Chapter Text
Rubber tires skidded against asphalt as all members and objects in the vehicle were jolted forward. The driver in front expelled a string of profanities as he leaned out the window to examine the reason their travels were delayed. With a sigh, he leaned back into the seat, “You’d think people need to be able to drive to get a license, huh kid?”
James bounced his leg impatiently, stealing glances at his smart watch as he spoke absentmindedly, “Yeah.”
“What about you? You drive? Ever take dad’s car out?” The driver continued.
“Not really.” James replied, attempting to get a view of whatever was obstructing the road.
“Can’t drive yet?”
“I have a learner’s permit. Can’t have a car in the lot until I’m a senior anyway.” James tilted his watch face upwards again, glimpsing at it when the screen illuminated.
“Harsh of your folks to make you get an Uber to school. Busy people?” The driver pressed on the gas slightly as the traffic in front began to ease up.
James drummed his fingers against his thigh. “Mhm.”
“Sucks. My folks were like that, ya know? My old man was never really around, always on tours. But, hey, I turned out alright. So, don’t get yourself worked up over it.” The driver turned a corner slowly as he kept up the conversation.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” James replied, taking another glance at his watch. Each minute ticked down, leaving him closer and closer to the start of his first class for the day. Of course it was the day that he missed the bus that he would get stuck in traffic. Not a day where he was sitting under the supervision of the bus driver for his section of town, providing him with the cushioning that he needed to have a plausible excuse for tardiness. No, he was sitting in an Uber with a driver he met ten minutes ago.
If it was his own fault, maybe he could’ve forgiven the world for his current misfortune, but no, of course it had to be outside forces making him late. Karma was really a bitch and not because she was biting him, but because she never seemed to deliver on her promises.
He spared another glance at his watch, watching the minutes tick away as he resigned himself to sitting in the mess on the road. Maybe he could make up some sort of excuse for his tardiness? He was a good student, his teachers were sure to believe him if he did. A lie couldn’t be that bad if it was about something as small as being late to class, right?
He shook the thought away. No, he couldn’t lie like that. He’d be pushing the limits of the teachers’ trust in him, and that was wrong. If he wanted to remain in their good graces, he had to also remain honest.
They’d understand, right? Everyone has off days. Sometimes, even the best of them sleep past their alarm.
Yeah, they had to understand.
The car pulled in front of the sidewalk next to the school. Did he really lose himself in his thoughts for that long?
“Here ya go, kid. Good luck. You’ll turn out fine.”
“Thanks.” James answered on autopilot, almost unaware of the words that were said to him. He slung his bag over his shoulder and set his feet into motion. One in front of the other, over and over as fast as possible.
He glanced at his watch again. He’d be on time if he didn’t stop at his locker. He just needed to make it to class immediately.
His hand gripped the doorframe as he used the leverage to swing around the corner and into the room, the bell sounding obnoxiously as his body hit the chair of his desk. Arrays of conversations quickly faded, dying alongside the signal of a beginning day as students around him exchanged notecards and binders full of looseleaf.
Oh shit. There was a test.
He shoved his hand into his backpack, fishing around for a pencil.
Of all days, of all fucking days.
James breathed a sigh as a paper was passed on his desk. He could do this. A rough morning didn’t have to show on his exam scores. He would do fine.
He needed to do more than fine. He didn’t have the leeway in this class to do otherwise. No more B test scores. He needed an A.
What if he didn’t get it? What if he got another B? Or even a C?
An unwelcome but familiar sensation came over him, creeping up his spine and wrapping strong hands around his throat, adding pressure little by little. He fought his hands to stay steady, failing without the added support of the desk in front of him.
He was going to be fine.
Harsh breathing escaped his nostrils, and by some miracle, didn’t insist to come out through his mouth in its attempt to run from the thundering in his chest.
He just had to get through this test, finish early, and take a trip to the bathroom to calm down. He was going to be fine.
An insolent ringtone entered the picture. Of course someone didn’t turn off their phone. Now he had to deal with the extra noise and—
One pair of eyes fell on him, then another, and another.
