Cliché Gone Wrong

Chapter 6

Observing the rain drops falling, Quinn leaned on the wall besides her bed, wondering what surprises awaited for her in that depressive saturday. Since morning, all it did was rain. Rain that fell on her ceiling and made a strange noise. Rain that fell on her window and made the raindrops fall like tears on a face. So much rain, so much feels, that inside her heart she felt a little bit of rain too.

Pieces of what happened the day before still roamed her mind. After their encounter at the field, they headed to the classes, in separated ways. At the end of classes, Quinn said a quick goodbye and left, not bothering to look behind. She cursed herself for not looking behind, maybe Liam was following her with his eyes.

Liam: Want me to pick you up?

The message was read as fastly as it came. Quinn sighed, someone as snobby as Liam wouldn't want to see what kind of place she lived at. It was better if he never did actually. So she just tipped in her cellphone, which was surprisingly given to her by her mother when she was "dating" a rich guy, her reply.

Quinn: No need, I can go to your house.

Stretching her arms, she got out of bed and went straight to her wardrobe. Quinn didn't have much options to dress up in, most of her clothes were only washed out jeans, hoodies and sweaters. But that day she wanted to show that she could try to dress up. That reminded her she needed to find another part time job, since her last one was owned by a man who stole all the money and ran away to another country.

Deciding to go with her striped sweater and her best jeans, Quinn rushed to the bathroom and started to style her hair in a way it wasn't so disgusting to look at. A ponytail solved the problem, it stopped the hair from falling on her face and stopped it from covering her upper body.

---

Liam's house wasn't so far away from hers. The twenty minute walk was pleasant, Quinn needed to stretch her legs and do some exercise. The more she walked, the more the houses changed. From poor, simple houses, they became more elaborate, clean ones. Liam's was one of those. It wasn't so flashy, neither seemed to belong to a rich family, but it was cozy. The house was entirely white, with tips of grey, mainly on the entrance. The yard was common, with deep green grass and some toys scattered around.

Climbing the tiny set of stairs, she took a deep breath, like she was going to enter her own house. Pressing the doorbell, an annoying ringing sound filled her ears. Soon after, a black haired woman opened the door.

"Hello?" She tilted her head, giving Quinn a confused look.

"I came to study with Liam..." Quinn managed to speak out loud. The woman's face changed, as if she realized who the glasses girl was. She opened the door for Quinn to enter, stretching one of her arms.

"Sorry, he said he was waiting for someone." The woman smiled, showing the few wrinkles she had. She didn't seen so old, but the wrinkles and some stripes of gray hair wandered here and there. She was still pretty though, tall and skinny. A little too skinny. Her front teeth were somewhat too big for her mouth, which was big for itself, showing all her white, bright teeth. Still pretty.

"You can enter." Quinn slowly entered the house. "I'm Liam's mom, pleasure to meet you." Mrs. Woods shook her hand while Quinn tried to smile. As she entered the house, she noticed how good it looked. All the furniture was rather clean, which gave a modern look to the house. By the huge TV, sat a child playing some games. Probably the owner of the toys in the yard.

"I'm Quinn Taylor, came here to help Liam with Math." She said professionaly.

"Good thing he finally wants to get better. I'm so worried about him, he has yet to apply for some universities. Maybe he can win a scholarship because of football, but I would love if he could at least have better grades." Mrs Woods said truthfully.

Not even a minute passed, and a sound came from upstairs. Soon, Liam appeared in all his glory in front of her, holding some books. When he locked eyes with Quinn, a smile formed on his face.

"Finally you came." He said, approaching her. His mother gave an approving smile, if not mischievious one.

"Now I'll leave you two alone. If you need anything, just ask." She winked at her son and walked away, not before shouting to the boy who played video games. "Troy, turn off this thing before I do it myself! Your brother needs to study" The little boy sighed and replied something Quinn didn't bothered to listen

Liam bit his lip, probably uncomfortable with "the nerd's" presence on his house. Quinn raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to make a move. "Err, let's go to the table?" He asked shyly. She wondered if that was shyness or he was that bothered by her.

"Sure." They walked towards the wood dinning table. Liam sat on the border while Quinn was on his right side. Troy, Liam's supposed little brother had turned off the TV and walked towards them.

"What are you doing?" He asked. He was an very young version of his older brother, same green eyes, same pale skin and black, messy hair. Quinn just hoped that that boy didn't turn like his sibling.

"She's teaching me." Liam answered dryly. Maybe he was the cold older brother, who didn't care about his younger siblings. It was somewhat good, since if he acted that way to little Troy, then the boy wouldn't want to be like him when grown up.

"Why?" The curiosity of the kid amused Quinn. She wondered how Liam would answer that question, mostly because he made a strange face while hearing the question.

"Because I need help." Liam answered after some seconds of thinking.

"Oh" The boy said. Noticing Liam didn't want him there, he quickly walked towards the stairs. When he passed by Quinn, she gave him an apologetic smile, hoping the kid wasn't so sad by his brother's cold replies. The kid didn't seen so affected though, which showed how used he must have been to that. Quinn knew exactly how he felt.

"So, let's begin." Liam said, opening one of the books he brought.

---

Teaching Liam Woods wasn't a hard task. Actually, he was quite smart, Quinn had to admit. The only problem was his lazyness, like any other normal teenager. Like Quinn herself. Everything she explained to him, he would catch it in almost an instant. It was good to see this side of him. He wasn't so dumb as she deemed him to be. But being dumb was different from being oblivious, and Liam surely was way too oblivious for his own good.

"Finished." Liam said, stretching his arms. Quinn looked at the question he just solved, realizing it was correct. Again.

"Good job!" She said cheerfully. "You answered correctly almost all the questions. I guess you didn't need me after all." Liam furrowed his eyebrows.

"What? Are you kidding me? If it wasn't for you, I would've never understood."

"Oh, c'mon Liam. You would've understood this from the beginning if you paid attention to the class." Quinn laughed, making him do the same.

"Maybe. But you have a way of explaining things that it turns everything easier." He replied, leaning on the chair and crossing his arms above the head. "I guess you have this talent."

"What talent?" Quinn eyed him suspiciously. The thing she hated most about that situation was that she couldn't exactly read Liam's true intentions. Were his words just lies? Did he really think that way? Why it mattered anyway? She didn't care. She shouldn't care. The plan was to make the catch him in his own prank.

"I don't know. I guess, when you want, you can talk properly. I guess people should hear more your voice, they would change their minds about you." Liam looked at her. Again, their eyes gazing at each other, analyzing.

"Nobody would want to hear me. Nobody wants even to look at me properly." Quinn decided to play the "hopeless girl" card. She had read about that before, and it somehow made the boy's ego increase. Maybe it was because of that bullshit of saving the damsel in distress or something like that.

"Well, I would." Liam made the next move. Quinn already knew how that would end up. She prepared herself for whatever would come.

The two stared at each other, the game was just beginning. The fun atmosphere from before was now replaced with tension. Quinn rested her hand on the table, Liam put his over hers. He stared at her lips, she did the same to him. He leaned closer, she hesitated but followed his command. From behind, they could hear a noise comming but neither bothered to look at the source. But before their faces could come any closer...

"What are you doing?" A masculine voice asked. Quinn looked at them in surprise, Liam looked at them in despise.