★ — retribution.

Layla had become a teacher to help students like Logan. Sure, she wasn’t that much older than him, and she could remember the struggles that she had gone through when she had been in high school. She liked to think that she was able to relate to her students better, and be a better help to them than perhaps some of the other teachers in the school. If she could just help him a little bit, then she’d have done her job properly, as cliché as she knew that it sounded.

She chewed on her lip a little as she listened to Logan talk about his days and his life, and she couldn’t help but feel sad for the boy. It didn’t seem like he had any human interaction once he got out of school, and that wouldn’t help him get ready if he were to want to go to college. A support system was crucial, and it didn’t seem like he had any around. “I think you’re a great student, Logan. And I think you have the potential to go really far, and even off to college. I don’t think these things should hold you back.”

“You’d be surprised by how many people appreciate you being here. I appreciate you being here – how else would I be able to deal with all the jocks without someone in the class to have some sensible conversation with?” She added as a slight joke. “Staying for some after school sessions would do you good, I think.”

Logan sniffled a little as Layla spoke, keeping his head bowed. It was true, what he’d said. He’d tried to kill himself because of how awful things had been. He was alone, no one cared and he was bullied relentlessly because of his disability. Things had been far too difficult for him and he’d wanted things to end. 

“You are the only person in this entire school who appreciates me being here,” Logan typed on his phone, running his hand through his already-messy hair. “If I tried to kill myself like I did before, it’d take days before anyone realised, Ms. Fabray. I’m sorry. I don’t think I can go to college. I’d hardly be able to survive.”

As if her job wasn’t stressful enough as it was attempting to run a publishing empire, but her husband was really making things hard for her. For the first time since she had started working, her home life was seriously affecting her work life, and she resented him for it. He was able to have his business and keep it running however he liked, so why wouldn’t he extend the same courtesy to her? She refused to just be a housewife like his partner’s wives, it wasn’t in her nature.

Layla’s eyebrows raised as she heard that Logan had some kind of history with a partner who caused him stress as her husband did her, but she couldn’t keep her face straight when she learned the truth about the story. She’d had no idea, and the shock was visible on her face.

“Logan, I don’t know what to say.” She said softly, her eyes dropping to her phone, feeling guilty for moaning about her rich husband not spending any time with her. Her problems weren’t exactly of the same scale as his seemed to have been in the past. “If there’s ever any trouble with your ex coming here or anything please tell me, Logan. I don’t want you thinking that you have to keep this to yourself while I rant about my silly little life. You’re not here to be my personal therapist and I need to remember that.”

Logan shook his head as Layla spoke, waving his hand a little dismissively. Not in a bad way, of course. It was more that he no longer let his ex bother him; Logan started a new life and that was the main thing here. 

“Please, Layla, don’t worry about it. My ex is my ex for a reason and he isn’t going to bother me again,” Logan typed onto his phone, sitting back a little in his chair and tossing a fry into his mouth. “I’m always going to be here as your personal therapist though. I really don’t mind.”

Layla hated seeing him like this, it wasn’t what he deserved and nobody should have to go through it. She’d found it just as hard as he was, knowing that the year before she was in the exact same position, having locked herself away to avoiding spending time with anyone. The thought of potentially killing someone in the near future was enough to make anyone cry, but it was kill or be killed, and if you weren’t prepared to kill, someone else was. The faces of those she’d killed the arena still appeared her mind on a daily basis.

“I was in the same position as you, Logan. I hadn’t even seen any kind of weapon in person before, let alone used one for myself. But you’ll be able to figure out what you’re good at, that’s what these days are for. And you have me to help you. I really don’t want to see you die in there, and I’m going to do whatever I can to stop it from happening.” 

Logan hated this, hated that she was trying to relate to him. She didn’t know how it felt to be so isolated from friends and family, she didn’t know how he felt about participating in the games. He only did it because he knew if his brother went in and they lost him, his family would never forgive him. 

Her eyes watched Logan as he pointed her through the schedule that he had put together for the day, taking into consideration the errands that she had to run in the afternoon. She wasn’t sure why Logan didn’t talk to her, but she was sure it was something to do with the way that he had been treated in the past by his family of dominants, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t determined. She didn’t give up easily, hence why she continued to talk to her submissive, despite no reply.

