Math had never been Tyler's strongest subject; never had, and never will be. Tyler was a pro in Physics, he nailed every AP US History test, he could write an AP Literature essay with his eyes blindfolded, he of course he was the star basketball player for his team. Did that effect his performance in Calculus, though?
Mr. Miles was handing out their most recent tests, and Tyler was not hopeful.
Next to him sat Brock, his closest friend, while behind him sat Evan, his other best friend. To Evan's right and behind Tyler sat Brian, and to Tyler's right was Tom. The five of them had been friends since freshman year when they were all put into Varsity Basketball as the youngest members. They kind of stuck together out of revolt against the seniors, and it kind of stuck, even now that they were seniors.
Mr. Miles reached their little pack of athletes, his mouth pressing into a thin line as he adjusted his glasses awkwardly before handing Tom's test to him. Tom smiled and leaned over the back of his chair to high five Brian as the excited chatter of his friends surrounded Tyler. Tyler sat motionless, starring down at the paper, surprised he expected anything else.
Evan punched his shoulder, getting him to look up at him and Brock, both worried.
"What did you get?" Evan asked, tilting his head slightly.
Tyler sighed, letting a loose a rough laugh before waving his paper at them then shoving it into his binder.
"Gotta D."
"Dude…" Brock and Evan glanced at each other concerned. Tyler knew that look. Coach was already riding Tyler to get his grades in math up. This wasn't going to fly very well with him.
Brian and Tom had already slung their backpacks over their shoulders and were waiting on their other three friends.
"Man what you gotta do to be so bad in math?" Tom teased lightly.
"Yeah! You kick our asses in every other class!" Brian agreed.
"It's because I don't suck Mr. Miles's dick like you kiss asses do," Tyler responded, pushing the door of the math class open and out into the crowded halls of their high school, Yoshituba High. Lockers lined the hallways, and other students were already packing the halls. It was a fight for the five of them to make it to their lockers.
"You gotta watch yourself, bud," Evan was saying, leaning against the locker next to Tyler's while he searched for his Physics textbook. "Coach is getting serious about grades…"
"It's because your lazy ass can't be bothered to learn how to fucking write," Tyler responded, face buried in his locker. He couldn't find his goddamn Physics book.
"Fuck you I'm in the same AP class as you!"
Tyler chuckled. Evan didn't suck, he just used passive voice too much. It was a sore spot that Tyler enjoyed prodding whenever his friend got on his nerves, like now.
"And I'm serious, you jerk off" Evan turned and leaned on his shoulder, now facing his ornery friend. "Listen, maybe we can find you a math tutor?"
Tyler backed up out of his locker and raised an eyebrow. "A tutor?"
Evan smiled, excited by this thought. "Yeah, why not?"
Tyler laughed, finding the book and slamming his locker shut. "No offense Ev, but having a tutor for a math class during second semester of our senior year is kind really lame."
Evan rolled his eyes, following Tyler as they made their way to their Physics class.
"Yeah, okay it's lame as fuck, but Coach will bench you."
"He won't," Tyler glanced at his friend, hoping his confidence would mask the small scrap of dread that had made root in his stomach.
—
Tyler got benched at practice. Coach Carter left Evan, Tom, Brock, and Brian in charge of the rest of the team while he had a talk with Tyler. Evan watched him go while Brock took charge as co-captain of the basketball teams.
"Okay guys! Two laps around the basketball court, then high knees both ways, lunges both ways, then we'll practice lay-ups. Good?" Brock clapped his hands together and took off with Evan, Tom, and Brian, the four of them taking lead as the other six members of Varsity and the fifteen in JV followed them.
"Shit dude," Brian nudged Brock, jerking his head towards the bench where Tyler and Coach were sitting, or rather, Coach was standing with a stern face while Tyler coward beneath it.
Brock cringed in sympathy. "Poor Ty…"
"I say we try and find him a tutor," Evan cut in, pulling up alongside Brian and joining their conversation. "He was against it during Physics, but I bet he'll be interested after this."