Did he do something? Did they know he was internally freaking out and dying in a mess of anxiety and adrenaline?
Breathe. He just had to breathe. It would go away.
“Griffin.”
He snapped his head up, eyes meeting hers by nothing short of a spurt of excellent luck.
She held out her hand expectantly, eyes never leaving his with a look that James could only assume was much more menacing in his brain than reality. Her voice came out with a sternness that he hadn’t heard used on him in a school setting in years, “Is there anything you want to give me?”
Oh. Oh shit. That was his phone.
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He could just give it to her, no mess, no fuss. She’d have to brush it off then, right? It wasn’t like he was a bad student. It was just a mistake. He’d never even touched his phone in a classroom before. She had to know that, right?
He shoved his hand into his backpack, switching the device off as quickly as possible and placing it into her hand without question while fighting for the steadiness of his hands.
“That’s detention.”
He choked, eyes wide and the hands around his throat only getting tighter. “Wait, what?”
“Two detentions is the punishment for having your phone on in class. You know that.” She stated matter-of-factly.
No. He couldn’t get detention. His parents would never let it go. It’d be the blemish on his high school career. No matter how hard he tried after this moment, it would be nothing to his parents. All he would be is the kid who fucked up and got detention.
“No.” The words fell past his lips before his brain could stop them.
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean ‘no’, James?”
Guess he was doing this. “I mean that I didn’t do anything wrong on purpose. It was an accident!”
“That doesn’t matter. Your phone went off during a test .”
“But I’m a good student!” He snapped, much to his own horror. But, of course, he always got like this when he felt this bad, though it was usually a show that his parents were unfortunate enough to witness. “I don’t need detention! Detention is for kids like… like Keith .”
Purple eyes flicked over to him, a bitter aura radiating from the action.
Okay, yeah, maybe that comment was uncalled for, but it didn’t get rid of any truth from the statement. Keith was notorious for finding new ways to stick his nose into trouble. It wasn’t an unknown fact.
If Keith didn’t want people saying those things about him, he needed to stop doing them.
It wasn’t like Keith was even trying either. James had given him every opportunity to join interactions in his social circles, or to even participate in something as small as school spirit, but Keith apparently was too good for any of that. No, Keith wasn’t interested in any of them at all. He would rather ride his stupid bike around and shoplift, or whatever it was he did when he was spotted around the town, than spend any time with his classmates.
Keith was a troublemaker at best, a future criminal at worst.
An unamused look crossed the teacher’s face, and a part of James most definitely died along with it. “See me after class.”
Fuck.
He fucked up.
He rose to his feet, legs carrying him out the door before he could process his own actions. Might as well die on this hill too.
James let his feet carry him in circles outside of the classroom. A few pairs of eyes landed on him briefly as his peers weaved through the hallways and onto their next classes.
God, how he wished that was him right now.
His thumb and index finger met the cuff of his sleeve, rubbing the fabric between them. Just another minute. He could do this.
The classroom door swung open, leaving all who were waiting a good moment to see the student that had eaten up the rest of teacher’s time.
Keith.
Keith with his same old uncaring demeanor.
“Think about what I said, Keith.” The teacher called after Keith, only to be met with a roll of the eyes that she couldn’t see.
Keith straightened out his posture, head moving back to facing forward. Something about Keith’s fashion alone was enough to set off a minor annoyance in James. Maybe it was the torn skinny jeans that most definitely broke the dress code, or maybe it was the fact that, no matter what, the red flannel he often wore managed to be plagued with wrinkles, or possibly it was how he managed to even pull off the looks he did without drawing a million eyes towards himself. Either way, the mere aura that was attached to Keith was often enough to ward others away, so was anyone going to blame James if he didn’t want to deal with the way Keith insisted on breaking the rules of both school and society even with the clothing choices he made?
“You can come in, James.” The teacher informed with a quick wave beckoning him forward.
Tentatively, he listened, entering the room and stalking up to her desk as his brain attempted to bombard him with a million and a half “what ifs”. Pinching the skin of his hand, he assumed his spot next to his educator.