She nodded, taking a mouthful of the breakfast that he had prepared for her, thinking if there were any changes that she wanted to make when it came to the day. She didn’t like it to be too regimented, just a general guide was the way she saw it. It was better to have a rough idea than none at all. A smile crossed her face as she noticed Logan had factored teaching her to cook into the schedule. “That sounds like a lovely idea, I think we can definitely keep that in the plans for today.”

Layla thought carefully about the things that she had wanted to cook, and what she thought they might be able to whip up between them. “How about a pie of some sort? That way you can teach me how to make some pastry too.” She grinned. Cooking was something that he was good at, she knew that from the food that she ate on a daily basis, and she hoped that learning to cook with him would bring them closer together.

Logan’s cheeks flushed when Layla said cooking together would be a good idea, and he ducked his head with a shy smile. He kept himself seated on the edge of the bed, listening to her talk. It would have been relatively simple to make a pie, he had to admit. He had made pastry before; his mother had taught him how so it wouldn’t be an issue to show Layla.

The young submissive was nodding at that, allowing himself to look genuinely excited about cooking with Layla. But then he caught himself and hid his face with his hands, not wanting to mess anything up. Layla was nice to him, he’d hate to make her angry and ruin what they had.

Everything seemed to be falling into place for the blonde. She had everything that she needed right there with her, and she would be the first to admit that she didn’t think that this kind of life would have been on the cards for her. She hadn’t been convinced that she would find someone to love, and love her in return, much less have a life with them like she was planning to with Logan. But he brought out a side in her that she didn’t think she had, and he made her feel like she could do anything that she wanted.

It was going to be an expensive project, but she was working hard as much as she could to save so that their house could be perfect for them. It was important to her that it was as perfect as it could be for them, as it was officially their own. No throwing money away on rent, all those walls and doors were theirs, and they could do with it as they pleased. She wanted the walls to show off who they were, and having some of Logan’s art around the house would be the perfect way to do that, in her eyes.

“I think it would be wonderful to have your art around the house, I really do.” She grinned, his art being something that she had admired since they’d met at Belgrave all those years ago. She’d loved it for as long as she’d loved the guy himself. “Besides, you have to deal with my face every day, the paintings would be a welcome distraction I’m sure.”

Flicking through the paint samples, she shook her head softly to herself. It was a hard choice. “I honestly have no clue. I’ll probably start painting and decide that I don’t like the colour anyway.” She chuckled. “Besides, if I’m going to be painting the whole house I want it to be a colour we both like.” She added, looking over towards Logan. “Just being in the house with you will make me happy, Lo. You know that.”

Listening to Layla made Logan beyond happy. He loved everything about her, loved how much she was putting into their new home and he loved the fact he got to wake up to her every morning, and actually got to spend time with her. They had been through far too much together and at this point, Logan was just relieved they made it this far.

He shook his head fondly at her words, moving to sit beside her properly and flicking through the samples, stopping at one he liked and signing to Layla. “I like that one,” he said, grinning at her. “It’s simple enough so we can decorate the rest of the house how he want without any kinds of colours to clash.”

Whenever she’d thought about travelling, she’d always planned on doing it alone. Sure, she knew that she would meet people on the way to share experiences with and to travel small legs of her journey with, but she never thought she’d find someone who she wanted to do it all with, like her best friend Logan. She’d never had this kind of chemistry with one of her friends back home, and it just worked between them.

Running their blog together made it interesting too, taking it in turns to post and take pictures of the other, depicting where they had been and who they’d met along the way. It was the best way to do it, as they could look through what they’d done in the past and relive every moment.

“Australia and New Zealand…” She trailed off, thinking about it. It has always been one of her big plans during her time travelling, and knowing that this was going to be on their itinerary eventually made her really happy. She’d always thought about spending a few weeks travelling that part of the world after a long leg in Asia, but first they had to make sure that they’d done Europe to the extreme.

