The Tutor

3 - Lunch

The next day, Jacob goes about his first 4 classes like normal. Strangely enough, during math class, he can't help but hear Sam's voice in his head reminding him of a simpler way to do multiplication. He still doesn't really understand what the kid was trying to say, but he's able to keep up with the teacher slightly more.

His 5th period however is lunch. Like normal, he waits in line to grab some food. His mother normally doesn't have enough time to pack him a lunch, so he has the school's lunch. As he's punching his number into the register thing though so the money can be taken out of his account for the meal, he notices a neon color out of the corner of his eye. He quickly glances over in that direction.

What is Sam doing having lunch in this period? Isn't his grade supposed to be having recess right now? But there's no doubt about it, there Sam is, sitting at a table by himself.

A smile tugs at Jacob's lips. You would think a rich kid would have a sense of style, but nope. There Sam is, perfectly content wear some absurdly bright shorts paired with a green shirt that says "I look at the Table of Elements, Periodically." What does that even mean?

He decides to walk over and set his tray down at Sam's table instead of his normal table, setting his bag down near a chair. The boys at his normal table look over at him, confused, but he waves them off with a smile, mouthing to them "You can talk without me." Then he takes a seat across from Sam. "Hey, Sammy~ How's it going?"

"Do not ruin your popularity by sitting with me," Sam says bluntly in a sort of Australian accent, not looking up from the homework he's currently trying to fill out. He really breezes right through the assignment, not seemingly to get stuck on a single question.

"You're cute~ Why would sitting with you ruin my 'popularity'?" Jacob can't help his smile from growing a bit more as he sees the tips of Sam's ears tinge a shade of pink with the compliments. Not his cheeks, just the tips of his ears. "Besides, what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at recess?"

"I have special permission to not go to recess."
"Why would you WANT to skip recess?"
"I got bored of throwing a tennis ball at the wall and catching it repeatedly. I can even do it with a basketball, one-handed."

Oh. Right... He doesn't really have any friends, so recess wouldn't be fun for him. He'd rather have fun... Sitting in the cafeteria doing homework. Because that sounds like so much fun.
The second part of Sam's statement though, Sam can catch a basketball with one hand? Guess thats what happens when you have nothing better to practice.

Now Jacob feels like he dampened the mood. He needs a way to lighten the conversation again. "Oh! I got that cookie for you~ My mom and I cooked a whole batch!" He reaches down to unzip his bookbag, retrieving a ziploc bag of chocolate chip cookies from it. When he holds them up proudly to show Sam, the younger boy snatches it right out of his hand. Guess he really wanted that cookie. "Not even a thank you~?"

Sam was opening the bag quickly, but now he stops to look up at Jacob like the guy just asked him to do something insane. "No." He then goes back to opening the bag, taking a cookie out. Before he tries it though, he glances around briefly, as if making sure it was safe to eat it. Then he starts to nibble on the cookie.

Are people really that mean to him? He's 8. What are people in his grade doing to him? At least it doesn't seem to have affected his outlook on life, the kid seems happy and cheerful most of the time.

"You should say thank you, but I won't push it~" Jacob pulls his tray over, picking up the plastic fork and stabbing it into the old looking greenbeans. He can't really complain, he doesn't have the money to complain about the quality of food. So, he just eats whatever's given. "What are you working on?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full."
Jacob rolls his eyes, swallowing his food before speaking now. "That's a weird homework name~"
"No, that's not the name of the assignment, I was telling you not to talk with food in your mouth." The sarcasm went right over Sam's head.

A subtle grin forms on Jacob's face as he decides to mess with Sam a bit by keeping up this little joke. "What? But... I asked you a question and you answered!"
"Yes, but I wasn't answering your question, I was telling you not to do something."
"That... I don't understand... Is your assignment not named 'Don't talk with your mouth full'?"

Sam is clearly getting frustrated with this conversation. He puts his cookie down with an annoyed sigh, shaking his head. "No, I'm working on science!"
"... About the implications of talking with your mouth full?" It is getting hard for Jacob to maintain a straight face as he talks.

The blonde looks at Jacob, his eyes full of frustrated annoyance. Then, out if nowhere, he grabs the cookie again and throws it right at Jacob's head. "No, you nincompoop!"

Luckily, Jacob is able to duck out of the way just in time, and the cookie lands on the floor behind him. He starts laughing, unable to keep it together for any longer. "Nincom-what?!"
"A stupid person!"
The brunette breaks down laughing more, putting his fork down and hugging himself as he laughs. Sam wasn't lying about breaking the TV, that's for sure. "Sahaham! Sammy~ I was juhuhust messing with you! I knew what you meant~"

Sam takes another cookie out of the bag and throws that one at Jacob too. "You pooppyface!"
Jacob doesn't fully dodge this cookie, it bounces off his shoulder and falls back onto the table, crumbling into pieces with the impact. But Jacob doesn't care, he's laughing too much to care. How does Sam go from using big words to poopyface?! What is that vocabulary! "I'm sorry!"

The blonde crosses his arms childishly as he watches the other laugh at this whole conversation. It's not his fault that people don't mean what they say... "Jerk..." He turns away dramatically. This only makes Jacob laugh more. "I'm not playing Mario Kart with you again!"
"Nononono! I'm sorry! Sammy, I'm sohohohorry, I won't ever do it again. I promise!" Jacob says quickly as he tries to calm himself down, a few giggles and chuckles still managing to get by his defenses.
"We'll see how I feel after school." That is Sam's final decision. "Now let me work in peace."
"Work on your science project about not talking with your mouth full~?"
Sam picks up another cookie and raises it up with a sharp inhale, ready to throw it.
"Sorry, thats the last one, I swear~"
Sam puts the cookie down.

"Do you actually want to be left alone? I can go to another table if you want. I just wanted to chat for a bit. But I don't think it'd be safe to mess with you any more~"
"I won't be a great conversationalist. You're going to see me after school anyway."
Jacob nods, a wide smile still stuck on his face. "Alright. Well, it was fun talk with you~!" Jacob gets up and picks up his bookbag, slinging it over his shoulder. Then he picks up his lunch tray to go join his friends at his normal table.