"That's a good idea…" Brian nodded in agreement. They rounded the corner, finishing the first lap around the field.
Tom pulled up next to Brock. "We looking at math tutors?"
Brock nodded and Tom frowned with thought. "We thinking girls or boys?"
Brian laughed. "We want to find him a tutor! Not a fucking date!"
Tom rolled his eyes, but laughed anyways.
"We just need to find someone who can put up with Tyler's sass as well as teach a thing or two about Calc, that's all," Brock said. He slowed down and shouted "high knees, other side and back twice, go!"
"What about Sydney? She's good, isn't she?" Brian asked, nudging Evan.
"Syd can't stand him. She even doesn't understand how I'm friends with Ty," Evan shot down.
"What about Julia?"
"Nope," Tom sighed. "She won't stand a chance against sassy Tyler. She's too nice."
"Maybe Minx?" Tom suggested. Brock raised an eyebrow. "The purple-haired girl?"
"Yeah why not? She's bold, and she's smart-"
"And she'll eat Tyler," Brian laughed. "She's too hard. We want him to learn shit, not get into a screaming match."
Brock called out "lunges to half court, then switch legs. Two times, go!" before turning back to his friends and sighing. "There's gotta be someone else we are cool with we can talk to."
"Well, finding someone to put up with Tyler is pretty much impossible!" Tom whined. There was a lot of truth behind that, and although it was kind of mean, none of them could call him out on it. Friends since freshman year, you learn a thing or two about one another. What they had learned about Tyler was that he was difficult.
"What about Craig?" Tom offered a few lunges in silence.
The others frowned, trying to put a face to him.
"Adams friend?" Tom prompted. "He's in our class, sits in the back, kinda quiet, but has that really funny laugh?"
"OH YEAH!" Brian's eyes light up with recognition. "He's cool. I worked on dialogue scene with him in my Theater III class last semester."
"He smart?" Evan asked, breaking his silence.
"If he's in our Calculus class and is friends with Adam, he has to be," Brian reasoned.
Brock glanced at Evan, then both looked towards Tyler. He was on his phone now, Coach no where to be seen. He looked angry, almost ready to throw his phone, but also sad. Evan turned back to Brock and bit his lip. They had no choice.
"Okay guys. Partner and start practicing lay-ups!" Brock called, nudging Evans arm as a way of asking him to team up. Evan nodded and jogged off to open the ball cage for the others.
Brock turned to Tom. "Let's go with Craig. He sounds like a good bet."
"Trust us," Brian answered, smiling with Tom. "Craig is a good bet for Tyler. I'm sure he can bring him up."
—
"Fuck. You."
"Tyler can you just stop being the most difficult human alive for, like, two seconds?" Evan pleaded. It was after school the next day, no practice for any of them so Evan and Brock had dragged Tyler to the library where Brian and Tom were already waiting with Tyler's new tutor.
Tyler folded his arms, raising an eyebrow. Brock and Evan were stood in front of him, both more than annoyed with him.
"Stop being such an asshole, come on!" Brock pleaded.
"I don't need a tutor, and I don't need you guys to set me up with one," Tyler didn't move.
His eyes wandered to the new guy sitting at a table with Brian and Tom, laughing. Tyler recognized the laugh and the smile, but the guy himself he'd never talked to much. He was quiet, kind of a dork with large glasses and neat short hair, pretty much always wore the same five shirts with black jeans and converse. He was smiling now, having a pleasant conversation with Brian and Tom who had cornered him during Brian's Theater class then marched him to the library after school, but still carrying a Starbucks coffee cup.
Evan sighed, frustrated. They had been standing here for almost five minutes. The new guy looked up from Brian and Tom, making eye contact with Tyler. Tyler felt his heart involuntarily skip and he glanced away.
"Okay, I'm sick of this," Brock growled, he and Evan grabbing one of Tyler's arms each and marching him towards the table. Brian and Tom could barely hold back their giggles, and Craig just sat slightly stunned and overwhelmed watching the other three arrive.
