He laughed lightly, good-naturedly. Her response was, of course, as expected. Although he doubted she was so terrible of a teacher as she claimed, she also didn't have the temperament of most teachers he knew. Not that he'd have minded if she'd talked herself into helping him. Familiar faces were the best tutors.

Rather than push that, however, he turned to her other question. It was more important, anyway.

He was silent a moment, determining whether to give her a longer or a shorter answer. Both were legitimate answers. It was simply a matter of whether he wanted to tell the whole truth or not.

"Because..." Ultimately he settled on giving her another soft, warm smile. "I like you."