She sighed before letting out her first words, eyes cast down for a brief moment before moving back up to meet James’s. A sad smile found its way onto her face before she spoke, “Can you tell me why you’re here, James?”
He swallowed, as if it would cure the cause of the nerves slowly building under his skin. “I had my phone on during a test.”
She nodded. “And?”
“I…” His hand cupped the back of his neck as he broke eye contact. He forced the next few words out, “I guess, what I said about Keith wasn’t exactly nice?”
“Exactly.” She answered, “I’m more concerned about that than I am about the phone issue. I know you’re not the type of student to cheat on a test. But, I didn’t think you were the type who would say something like that about someone else either. I really think you owe Keith an apology.”
“I—” He stopped himself. Yeah, Keith was in detention often, but that wasn’t exactly what his teacher wanted to hear him say. In fact, James knew it was the absolute opposite of that. For all the time he spent staying out of trouble, he did at least have the knowledge of how to please a teacher and tell them what they wanted to hear.
Swallowing his pride, he continued, “Yeah. I do. I’m sorry.”
“To Keith.” She replied.
“I will, I will.” He assured, nodding his head alongside his words.
She gave him a warm smile. “Thank you, James.”
“So, um…” He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, rocking back on the balls of his feet, “do I still have detention?”
She breathed out another sigh, placing the pen resting in-between her fingers onto her desk. “You’re usually keeping yourself out of trouble, so I’ll make a deal with you, okay?” Once he nodded, she continued, “We’re short a few students for peer tutoring. If you volunteer for it, I’ll give you your phone back without the detentions.”
“Oh, okay, yeah, no problem. I’ll come back after school then.”
“You’ll get your phone back after your first session.”
“Yeah, of course. Thanks.” He gave her a wave and turned towards the door, exiting and pivoting out of sight.
Peer tutoring was better than detention. Exponentially better. Yeah, it still meant spending time after school that his parents would question him endlessly about, but at least he could brush it off as an idea he had to build his college applications. His dad might even like to hear that excuse, whether or not he bought it. Either way, he just got out of a whole night of being berated for a simple mistake that anyone else could make without everyone’s opinion of them changing and weaseled out of going back to reporting to his parents about every single thing he did outside the house. A couple weeks of peer tutoring would be fine.
He dodged a bullet.
Students filled the hallway almost before the bell finished ringing, if it could even really be counted as a bell since all it really was was an obnoxious noise that came out of the PA speakers and swarmed any open space they could, clogging up the atmosphere and making travel almost impossible. Weaving through the mass of his peers, he stopped his ambling in front of his locker. He reached out, setting his thumb and index finger on the black dial and turning it a few times before lifting it and popping the metal door open.
A hand pressed into the locker next to his. “So, I heard you had a run in with Ms. Harris this morning. Our golden student is falling into a path of darkness.” Nadia leaned her weight into her hand, bending her elbow and getting closer to James.
“Ha ha.” James said, rolling his eyes and oozing sarcasm. Kneeling down, he gently placed a textbook into his locker and exchanged it for another. “Should I remind you of how many run ins with the principal you’ve had?”
Nadia crossed her arms over her chest. “All I’m saying is that you never get in trouble.”
James placed a second textbook into his backpack and reached above his head for a binder filled to the brim with looseleaf. “You’re right. I don’t.”
“Yeah! So, like, what happened? Rumor says you yelled at Keith, you two got in a fight, and he punched you in the face.” Nadia bounced on the balls of her feet as she continued, “Please tell me it’s true!”
“What?!” He tensed at her update on the rumor mill, “Why do you always want me to get in trouble so badly?”
“Because you’re so uptight.” She threw her head back drastically at the word, “You should just have a little fun or something, you know? It’s good for you.”
“Yeah, good luck telling my dad that.”
“They’re still up your ass about everything?”
“You thought they’d stop?” James asked, “Ever since my dad won the town election, he’s just been worse.”
“Ugh.” She huffed, “Anyway. Tell me. What happened in Harris’s class?”
