"Is that why this guy's grades have been improving so much lately?"
He tilted his head ever so slightly toward Ethan, who was currently scribbling a half-doodled diagram onto the corner of his notebook, utterly unaware of the shift in atmosphere between the two beside him.
Jane's eyes darted to Ethan instinctively. Then back to Astron.
Her mouth opened slightly. Then closed.
And then—her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink.
"I-I mean…" she started, flustered. "It's not like I'm… teaching him or anything."
Astron didn't respond, just waited.
Jane sighed, unable to meet his gaze for a second. Her hand fidgeted with the edge of her sleeve.
"…I've been helping him. A little," she admitted quietly. "Some one-on-one reviews after class. Mostly written material, breakdowns, things like that."
She glanced down at her notebook, still blushing.
"I didn't think it'd… actually help as much as it did."
Astron nodded once, as if confirming a data point on a chart. "It did."
