Suzaku munched half-heartedly on his grilled cheese, sulking a bit that he was going to miss the movie that Rivalz and the girls were talking so animatedly about.
"It got really good reviews, so I don't think we'll be wasting our money," Rival said, leaning back in his chair and drinking his Coke. "Good," said Shirley, who was looking in a compact mirror to check her already impeccable makeup. She always cared so much about her looks. Suzaku had noticed she was one of the first girls in their class to start wearing makeup when they all started growing up in 6th grade. "I can't afford to waste my money, especially when I got fired...I'm still looking for a new job, by the way." Shirley had gotten fired from her job at a clothing store when she didn't help customers because she was texting all the time.
Euphie engaged her in a sympathetic conversation about jobs. Euphie worked at a bakery, selling pastries over the counter five days a week. "I'll have Anya cover for me or something," she was saying. "Anya will tell my boss something about my sister being sick or whatever, and then I'll be able to see the movie with you guys. She owes me, anyway." Euphie shrugged, and Suzaku watched her pretty pink hair cascade over her shoulders, wishing he could be sitting next to her.
Suzaku had been flirting with Euphie ever since they were sophomores, and the girl either didn't realize it or she was ignoring it. Or, as a possibility that Suzaku really hoped was the case, she was waiting for the right moment to proclaim her feelings for him.
That would be the most desirable option.
ooooooooooo
The end of the day had finally arrived. The time of day when numerous teenagers were shoving each other around in the hallway to each get to their locker first. No one wanted to hang around too long after school. The detention kids were trudging up to the 200s hall, where they would be spending 40 minutes of their time sitting and doing nothing. Suzaku had purposefully tried to be good today so he wouldn't get detention and miss his tutoring session.
Lelouch was waiting by the exit to the parking lot, his messenger bag over his left shoulder, hanging neatly at his side. Suzaku felt the awkwardness again as he approached the Brittanian. "...Hi." Lelouch looked up. "Ready to go?"
Suzaku nodded, and they made their way out to the parking lot. Suzaku couldn't help but wonder what kind of car Lelouch had. Suzaku found himself getting jealous that Lelouch even had a car. Suzaku had to take the metro to school, and it was no fun. The working-class Brittanians gave him weird looks, and the Elevens gave him even weirder ones for being so obviously a student at an almost all Brittanian school.
Sometimes Suzaku felt like he didn't belong anywhere.
Lelouch had taken a few steps to his right, and neared a black BMW. Suzaku's heart almost stopped. "That's your car?"
His tutor looked embarrassed, to his surprise. "Ah...yes." Without another word, he got in the driver's seat and waited for Suzaku.
Suzaku found himself feeling a mix of envy and irritation as he got in the passenger's seat and angrily did his seatbelt. Stupid rich Brit boy and his stupid rich-ass car...all I get to drive is dad's fucking van.
Lelouch turned the keys in the ignition. "Suzaku...? Are you okay?"
"Mmn." That could have been taken for a yes or a no. Lelouch just sighed and pulled out of the spot he was parked in, the engine barely making a sound. Suzaku found the silence unsettling. He was used to the growling motor of his father's car.
Along the way, there was some idle conversation about school, what kind of things Suzaku needed help on, how his friends were, etc. Suzaku gave fragmented answers to all of these. He honestly didn't know why he was acting this way, was it all just Lelouch's fancy car that set him off? Or did he just feel like he had to be hostile to his tutor? Some guilt got to him then. Lelouch was just driving the car he had, and he was also probably just trying to get some extra credits from tutoring, not trying to make Suzaku's life miserable and monopolize almost all of his after-school time.
By the time they pulled up to Lelouch's house, Suzaku had been expecting a large mansion, so he wasn't surprised.
Lelouch exhaled. Damn, that ride had been awkward. Luckily, Suzaku didn't make a "This isyour house?" comment, like he'd been expecting. The boy just got out of the car, backpack in tow.
When they got inside, Suzaku was looking around with those big green eyes of his. That made Lelouch smile a bit. He was adorable, with his boyish face and messy hair. "So, I was thinking we'd start with Algebra. Get the hard stuff out of the way." Lelouch sat at his dining room table, pulling out a chair for Suzaku. The brunette sat, nodding. "'Kay."