“Budapest it is.” She grinned, looking through her phone to work out where and when they could get there and how to put it into their schedule better. “So we could run and get a train in like… half an hour. Or we could wait a couple of hours and take the night train, it’s a little slower but means we can get some shut-eye on the way there.”

Logan grinned when Layla agreed, looking over his map at the little country, running his hand through his hair. He liked the idea of running off to explore somewhere else with this girl and he knew he wouldn’t ever get sick of her. Not to mention, the people who read their blog enjoyed seeing the places they travelled. And doing all of this without someone to translate what he was saying was rewarding.

He tilted his head to the side a little. Half hour? They could make that, easily. So it was with a grin that Logan was gathering his few belongings and packing them back into his bag, getting to his feet and holding his hand out for Layla and pulling her up before typing on his phone.

Layla was really trying to make sure that Logan was performing to the best of his ability in her class. She knew about what he had been through, and she didn’t want it to define him. She’d been through something when she’d been that age, and while it wasn’t anywhere near the same, but she knew that he didn’t deserve to not get good grades because of it.

“If you would use them, and you think that they would be beneficial, then yes I would.” She smiled, looking at her student. “Logan, I’m doing this because I’m your teacher, and I want you to reach your full potential. It was my idea, and if you wish to take me up these lessons then I’ll discuss it with your parents. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s your choice.” She added, leaning herself back against her desk slightly. She wanted to help as many of her students as she could, and when it came to someone going through a hard time like Logan, she wasn’t going to give up trying.

She tilted her head to the right as she listened to the app on the phone talk about Logan’s fears about how she’d get sick of him. “I won’t get sick of you, Logan. That I can assure you. We can work through everything that you struggle with, and everything that you need to work on, and make sure that you’re back to your old self.”

Despite everything, Logan wasn’t sure he believed Ms. Fabray when she said she wouldn’t get sick of him. Everyone did eventually. Blaine had gone to college, Cooper was in Los Angeles and his parents worked all the time. Logan was always alone in his house. Sure, he had Ella, his emotional support dog, but he was still alone and he was lonely. People just got sick of trying with him and it was something he was used to.

But even with these doubts, there was something about his teacher that had him trusting her. Logan swallowed hard, thinking it over. The fact she wanted to help him was something he wasn’t really used to and Logan shifted a little, typing into his phone again. 

“I don’t get to see anyone,” the voice said, Logan keeping his head low as to avoid meeting her eyes. “My parents work all the time. My brothers left ages a go. I just go to school, don’t talk to anyone, go home, cook myself dinner, do my homework and go to bed. I don’t talk to anyone, no one asks me how I am. Why would you care and want to get me back to how I used to be? I don’t even think anyone is relieved I’m still here. I’m not.”

Layla knew that her job would be stressful when she’d started in the business, and even more so when she’d started her own company, but she’d thought that marrying someone who understood what it meant in that world would make things easier, but instead it made things a lot harder. They were both busy all the time, and often ended up arguing too much about their jobs and who should compromise for the other.

She brought a hand to her head and rubbed her temple softly once the phone was back on the block. She didn’t like doing this in front of Logan. Any issues she had with her husband should be kept private, even if Logan was good at keeping these things to himself. She’d chosen this life after all, and if it meant that they were going to have some rough patches then she’d just have to roll with the punches.

“It’s not very professional of me to talk about my personal life in the office.” She said, her eyes looking up towards her assistant. Of all the assistants that she’d had in the past, Logan was the one that she trusted the most. “Just…home stuff isn’t great. I’m sure you understand, your partner won’t like you being here all the time with me making you work ridiculously hard.”

Logan hated how stressed she looked. He moved a little closer to her, a hand coming up slowly and resting on top of hers, squeezing comfortingly. Sure, it wasn’t very professional to be discussing personal lives in the office. But this was Logan, and he cared about Layla. When she mentioned his partner, Logan gave a somewhat sad smile, shrugging his shoulders a little as he reached for his phone to type away.

“My partner didn’t like me doing much at all,” the app said aloud. “But that’s why he’s my ex and that’s why I’m single now. It’s much easier for me, but we won’t go into all of that, because he wasn’t very nice.” 

