Chapter 1
English was not one of my favorite subjects, but I did ok. I never talked to him. I mean, we just… never got a chance to. I guess I wasn't stunned when Ms. Toms asked me to tutor him. I mean, he skipped class sometimes, never turned in his work, and the last time I caught a glimps of his test, he'd failed. I had not been seated next to Rodrick since third grade, and since then, he'd grown a little and all his teeth had come in, finally. I did see him at Henry Loren's party last month. His band was… I actually don't know what they were doing, because they sucked. I knew I was allowed to judge because I was looking for a band to join, but I assumed it wouldn't be Rodrick's.
On Monday, I walked into Ms. Tom's afterschool session and saw Rodrick sitting in the corner listening to his iPod too loud, again. I ignored him and walked over to Ms. Toms. "Hello, Ryan." I smiled and she gave me an English book. "He's over there." I frowned, then walked over to the desk next to Rodrick. "Hey." He looked over and raised his eyebrows. "Ryan Allen… teaching me English." Rodrick said with a smug smiled. "Shut up, Rodrick." He shrugged and turned back to his comic book. I lifted it up and looked at the cover. "The Flash, huh? I love the ones with Kid Flash and him. I think I like Thor better, though." He looked over confused. "Comic books… you?" I smiled embarrassed. "Yeah." His iPod ended up getting louder and louder as I searched for a page to teach him. I looked over and observed him. Just as I remember; dark, long hair that hung just above his hazel eyes, his skin had a little bit of a tan. After a while, I ended up hearing:
"I did my best to try and write you a song."
I smiled, knowing Downfall of Us All was a classic, then I started to hum it. I stopped once I caught him looking up from his comic, shaking his head. "Alright, Rodrick," I said grabbing his headphone's and iPod in one swift motion before he started grabbing at them. "You've failed almost all the tests we've taken this year, and you skip classes. Can you please focus?" He rolled his eyes and sat up in his skinny jeans and Attack! Attack! shirt. I gave him a piece of paper and made him write down all the vocabulary words on the board. "So," I said in the awkward silence. "What's been going on with your band?" He laughed and started to brag. "Well, we've had quite a few gigs this year and we our van's been painted with the logo."
"What's your band called, again?"
"Loded Diper." I laughed. "Really? That's the name you all came up with?" He looked at me. "Yeah, I thought it was a pretty cool name." I looked at him and stopped my smiling. "Oh, no, don't get me wrong. It's cool. I would have got with a little mystery, though." He smirked again. I think that was how he just smiled.
After about two hours of just vocabulary, I had to leave. "Sorry Rodrick. I have to leave." He nodded and waved. I looked over one last time and stood up. Just as I was about to walk through the door, I heard Rodrick say, "Ryan!" He ran over to me with his backpack on. "Yeah?"
"Um… I feel like we barely studied today. Can you come over after school tomorrow? I'll text you the address." I smiled. "Sure, Rodrick. Here's my number." I said taking out a sharpie, and writing it on his arm. He smiled again as I looked up into his hazel eyes. "Then I guess I'll see you after school, then."