Of all the students in Asheville High School, Waylen Acker has got to have the worst luck. Forced to take after-school tutoring lessons due to his poor grades in algebra, Waylen begins enduring Friday (and occasional weekend) algebra lessons taught...
"Please just consider it Waylen, it'll be good for you a-and your future...", my mom stammers in the end as my father interrupts her and points a finger at me.
"There won't be any 'considering' because you're taking the damn lessons, end of discussion" he dismisses with a sharp wave of his hand.
I roll my eyes and pop the last of my strawberry pop tart in my mouth and get up from the table. "Alright, I'm off, bye mom" I cheerfully say as I make my way towards the door.
Before leaving, father yells after me, "I don't want to see you here before 5:00, you hear me?!".
I respond by flipping him off before grabbing one of my skateboards and head to school. As I skate out of the driveway and down the road, I put on one of my air pods and connect it to my phone then play some songs by The Score.
I guess I should explain what all that was huh?
Ok, so first off, my name is Waylen Acker, a pretty healthy and normal 16-year-old teenage boy full of raging hormones and testosterone. I'm an anime weeb, I love Chinese and Italian food, I hate tomatoes and mushrooms, I love music, singing, and playing different instruments, I hate rude and fake people, and I draw...a lot. Hm, I feel like I'm forgetting something...
Oh! I'm gay. I think I should've led with that, oh well. And before you start worrying about me having a shitty life after coming out or whatever, I just want to say that I'm actually pretty happy. I have great friends, my parents accepted me without too many problems, I have decent grades, and I'm involved in a lot of sports and other after school stuff to occupy my time.
Well, to be honest, I had decent grades. About that little scene from before? Yeah, that was about my crappy grades in algebra and my parents forcing me to take student tutoring lessons to fix them. My father and I...we don't really see eye to eye in the first place, so my latest report card just sent him a little over the edge.
"Math never came easy to me, why can't he just see that and move on?" I mumble as I crouch down a little and speed down a small hill towards school so as not to fall off because, trust me, after the first few falls you learn your lesson.
After a few sharp turns, I finally arrive at Asheville High School and promptly kick up my skateboard and tuck it under my arm then walk towards the parking lot where my friends were waiting for me to go inside.
"Hey hey hey!!" one of my friends, Rowan Berks, exclaims as he hooks an arm around my neck and ruffles my hair, "We waited for like ever for you man! You think you're cool or something for getting here late??"
"Yo man give him a break, he probably didn't mean to have us wait out here in the middle of winter in the cold parking lot", Apollo Katz unhelpfully adds.
"Oh yeah, like that makes him seem better", Artemis Katz scoffs and rolls her eyes.
"Well, I do have a valid reason for being late" I say from under Rowan's arm.
"And what is that?" both Katz twins say simultaneously before glaring at each other.
"Uh, so I have to take algebra tutoring lessons to boost my shitty grades as per my parent's wishes and my dad yelled at me for my grades leading me to flipping him off in front of mom".
Rowan whistles and finally lets go of me to put a hand on my shoulder, "Jeez, you really gotta control your temper dude, that was kinda rude".
"Pfft, kind of?", Artemis snickers and tucks a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and out of her face. "That's an understatement, I mean your dad I get, but not in front of your mom, she's actually pretty nice."
"Yeah I know, I'll make sure to apologize to her when I get home or something." I start fixing my hair from really messy to slightly less messy. "It's just... I really hate it when he yells at me like that." I start to walk towards one of the school's side doors, "I mean, would it kill him to understand that my problem with math won't be solved by yelling and whatnot?".
"Maybe it's just your dad's way of showing he cares?" Apollo suggested as he walks by my side leaving Artemis walking next to him and Rowan walking by my other side.
"Yeah, just showing some tough love, you know?" Rowan added with his trademark smirk.
"Yeah, maybe..." I say as I crinkle my eyebrows a bit in frustration and hold the door open for them.
"And, who knows, maybe your tutor will be 'the one'. Like from those school life shoujo animes you like so much", Apollo suggests with a chuckle as he slides past me.
"Sure sure", I reply while giving him one of my original eyerolls.
"Thanks," Artemis says as she's the last one to go through the door, "and don't worry too much, you now get to spend time with us, makes your day a little better right?".
"Not at all." I deadpan as I let the door close behind us.
She gasps and slaps my arm leaving me laughing and feeling a weight I hadn't realized was there lift off my shoulders a bit, "Kidding, kidding".
