The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 155: Trip back and your life from another point of view. (Patreon)

You get in Emma’s car and once you’re a ways from the house, you both let out heavy, tired sighs as tension seems to leave your bodies.

“I thought I was gonna pass out.” You mumble.

“I barely even got a word in!” Emma groans. “But you! You were amazing!” She then grins from ear to ear.

“What are you talking about? That was a desperate attempt at saving my skin at best.” You groan. “I’m surprised, and extremely grateful, that she didn’t argue back because I don’t know how I would’ve responded.”

“Love, I’ve been trying to convince her to consider the matter of a co-ed academy for years and she’s never once listened to me! This is the closes she’s been to being convinced!”

“I’ll chalk it up to her wanting to look good in front of Jonathan, then.”

Emma’s lips curl into a sad smile. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“I’m being critical. If she had really wanted to, she could’ve ripped my arguments apart. So it’s either because of my brother, or because of this…” You say, taking out your phone and looking at the black screen.

“David-!”

“Well, it worked, so I’m not gonna complain.” You shrug, unintentionally cutting Emma off. “Besides, this is just an opportunity. I need to prove there’s worth in keeping me here.”

“Will you be okay? You’ve been distracted these days. I think you need to relax a bit.”

“…” You bite your lip. It’s tempting. You wish you could just get home, push Emma down on the bed and let her help you release all this bottled up frustration, however… “I’m fine. I work better under pressure anyway.” You try to give her a smug grin. “Don’t worry and make the test extra difficult. It’ll look better when I ace them all.”

“That wouldn’t be good for the others though.” Emma chuckles.

“Oh, shit. You’re right.” That’s a problem, isn’t it? “Gah! Do it anyway! I’ll help them study! Just watch me.”

That’s fine. Pile up the pressure. That’ll keep you focused.

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While Jessica was the one to suggest asking, Olivia was instantly on board with the idea, then refused, then immediately regretted refusing. That’s why Jessica just went and asked David’s group to let them study together. From that point on, it was in their hands and Olivia could do nothing about it, which seemed to make her relax at first, but then she would tense whenever one of his group passed by.

To Lilian, this was extremely amusing. It was SO obvious her friend had a huge crush on the guy she used to torment, and all because he saved her life. Not that she didn’t get it, but still, seeing the usually ruthless Olivia trying to hide whenever her crush was in sigh was both hilarious and adorable and it annoyed the brunette to no end because Lilian would unabashedly laugh in her face.

Sadly, Jessica was significantly less fun to tease because she’d already had the balls… the ovaries to tell the guy how she felt about him, even if he’d left her waiting. It had annoyed Lilian to hear that. The idiot already had 3 girls! Why couldn’t he just accept Jessica’s feelings and fuck her like she wanted as well? Jessica had accepted it just like that, though. It annoyed her even more.

Her two best friends in the world had a thing for the same guy. It was weird, because if it had been any other guy she would’ve been terrified that something like that could hurt their friendship, but since David already had a reputation of being a disgustingly sweet boyfriend to the others, it seemed entirely possible for her friends to also start dating him. He’s still a slut, though. Nevertheless, it was one of the two reasons they’d decided to ask his group to let them study with them. The other reason being that between him, Sophia and Katherine, they had the smartest people among the first years.

She didn’t want to admit it, but they needed the help. Jessica did her best, but she was already pretty average and there were thing she didn’t understand. Seeing her try to teach her and Olivia hurt her, because it was their own fault they were idiots. It was their fault for pushing their homework on others and being happy getting by with scores just good enough to pass. And now Jessica felt responsible for some dumb reason. So if Lilian had to swallow her pride and politely ask the smart ones for help, she would.

On Thursday, Sophia approached them.

“Are you free after school tomorrow? We’re going to David’s house to study and everyone’s okay with you being there.” She told them. There was not a hint of resentment in her voice. She’s talking to them casually as if she’s done so every day. Given, they never messed with her because it never seemed worth the trouble, but…

“We are.” Jessica nodded happily.

“Are you sure you want us to go to his house?” Lilian voices the question she’s sure Olivia wants to ask, but won’t. To that, Sophia just shrugs.

“It was his idea. Emily and Megan don’t like it, but it’s not like he can go wherever he wants right now.”

“How… How’s his foot doing?” Olivia asks, trying her best not to sound like a worried Disney princess and doing a pretty decent job at it, sadly.

“It’s taking longer to heal than expected, but he says it doesn’t hurt that much anymore. He should be okay by Sunday or Monday.”

With simple instructions to wait tomorrow by the gates after school and a quick goodbye, Sophia leaves to talk with some of her friends.

So that’s what they’re doing right now. They wait for 4 girls that still clearly hold a (admittedly reasonable) grudge to go the house of the guy they used to bully.

“Are you sure about this?” Lilian asks Olivia. “You realize this is gonna be awkward as shit.”

“…I know.” Her friend grimaces. “But he’s the only one willing to help us, and you know we need the help.”

“I don’t disagree, I’m just asking.” The blonde shrugs. “And is this finally when you two try to get in his pants?”

Both girls flinch at that question, and Lilian is happy with that, if nothing else.

“We’re not trying to get in his pants!” Jessica argues.

“I know! And that’s the problem!” Lilian groans in frustration. “How much longer are you going to wait?”

“…” Olivia takes a deep breath before answering. “I told you. I want to get my life in order first. Even if he did forgive us, he doesn’t seem the type to be interested in girls who don’t know where the fuck they’re going.”