"Site right the fuck here and don't fucking move," Brock snarled, pushing Tyler into a chair next to the new guy. Tyler glared at him and Evan, who both moved to sit in chairs on the opposite side of the table next to Brian and Tom.
Let the intervention begin.
"Okay, so, Craig this is Tyler. Tyler, Craig." Tyler turned his head slightly to eye Craig. Craig was smiling sweetly at him, and held out his hand.
"Hi Tyler. Nice to meet you."
Tyler turned away. Craig lowered his hand and his head in slight embarrassment.
"Craig, we wanted to ask you a favor concerning who fine friend here," Tom proposed. Tyler's fist hit the table with a middle finger sticking up. Tom ignored it.
"See, Tyler is currently failing Calculus, and if wants to play in the state championships this year, he needs to NOT be failing Calculus."
Craig nodded slowly.
"Which is where you come in," Evan smiled hopefully. "Can you fix that?"
Craig thought for a second, taking a deep breath and blowing it out of his mouth with a laugh. He turned to Tyler, eyeing him up. Tyler also turned to him, eyeing him up. They were silent for a few moments, before Craig grinned and turned back to Tyler's friends.
"Sure, I'll help out." Tyler swore abuse at his friends as they all sighed in relief and laughed, saying they were worried his salty attitude would scare Craig away. Craig laughed as well.
"When can you start?"
"I can start right now?" Craig offered, turning to Tyler. Tyler opened his mouth to give a short reply in the negative, but Evan cut him off. "Great. He can start now because I'm his ride and I'm not leaving for two hours yet."
And with that, Tyler's friends stood up, smirked at him, and left the library, glancing over their shoulders as if to make sure Tyler wasn't following them.
Tyler sat silently, refusing to turn to Craig who was opening a textbook, a notebook, and pulling a pencil out of his pocket.
"Tyler?"
Nope. Not moving. Craig sighed, slid him the scratch paper he'd pulled out of a notebook and cleared his throat. "Tom said you were not so hot on some of the stuff we did first semester, so I think we should start in chapter 3 since that's were we kinda started."
Tyler groaned audibly, shutting him up. After a few long moments of silence, Tyler glanced at Craig to see what was going on. To his amazement, Craig was still waiting for his response, still smiling sweetly, still holding the pencil.
"I don't need a tutor, dude."
"Of course you don't. You're smart Tyler, why else would you be in Calculus?"
"Then why am I still here?"
"Because you do need help. Let me help you."
"See ya man," Tyler said, scooping his backpack up off the ground and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Wait," Craig stood, his chair scrapping back slightly. Tyler waited. "You wanna play in the state championship, right?" Craig tried another approach. "Then siting here with me for a few hours isn't going to kill you, okay? If you're failing Calculus, you need me, and if you are gonna play in those championship games, you really need me."
Tyler turned on him, expecting him to be glaring or ready to fight like he was, but Craig was none of that. He just stood, watching him, glasses reflecting the gentle light coming from the windows slightly. He wasn't trying to pull anything, he legitimately wanted to help him.
So with a sigh, Tyler sat back down in the chair, dropping his backpack at his feet and leaning back in his chair slightly. Craig offered him the pencil again, and Tyler glanced from it to him with a raised, unamused eyebrow.
"You don't give up, do you?"
"Makes me the best kind of tutor," Craig smiled knowingly. Tyler snorted a laugh, taking the pencil out of his hand, his skin tingly as it brushed against Craig's. I mean, Craig seemed nice, it couldn't hurt to spend a couple hours with him.
—
Evan was watching the only two people left in the library through a bookshelf by the door. Tyler and Craig were still studying, three hours later. Evan had never seen Tyler so totally engrossed in something before, and the way he was smiling and laughing and looking at Craig was something Evan had never seen in him before. Craig was beaming at the taller boy next to him, his eyes sparkling and his funny laugh tinkling in the quiet library.
"Spying on them too?" Evan whipped around to see Adam and Tom behind him, grinning.
"Honestly, I've never seen him like this before…it's weird," Evan turned back to the others, watching them. Tyler lightly punched Craig's shoulder, giggling with him over something before their heads bent down over the book again.