Logan paused for a moment, glancing up at the blonde. He’d never told anyone about the story as to how he ran away from his ex, ran away from New Hampshire and ended up in Chicago. He didn’t even know if his ex was still in Concord, but he could only hope he hadn’t followed him.

The fact that this Gryffindor seemed to think that he was better than her wanted to make her laugh out loud. Her family was better than his in about every way she could imagine, and the fact that he didn’t seem to think she was more than capable of acing this work. She was a Fabray, and they didn’t fail at anything.

“Please, I haven’t got anything less than the highest grade in this class in years, so if anyone is going to pull this group down, I don’t think it’s going to be someone like me.” She said her eyes looking over his tie. She knew that she was better than him and his family regardless of what would happen with the group work.

Layla gave Logan a dirty look as he winked at her, not appreciating this kind of attitude from an Anderson. She didn’t care what his thoughts on her and her family were, she needed the good grade and that was that. It was important to her that her grades were as high as possible, especially since her father was determined to marry her into the Malfoy family, even if she was only seventeen now. He had big plans for her, and so she had to impress in every sense of the word.

“Did I say I can’t handle it? Did I get my magic parchment to tell you I can’t handle it?” She asked bitterly, her eyes narrowing. “Just get on with it and hand me your section when it’s done so I can proof read it.”

Logan laughed at that, actually laughed. As if he needed someone to proof-read his work? That was almost as funny as the fact she thought her cutting words could bother him. He merely smirked, turning away from her for a moment and continuing with what they had to do, flicking his wand absent-mindedly so his words could appear on his parchment again.

Layla couldn’t help but laugh as Logan spoke about people yelling at him, confusing his being mute for being deaf instead. “I can understand that. Some people don’t know how to approach a situation that they don’t know for themselves. I guess they think yelling helps, even if they look like complete morons for doing it.”

Her eyes moved over to Matthew as he spoke, nodding her head softly to show that she was listening. They seemed like an odd match for a couple, but she’d heard that they had been together for a long while from the tabloids, so if it worked for them, then who was she to judge? She and Sam didn’t look like the perfect match from the outside either, and yet it seemed to work for them too. Life was different for each person.

Watching Matthew walk away, she turned towards Logan again, listening to the app on his phone. She frowned a little as she heard what he was saying about the shoots, not seeming to understand. She’d have thought that after having a boyfriend around them all the time, he’d have gotten used to cameras, just like she had from spending time with Sam on shoots. Each to their own, she thought.

“It’s okay, I guess it’s just stressful for everyone at the moment. How come he doesn’t work?” She asked, before quickly shaking her head. “Sorry, that was really inappropriate of me to ask, I am really sorry. I should go, Sam won’t be happy that I’m talking to you this much anyway, and asking those kinds of questions makes it worse for me so…. Yeah, I’m just gonna head off.”

Logan watched Matthew’s retreating form, his cheeks slightly red. He turned back to Layla as she spoke, tilting his head to the side. Why didn’t he work? Because he liked living on Logan’s wages, that was why. Not that he’d ever admit that out loud. But then suddenly Layla was excusing herself and Logan was sitting up a little, shaking his head as he thought of an excuse, typing away at his phone.

Layla was pretty sure her heart was breaking as she listened to what Logan was saying about his family, and she knew that it wasn’t true. She’d known of the Anderson’s around the District, and she’d never heard anything about them being ashamed of Logan. Of course, she didn’t know the family that well, and most families kept those things private, but from what she did know and had heard about the Anderson’s, she wasn’t sure she could see them like that. “You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that. And I think that you will be able to get home. You just need to wrap your head around what’s happening and you have a couple of days to prepare.”

There were plenty of ways to prepare for the arena, and she knew that. There was time, and while it wasn’t a lot of time, it was still incredibly valuable for him to making the most out of it. Going in without the intention of fighting was a death sentence, and she didn’t want to see that happen to Logan. He was better than that, and deserved so much better.

“You don’t deserve to be in this position.” She said quietly, her eyes looking over the guy in front of her. “The strangest skills will come in handy in the arena, Logan. You really never know what’s going to happen. You can paint, so you’re delicate and gentle with your hands, so you’ll find a way to utilise that.”

