When I Hacked the Snow Prince

11. Bullet train

It was almost 9 PM when Aaron dropped me back at home. After he drove away, I walked to our front door, slowly pushing it open.

Ty's Dad and Mom were in the living room, watching a movie with all the lights off. I greeted them lowly and then quickly made my way upstairs in the dim light from the TV. Thankfully they didn't ask me anything as they were engrossed in the movie.

I had had dinner from Aaron's home along with his parents. Both of them were really nice to me. Apparently, Aaron told them, I'm his partner in the Chemistry assignment and I came to work on it. He had no doubt, if they happen to know we are making a video game instead of some school project, then they simply wouldn't let us.

In three hours, I and Aaron discussed the theme, plot and setting of our video game and I showed him the model I was already working on. I told him all the ideas I currently have in my mind and he also contributed some ideas. He is actually very creative.

We didn't start working on the game yet. I just taught him a little about the software we would be using in designing our game. Allso, we looked into some impressive racing games which we could use as our model.

Also, Aaron told me in detail about his meeting with Ty this evening. He didn't expect me to go to his house today and he was really surprised on seeing me at his doors. He was more surprised when I told him it was Ty who dropped me there. Cause his talk with Ty wasn't anywhere near pleasant. He ended up confessing to Ty and Ty straight up rejected him. Of course.

But it's good. At least he now knows how Aaron feels about him. And I'm sure he still likes Aaron although he wouldn't accept it. Now that Aaron has confessed, I don't think he'll be able to hide his true feelings for long. They sure are going to end up dating sooner or later.

As I reached upstairs, I found Ty's room door closed. But there was light inside. He might be studying or doing some work. I silently walked up to the door and quietly grabbed the doorknob before quickly turning it and jumping into the room, screaming out loud. Ty who was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, yelped and almost jumped up from the bed in shock.

"You almost killed me!" he said placing his hands over his chest. I giggled and plopped down on the bed, beside him. He usually kick me gently or hit me playfully with a pillow during this type of situation but now he just sighed and went back to looking at the ceiling.

I lied silently for some time, observing him with side eyes. He looked like he was deep in thought. Good! He might be thinking about what Aaron told him.

"What happened to you?" I finally asked. I couldn't wait to know what his thoughts were.

"Nothing.." he shrugged.

"Then why are you so silent? What are you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking about our match," he lied.

"No, you weren't. You were thinking about Aaron. He confessed to you, right?"

"No! Stop! Don't talk about that!" He instantly lasted out.

"Why?" I frowned. "Are you afraid you'll fall for him again?"

"No, I don't like him! I can't even imagine being friend with him again."

Oh I see. The 'I hate him' changed to 'I don't like him.' There's improvement.

"Hmm..okay. Then stop thinking about him."

"I'm not thinking about him!" He scoffed.

"Oh yeah, you were thinking about the match."

"How was it working with him?" He left a sigh and asked, trying to change the topic.

"It was great," I replied smiling. "He is good at graphics, more than I expected."

"Oh..." he hummed as if not interested in listening any further. "I feel sleepy. Goodnight Carrie," He then yawned and turned to his side, hugging a pillow.

"Okay, Goodnight then. Sleep well," I said and crawled out of his bed. If he doesn't want to talk to me about his feelings yet, then I guess I should just leave him alone for now.

I walked out of his room and went to mine, throwing my bags on my chair. Then I went straight into the bathroom and stepped into the shower after stripping out of my clothes. I badly needed a shower after the morning running and the long tiring day. I was smelling like s**t.

When I stepped out, my phone was ringing lying on my table, showing an unknown number on caller id. Which unknown jerk is calling me now? I frowned answering the call and placing the phone near my ear.

"This is Asher," I heard the Ice-cold voice in my ear, even before I could utter a 'hello.' Woah! It's really the jerk!

"Why the hell are you calling me? Where did you get my number?" I scoffed.

"Shut the f**k up and listen to me!" He snarled back, sounding extremely pissed. "I didn't want to call you or anything. Trust me, I'd never even think about getting your number. Honestly, I hate hearing your annoying voice as much as I hate seeing your stupid face. But Mr. Jacob just called me and asked me to tutor you and Aaron tomorrow."