"They really hit it off," Tom observed.
"What's going on?" Brock's voice was loud, and made the other three jump in surprised. Evan whipped around with the other two and shushed him and Brian quickly, then motioned for the two to join them.
"I think Tyler has a thing for Craig…" Evan explained slowly, voicing everyone else's thoughts.
"Tyler's gay?" Brian asked, nudging against Evan trying to get a good view of the two at the table. "Oh no, yep. That's the Adeline face there."
"Adeline?" Adam asked. He was lying on the floor beneath Evan now starring around the bookshelf corner.
"Tyler's big ex was a senior last year called Adeline. She was a cheerleader, red head, really fucking hot. But she dumped him when she left for Michigan University last year. He was always more into her than she into him, and he payed the toll when she dumped him for a 21 year old at college," Evan explained.
"Ouch…" Adam sympathized. The others nodded in agreement.
Tyler glanced down at his right pocket now, pulling out a phone and reacting surprised. He ran a hand through his hair apologetically and smiled as Craig laughed.
"Shit shit shit shit," Evan hissed, backing up and pushing his other friends towards the library doors as Tyler stood up, slinging his back pack over his shoulder. Craig stood up too, laughing awkwardly as he packed up his books.
"Are they coming this way?" Adam hissed.
"They are in a second!" Evan hissed back, pushing everyone out the double doors of the library and into the empty halls of their school.
"Dammit, I wanted to see if they would kiss!" Brian pouted, coaxing a laugh from all five of them.
"And he complained so fucking much…" Brock laughed.
"Okay fine you guys win," Tyler's voice made all five of them turn sharply to see Tyler and Craig coming through the library doors. "Turns out he's a pretty good tutor," Tyler laughed, throwing an arm around Craig's shoulders. The slight tint of color that appeared across Craig's cheeks made Evan's eyes narrow in suspision, but smiled and replied "thank God, I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace you," earning him a middle finger from Tyler.
"Come on Ty, I wanna go home," Evan coaxed, and the two made their way to the exit followed by Brock and Brian, who were both carpooling home, and Tom who had his own ride.
When they got to the carpark, Evan and Tyler shouted goodnight to their friends before both fell into Evan's Nissan with a sigh. Tyler laughed lightly.
"What?"
"You guys aren't sneaky, you know that right?"
Evan laughed, turning the key in the ignition and backing out.
"We heard Brock and Brian come in. Craig got a good look at you guys piled up behind the bookshelves too."
"Is that why you left in such a hurry?"
Tyler didn't have an smart-ass answer, so he shut his mouth.
"Ty, look man. If you like this guy, I respect you, okay? You're my best bud and I'm not gonna judge you for it," Evan focused on the road, but felt Tyler's eyes on him. "I won't respect you if you lie to yourself though."
Tyler laughed, and leaned towards Evan, holding his hand in front of the steering wheel for Evan to easily glance down at his palm and see the string of numbers written on it.
"You guys left before the best part," Tyler chastised, snickering.
"You sly dog," Evan turned to him, impressed.
"Don't worry Ev. I am respecting myself. I don't know what is going on here, but I'm not about to rush into anything. Besides, he's my tutor, and this ain't one of those cheesy high school stories." Tyler glanced down at the number on his hand, smiling.
"Can we stop off at Starbucks? I'm need some coffee."
Evan glanced at him, weirded out. "Dude he ain't already rubbing off on you, is he?"
Tyler laughed. "Fuck off you Canadian shit. I just want a coffee. I got a lotta studying to do tonight if I'm gonna ace this next Calc test."
"So you're gonna see him again?" Evan pryed.
Tyler shrugged. "I have to. He was right. If I'm gonna play at the state championships, I need him."
Evan snickered. "Oh sure that's the only reason you need him."
Tyler threw a punch, making the car swerve.
"I'm fucking driving!"
"Shut your bitch-ass mouth and pull into a fucking Starbucks already Ev," Tyler laughed, leaning back in his seat. Evan obliged, giggling still, and found the nearest Starbucks on his iPhone.