“I got to class late and forgot to turn off my phone and didn’t have time to put it in my locker. So, naturally, it goes off during our test that I forgot to study for, because I was too busy with perfecting my lab report last night. My dad read it over and told me I didn’t try hard enough on it.” He zipped up his bag and pushed his locker closed, “You know, the usual.”
She leaned closer. “ And? ”
“Harris gave me detention—”
“Detention. Our baby’s growing up.”
He rose to his feet and swung his bag over his right shoulder. “If you’d let me finish.”
“Okay, okay, fine.”
“So, I did talk back, I guess,” He was not proud of that part, in retrospect, “But, I gave her my phone. So when I saw her after class, she said, as long as I volunteer as a peer tutor, she’d give me my phone back and wouldn’t write me up.”
“Wow.” Nadia exclaimed, elongating the ‘o’, “You really managed to get out of detention by being the teacher’s favorite?”
“It’s not my fault that you don’t listen to your teachers.” James retorted.
“Yeah, yeah, but even if I did, I bet you I couldn’t wiggle out of detention like that.” She waved her hand as she spoke, “So, do you know who you have to tutor? Or do they just give you some rando everyday?”
James shrugged as he gestured for her to turn and walk towards Ms. Harris’s room. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to go.”
“Did you tell your parents you’d be staying after school?” Nadia asked.
“No.” His eyes met the tiled hallway floor for a brief moment as the reality of the circumstance crossed his mind. There was nothing he could do about it now. There was no way to call home without requesting use of the school landlines and just that alone was enough of a tip off that something was amiss. He was better off taking his chances with no contact and then calling the moment he had his phone back and telling a lie about how he “forgot” to call home about staying after school to tutor and hoping that his parents found the excuse worthy enough. “I don’t get my phone back until I do at least one session.”
Nadia sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Oof, that’s rough.”
“Mhm.”
“You can use mine if you need.” She offered.
James dismissed the offer with a wave of his hand. “It’s okay. That’d probably just make them suspicious anyway. Thanks though.”
Nadia stopped her travels in front of the door in question. Tilting her head towards the room, he peeked in through the glass, “Well, looks like you’re in for a treat.”
James quirked an eyebrow, stepping to stand beside her and discreetly join in her snooping. The classroom desks were pressed into pairs, and students sat quietly with open textbooks and binders sprawled across the surfaces as one spoke to the other about the problems they were facing.
Oh, it was one on one tutoring.
Some part of that actually made this seem better. He’d only have to focus on one person’s needs then, right?
“Well, I’ll see you later.” James gave her a quick wave as he reached for the door handle.
“See ya. Good luck.” Nadia turned to leave.
He pulled the door open. “Thanks.” Entering, he padded over toward the teacher’s desk and stood patiently as she wrapped up what she was explaining to another student.
After a few minutes, the student departed, and his teacher beckoned him over with a wave. Once he was a tad closer, she spoke, “Hi, James. Do you have any subjects you’re uncomfortable tutoring for?”
He shook his head. Yeah, there were subjects he was admittedly weaker in, but for him, weaker was the difference between an A or an A- on most days. Though, if he was being honest with himself, those marks were only from hours and hours of studying. It wasn’t as if he was actually understanding most of the information on the first round, even if it was starting to seem as if that was what people thought. It was a flattering presumption, but a small part of it did sting as his unprecedented hours of studying and practice went almost unacknowledged. Maintaining high marks was a series of turning down social events for late nights with textbooks and papers making a mess across his desk as he made damn sure that he knew every little piece of information that was discussed in class.
But, was he ever going to admit that? No. Sounding like he was naturally talented and intelligent was a much more favorable mass opinion, and one that aligned with the image that his parents were so determined to show to the outside world. Though, James was very close to replacing the word image with lie sometimes.
Ms. Harris gave him a smile. “Then you can just take any seat with a waiting student.”
He matched her aura with curl of his lips and turned to face the students waiting for assistance.
Each and every desk pair was occupied with a duo or completely vacant, leaving him to pick a random seat and wait out the minutes in silence until some struggling student eventually walked through the door. Settling in, he pulled out a few homework worksheets and his history textbook, blocking out the background noise of conversing students. Might as well start on it while he waited.
