Learning a Lesson – A Covenant Fanfic

by: .writer

Summary: When faced with failing his Calculus class, rebellious womanizer Reid Garwin persuades brilliant fellow student Nora Burke to help him pass his final exam. He fully expected her to fall in love with him - most girls did. What he didn't expect was that he would fall for her first. Rated T for language and mature situations.

A/N: This is what we writer types call a Very Important Chapter. Friends Make Important Points, and The Hero Realizes Important Facts. There are multiple instances of ALL CAPS DIALOGUE. There is much Plot.

You peeps ought to LOVE it.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant, or its characters and such. Original characters such as Nora Burke, Professor Ackley, and the Example Boys (Ryan Castella, Gavin Mayburn, Joey Campbell, and Remy-the-Foreign-Dude), etc., belong to me.

Chapter Four

Tyler made an excellent best friend...most of the time. In Reid's opinion (loudly expressed) this was not one of those times.

"I am not upset, Baby Boy! I don't care that she didn't care, I just think it's weird."

Tyler had a smug look on his face. "Mmhmm. Sure. Remind me again why it's weird."

Reid shot him a look. "You don't know women like I do, Baby Boy. Trust me, any time a girl is not jealous, there's something up. Especially since she had a reason to be jealous...sort of. Anyway, women get jealous over everything, real or imagined. It's how they work."

Tyler dismissed this with a roll of his eyes. "I doubt that, Reid. Besides, Nora doesn't have a reason to be jealous. Why should she care that you were hooking up with some chick? It's not like she's interested in having you for herself."

Reid frowned. "You really think so, Tyler? I mean, she said she wasn't, but girls lie about that sort of thing."

"Not girls like Nora. Seriously, dude. She doesn't care what—or who—you do, as long as it doesn't interfere with her life." Tyler cocked his head to the side. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"I DON'T!"

This was met with laughter. "Dude, she is getting to you. And don't try to deny it."

Reid, who was about to do just that, snapped his mouth shut with a glare.

"You know what I think," Tyler continued. "I think you like her."

Flat stare. Then slightly-forced chuckles. "Haha, Baby Boy. Real funny."

"I'm not joking Reid. I believe you have a thing for Miss Burke." Tyler was almost concealing a grin.

"That's stupid," Reid replied. "I don't like girls like Nora. She's not my type."

"Your 'type' is usually spelled S-L-U-T, but when it comes to something serious, I think Nora would be your type."

Reid was appalled. "I don't want 'something serious'!" he argued. "I happen to like easy, casual relationships. Short ones."

"Answer me this, Reid," Tyler said with a devious look. "Do you think Nora's attractive?"

"Yeah," Reid said with a shrug.

"Do you like being around her?"

"Yeah, but only because she's funny, and because she's helping me with Calc." Reid's tone was more suspicious now; he wasn't sure where Tyler was going with this.

"Final question. Do you think of her like a sister?"

Reid raised his eyebrows. "Hell no!"

Tyler smiled. "So. You're attracted to her, and you like spending time with her, and you don't view her in a platonic way. That adds up to liking her in my book, Reid."

Reid scowled. "When did you turn into such a chick, dude? I don't like her." He paused. "And what the hell does 'platonic' mean, anyway?"

Clenching his jaw, Reid mentally cursed Tyler for filling his head with idiotic ideas. Now whenever he looked at Nora, he heard his best friend's words in his mind. And because of those words, he was also looking at Nora a lot more often.

Damn you, Tyler.

Across the cafeteria he could see Nora sitting with someone. Shifting a little, Reid got a better look at the person.

Holy hell. It was a guy.

Reid moved over some more, bumping into Kate. She glared at him, but he didn't notice. He was trying to get a good view of the dude's face. When he did, he scowled. It was Ryan Castella, a fairly popular guy who also captained the rugby team. Reid figured that to a girl, Castella would be fairly good-looking, in a burly, bigger-than-some-mountains kind of way.

Why the hell was Nora talking to him?

Hearing someone growl, Reid realized it was him. Sitting back in surprise, he heard a muffled sound behind him. Turning, he saw Tyler, who was trying not to laugh. As their eyes met, Tyler straightened up and cleared his throat.

"I wonder why Nora's talking to Ryan Castella," he remarked in a casual way. "From what I hear he does pretty well in math. I doubt he needs tutoring."

Reid glared. "Shut up, Baby Boy."

Eyes widening in mock affront, Tyler held his hands up in surrender. "Excuse me. I was just making conversation. Didn't realize you'd be so touchy about it."

The others at the table looked on in amusement as Reid turned away from the sight of Nora and Castella. Sitting stiffly, he refused to make eye contact with Tyler.

"I do not care," he muttered under his breath. "I don't."

A week later, Reid was ready to tear his hair out. Or maybe Tyler's.

He couldn't stop thinking about Nora. It was driving him crazy. In a fit of desperation he had canceled all of his tutoring sessions for the week, claiming extra swimming practices as an excuse. This only made it worse. Not only did Nora seem completely unconcerned by his behavior, Reid kept seeing her all over campus. With Castella. With other guys. Even alone, the sight of her frustrated him.

