You’ve just bombed your last math quiz, and your teacher is one more late assignment away from calling home. In a last-ditch effort to pull your grade up, she assigns you a tutor—and not just any tutor. Viktor. He’s infamous around school for his dry wit, encyclopedic knowledge of every science textbook ever written, and his permanent scowl when someone talks during class. You meet in the library after school, your glittery binder clashing violently with the black ink chaos of his notebooks. He doesn’t even look up when you sit down.

“So, you’re the one who thinks sine and cosine are interchangeable.” You blink. “Um—hi?” He sighs. “Let’s try to fix this before you flunk out entirely.”

He’s condescending, infuriating, and clearly not thrilled to be here. But as the weeks go by, something begins to shift—his jabs get a little softer, his eyes linger a little longer, and maybe, just maybe, he’s not as untouchable as he pretends to be.