"What! What the hell!" I yelped in shock.

"Yeah, what the hell! I don't know! I don't f*****g know why I need to take the trouble. Why the hell you don't know anything in Calculus? Mr. Jacob said you don't even know about derivatives. Why? You didn't attend any maths class in your previous school?"

"Why the f**k are you yelling at me? If you don't want to tutor me, then f*****g don't do it!"

"I wish it was possible that way. But crap! It's not! So, be at the school library tomorrow at 9 Am with that little s**t. And also, Mr. Jacob will be there. He is taking special class for some sophomores. And to your information, it was Mr. Jacob who gave me your damn precious number," with that he ended the call without bothering to hear anything from me.

What the hell! I can't believe this is happening. That Asher Carter is going to tutor me? And I can't do anything? If I don't go, I'll have to face Mr. Jacob's wrath. Oh God, why you let this happen?

....

"Are you really going to school? Or are you going to Aaron's house to work on the video game?" Tyler asked standing at my doors while I was getting ready to go to school the next morning.

It's only a few minutes ago at the breakfast table, I told him and his parents, I'm going to school to let myself be tutored by the school's smartest and most amazing senior student. So, I just kept silent and continued brushing down my tangled hair.

"I see you are wearing a frock today. You usually wear jeans.."

That was enough to break my control. What does he think? I am going to go seduce Aaron, with my naked legs?

"If you don't believe me, then freaking call that mother f*****g pale face and ask him yourself. That jerk is your goddamn best friend, right?" I turned and hissed at him. I don't know why the hell I'm this much angry today. Ty's mouth almost dropped open seeing my furious state.

"I'm sure you're going to Asher," he muttered nodding his head. "But it's gonna be okay, Carrie. He teaches well. And yesterday I had..."

"Just get lost Tyler!" I screamed, aiming my comb at him. He frantically nodded and turned around walking away whilst murmuring 'is she on her period?'

I quickly tucked my hair into a ponytail and wore my sneakers before furiously barging out of my room, slinging my backpack on my shoulder.

"Hey! Is Aaron picking you up?" Tyler shouted, coming out of his room as I raced down the steps. I had been trying to contact Aaron since an hour. But that stupid isn't picking up my calls.

"No, I couldn't reach him. Do you need to go somewhere today?"

"I've only basketball practice at 2:30. Take my car," He said and tossed his car keys to me. I muttered a 'thanks' whilst catching it. Then I rushed out of the house. It was already 8:50.

I tried to call Aaron again while I was driving. But he was still not picking up my calls. I wondered if he was still asleep with his phone on silent. I was feeling really mad all the way to school, I almost crashed into a old lady who was crossing the road.

After I parked the car in the students' parking, I rushed in direction of the library. It was already five minutes past 9. When I arrived there I saw Mr. Jacob and two little guys sitting at a table.

"Good morning, Mr. Jacob!" I said as I reached him.

"Oh, you are here. Where is Aaron?" He asked me.

"I don't know. He isn't here yet?" I asked.

"He is a very punctual student. So I guess, we shouldn't expect him in another half an hour. Anyway, Asher is there. You guys can start already.." He said pointing to the shelves on the left.

"Okay," I nodded whilst cursing that jerk in my head.

I walked towards the shelves and took a U-turn behind them to reach the few tables arranged near the windows. Asher was sitting on the table at the farthest corner with his nose buried in a book. He didn't look up from the book, even when I occupied the chair opposite him. "Where is Aaron?" He asked.

"I don't know. I don't live at his place," I replied.

"But you do have a thing called a mobile phone," he retorted, finally looking up at me.

"I guess you too have that thing," I said and he wasn't impressed. He looked like he was pissed just by seeing my face. I wonder whether I'm that ugly. At least I'm not as ugly as him.

Anyway, he didn't say anything and just went back to reading the book. I fished out my phone from my bag and plugged in my earphones, playing Agust D on Spotify, then went to google, searching for some user notes on Construct2 and RPG maker. We needed those software for our video game.

After two songs, Asher looked up and tapped his hand on the table. He was saying something, so I removed the earbuds from my ears. "What?" I asked.

