"Now Chloe, I know you're nervous. But I swear, he's one of best people that could help you." Eliza said, to Chloe.

They were both outside the library and Chloe had the most heartbreaking expression on her face, in Eliza's opinion. She hoped this worked out. She considered Chloe a good friend and wanted the best for her.

Chloe grimaced a smile out and lifted her bag up higher on her shoulder, staring at the wooden doors in dismay. "Yeah, I hope he doesn't get too frustrated with me."

Eliza waved off her worries. "Don't worry, he has more patience then a saint. He's really excited about it. I'm sure you'll get along great."

"Yeah," Chloe said, doubtfully.

Eliza smiled gently and gave her a little push. "Go. I'll see you later, and tell me how it went okay?"

"Sure, sure." Chloe grumbled under her breath, pushing open the doors with one hand.

As soon as she was in the library she looked around, trying to find a person with the description that Eliza gave her. Tall, thin, glasses and dark hair.

She aimlessly walked around, checking out the tables where people sat, hunched over books, either reading or writing, looking for Alex. After ten minutes of doing this, Chloe was about to leave when she caught sight of someone waving wildly at her, with barley restrained excitement.

Chloe stifled a groan. This boy was tall. So tall in fact that he was stooped over a little bit, like an old man. He had glasses that looked like they belonged to someone's grandfather, with the lenses large and circle like, and he was so thin that he made Chloe look fat.

Chloe shook her head and started forward to meet her new tutor. Typical geek, she thought.

Just then someone grabbed her arm, and she turned, looking over her shoulder. And then she found herself looking at pearly white teeth. She followed the teeth to a straight nose and dark blue eyes covered with black square glasses. Dark brown hair was naturally spiked on the top of his head. A quick look down showed that although he was thin, he wasn't about to blow away with a strong breeze. Altogether, it made this guy hot.

"Hi," The guy said, hesitantly, smiling a little. "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Alex. I'm assuming your Chloe?" He dropped her arm, only to hold out his hand.

She shook it, still a little dazed at the turn of events. " I'm Chloe." Was all she was able to get out.

He gave her a quizzical look but kept the smile. He adjusted the books in his hands and nodded at an empty table nearby. "Do you want to get started?"

"Sure," Chloe said, walking and sitting down at the table. "I hope Eliza warned you about me."

Alex laughed. It was a nice sound. "Yes she did. And I met Simon. He warned me plenty about you." He gave her a sly look. "And he said that you have a big scary boyfriend. So if I try anything, knee caps will be broken."

Chloe laughed nervously, cursing Simon for taking her joke seriously. "Don't worry about him. He's just a big softy inside. Wouldn't hurt a fly." She fibbed a little, biting her lip while doing so.

Alex shrugged and winked. Winked! "I understand where he's coming from though. Hard to keep such a pretty girl all to himself."

Chloe laughed again, this one genuine. After a bit of small talk they dove into Spanish.

Everything was going great, and Alex really knew his stuff. The only part that made Chloe cringe later on, was when Alex got a look at her sheet, and all her theories.

At the time she couldn't find her Spanish assignment in her mess of a bag. She had a few of Derek's text book in her bag. Earlier he asked her to take them because he had an appointment with the guidance councillor and wouldn't have been able to make it if he had to run all the way back to his locker to drop his stuff off.

And now her bag was overly crowed with her stuff and Derek's and somewhere her assignment was floating around. After digging around for it unsuccessfully, she grabbed a handful of text books and sheets and dumped them on the table. Alex gave her an amused look and she blushed, turning back to her bag on the floor.

"Is this is?" Alex asked her, and she brought herself upright. He plucked the sheet from under a text book and briefly flashed her a look of the page, and she nodded, reaching for it, but he held it out of reach. His eyes moved over the page as he read it and suddenly he was laughing. Great belly laughs that had him shaking.

Chloe scowled at him and crossed her arms. Alex kept at it, laughing until Chloe swore she saw tears in his eye. He finally calmed down and kept chuckling for a few moments until he saw her face. He sobered up pretty quickly after that.

Alex leaned forward and pointed at the sheet. "Chloe, I'm sorry for laughing, but when Eliza and Simon said that you were horrible in Spanish to this degree, I assumed they were exaggerating a little. But clearly you suck." He said, bluntly, smiling to soften his words.

Chloe nodded her head and tried not to pout. "I understand. Well, thanks for trying anyway." Chloe stood and started to collect her stuff when he stopped her.

"Chloe, I didn't mean I was giving up on you." He said. "I only meant that this will be a big job, and I hope you're willing to put some effort in."

Chloe nodded slowly. "I'll do anything. I need all the help I can get."

"Okay then," Alex said, easing back into his seat. "So, I see you circled the words you know and translated them into what you think they were."

"What I 'think' they were?" Chloe frowned. "Did I get them wrong?

His lip twitched. "Just a couple of them."

"I only translated three of them."

"And you got two out of the three wrong."

"Oh"

"I'm not sure where you got the word car from on here, but that doesn't matter. What you said was car really means opposite. And what you said was person was personalities. And you got sex right." His lip twitched again.

