I Studied With the Last-Ranked Boy… Then Came in Second Chapter 01

I Studied With the Last-Ranked Boy… Then Came in Second Chapter 01

I failed math again. A fifty-nine.

So I went to my childhood best friend for help.

Adrian Whitmore glanced at my paper, barely a second, and frowned.

“Seriously? You couldn’t solve something this easy? Just use the basic calculus formula.”

I quietly explained that I’d only recently transferred into the STEM class and hadn’t learned that material yet.

He cut me off before I could finish.

“Stop making excuses. That’s your problem.”

He tossed my test paper back onto my desk and turned to explain another problem to his desk partner, Sienna Caldwell, the most popular girl in class.

Seeing that I was still standing there, Sienna tilted her head.

“Why don’t you listen in too?”

Adrian lightly tapped her forehead with his pen, looking helpless.

“She won’t understand. Just focus.”

Then he glanced at me, dismissive.

“You’re so slow, even the troublemakers in our class could teach you. Stop wasting my time.”

Their laughter echoed behind me.

Holding my exam paper, I walked toward the back of the classroom, where the school’s notorious troublemaker was sitting beside the trash cans, playing games on his phone.

“Hey… could you help me with this problem?”

He pulled off his headphones, took my paper, and picked up a pen.

A few quick lines later, he’d written out several steps.

“Can you follow this?”

I froze.

In that instant, everything clicked.

The guy everyone called a delinquent had explained it better than the top student I’d been chasing.

…

It felt like I’d grabbed onto a lifeline.

I opened my Error Notebook and asked carefully,

“I have a few more I don’t get. Could you… help me with those too?”

“You don’t have to go through all of them. I circled the ones I’m stuck on. Just walk me through those steps.”

The Math Olympiad problems were far beyond regular high school math. There were so many I couldn’t solve.

Every time I went to Adrian, he’d scrunch his face up.

“The solution’s right there. How do you still not get it?”

“If you’re really this slow, just go back to General Education class. You’re only dragging our class average down.”

He was right. I shouldn’t have come here.

I didn’t have his natural talent for math, and I certainly couldn’t afford an elite private tutor charging hundreds of dollars an hour.

Every night I stayed up until midnight watching online lessons. I spent every Study Hall drilling math.

Only then did I barely earn grades high enough to get into the STEM class.

All because I wanted to be closer to him.

But these Math Olympiad problems needed college-level calculus.

For someone like me, who’d never touched competition math before, they might as well have been in another language.

When Declan Rhodes didn’t answer, I forced a bitter smile.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame him.

My foundation was terrible. And I was always asking them about problems they thought were basic.

Of course they were sick of me.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

I turned to leave.

But Declan reached out and took my notebook.

“Wait. You followed my steps just now, didn’t you? You’re not dumb. You just haven’t found the right method yet.”

His voice stayed calm and steady.

In only a few sentences, he untangled everything that had been confusing me.

By the time the pre-class bell rang, he handed my notebook back.

“Your fundamentals are solid.”

“These College Calculus concepts are only covered in the STEM class. You never had the chance to learn them in the General Education class.”

“Go to page 87 in the Practice Workbook. It’s the same type of problem. Try a few more.”

I stared at him, barely believing my ears.

Someone was actually willing to spend this much time helping me. Someone told me my level was normal.

My eyes stung. I forced my voice to stay even.

“Thank you. I’ll go study it right now.”

Back at my seat, I flipped to that page.

Following Declan’s method, I solved a Math Olympiad problem correctly for the first time.

I carefully wrote “Thank you” on a note and slid it over to him.

After class, I walked up to the podium and asked the teacher to move me next to Declan.

She agreed.

I immediately started packing my books and carrying them to the empty desk beside Declan.

Before I finished, Adrian suddenly appeared.

He grabbed my wrist.

“You’re even dumber than I thought.”

“Declan’s dead last in our class. He skips class, plays games all day, and his grades are about as bad as yours.”

“Planning to end up at community college together?”

I gently pulled my hand away and shook my head.

“Declan probably just bombs tests on purpose. The way he explains problems is even clearer than yours.”

Adrian let out a sarcastic laugh.

Sienna looked over too.

“Adrian, why are you bothering with someone who doesn’t even belong here? She can’t even tell who’s actually good.”

“Come on, let’s look at this problem together.”

His eyes softened instantly.

“Sure. I’m coming.”

His mocking gaze landed back on me.

“Do whatever you want. Talking to you is a waste of breath.”

“The monthly exam rolls around next week. If you don’t know something, go ask your desk partner who’s dead last.”

“And don’t expect me to lend you my study notes.”