A body slid into the seat next to his with an annoyed huff.
He placed his worksheet in-between the pages and closed the hefty hardcover book. Glancing up, he looked the student over. He was clad in a red hoodie with the hood pulled as far over his face as possible as the potent smell of cigarette smoke wafted over to those around him. Black bangs poked out as he reached down next to him and moved back up, phone in hand.
No. He wasn’t just put in the position where he had to tutor Keith , right? There was no way Keith even cared enough to show up.
“I don’t want to be here. I’m going to assume you aren’t exactly thrilled to be either, so I’m going to sit here for ten minutes and head out. We both get credit, you’re happy, I’m happy. Sound good?” Keith said, still failing to remove the hood from his head and propping his phone between his hoodie pocket and the underside of the desk.
Keith was not going to take James down with him. Not when he was already on thin ice for what happened this morning. The words came out a bit harsher than he intended, “No. Not good.”
“Okay, then what do you suggest we do, poindexter?”
“I’m tutoring you as long as you’re here.” James said firmly.
Keith rolled his eyes, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Fine. Suit yourself.” He reached over into his bag, pulling out a few pieces of paper that were stapled together. Placing it onto the desk, Keith pressed his palm against it and moved his hand up and down, flattening it as best he could. Once he was done, he passed it over to James.
James took the papers into his hands, lifting them closer to his face.
Oh, it was last week’s algebra test.
He glanced it over, looking for the characteristic red markings and corrected answers. Turning the pages, he continued searching, finding himself with even less luck.
James furrowed his brows, letting his eyes spare a glance towards Keith before moving back to the task at hand. Was this really Keith’s test? Flipping the papers back to their starting position, he searched the page for the grade.
Ninety-nine.
There was no way Keith, the same Keith who was never paying attention in class, scored a ninety-nine on his last exam. This was a joke. It had to be.
“Ha ha.” James started, sprinkling his false laugh with sarcasm, “Where’s your real test?”
Keith flashed him a fierce glare. “That is my real test, dipshit.”
“Then why are you here? To be an ass?” James leaned his face on his hand.
“If you have below a C in a class you need to show up to tutoring or they call home.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to keep being an ass, or are you going to actually pretend you’re teaching me something?”
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold up.” James held his hand out for a brief moment. “How do you have a C? Is this the only one you aced?”
“No. Unlike what you seem to think about me, I’m not a complete slacker.”
Keith was actually smart? He actually got good grades?
“So you do study.”
“No.” Keith said flatly.
“So, you just ace your tests without trying?” James asked incredulously.
Keith shrugged. “Math isn’t that hard for me.”
No. That wasn’t fair. James was working his ass off every single night, and Keith was out here getting amazing marks without even having to study? What the fuck!
Wait. Keith called math easy, and he still had under a C in the class? Something was wrong with this conversation.
“Okay, so if you’re acing your tests how do you have lower than a C?”
“That’s not your business.” Keith answered harshly.
“I’m supposed to be tutoring you. So, yeah, it kinda is.”
Keith turned his head away. “Let’s go back to my suggestion.”
“No. I told you I’m tutoring you.” James said firmly, a hint of annoyance creeping into his tone. He was going to be damned if he let himself get caught slacking after being given this opportunity. Keith was going to learn something by the end of this whether he liked it or not. “So, tell me what you want to work on."
“Find something on my test.” Keith sneered bitterly.
“Fine.” James huffed, “I will.”
“Good luck.”
He gave Keith a quick glare before snatching the test back into his hands, wrinkling the already abused paper. Keith missed one point, there had to be a reason. He was going to find it. Scrutinizing the test, he brought it closer to his face, there was something he was glancing over.
There is was.
James placed the test down on the desk, folded to expose the sole mistake. “We’re going to go over this question.”
“Wow. You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” Keith rolled his eyes. “It was a stupid fuck up.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re going to make sure you don’t make that mistake on the next test.” James read the question over, absorbing the information and giving himself ample time to understand.
