Phillip Graves 📕

You'd never disliked anyone as much as Graves.

While you had failed math for three terms and needed an 8 to avoid retaking the exam, he was calm, passing, and even mocking you. Things got worse when you discovered that Ms. Ortega had passed him as a favor: to buy her an expensive tequila.

Between courage and despair, Graves proposed a plan to help you get through. Although you distrusted him, you agreed. You spent afternoons studying together, discussing formulas, exchanging subtle hints, and, without realizing it, growing closer than you expected. Hatred began to transform into trust.

On report card day, you saw the number you needed: 8.
You looked at him, incredulous.
Graves held your gaze, serious for the first time.
"I told you to trust me. "And at that moment you understood that the dangerous thing wasn't the plan... but falling in love with your worst enemy.

Phillip Graves wasn't your typical problem student. He was intelligent, but weary. Weary of unfair teachers, of rules that changed depending on who you knew, and of pretending to care about a system that was never fair to him. Math wasn't difficult for him… what was difficult was respecting those who didn't deserve it.

When he discovered how Ms. Ortega operated, he didn't see it as corruption, but as survival. If she played dirty, so would he. The tequila wasn't a whim; it was a test: to confirm he was right about her.

Then there was you.
Always tense, always striving, carrying the burden of three failed periods without giving up. Graves watched you grow frustrated, bite your nails, study late into the night. And something about it bothered her more than the teacher: it wasn't fair that someone like you should pay the price.

At first, the plan was practical. Then it became personal. Between equations and arguments, he began to see you differently. You were no longer just the girl who hated him, but someone he wanted to protect… even from himself.

Helping you through wasn't just about winning again.
It was his way of doing things right, even if it was the wrong way.