Sadly, Lilian has to agree. That guy looks like the type to have it all figured out already. Still, what do they see in him? Okay, sure, he’s gotten fit and while he was never ugly, he’s pretty hot now, but other than that? He’s just… a nice guy. Big deal.

Any more teasing is cut short by the arrival of the other 4 girls, who thankfully seem to be in their best behavior. There are no mean looks from either side, and any awkward silences that could’ve been between them are cut short by Sophia as she gets everyone in the same page.

Lilian has to admit Sophia is kind of cool.

Her group is starting to walk away from the school, when Olivia stops them.

“Hey, Lilian and I have our cars.” She tells them, and although Lilian can hear the unspoken “We can drive you there”, she’s not sure the others got it.

“Oh. Yeah, sorry. David’s house is pretty close, but it’s not like you can leave your cars parked here.” Sophia nods.

“Come on. One of you needs to tell us where it is. Sophia, come with me.” The haughty blonde says as she turns back and starts walking towards the parking lot. The brunette and her red haired friend get in her car while Jessica and the jocks go with Olivia.

And they weren’t kidding when they said the place was close. That was barely 5 minutes. 

5 minutes to get to an honest-to-god shitty storage shed, though. Lilian is repulsed. How could anyone live in this place? Does he even have a bathroom? Are they really studying here with him? Is this a joke?

Even so, they park their cars inside the lot, next to the shed.

“W-What is this place?” Jessica asks hesitantly.

“The room the school gave him.” It’s Megan that answers, sounding frustrated.

“…You’re kidding.” Olivia says with a half-opened mouth.

“I wish we were.” Emily says. “It’s not as bad as it looks on the inside. But David says it was worse when they gave it to him.”

Lilian has a hard time believing it. Hayes Academy’s dorms are so fancy that her own parents considered sending her there. She would’ve gone, too, if not the fact that she still had more freedom at her own house.

Sophia knocks on the door and shouts “David, we’re here. You’re not naked, are you?”

“…Come in.” A resigned response come from inside.

That’s when she sees Sophia take out a key and open the door, it somehow makes her heart skip a beat. Are they seriously at that point in their relationship already?

…That actually makes her kind of jealous. She sort of wishes she had something like that. Sort of. Relationships are overrated, anyway.

When she opens the door, they can finally see the inside. But before they have any time to study it, Emily lays her eyes on her boyfriend as he sets up a table with textbooks, a laptop, pencils and other things.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! David Walker! Sit your ass down!” The athletic blonde yells, stomping her way into the room.

The man in questions flinches when he hears her and immediately does as told, stiff as a board.

“Do you even want your foot to heal!?” His girlfriend chastises him from above.

“I told you, I can walk if I don’t put much pressure in it.” He defends himself.

“I don’t care! Rest properly for a minute in your life, for god’s sake!”

Olivia and Jessica try their best to hold back their laughter at the scene, and that makes them better people than herself, because Lilian just laughs out loud. But hey, even Katherine is laughing, if more subtly, and Megan and Sophia are acting like this is an everyday thing while they move to finish setting the table.

David greets them with a smile and they all get to work immediately. This helps them avoid the awkward silence that was starting to form. 

David prepared different worksheets covering the material they’ve seen in class… for all subjects. Lilian has to feel sorry for him. The guy has way too much free time. Still, this is great. It’s like a summary of the most important contents for each topic.

They work on English, history and biology. They’re so focused that there’s basically no time to feel awkward. They’re going from one topic to the next with barely 5-minute breaks. What’s more, she hates to admit it, but everything is really easy to understand when they explain it. Well, everything except math.

Frustratingly, Olivia picks up on it stupidly quickly. Katherine just explained a couple of things to them and she was already solving more complex problems. Her, though? She just doesn’t get it.

“Are you stuck?” David asks her from across the table.

“Y-Yeah.” Lilian nods, but doesn’t elaborate. Asking him for help would be too embarrassing. She’ll just wait until tomorrow and ask Olivia to teach her.

“Let me see.” He takes her worksheet and looks it over, only to find it mostly empty. Even the supposedly easy problems are blank.

She half-expected him to laugh, but of course he does the opposite and starts helping her. He goes over every problem, step by step. And the fact that she doesn’t understand even when she’s patiently explaining frustrates her and angers her.

“I don’t get it!” She growls. Her hand trembles as she clenches her pencil tightly enough it that might snap soon. “Why is this fucking shit so difficult!?”

Instead of being angry at her for yelling, David looks over her work, silently searching where she’s getting things wrong.

“Ah.” He exclaims, his eyes widening for a second. “Yeah, that’d do it.” He mutters and nods to himself. “Lilian, let’s go to my desk. You guys keep going.” He tells the others as he moves another chair next to his own desk in a corner of the room.

Reluctantly, Lilian does as told. They sit next to each other, away from the others, and David starts explaining just what she’s doing wrong. It has to do with something they saw in class before, something she also didn’t understand. So because she couldn’t do that, she couldn’t solve the problems now.

And so, David worked with her the rest of the afternoon, teaching her everything she needed. He only worked with her. Just her. He didn’t go to other subjects or anything. He just… taught her math for about three hours.

And while he had laser-like focus, she couldn’t help but get distracted once in a while. Because he was really close to her. Because he smelled kinda nice. Because his fingers had accidentally brushed hers. Because he was being so ridiculously patient with her. Because he would let her rest every 30 minutes. Because his eyes were actually really pretty. Because she had to stop and wonder why her heart was pounding so quickly. 

…

Fine. She could see what her friends saw in him.

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