Math or English or any of that brainy stuff" Dick admitted, "I was thinking maybe you wanna tutor me" he suggested, cutting in the moment Mac opened her mouth to answer, "I'll totally pay you" he assured her, "Cos I know you need the cash and everything"

Mac's eyes went wide at that particular comment. Sure, she could use come extra money for computer supplies and to keep her new car in shape, and she was considering tutoring to get that money. Still, Dick had hardly phrased his offer well and she ought to be insulted by his manner. As it was, she was actually quite intrigued. Saying yes meant spending time with this idiot, but she would get a better rate out of him than anyone in her own social bracket. Seeing as Math was one thing he had trouble with, she could probably pump him for a considerable amount of cash, which no doubt she would earn since Dick was unlikely to be a great student.

Quickly weighing up her options when she realised she probably looked like a landed fish with her mouth opening and closing and no sound coming out, Mac answered.

"I guess I could tutor you" she said thoughtfully, "We'd have to figure out rates of pay, times for studying, all that kind of thing"

"Sure" Dick agreed, "You're in charge, teach" he said with a mock-salute that almost made Mac laugh as he dove up from the seat just as quickly as he sat down.

"You wanna start today or...?" she asked, wondering where he was running off to so suddenly, but then realising he was probably just embarrassed to be seen in public with someone like her, after all, they were hardly in the same social set.

"I guess" he shrugged, "I have stuff right after school but you wanna come by my place say five thirty?" he suggested, calculating what time his Dad was likely to arrive home and catch him studying with his tutor - one of the major points to this was to impress Big Dick.

"O-okay" Mac nodded, the word coming out a little more stammery than she'd meant it to, but then it wasn't every day she was offered the chance to snoop around an 09er house.

As Dick strolled away with a grin on his face, Mac stared after him with a frown on hers. She could kind of understand why he would want a tutor though God only knew why he'd chosen her for the task. Still, if she was going to have to spend so many hours a week for the next month or so tutoring the 09er lunkhead that was Dick Casablancas she could at least look forward to a good amount of cash, maybe even enough to boost her college fund if this gig lasted long enough. Yeah, it was totally worth it.

To Be Continued...