Chapter 2: The Boy

"...and now, we move on to Art Nouveau."

Oh shit, she's going to ask him to answer the question. I looked over to Harry Judd's sleeping frame. I quickly scribbled the answer on a small piece of paper, and just as Ms. Ray turned to write something on the whiteboard, I nudged him and shoved the paper into his open hand. He looked over groggily and I mouthed for him to read the paper.

"Glad to see you're awake, Mr. Judd. Would you care to tell us what Art Nouveau is?"

"Oh, yeah... Sure. Uh..." He looked at the paper. "Art Nouveau, French for new art, is an international movement and style of art that became popular just before the 20th century."

"Good. Please try and stay awake the next time." The bell rang. "Alright, class. We'll carry on from here next week. Remember to read up on the first five chapters before coming to class. Thank you."

As I walked towards my locker, Harry caught up with me. "Hey, thanks for that."

"No problem." I opened my locker, threw in the books I didn't need and took out a few for the next class. He did the same, as his locker was just a couple away from mine. I closed my locker and looked at him. "You aren't always this tired. Is everything okay?"

He closed his too and walked back to me. "Oh, yeah... Everything's fine. Just had a couple of drinks last night and got back later than I thought."

"Ah... okay. Well, see you around." I walked towards the cafeteria.

"Hey, wait!"

"Yeah?" I slowed down to let him catch up to me.

"Rory, right?"

"Uh huh?"

He stalled for a moment and scratched his head before asking. "Um, since you're really good at this class and I'm the complete opposite... Do you think you could help me with it?"

"Whoa, what makes you so sure I'm good at this class?"

"Oh, I don't know... How about the fact that you gave me the answer when we weren't even taught that yet?"

"I could've just read it beforehand..."

"Which makes you, the only person in class, who knows anything about it!"

"Ha. Clever."

"So will you help me?"

"Fine, we'll figure something out."

"Awesome, so I'll see you after school then?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Later, beauty." He smiled and went over to his friends.

"So... who was that?" My best friend set down her tray and sat beside me.

"Oh, nobody... Just someone from Art History."

"Really..." She raised her eyebrow at me as she took a bite of her apple.

"Really!" I bit into my sandwich. "He was just asking me to tutor him."

"HELLO? How is this nothing? He is HOT! You did say yes, didn't you? Please tell me you did. You couldn't possibly-"

"Yes, yes. I did. Even if I hadn't, I'd have said yes just to shut you up." I jokingly nudged her.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt for you to admire hot guys every once in a while, you know. Especially when they are the ones knocking right on your door!"

"Right, never give up an opportunity to grab the nearest available guy, eh?"

"Exactly! ...wait, are you mocking me!" She looked at me outrageously.

I gasped. "Are you accusing me? I would never!"

She eyed me. "You know I love you." I smiled sweetly.

She wasn't too convinced I was just going to tutor Harry Judd in Art History, so I invited her to come along; she would never rest if I'd ever left her out of my love life, or lack thereof. She immediately declined, citing something about not wanting to be a light bulb. Ha! Like anything is going to happen.

"And that concludes the first two chapters. Pretty easy, isn't it?" I flipped to the next chapter.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not all that bad. Guess I'm not stupid after all."

"Stupid? Now where'd you get that conclusion from?" I laughed. "Anyway, do you want to start the next chapter or take a break?"

"Break!" He grinned. "We've got plenty of time for the other three chapters. There's this really awesome sandwich bar round the corner, maybe we could grab a bite?"

"Hmm…" I glanced at my mobile, it was almost 6pm. "Sure, why not? I'm hungry."

He smiled and stood up before giving me his hand to help me up.