Chloe ignored that and said, half joking, "So my teacher isn't some pervert?"

He shook his head. "No, just a hard ass. He wants you to pick someone from the opposite sex and write about their personality traits."

The lesson continued smoothly after that.

It went like that for a few weeks. Twice a week they'd meet after school from 4:15 to 6:00. When Chloe came home, Derek was always standing at the door, waiting for her, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He was always in a grumpy mood after her tutoring, but Chloe never commented, preferring to let him stew.

After one lesson that ran a little longer than normal, Chloe was walking up the flight of stairs at her apartment building, keys already out. She heard footsteps stomping and looked up to see Derek, meeting her half way down the stairs, and unhappy look on his face.

"Hey." She said smiling. "What are you doing?"

Derek stopped walking, hesitating where he was. He didn't say anything, only crossed his arms.

Chloe frowned, leaning against the wall beside her. "What's wrong? Is everything, okay?"

He nodded silently.

Chloe took a step forward, hand up, ready to reach out and touch him, but he took a step back, out of reach.

A slightly hurt look appeared on her face and she bit her lip. "Derek? You're freaking me out."

Derek just looked at her. Finally he opened his mouth. "Dinner is ready." Then he turned on his heel and walked back to the apartment.

Chloe stood there for a moment, confused and a little hurt. Then she took a deep breath, and shook her head, trudging up the rest of the stairs.

She didn't know what the hell was going on with Derek. But she did know one thing. Tonight, she was attacking Derek.

That night when everyone was in bed and everything was silent, Chloe put her plan in motion. Chloe and Tori shared and room and so did Simon and Derek. Kit slept on the couch, and Lauren was renting a place across town. She put up a fuss when Chloe insisted on staying with Derek but when Derek backed her up, Lauren eventually gave in.

Chloe slid from her single sized bed and swung her feet onto the ground, her feet protesting against the cold floor. Chloe glanced at Tori and comforted herself with her snores.

Chloe cracked open the door and slid through the gap, being careful to tip toe past Kit. His snores were just as loud as his daughter's.

Chloe opened Derek and Simon's door and peaked in. Simon was just a lump in his bed with blonde hair sticking out on his pillow. Derek was in his boxers, sprawled out on the covers, but legs tangled in the sheets. His face was facing her, stomach facing the sealing, breathing slow and steady. He looked peacefully, Chloe decided.

She strode forward, -and without think- pushing Derek's chest with all her little might. He barely moved, but his weight did shift. And Derek shot up in bed, eyes wide and searching.

When they came to rest on Chloe, she crossed her arms and glared and him.

"What the hell is your problem?" She hissed.

Derek's eyebrows shot up and he pointed to himself. "What's my problem? What's your problem?" Derek snapped as quietly as he could.

Chloe poked him in the chest. "You've been acting miserable for weeks now, and you're giving me the cold shoulder. Care to tell me what's going on?"

Derek rubbed his hands over his face and laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. "I'm not doing this with you now."

Chloe tensed, anger sweeping threw her. She brought her hands up and pushed him again. This time his balance was off and he toppled off the small bed. Chloe suspected that she wouldn't have been able to do it if he wasn't expecting it and if he wasn't tired.

But Derek hit the ground, and boy did he hit it hard. Chloe actually winced at the impact even though she was still upset with him.

It was silent for a moment, before Simon's cranky voice cut through the air. "If you guys can't control your hormones and have to do that stuff now, please for the love of God, take it elsewhere."

"Simon," Chloe said somewhat apologetic. "We weren't doing anything, I was just-"

Simon sat up and tossed her a put out look. "You know what? Never mind. I'll go crash with Dad. At least he'll be sympathetic." Simon whipped off the covers, grabbed a pillow and stormed out of the room.

Chloe crawled onto Derek's bed and peered down at him. He was still lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Finally, he sighed heavily.

"Derek?" She asked timidly. She stuck her foot out, toe pointed and softly nudged his shoulder. "Derek, are you okay?"

"Chloe…" Derek started, but just sighed again.

"Yes?" She brought her toes over to his chin and poked him again.

"Why is your foot near my mouth?" He asked seriously.

Chloe cracked open a smile and wiggled her toes. "Why are you acting this way?"

Derek was silent, but he grabbed her foot and pulled it down, running his fingers over the bottom of her foot. Chloe bit her lip to stop the giggle the worked its way out of her mouth, and she tried to yank her foot away but he held strong.

They sat there for a long time. Chloe on the bed and Derek on the floor, holding her foot.

"Do you love me?" Derek asked, randomly, looking at her foot.

Chloe was surprise, but she didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Derek nodded and sat up. "Okay."

Chloe watched as he moved to sit on the bed and smiled. He was such a big dork. No one could deny it.

Derek pulled Chloe down to lay with him. She was curled up to him when he said, "I'll tutor you. I promise."

Chloe looked up at him, a little smile on her lips. "Are you in a moment of weakness?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm completely aware what I'm getting myself into."

Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. "You were jealous, weren't you?" She asked, softly.

"Uh-huh."

And there you have it folks. All done. Review to tell me what you think!