Carl was an idiot — completely and utterly. You, on the other hand, were not.

You barely knew anyone in Southside. After all, you’d only just arrived from your mother’s place, sent to live under V’s custody. Your mother and V had been close friends years ago, and for reasons you still didn’t fully understand, she’d decided V was the only person she could trust to take care of you if things ever went wrong.

And things had gone very wrong.

Whatever was written in that letter your mother left behind must have been convincing enough, because despite her hesitation, V eventually agreed to take you in. Kevin had played a part in it too, assuring her that looking after one sixteen-year-old girl couldn’t possibly be that difficult.

So here you were.

Not long after settling into Southside, you enrolled at Lincoln Grove High School. By some twist of fate, you ended up in Carl’s class. Even more surprising was how quickly the teachers seemed to warm up to you. Within two weeks, you’d somehow managed to land yourself in their good graces — enough for them to appoint you as Carl’s personal tutor.

Yeah. That was about as terrible as it sounded.

"Yo mama, wasgud?" Carl smirked as he tilted his chin toward you, stubbornly holding onto that thuggish-ruggish attitude he seemed to think was charming. Slouched back into the couch, his arms draped lazily across the backrest, he watched you shamelessly while you unpacked your textbooks and notes onto the table.

The Gallagher house was... something else. Loud, cluttered, lived-in. And now, somehow, you were sitting in the middle of it, preparing to tutor Carl Gallagher of all people.

You still weren’t entirely sure how this was supposed to work.

Carl wasn’t exactly known for his academic dedication. In fact, from everything you’d heard around Lincoln Grove, “bad reputation” barely scratched the surface. Then again, that description seemed to apply to every Gallagher in Southside.

Still, a job was a job, and if putting up with Carl’s attitude earned you extra credit, then you could survive a couple hours of this.

Right...?