Logan brought his knees to his chest and curled in on himself, letting himself cry. It didn’t matter if Layla saw him. He was convinced he’d be dead in a few days and there was nothing he could do but wait. He knew she was trying to help him, of course he did. But what could she say at this point to make things better? The Hunger Games were cruel and he had to take part in them. If he wasn’t dead by the end of it, he’d be responsible for the other twenty three deaths and that wasn’t something that sat well with him.

He glanced up at Layla when she said the strangest skills would come in handy. It was true, he was delicate with his hands - art required him to be - but he wasn’t sure what use it would be, not somewhere like the Arena.

Layla didn’t really know how to answer the question about her evening plans. She didn’t want to come across as someone so incredibly boring that she had nothing planned, but the thought of disclosing the amount of physical therapy she had to have that evening also didn’t seem to interest her. Playing the mysterious card seemed to be in her best interest.

“I mean, I don’t ever really have a lot planned. I might change my mind later but I guess I’ll just run a few errands that need doing.” She said with a shrug, looking over at her friend. “It’s nice that you spend so much time with your boyfriend, that you two are so close.” She said with a shrug. She’d never been someone to be interested in relationships, but she thought it might be nice to have someone to do things with at the end of the day. “What will you be doing? Or just a kind of relaxed-night-in kind of vibe?”

Logan’s cheeks flushed when Layla mentioned she thought it was nice he was close to his boyfriend. God, if only she knew. Logan wanted out, he wanted to escape from his relationship with Matthew and he needed someone to help him. But the fact was, everyone thought they had a perfect relationship. He shrugged a little, tugging his sleeves down past his hands nervously as he typed his response.

Layla had spent her whole life watching her family use submissives however they chose, some of the ways not appealing to her in the slightest. She’d barely known her mother, a submissive who was kept more as a housekeeper than a mother, and she was kept under the close eye of her father and sisters in order to ensure they kept the Fabray name as it should be, and kept the reputation that they had worked so hard to maintain over the years. She’d learned the kind of ways that she didn’t want to treat her own submissive, not wanting to be the kind of abusive dominant she’d seen her family be. She didn’t agree with it.

She knew what she liked, and she was quite set in her ways. Her schedule was maintained thoroughly, usually by Logan, and her routine didn’t differ too much from day to day, or week to week. She didn’t have too many jobs that Logan had to do, just general house work and admin work to help her out, and she wasn’t going to be someone to lay a hand on him. By the way he acted, and from what she knew about the Anderson’s, he wouldn’t have been treated well, and she didn’t think that was fair at all. Hearing Logan enter her room, she knew the days rituals would begin, and she’d continue to try and get Logan to come out of his shell a little bit more.

“Good morning, and thank you, Logan.” She said with a smile, pushing herself up in her bed to sit upright, before extending her hands to take the tray from him. She put the tray on her lap and picked up her cutlery, before looking back up to Logan. “You can take a seat. What’s planned for the day?” He hadn’t spoken a word to her yet in the time since she’d claimed him, but she was determined to keep trying.

The smile had a dull blush rising to Logan’s cheeks and he ducked his head shyly, worrying his lower lip through his teeth when she took the tray from his hand. He stepped back, hands folded behind his back while he waited. He had permission to sit and did so, perching on the end of the bed. As he did every morning, he’d written the day’s schedule out on a piece of paper. The schedule was simple, and there was always room to change things around.

The first thing on the schedule was something Layla had mentioned to him a little while ago though, something he’d been thinking about. Her morning was mostly free and she had mentioned wanting to learn to cook a while ago. So Logan had made time in the schedule to teach her how to make a basic dish and blushed as he pointed to it, giving the blonde a very faint smile.

She’d never been one to get to know her neighbours, but helping out a dad from next door with his little girl was something she couldn’t say no to, especially when it was for a little girl as adorable as Rose. They looked like a happy little family, and she could hardly say no to a family that seemed as happy as them.