Naturally, Tyler noticed all of this. For a while he was content to say nothing, though he kept smiling in a smug way. Eventually, he started making comments.

"I saw Nora today. She looked really interested in her conversation with Gavin Mayburn. You know him, he's on the debate team. Smart guy."

"I talked to Joey Campbell. He's doing much better in Trig since Nora started tutoring him. He's been getting extra sessions, since you canceled on her."

"Y'know that foreign guy, the transfer student the girls are all ga-ga over? I think his name's Remy...anyway, he sat with Nora today at dinner. They were laughing a lot."

"Hey Reid..."

Reid exploded. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, TY! I DON'T CARE WHAT GUYS NORA TALKED TO TODAY! JUST SHUT UP ABOUT HER!"

Tyler looked taken aback. "I was going to ask if you knew where my physics textbook was."

"Oh." Reid felt mildly embarrassed. "Under your desk, I think."

While Tyler retrieved the book, Reid waited for the condescending-slash-amused lecture that was surely coming. When his best friend merely sat down and opened the book, armed with a highlighter, Reid coughed. "Uh, Ty?"

Tyler looked over his shoulder at Reid, who was stretched out on his bed. "Yeah? What's up?"

Reid frowned. "Don't you have something to say?"

Thinking for a moment, Tyler shook his head. "Noooo, I don't think I do."

"What, you aren't going to give me another damn talk about Nora? You've been making comments about her all week!"

Tyler shrugged. "I really don't have anything to say, Reid. If you dislike her so much that you don't want to be around her anymore, that's your choice. So I'll stop bringing it up, since it obviously makes you uncomfortable."

For some unexplainable reason, Reid felt disappointed. "W-what?" Then he thought about Tyler's words. "Wait, what's make you think I dislike Nora?"

Tyler sighed and recapped his highlighter, tossing it onto the desk before turning around. "Well, you never talk about her. You stopped going to your tutoring sessions. You get this look whenever someone mentions her, your face gets all twisted and stuff. I figured you didn't like her anymore, for whatever reason."

"But, I don't dislike her!" Reid argued, feeling confused. "I just don't like her, you know? I don't particularly care about her one way or the other."

Tyler nodded. "Oh. Okay. Well, you might want to tell her that."

"Why?"

"She's been a little worried. Thinks she upset you or something. You could talk to her, let her know there's nothing wrong."

Reid nodded slowly, thinking about it. Glancing at the clock, he stood up. "Yeah, I think I'll do that..."

He wandered out the room. Tyler watched him go with a smirk, then he turned back to his physics homework.

Reid found her in the courtyard, sitting cross-legged on one of the benches, a small paperback book in one hand. Her lips were pursed, and Reid couldn't stop staring at the spot where her white teeth were just visible as she bit her lower lip.

He regained his senses when he realized she had noticed his presence. She was looking at him expectantly.

"Hi." Crap. That was smooth.

She nodded. "Hey."

He swallowed. "So. What are you reading?"

"Jane Eyre. Why?"

Shrugging, he sat down beside her, but not facing her. Instead, he looked out at the empty courtyard.

They were quiet for a while. Reid wondered what he was doing here. Yeah, hey, I don't want you tutoring me anymore because I can't focus around you. You're distracting. That would really win her over. Or, even worse, the explanation he had given Tyler. I don't care for you one way or another. You're nothing to me. That was a lie, and Reid was willing to admit it. He wasn't indifferent towards Nora, but he didn't like her, not like Tyler said he did.

Damn. Damn damn damn. Reid listened to her breathing beside him, the quiet turning of a page.

With a sudden decision, he turned to face her. She looked up from her book, green eyes dark in the fading light.

"I don't need you to tutor me anymore." Reid said the words almost before he thought them. "I can handle it on my own now."

She blinked behind her gold glasses. "Really. Um, okay."

He watched her for a while. Reid knew he was being weird, but he liked looking at her. She shifted under his gaze after a while, obviously wondering when he had gone psycho. Reid certainly felt like a nutcase.

In for a penny, in for a pound, Reid thought recklessly. Determined to seal his fate, he uttered the words that had been dancing in his head ever since Tyler's intervention.

"You want to go on a date with me?"

A/N: Uh-huh. That's right. The words were spoken. Reid has finally Gotten It. Thank the gods for Tyler though, because Blondie wasn't going to figure it out on his own. He's an idiot (but we love him anyway).

And yes, this is a cliffhanger. Mostly because I had no idea of how Nora's going to reply. While you get over your shock, let's have a round of applause for Tyler (who is much smarter than the average teenaged boy, thankfully) and for the Example Boys (Ryan Castella, Gavin Mayburn, Joey Campbell, and Remy-the-Foreign-Dude) who have no purpose other than to make Reid jealous. Such nice boys, though.

You should have recovered by now, Dear Reader, so please express your delight (or dismay) in a review. Yes, one of those things.

(My weirdness can be explained by my writing this at 7:30 in the morning after staying up all night. So ignore me.)

(Except for the review part, I'm serious about that)