"Are you here to study or play on your phone?" He asked, his voice cold.

"You are the tutor. You didn't say anything yet," I shrugged my shoulder.

"Where the hell is that brat? Why isn't he picking up my calls?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Why are you asking me? You know, we aren't in contact lately. Remember our deal?"

"Our deal?" He let out a chuckle. "I know you still hang out with him, Caroline. And I know you were at his home yesterday evening until late."

What! How did he know? Then why didn't he try to threaten me?

Oh, maybe he realised it's too late to threaten me again with the CCTV visuals. Or he found out Mr Keatings isn't teaching me. Then maybe he understood I did it for Ty?

But how did he find out I went to Aaron's house yesterday? Did Ty tell him?

"Now give me your phone," he ordered, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"There's no way I'm giving you my phone. And there's no use in calling him from my number. He isn't picking my calls too, since morning."

He let out a huff and then suddenly snatched my phone which was lying on the table. "Hey!" I sneered.

"What's the pattern?" He asked whilst unplugging my earphones.

"Find out," I chuckled and leaned back on my chair.

"Unlock your phone or I'm smashing it," he said raising my phone in his hands.

"Then smash it," I said and crossed my hands across my chest. He gritted his teeth and then finally placed it down on the table. Then he stood up from his chair and stormed away. Probably he went to Mr. Jacob, his bag and books were still there.

I picked up my phone and called Aaron but he still wasn't answering. So, I just sat there and waited for Asher. I just hope this tutoring section gets canceled. I don't want this jerk to teach me alone.

After a few minutes, Asher came back and sat down, opposite me, furious. "Open your damn maths textbook," he snarled.

"What about Aaron?" I asked.

"He is pretending he has a headache. But his mother believed him. Mr Jacob just called her," he replied, fisting his hands on the table.

Seriously? He threw me to this bastard and escaped like that? No, I don't think he would execute such a plan without telling me first. Maybe he really has a headache.

"Didn't you hear me? Open your books!"

I let out a sigh whilst cursing him in my head. Then I fished my textbook and notebook from my bag, opening it.

"We are starting from differentiation. I hope you know Limits and continuity."

"What is that?" I responded.

"Don't tell me you don't know limits," he deadpanned. I just shrugged in reply. "Do you at least know trigonometry?"

"I guess I've heard the word a few times."

"What the!" He brushed his hair backward as if in frustration.

"Okay, let me tell you, I don't know anything in maths except addition, subtraction, multiplication and division."

"Oh thank God! At least you know that," he snapped.

"Yeah, and I guess that's enough to live. After all, I'm not aiming to become Pythagoras."

"Then tell me what is 798x 559."

I scrunched my eyebrows. So, now he was trying to test me since I said I know multiplication. "Wait a minute, let me take the calculator," I said and reached my hands for my phone. But he already picked it up.

I let out a huff and looked at his expressionless face. "Tell me Asher, when do we need to do such big calculations in real life. Even if we have to, there is this thing called calculator. So, why try to calculate them in head when we can do it in one second on phone?"

"I just wanted to know how smart you are. We would start the class after you find the answer of 798x559 in your head."

I left another sigh and leaned back on my chair. "Then we aren't starting class today. I am dumb."

He chuckled. "I know, you are very smart. Smarter than the top scorer in your grade, I mean your brother. But the thing is, your smartness lies in some area other than academics."

"Maybe you guessed it right."

"So, what's the area you are smart at?"

"It's none of your business. By the way, the answer to your question is somewhere near four lack forty six thousand. So, can we start class now?" I asked. I didn't want to engage in small talk with him.

His narrow grey eyes widened a little. And he almost looked impressed. "How did you calculate it?"

"You are the nerd. You must know. I just multiplied 56 with 8 and subtracted a 2 before adding three zeros at the end."

"Oh..." he left a sigh as if relieved. "You can't really find it that way. You just got to be lucky. However you've some logic," he said whilst staring hard at me, his eyebrows were scrunched as if he was calculating something in his head. "So, why don't you subtract 1.918 instead of 2 and tell me the accurate answer?" He then said.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" I muttered and leaned back, trying to calculate the answer in my head. I didn't fail to realize that this jerk was too good at maths. "Then, it must be four lack forty six thousand eighty two?" I asked after a moment.

