Our game of Civilization ended pretty badly, Kevin wound up betraying most of us. He won by taking everyone's capital. Thomas was one of the first to fall. He didn't take it well considering his crush.
Sitting on my porch, I wait for Bradley to barrel down the road in his van to take me to school. I thumb through the texts that Craig and Thomas sent me yesterday.
(From Craig) So about that tutoring thing, nothing's difficult yet, but could you come over occasionally and we can pretend.
When he told me that, I felt morally objected to reject his offer. Craig has his looks on his side, though.
(To Craig) But what do I get out of helping you?
I remember texting him that and feeling devious.
(From Craig) I don't know man, what the fuck do you want?
I think I struck a nerve.
(To Craig) I'll think about it, don't be too testy. I don't have to help you.
That still made me feel incredulous.
(From Craig) Fine.
Simultaneously, Thomas and I texted last night.
(From Thomas) Are you making moves on the Craig Tucker?
(To Thomas) He asked me to tutor him? I said yes, but only for shits and giggles.
(From Thomas) Lucky.
After staring at my phone for too long, they all pull up and honk at me. I'm always the last to be picked up. It's since I live the closest and because I'm particularly sluggish in the morning.
I sit in the back seat next to Thomas. He glances over at me.
"So Tweek, you're tutoring, Craig is it?" Kevin turns around from the passenger seat.
"Yeah, he didn't want to get Wendy's help, so he enlisted me." I try and keep it short, Thomas told Kevin. Rude.
"Oh, that's good for you? It might be terrible, who knows?" Kevin takes his attention to fiddle with the radio. He puts on one of the weird indie stations.
"Wendy Testaburger? How does she hang around that crowd?" Bradley questions, he should be focusing on the road.
"She's friends with Bebe Stevens, who's been dating, Clyde Donovan for awhile now. Craig Tucker is his best friend. It's very easy to eavesdrop and find out." Kevin riddles off like it's no big deal. Kevin's smart, socially smart? I think he purposefully sticks his nose up at the popular kids, however he still wants to look in from the outside.
"Yeah," I verify.
"Ah shit! Dick! Is today over yet?" Thomas frowns as Bradley pulls into the clusterfuck of a parking lot.
After Bradley fought for a few minutes to get into his parking spot, we all climb out and shuffle to Park High's entrance.
I kinda ignore my friends to concentrate. I walk with Kevin to homeroom, we're sectioned off by our last names. The fluorescent lights really highlight the bags under my eyes.
It's still fairly early so when we walk into homeroom, only a few scattered people are sitting down.
Craig Tucker is among the early birds, he waves to me. I wave back and sit next to Kevin. He pulls out a book from our AP English class, we're reading 'Their Eyes Were Watching God.'
I haven't started reading it yet, our teacher talks about it, but she never forces anyone to discuss if they don't want to.
I zone out, I didn't sleep well last night, our homeroom teacher, a portly man, Mr. Hernandez, quickly hands out some slips. He hovers near my desk before handing me the slip to go to the counselor.
"Thank you," Politeness will be my downfall, I know it.
"Have fun, man." Kevin says while he's ensnared by his book, not even glancing at me. He probably figures that it's Mr. Mackey, which it is. Mr. Hernandez chortles.
I knew I would probably have to talk to them sooner or later. My anxiety medication is checked in here, my mother micromanages my mental health care. It's a bit of a journey down the stairs to the counselor's office.
I have art class first, so I'm glad I'm not lugging my heavy textbooks around. Just a sketchbook. Thomas is in my class, and we mostly stick together for obvious reasons.
I open the door to hand in my piece of paper saying that they need me. I'm told to wait, I see Thomas sitting there next to some kid I don't know.
"Hey, shit!" Thomas greets me, the dude next to him looks appalled. How does he not know Thomas yet?
"Hey," I respond.
"Tweek?" Mr. Mackey calls out, shutting down the opportunity to talk to Thomas.
I walk into Mr. Mackey's office, I gander at some of the new photos he has framed around his work space. It seems like he got married recently, how saccharine, I bet he's so happy.
"This is your last year with us, Mr. Tweak. Are you excited?" He clears his throat, I hope I don't catch a fucking cold.
I don't particularly think so, "Yeah, new chapter in my life." I feign a smile, I have no idea what I'm doing.
"It's been awhile since I last spoke to you, but your anxiety, has it been bothering you in any way?" Mr. Mackey places a hand on his chin.
"Not as much, the summertime is usually stress free." I explain. I'm slightly lying, I'm really nervous about what Craig wants. I don't mind covering for him, but shit.
"That's good to hear, you can always come to talk about your problems. I'm here for you, Tweek, mkay?" He stands up, signifying that we're done, I have a sneaking suspicion that he's busy as shit. Which is good, please don't talk to me. I know he's my guidance adult or whatever, but if I breakdown at school, that's the worst case scenario.
"Okay," I also stand with my things in my hands.
I walk out back into the waiting room as Mackey calls for Thomas. I decide to head to art class. Homeroom is about to end and I can walk slow enough that I won't be walking in when there would still be people in there.
Killing time is a bit of a hobby of mine, in my pencil bag, I carry too much hand sanitizer with my art supplies. The bell rings and people start to flood out as I'm still making my leisurely stroll. I pick up my pace to get away from these throngs of people.
In my art class, I learned how to create depth within a drawing and that Stan Marsh has herpes. Thomas really got a laugh from that. I wasn't too sure how the rumor spread, and I'm surprised that some of the underclassmen cared enough to talk about it.
My next class is psychology, I'm semi-interested in why I'm so anxious and why my stomach turns. I probably won't find out through this class or ever, so why bother? I'm cutting it close to being late, I took too long at my locker, I had books to situate and I may have spasmed and dropped my books on the floor like an idiot.