Lelouch pulled a way-too-thick Algebra book out of the stack of textbooks he had for tutoring. "So, we'll start with the quadratic formula." Suzaku sighed. "That sounds hard." Lelouch smiled again. "It's mainly memorization."
The green eyes were wandering. The set on a family picture of Lelouch. It featured his mother, his sister, and a seven year old Lelouch. "Is that your mom?" Suzaku pointed, obviously not focused on the quadratic formula. Now it was Lelouch's turn to sigh. "Yes, it is."
"She looks a lot like you."
Lelouch raised an eyebrow, and Suzaku blushed. "Not saying you look like a girl or anything, I'm just-"
"I get it. I know, I do look like her. Moving on." Suzaku shifted in his seat, leaning forward, eyes widening upon seeing the accursed formula. "That's...ridiculously long."
Halfway through Lelouch attempting to explain the purpose of the formula, Suzaku's eyes happened upon the picture again. "Is that your sister?" He was pointing to Nunnally this time. Lelouch turned. "Yeah. Suzaku, how about if you answer the math questions right, then you may ask things about my personal life?" This earned another blush from the Japanese boy. "Uh, sure. Sorry." He apologized so easily.
"So, the first part again."
"Um...negative b plus or minus the square root of..." Suzaku trailed off again. Lelouch decided it was good enough and leaned back. "Alright, you may ask me another question now."
"Do you live with your parents?"
Lelouch almost winced. "That's...well, my mother's dead." He hated telling people that.
Suzaku looked almost pained. "Ah, shit. Sorry, I didn't know..." Lelouch blinked a little at his cursing. It was almost cute the way Suzaku said it. "No, it's fine. Like you said, you didn't know."
Suzaku nodded a bit, but still looked guilty. "What grade is your sister-"
"You have to finished the second part of the formula before you get to ask another." Lelouch smiled triumphantly. Suzaku shook his head, smiling back. "Okay, fine." Suzaku didn't seem as awkward as he did before, and that made Lelouch happy. "The square root of b squared minus 4 times a times c, right?"
"Correct. Ask away."
"So, what grade is your sister in?"
"Nunnally is in seventh grade. She's going to the same middle school we went to."
"I have a vague memory of you talking about your sister who was in kindergarten..."
Back when they were friends in fourth grade. Lelouch missed those days. He was Suzaku's first friend. "Yes, that was her."
Suzaku gave him a friendly smile, something Lelouch hadn't seen directed at him in years. He smiled exactly like he did when he was a kid. Lelouch couldn't help but smile back.
ooooooooooooooo
After three hours of tutoring(in which Suzaku had memorized that damn formula, annotated a book he was supposed to be reading in English, learned the different levels of acids and bases,and spent a great deal of time talking about Lelouch's personal life), Suzaku was tired. Not the kind of take-a-nap-later tired, the kind of tired where you wanted to just collapse where you were and sleep the rest of your life away.
Lelouch was kind enough to drive him home, and Suzaku was barely able to keep his eyes open the whole time. Neither of them talked, but Suzaku was much too tired to feel uncomfortable. Lelouch turned on the radio and they drove in sleepy silence.
Suzaku mumbled a goodbye and got out of the car, dragging his backpack along. Lelouch drove off, leaving the brunette to his own devices. The Eleven fumbled with his keys, noting that his dad wasn't home. Whatever.
It was only six, but three hours of cramming his brain with knowledge and only four hours of sleep last night were not serving him well. Suzaku, like most boys his age, had a very rough and strange sleep schedule.
Dinner? Who needs dinner? Suzaku needed sleep. He decided he'd just have a big breakfast in the morning.
A few minutes later and Suzaku was in his boxers, under the covers, and ready for sleep to overtake him.
Forgetting to set his alarm clock wasn't a very good idea.
oooooooooooo
Oooooohhh. Cliff hanger. ;D
Hey, it makes the next chapter easier to write.
Well, I'm really tired today, since I had a 3 hour photo shoot for Code Geass cosplay. xD
I rode a carousel. As Lelouch. FUCK YEAH
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