"That's right." He said. "Open trigonometry then."

"Ahh..finally!" I sighed and opened the textbook to 'trigonometric functions.'

"We have 2 hours 42 minutes in our hands. I'm not intending to teach you every single question in that textbook. We will cover all the main concepts in trigonometry, continuity as well as differentiation. That means 54 minutes for each chapter."

"What?" My mouth dropped open. "They take at least one week for covering one chapter at school. How are we covering it in less than one hour?" I asked.

"You are pretty fast. And I said we are only looking at the concepts. You are smart enough to learn it yourself, once you get the idea. And also, if we finish it today, you won't have to let me tutor you again another day."

"Yeah, let's just finish it off today," I said.

"Okay then, pay close attention! First concept- sin, cosine and tangent." He said pointing at the textbook. I nodded looking at the right-angled triangle on the page. I didn't want to spend one more day with him. So I decided I'd pay my whole attention and somehow make him cover everything in three hours.

After an hour, we had covered the most important concepts in trigonometry and he showed me to solve just one problem, which was actually one hell of a problem requiring almost all the concepts we looked at. After that, we jumped straight into Limits and continuity. I was starting to go crazy now, cause he was going off like a bullet train. And I was feeling a little uncomfortable in my stomach.

"Your attention is deviating!" He suddenly snapped.

"No, I'm listening," I said.

"You didn't really understand that. You simply nodded your head."

"Uhm..no..I understood. I just got confused a little at the last part."

"Okay, listen carefully.." he said and started lecturing again. I tried to listen carefully but the heavy feeling in my stomach was only increasing. I ignored it and dedicated my whole attention to Asher.

But as we finished that chapter and reached halfway through differentiation, I was starting to feel pain and cramps in my upper stomach. I suddenly felt scared. Did I get my periods? But why so early? I got it like three weeks ago. And wait! I'm wearing a yellow frock!

I slowly moved my hands down the table and leaned forward a little, touching the back of my frock. I instantly felt something sticky and my heart skipped a beat. And soon I saw red on the tip of my fingers. s**t! Why God? Why now? Is it cause I did a lot of running and jogging this week?

"What?" Asher snapped looking up at me.

"Oh..er..what?" I asked, fisting my hands under the table.

"Why are you looking shocked?" he asked.

"Oh..uhm.. nothing," I shook my head. How will I tell my enemy that I got my periods and I already made a mess on my clothes? And now, how am I getting out of here without people noticing?

"Why the hell aren't you listening?" Asher suddenly sneered and I flinched.

"I can't understand you," I snapped back.

"Because you aren't trying to listen!" He scoffed.

I sighed trying to control myself. "Look, can you go get me some water?"

He frowned at me. "I didn't bring any water."

"Yeah, I'm asking you whether you can get me some water."

"Why would I? It's already enough trouble teaching you. Should I now get you water and snacks too? And we clearly don't have time for that. It's already 11:40 and we have half of differentiation left."

"I didn't ask you for snacks. Just get me some water. I'm not feeling good."

"You look alright to go and get water yourself."

"Okay, I don't want water," I sighed. "Just continue, I'm listening."

He shook his head and continued to explain product rule. I tried to pay attention but soon I was getting really angry and also anxious.

"Asher, I need to use bathroom. I'll.."

"Ahh...can't you just hold it in for like ten minutes?" He asked irritably before I could even finish my sentence.

"No!" I scoffed and jumped up from my chair, losing all my cool. "You know what, you are really a jerk and a fool!"

"You are calling me a jerk for teaching you for free?" He chuckled bitterly.

I sighed and grabbed my bag, slinging it on my shoulder and lowering the strap.

"What are you doing? We haven't finished the chapter."

"What's already covered is enough. Thanks a lot," I said and turned around, walking away without looking back.

Thankfully there was no one on the other side of the library except a girl who had her nose buried in a book. Mr. Jacob and the guys had left. I quickly walked out of the library and rushed in direction of the girls' toilet.