This question was familiar. Really familiar.
He turned towards his bag, digging out his algebra textbook and binder. Plopping it all out onto the desk, he flipped through it until the page of his homework matched the one in the textbook. He followed the words in the book with his index finger as he read them.
They did at least twenty homework problems on this type of question. There was no way Keith would’ve gotten it wrong if he’d done the work.
Did Keith not do his homework that night?
Did he not do his homework ever ? It would make sense. There was no way Keith’s average could tank that badly with good test scores unless something else was missing. Homework fit perfectly into that gap. It was definitely a large portion of their average in that course and had saved James from entering B territory on multiple occasions with less than favorable test scores.
“So, do you not do your homework?” James asked bluntly.
“So what if I don’t?” Keith turned his attention back to his phone.
“Well, it would explain why you got points off on this question.” And why his overall grade was tanking in the class.
“Well, I still got a ninety-nine, so is it really that big of a deal?”
“We’re going over it.”
Keith crossed his arms, leaning his weight on the desk. “Then show me how it’s done, pretty boy.”
Keith did not make it easy to be around.
He pulled out a blank piece of looseleaf and silently worked through the problem, then handed another blank piece to Keith and covered the preexisting work with his hand. “Okay, so start working out the problem, then tell me when you get stuck.”
Keith rolled his eyes yet again before complying and setting to work on the problem. A minute later he slid it over towards James.
He leaned forward, looking it over closely and comparing it with his own work.
Keith got the same part wrong.
James turned his attention towards Keith, pushing the two pieces of paper towards the other boy. With a blue pen, he circled the section Keith was misunderstanding on both their papers. “Okay, so you see here? You can’t balance an equation this way. If you do it this way though,” He gestured to his own paper, “You end up getting a completely different answer, because it’s the valid way to do it.”
Something flicked in Keith’s eyes for a moment, but it was gone before James could pick it apart. His voice came out softer, less harsh than before, though still managing to carry some of the same bitterness from earlier, “Oh, okay.”
“Yeah. Does that make sense?” James asked, attempting to avoid the earlier anger from being in his tone. If Keith was going to calm down, he might as well attempt to too.
Keith nodded.
A silence passed between them. Keith was right on one thing here, that this was definitely a forced session with a lack of goals to meet. Well, if they didn’t have anything else new to go over, James might as well give him a few other related problems to help the concept stick.
“Okay, so I’m going to give you a few more problems to solve to make sure it sticks.” James pushed his textbook over towards Keith, dropping another piece of loose leaf next to it. “Solve three, six, and nine. Then I’ll check them.”
“Why?” Keith looked at him, but still took the pencil into his hand. “I said I understood.”
“Yeah, but this will help make sure you remember.”
Keith didn’t reply, just moved his gaze back to the paper and began doing what he was instructed. Halfway through the second problem, he looked up again, “Why are you so concerned if I know this or not?”
“Because I’m here to tutor you. I need to make sure you know it.” James answered.
“Yeah, but I’ve been here a million times and no one even insisted on tutoring me. So, why do you of all people care if I learn?”
“Is it a crime for me to try and do what’s asked of me?”
“I don’t know. What does my opinion matter?” Keith said sarcastically, “I’m just the kid that belongs in detention, remember?”
Yikes. Okay, yeah, maybe he needed to apologize like the teacher said.
James inhaled deeply, then exhaled, steadying his thoughts before he dared to speak, “Look, I’m sorry. That was… that was wrong to say.”
Keith put down the pencil. “It’s whatever. You aren’t the first one to say something like that, and you’re not going to be the last. I’m over it.”
Was it really that common? Yeah, Keith made it hard to be around, very very hard at times, but was he really getting comments like that left and right? Did people really act like he was nothing?
Though, was James really any better? His comment today was definitely in line with how Keith was talking. Extremely in line.
Okay, maybe he was a lot more of an ass today than he was giving himself credit for. There were times where Keith truly deserved what comments came his way with the attitude he carried, but this morning, he genuinely was minding his own business.
