Grading Love (BoyxBoy)

17: The Special Announcement

Authors' note: At last, after half a year... chap 17 is here.

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Harvey POV

"Harvehhh, I got good news!"

I see my adorable boyfriend run towards me, beaming the brightest smile he could manage.

"What is it, John?"

"I was chosen to be in the school's math team! We're going to compete against other schools in a month or so," he said bashfully.

"Whoa John, that's great!" I always knew John was a smarty-pants, but this was unprecedented. "You'll get extracurricular grades for that right?"

"Sure I will!"

The 3-man math team in our school consisted of the same members ever since middle school. It was a bit surprising that John would take one of their places now in our sophomore year.

Just when I had that thought, I overheard a conversation between Lance Cashera, one of the aforementioned members, and a friend of his.

"Yo Cashera, what happened to ya dude? John's replacing ya in da math comp yo," the delinquent friend asked in an accent that reminded me of a male Nicki Minaj.

"Oh man, it's fine," Lance began, "In fact, it's actually relieving. I won't have to attend that stressful training anymore and my weekends are free for me to play League of Legends."

"Is LoL really that addicting?" asked Joseph Tin.

Joseph was another member of the team. There isn't any official declaration of it, but many assume he's the captain of the team.

"Of course it is, I mean LoL is just so fun I swear, well, aside from the rather toxic community... but I bet if you start playing you'll always look forward to your next game!" Lance started explaining the basics, strategies, heck he even started talking about his favorite champions and their lore. Joseph sounded pretty interested, even if I'm sure he absolutely had no clue what Lance was trying to explain. He was pretty on point with all of it until I heard him talk about his favorite Pro Team. Counter Logic Gaming? Pshhh, what is he, trapped in the past? That team's a goner right now.

I ended up listening to the conversation almost all the way through. Well I can't blame him, I mean League of Legends really is a pretty fun game - probably even more addicting than Skyrim.

A tug on my sleeve reminded me of a certain adorable guy in front of me. I cleared my throat. "Ah, how about we go on a date later? We can go to my house again or even that ice cream parlor too." I said, although I really just wanted John to invite me to his house instead. See him take initiative for once, you know? Either way, I was already envisioning what else we could do as a couple, as new as we are in all this.

"Of course! I also heard that they are having a buy-one-take-one special promotion too and there's even an ah-"

All of a sudden, John stops talking and returns a sad expression.

"Actually, since the contest is coming up in a week, we're going to have trainings after class starting today. Sorry." His voice got softer and softer until the end, barely even a whisper.

"Oh. Well, that's fine. Can't distract you from the contest, can we? We could go on another day, there be a promo or not." I tried my best to hide my disappointment. I'll miss spending time with him this week... "Good luck with your training!" I said with enough happiness to pass for "no I'm not sad or anything"

Perfect. John won't feel bad if I let him know I'm okay with it.

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John POV

"It's really okay, John!" Harvey kept saying in a really weird, slightly high-pitched voice.

Is he just trying to condone me? He doesn't seem to realize that it's not working.

"I'll definitely make it back to you some other time, Harvey." I finally said.

"Geeeeez~ I just said it's fine." He's trying too hard again.

After I walked with Harvey to the bus stop, he told me he'd be fine on his own and that I should go back, so I did.

It felt weird returning to the school having to carry my bag (since Harvey would always pester about letting him carry it - I'm not that fragile!) and without a hand to hold, but I told myself that this would only last for a while.

This training and contest participation would help boost my grades a little more, considering how strict my parents were regarding school-related issues.

I went to Quesa's Math Department, and there I saw my teacher, Mrs. Ferrari.

"Okeii John is heeeeere," she said in a low voice. "Now let's just wait for the last member."

She led me to another room inside the math department, and I saw Joseph Tin sitting near a table while working on something that looked like... a novel?

I never heard of him being a creative writer, so I was curious.

I sat next to him, trying to sneak a peek on his laptop, but no dice. He was a rather tall guy, maybe three inches taller than me, so it was hard enough having to inconspicuously lean closer.

I think he caught on to what I was attempting to do, since he immediately saved the document and shut down his laptop.

"Hey there, little guy," he smiled at me.

I already don't like him.

"Hi, I'm John Agate, nice to meet you." I said respectfully, even though we were of the same year level.

"I'm Joseph. Joseph Tin. Is this your first time joining the Mathematics Testing and Application Program?" he asked.

"Ah, I have been to their trainings every year during summer, but it's the first time I'm a representative in the competition," I answered.

"Well, for you to have replaced our Cashera here, you must be really smart, huh."

"I'm not too sure about that... but I'll do my best!" Joseph is not only a representative in the team competition, but is also our sole qualifier for the national mathematics competition in our year level.

"Good boy, good boy." He started patting my head, which I immediately pushed away. He looked at me with a confused face.

Only Harvey can pat my head!

At that moment, the door slowly creaked open, revealing another student who I believe is the final member of our team.

Jose Castrid.

"Hey Joseph, who's this guy?" he asked once he laid eyes on me.

"This is the new member: John! Isn't he such a cute hamster," Joseph said, and proceeded to pinch my cheeks. Hard. He's a little too touchy.

What took place after that were some normal (minus Joseph belittling my height) introductions and Mrs. Ferrari teaching us some geometric formulas.