Her eyebrows raised as she heard about his family. “Oh wow, you’re the same as me then. I have an older sister as well as twin sister. That’s bizarre.” She added with a little laugh, it was funny how much strangers could have in common. “I’ve had enough girlie influence in my life to be able to teach you a few things, so I really don’t mind doing it at all.” She smiled, running a hand through her hair.

The blonde pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time, cursing under her breath so that neither of her neighbours could hear. “I really don’t want to be rude but I have to run off to work or else I’m going to be late. You know where I live, so just come and grab me if your princess is demanding a hair stylist.” She laughed. “It was really nice meeting you, Logan. Hopefully next time I’ll have more than just a few minutes to talk to you and we could add a coffee or something.”

The fact his neighbour wanted to do this was nice. Logan liked this and he watched Rose happily, his heart swelling with pride as he thought of the considerate little girl he had brought up alone. He looked up at Layla again when she mentioned her siblings, unable to stop his grin from appearing as he typed his response.

“That’s so bizarre. But hey, maybe we’re just destined to be friends, with a coincidence like that.” He grinned as his phone read the words out, nodding at her mention of ‘girly influence’. “I’d really appreciate you doing that. Even if you just taught me how to do something, on your own hair if need be, just so I can show Rose that I can totally be a cool Dad. I’m only young, I want her to know I’m still awesome.”

Logan laughed at his own words, covering his face with his free hand for a moment. He nodded at her, understanding she had work, and stepped aside so she could pass him easily. 

How she’d managed to get to this point, Layla didn’t know. It didn’t seem that long ago that she was waking up in a hospital after major back surgery. She’d since graduated high school, attended and graduated from Belgrave Academy, and in that time met the man that she’d grow to love. If you’d told seventeen-year-old Layla that this is where she would be in ten years, she’d have told you that you were a liar, but here she was. Twenty-seven years of age, and sitting on the floor of her apartment, trying to choose the colours she wanted for the walls of her new house.

Layla had never been somebody that was into interior design, but now that it was going to be the house for her and Logan, she’d found that it was something she enjoyed. This would be the house that they would live in together, and potentially raise a family in – she wanted to make sure they got it right. It might be a long while before they could change it if she’d chosen the wrong colour.

“Lo?” She called out behind her. “What do you think of Lilac Sunset for the hallway? I’m not sure how a sunset can be lilac, but that’s what the colour chart says.” She added with a laugh. This was how life was meant to be, right? “I’m torn between that one and maybe just a boring beige or something, because then we could put up some of your art as décor?” She suggested, having always admired his art.

Buying a house with the woman he’d fallen in love with definitely wasn’t what Logan would have been expecting years ago. He and Layla had been together since college. She’d helped him leave a terrible, abusive relationship and shown him exactly what real love was supposed to be like. They argued, god knows they did, but their love for each other always outweighed the negatives and Logan was head over heels with the blonde. 

This house was important to Logan. This was where, theoretically, the two of them would spend the rest of their lives. Together. Maybe with a family of their own. But really? He just wanted Layla to be happy. He was browsing on the internet at some of the deals for furniture when Layla called him over, closing his laptop lid and easily sitting beside her, looking over the samples she had in her hands. The fact she wanted to put some of his art up as décor had him blushing a little. 

In the years since they met, Layla had started to learn sign language. Enough so that Logan didn’t have to use his app anymore when she spoke to her; he could sign to her and then she could speak back normally, and it was something Logan was incredibly grateful for.

For the whole time that she was growing up, Layla knew that she wanted to travel the world. She immersed herself in books about far off places, looking at their cultures and planning out places that she wanted to travel to. It’s what encouraged her to work nights waiting tables at a twenty-four-hour diner throughout her whole high school experience, saving every single penny that she could in order to put it towards her travelling. She’d spend any free time at her grandmother’s house looking at the travel books she had, and comparing them to her online research. This was what she wanted to do, and even if she couldn’t do it for very long, she would at least do it properly.

All of her friends had called her crazy when she’d said she was going, and her parents weren’t happy about her choosing this path, but she felt like it was something that she had to do. It was in her blood, and nothing was going to stop her. She could start her career whenever she wanted, but she might not always be able to travel the world in the way that she wanted. She could come back and see them whenever she wanted to, but she didn’t think she would, not for a long while, or until she was at least finished with what she was doing.

