“Dude, what the hell happened to your face?” Jackson cuts in.
I shoot him a look that says ‘shut the fuck up’, and then shrug and tell them I was hit in the face while shooting hoops. TJ looks like he buys it but Jackson’s been my best friend since kindergarten. He knows my dad’s a prick, and I'm pretty sure he’s put two and two together over the years. But he also knows not to ask me about it. I grab my jacket from the backseat, slam the car door closed, and we make our way across the parking lot and head into school with the usual group of girls clamoring around us. There are definite perks to being in a band, but having girls constantly trying to claim the title of girlfriend gets old fast. It seems the less interested I am, the more interested they become.
“Hey, Ethan,” Brie says, coming to stand next to my locker.
Brie’s hot but she knows it and it’s a total turn off, she's your stereotypical head cheerleader-—blonde hair, long legs and lip-gloss. I’d tell her to take a hike, but she's wearing a tiny excuse of a shirt with her boobs pushed up on display, and I’m a guy, after all.
“Hey, what’s up?” I say to her tits rather than to her face.
“I hear you’re having trouble in professor Hillman’s class, and I just wanted to let you know I’m totally available if you need help studying.” She says this in a whiney voice that I'm assuming she means to be sexy, while running her hand down my arm. I shrug away from her reach and lift my gaze from her tits to answer her.
“Thanks for the offer, Brie, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't get much studying done.” I wink and push off my locker, heading down the hall before she has time to reply. Jackson jogs up beside me, laughing.
“Dude, what’s wrong with you? Why the hell aren't you tapping that?”
“I’ve seen her outside my house a few times, I think she follows me,” I say shrugging. “Plus her voice is like a cheese grater to me, man, and I bet she’s a screamer.” I laugh as we head to first period.
I walk into the cafeteria to grab lunch; I'm late because Hillman held me back to tell me that I'm fucking useless at math. He gave me the number of some nerd I'm supposed to call about tutoring. Apparently she's agreed to help me for extra credit or some shit, I don't know. It’s gonna be awkward as hell. I grab a sandwich and bottle of water and head over to sit with the guys.
It's your typical high school clique seating plan: the Emos and Goths sit at the far back corner of the cafeteria, looking…well, depressed; the Nerds and Band Geeks sit a little ways in front of them; then it’s your average students that just want to fit in; then the Jocks and Cheerleaders, and then us. I sit with the rest of the members of our band, Kickstart. It just happens that Jackson is also a jock, volleyball player by day, drummer by night. Our table usually has a weird mix of musicians and jocks.
“Dude, move over.” I push Jackson along the bench seat so I can sit at the end of the table.
“What did Hillman want, E?”
I look over to Drew, ready to reply, but he’s already lost focus and is now pulling his girlfriend Dannii on his lap, burying his head into her neck. Drew’s a good-looking kid, but it’s taken a while for him to grow into those looks. Dannii is hot and knows it. He thinks he’s punching above his weight, even though since we’ve started playing more gigs he has girls throwing themselves at him. If you ask me, it’s the other way around: Dannii is the one punching above her weight. Drew’s a great guy.
“Yo, get a room!” TJ shouts and then whips his head back in my direction. “Yeah man, what did Hillman want?”
“He gave me a number to organize some tutoring, says I need to bring my grades up or he’s failing me.”
“How you gonna fit that in with practice? Steve will shit a brick if you start missing them!”
I sigh and talk around a huge chunk of sandwich.
“Gonna have to squeeze it in on a week night, I guess.”
“Sucks to be you, man,” Jackson pipes in.
Yeah, it really does fucking suck to be me. I pull out my cell and tap out a message to the number Professor Hillman gave me.
To: Tutor Nerd
Hi,
Professor Hillman gave me your number to contact you about math tutoring.
Ethan.