What are we?

chap 6

Upstairs, Tyler opens the door to a very big room. There was a big bed, a row of closets lining the wall, tables and still a lot of floor space. Assuming he got the right room, he didn't think James would be so neat.

He drops his bag by the door and walks around, looking at the books lining the shelves. There were trophies and certificates for so many different things. School, sports, music.

A while later, James came in. He brought with him two plates of food and some drinks. He pulls a table out into the middle of the room and sets the things down. "What are you looking at?" James asks as he walks over to grab the chairs.

He leans over Tyler's shoulder to look at his own trophies. "You can play the violin?" Tyler asks as he glances at James who was again pretty close. James scoffs, he doesn't even remember he had trophies for that.

"Yea, among other things." He says, losing interest in looking at his trophies and going back to set the chairs. He sits and beckons Tyler to come sit too.

Tyler comes back over but not before grabbing James's violin case which he had spotted it in the corner of the room. He looks at James with big hopeful eyes and hands him the case. "Seriously?" James sighs but still grabs the violin from him.

It's been a while since he's touched his violin. He takes it out of his case and tunes the strings, as Tyler watches him intently. James brings the violin to his neck and before he starts, he signals at the plate of food for Tyler to eat.

Tyler grabs a piece and James takes in a breath before he draws the bow over the strings. Tyler doesn't know what James is playing but it sounds amazing. He plays a short piece then pulls the violin off his shoulder. Guess he's not that rusty.

"Do you not like playing?" Tyler suddenly asks as James sits back down. The music was beautiful, but James didn't look like he was enjoying it.

James shrugs, "I already know I'm good, so there's no point." Tyler didn't understand what James meant, shouldn't he like doing something because he's good at it?

"Then what do you like?"

James eyes Tyler and for a moment, he was going to say "you". But he'll hold off for now. He hums and instead he tells Tyler that he'll find out eventually.

By then they've already finished the food and James moves the empty plates to another table. "So, what do you need help with?" He asks, changing the topic and leaning back to grab Tyler's bag.

He passes it to Tyler who gives him a sheepish grin, "I actually suck at everything." Huh, seems like he'll need more help than James thought. He pulls out some of his tests and passes it over to James, who flips through them and sucks in a breath.

"This is worse than I thought. Why are your grades so bad?" James comments, the best score he had was barely a passing grade. Tyler makes this weird sound and he shrinks in his seat, "It's probably because I skip a lot and I don't even pay attention in class normally."

He looks down at his lap, starting to feel bad. He has no idea where his life is headed and at this rate he doesn't know if he'll graduate. A sigh comes from James as he went through his options. He could offer to tutor Tyler and see him everyday or he could save himself the trouble.

It's a pretty easy choice. "I can tutor you." James offers, getting Tyler's attention. Tyler blinks at him with his mouth slightly ajar. " Really? But you're graduating, aren't you busy?" That is true, but James is at the top of his classes already.

"It'll be like revising old topics." James replies as he flips through the test papers again. "Let's start with this." He pulls out some papers and places it in front of Tyler.