Meeting Logan Anderson had been one of the best parts of the trip. It hadn’t taken very long for them to hit it off, and in no time at all they were travel partners. One of the better ideas had been for the two of them to start a blog together, showing mainly their family and friends what they were up to, but it had since grown to some moderate popularity. The two of them were incredibly close, best friends travelling the world together.

“Okay, so we could get the train from here to Budapest and do that end of Europe, or we could fly and start Asia and come back to Europe, or we could go to Australia for a little while…” She trailed off, flicking through the notebook she’d kept with her full of activities and sights that she’d wanted to see. The two had spent plenty of time in Europe, and Layla was excited for the rest of the journey. “Where do you want to go? What in particular do you want to do for the next couple of weeks? Somewhere warm, or?” She asked, turning to her friend.

Travelling on his own was one of the most rewarding things he had ever done. Logan had never been the kind of person to let his disability affect him. He never bothered asking for help in school, had never thought it was too difficult for him to get a job. And now? Now Logan was travelling the world. He hadn’t gone to college and had supported himself for years. So now he was travelling the world. 

He’d met another traveller, Layla, on the way and the two hit it off immediately. Their chemistry was unreal and when Logan mentioned he ran a travel blog, Layla grew excited as she had always wanted to start one. And somehow, it turned into the two of them documenting their travels together, as close as two best friends could be. 

Right now, they were planning on where to travel next. They were currently in Europe and realistically, Logan figured it made more sense to stay in Europe until they had done it all, and then travel to Asia. He thought for a moment, humming as he looked over their world map, completely worn from how much they had packed and unpacked it, circled various locations. Logan typed on his phone, letting the voice speak for him and grinned.

Layla wanted to make sure each of the kids in her classes were doing the best that they could do, all the time. Some of the kids, especially the jocks, didn’t have any interest in getting good grades as a few of them already had scholarships to college, and they only needed to pass the class to keep it. To them, it was an easy pass as long as they had the right idea with the assignment. For the others, Layla was trying to get them to achieve as best as they could, because she wanted them to get the college of their choice, and if she could help in some way, then she’d done her job correctly in her eyes.

She was especially proud of the progress that Logan Anderson was making in her class. He’d been through a tough time, and she knew he didn’t have his brother in the school to help support him anymore, so things weren’t exactly easy, but he was doing well. There was always room for a bit more improvement, and she could see that he was understanding the material that was being taught, so it was just a case of making sure that what he understood was being reflected in his work – and it was getting there.

“This was your best piece of work that I think I’ve ever marked for you, Logan. It was really great, and I expect more of this from you.” She said with a soft smile, pleased that he was getting these grades. “You’re doing just fine, and I mean that. You should be really proud of this piece of work.”

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to run some separate sessions. It will improve your essay writing across all of the subjects, we can just have it once or twice a week after school, and you’ll see improvements in not just English but all of your assignments, hopefully.” She’d thought it through and discussed it with the headmaster and other teachers, and they seemed to agree that it would help. It was dependent on Logan agreeing to it, of course. “It’s not compulsory, it’s just a suggestion. If you don’t want to start it right away, we can start it up whenever you want to.” 

Logan felt his cheeks growing warmer and warmer at the compliments he was receiving from his teacher, running a hand through his hair. He listened to her, somewhat surprised that she was willing to give him extra sessions, looking up at her in confusion. Did she really care enough about him to offer him extra help? The mere thought had Logan smiling a little, biting his lip as he typed a response onto his phone.

“You’d really give me extra lessons just so I can do a little better?” He questioned, not fully sure if he believed it. “My parents didn’t put you up to this, did they? It’s the kind of thing they’d do.” Logan wanted to do well in school, of course he did. But he struggled beyond belief and he wanted the chance to do better. The only problem was, he wasn’t sure if he could. Logan shrugged a little, looking up and sighing before sitting on one of the desks near the front of the classroom. He was grateful the classroom was empty and everyone was out at lunch, typing away at his phone again.