I walk into Ms. Doyle's class, she smiles at me, and I see someone glare at me, oh shit. Craig's in this class, I never texted him if he did have a class with me. I don't have this class with anyone that I particularly care about so I sit near the back. Craig must do the same.
I sat in the desk to his left, Ms. Doyle began speaking about how psychological experiments need to be crafted carefully to carry any scientific weight.
After she finished reviewing, she encouraged us to partner up and work together on a worksheet about ethical psychological testing.
Craig pretty much decides for the both us that we are working together. "So hey,"
"Hey." I feel a bit awkward. Craig's adam's apple protrudes too far out. I should focus on the worksheet.
I notice that Craig fills things in at the same pace as I do. "We could talk about it, you know." I say hopefully loud enough for Craig to hear against the clamor of the rest of the class trying to kill enough time to make the class not drag.
"The answer to number six is no, you have to keep the privacy of the subjects. Happy?" Craig flips me off, wow. I scowl.
We both pretty much complete the worksheet, I turn to him, "So what's up?"
"I'm pissed off and sober." He whispers, oh. Yeah, I guess that would bother me too, I'm angry that I don't have coffee at the ready or my bed near by.
"Cool." I accidentally say to him.
He just glares at me.
The class goes by fast enough that I'm only embarrassed slightly.
Nothing of note happens until lunch time, I'm grateful to have it with all of my three friends, it makes coordinating things much easier, Thomas and I sit next to each other so he can stare at Kevin without it being too weird.
"Hey, do you guys hear about Stan?" Bradley excitedly wants to tell us the new gossip.
"Fuck yeah!" Thomas exclaims as he pours his lunch out of a brown paper bag. My mother tried making my lunch this morning, I had to shoot her down. She told me she was proud of me.
Kevin sits down a bit later, "Why the fuck did I take all advanced placement classes?"
"Because you're Asian." Bradley states candidly.
Kevin laughs, "If I'm your doctor, I'll gladly have an accident and take the malpractice suit."
I feel like eyes are on me as I take out my poorly thrown together ham sandwich from this morning.
"Hey Tweek!" I hear Clyde's voice getting closer, oh fuck, why?
My head pops up, dazed, "Hey?" I say as Clyde takes a seat next to Bradley while Craig follows behind him and plops next to me.
"I saw you guys head in together and just sitting with Craig can be a bit of a bummer. This lunch has like no seniors." Clyde makes an observation as I glance down, he has a feast before him, how do people eat that much?
"That's nice," Kevin snubs them, "So I had the next campaign for Dungeons and Dragons."
"I didn't know people still played that." Clyde starts to talk while chewing his food, I want to die. Why did Kevin have to talk about this now? These people are cool, don't fuck it up already.
"Shit! Yeah of course people do, nerds still exist, man" Thomas elaborates, I just try and eat in silence.
"Don't be a dick, Clyde" Craig's gravelly voice scolds him.
"Cool your tits, Craig."
The rest of lunch goes by as I stay relatively silent, I didn't want to talk at all. I didn't really pay any attention to the conversation, I let it pass me by, it couldn't have been that important.
The senior health class is a safe haven for people who don't want to take another year of gym. Us nerds obviously jump on that bandwagon, We all sit in a group, but Craig is also in this class and sits next to me again. I don't know why he's choosing to attach himself to me.
Mrs. Rhodes, an elderly woman with frizzy hair, quickly begins the class with lightning speed, "So we're going to learn more about CPR, when to do it, how to do it, when to call nine one one. Next week we should definitely be getting the dummies. That's the most fun about learning how to save people's lives." Her earnest demeanor and the way she moved around the room made this infinitely better than having boys size you up in the locker room and getting picked last for a game of kickball.
She mostly lectures and her non sequitur way of teaching allows time to fly, I'm exhausted and excited for the day to end.
Kevin and I walk to AP English as he nudges me, "Why is that Craig kid hanging around you so much?"
"I'm his tutor? I don't... know." I want to say fucking, but I feel like that's harsh so I just oddly hesitate.
"Just watch out, Tweek, he might like want you or something." Kevin murmurs to me.
"Oh," I didn't think that Craig has a crush on me, besides even if he does, who cares?
"I didn't think Craig Tucker was a fag…" Kevin wonders out loud, where I can hear him. Fuck, fuck, fuck, Thomas.
We sit in class and analyze a quote about mortality for about a half hour, it's really deep and I feel like I'm drowning. I have to talk, well text to Thomas. I'm practically ripping my fingernails off for the final bell to ring.
"You okay Tweek?" Kevin can tell I'm a bit up in arms. Ring ring the day finally ends. I'm ready to shove my homework in my bag and probably crush Thomas's dreams. The rush of everyone trying to escape school annoys me so I just chill at my locker and text Thomas.
(To Thomas) Holy fuck, Kevin insinuated that Craig had a boner for me and called him a fag, Red alert! RED ALERT!
That should get the message across. I eventually throw my backpack across my shoulders and head out to the van.
"Thank fuck that's over," Bradley turns on the ignition. Thomas just bounces his leg as we cram into the back.
As we drive, Kevin interjects, "I have a theory, I think someone likes Tweek."
"Who?" Bradley gasps, I only frown while Thomas occasionally let's out a "Fuck!".
"Craig Tucker." Kevin, why don't you just drown me? That would be more productive than this.
"Really?" Bradley flabbergasted, drops me off without much more speculation about someone who might think I'm sexually attractive enough to woo.
Thomas texts me before I even get inside my house.
(From Thomas) Why does Kevin have to be such a hot dick?
My chest tightens and I laugh.
AN: Thanks reviewers, until next time!