“Look, I’ve got somewhere to be. So, I’m going to go.” Keith pushed himself up from the desk, taking his abused test and slinging his bag over his shoulder. “Show the teacher the work or whatever you need to do to get credit. I don’t really care.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah, just tell her I learned or something. Maybe they’ll stop making me come too.”
“I’ll um, I’ll let her know.” James replied.
Keith turned and exited the room. There was something about the sheer confidence he did it with that stuck out, as if he knew school punishments meant nothing, he could walk out at any moment, and all they would do was tell him to stay after, which he already had too.
He hated himself for it, but there was a part of him that longed to replicate it. The whole idea was such a foreign concept: walking out, disobeying, not caring at all about the opinions of authority. All of it was something he never dared to touch, even if he managed to watch it all happen right in front of him. While James sat here, hoping that his punishment would be officially overturned in favor of volunteer work, Keith left without a single hesitation. It seemed so freeing.
Envy pricked his mind, and he shook away the thought. He shouldn’t be jealous of Keith. He never wanted to be the rule-breaking type anyway. It was too much hassle.
Everyone had hypothetical wishes though, right?
By some unspoken miracle, his mother was still out by the time he made it home. Of all the days for his life to crumble, chance picked the right one. Maybe karma wasn’t that much of a bitch after all.
Though, the fact that he dodged the initial bullet of explaining his sudden absence to his mother wasn’t enough to promise him he was out of the woods yet. He still had more than his fair share of convincing to do with his parents if he was going to pull off the extended stay at tutoring he had to do now. Sneaking in was only challenge number one. Getting his parents to agree to a schedule change was the real issue at hand.
But, he could lie his way through it. It was a skill he wasn’t particularly proud to have, but it was one he had nonetheless. Ina always said it was his parents fault anyway. If you treated a kid like a criminal when they did anything at all, they were bound to learn how to lie to have any semblance of freedom, and her statement wasn’t wrong.
He pushed the rice on his plate around with his fork. Finding the right words to approach his parents with for any topic always had a habit of killing his appetite. Even when it was for something as small as going to Ryan’s house to work on a school project, there was always the possibility that the conversation would end in fire. Or with James letting his nerves get the best of him like a pair of hands around his throat. That one was seeming to be more and more common as he got older unfortunately.
There wasn’t much of a choice to be had this time though. It was either bring this up, or end up with them getting a call reporting his inadvertent rule breaking earlier that morning.
He took a deep breath and started the conversation, bracing himself for the verbal backlash, “So, I, um, I signed up to be a peer tutor at school.” Brown eyes flicked down towards his meal again, then back up, “I thought it would help make my college apps stronger.” A moment passed and James continued, “You want me to get into Rice, right? I need to put some more activities on my application, since you wanted me to quit baseball.”
Great, he was already fucking this up.
He needed to shut up.
Silence was excruciating.
James opened his mouth, ready to speak again before he mentally scolded himself again and resigned himself to the painful silence. In reality, it couldn’t of been that long in-between their words, but each and every second seemed like a minute all on its own when he awaited the inevitable criticism of his parents.
“Okay.” His father turned to his mother, “Are you about to pick him up?”
His mother shook her head. “I have meetings with your election campaign team and the church most days now.”
“I can bike home, it’s fine.” James interjected. If this was ruined by the fact he didn’t have a ride of all things, he was officially done.
“It’s too far. You’d be wasting a ton of time that you could be studying.” His father scrutinized.
“Not everything has to be about school.” James mumbled under his breath before taking another bite of his dinner.
His father eyed him suspiciously, but favored his food over confrontation.
James sighed defeatedly, “I could have Ryan drive me home. It ends around the same time as art and photography club.”
“Oh, Mrs. Kinkade is a lovely women. I’d be fine with that.” His mother replied with a smile.
“Will you be back home before four thirty?” His father asked.
“I, uh, yeah I should be?”
“Then if you can get a ride home from one of your friends, you can be a tutor.”
James’s lips curled into a smile. “Thanks.”
Now, he just needed to get through a few weeks of tutoring. And a few of being stuck after school with Keith.