My Solution (Jelix)

Chapter 3

*Felix's POV*

My heart pounded as I walked down the familiar front hallway towards the library. What if I was too stupid to understand Jack? What if he just confused me even more?

I took a deep breath when I got to the door before quietly pulling it open. I peered inside to see Jack pacing around one of the wooden tables in the middle of the room as if he were anxious. Why would he be scared? He wasn't the one who needed help.

"Hey, you're Jack, right?" I approached him.

He suddenly stopped pacing and looked up once he heard my voice. His eyes were wide and the poor guy looked terrified that I was talking to him. I noticed that his hands were shaking slightly.

"Y-yeah, I'm Jack," he squeaked out nervously.

I took a second to observe the boy. His skinny body was covered with a dorky white shirt and striped tie with a matching pair of khaki shorts. His nerd status was only emphasized by the black glasses resting on his face. The most noticeable feature about him, however, was his bright green hair.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I motioned to one of the chairs in front of us.

"Yes. I-I mean no, I mean...y-you can sit there," he stuttered.

I slung my backpack onto the mahogany table before pulling out a messy binder crammed full of worksheets. Rummaging through, I flipped through the papers before finding the worksheets I needed to do for homework. Jack took a seat on the other side of the table.

"Do you understand this?" I slid the papers to him.

"Yeah. Factoring," he nodded as he observed the pages.

"Can you explain it to me?"

"Sure."

He pulled out a notebook and flipped to a blank page. I watched in amazement as he picked up his pencil and sped through the problems. There wasn't a second of hesitation as he copied down the problems. Then, he turned the page around so I could see it.

"Okay," he pointed to the start of the problem, "first you find if they have a greatest common factor."

He walked me through the rest of the problems, avoiding eye contact as he looked up to see if I was understanding. As if by magic, I was following Jack's teaching perfectly. By the end of the first worksheet I was able to factor completely on my own.

"You're amazing!" I exclaimed.

"T-thanks," his entire face went red at the compliment.

"Hey," I looked sympathetically, "You don't have to be so nervous."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. I'm just letting you know that there's nothing to be scared of."

"I'm just really shy."

"I know. There's nothing wrong with that, though."

"You think so?"

"I know so," I flashed a smile at him.

"Thanks," he grinned sheepishly.

I couldn't help but feel my heart flutter. His timidness was endearing in a cute way. Wait, why did I describe a guy as cute? I was straight. I liked girls and I kissed girls and I wasn't attracted to boys. It must have just been an off thought.

"Do you think you can tutor me every Monday and Wednesday? I would ask everyday but I have football practice the rest of the week."

"Yeah, that's fine. I have Mathletes and Chess Club on Thursday and Friday," he hesitated as if he was embarassed to admit his hobbies.

"Oh, you're a Mathlete?" I asked.

"Y-yeah," he bowed his head shamefully.

"That's why you're so good at this stuff."

"You don't think that's lame?" he looked up with surprised look plastered on his face.

"Why would I?"

"It's kind of dorky."

"Jack," I started, "don't let stereotypes and judgements get you down. I like 'dorky' things too; I play video games almost every night."

"Really?" his face lit up.

"Yeah."

"What's your favorite game?" His excitement was almost leaking from his eyes.

"Mine is probably Tibia. What about you?"

"I love Shadow of the Colossus. The storyline and gameplay are so good and then the soundtrack just makes it even better. I've played that game a million times and never gotten sick of it. Oh, sorry, I'm rambling."

I frowned slightly as he quickly apologized for being enthusiastic. He must have thought he was annoying me, but he wasn't at all. I found it fascinating to listen to other people talk about their interests. I could only wonder how much he had to have been shut down in order to be so quick to shut himself up.

"No, you're fine. I don't blame you for being passionate. Shadow of the Colossus is a really good game. You know what else is a good game? The Walking Dead Game by Telltale Games."

We stayed like this for about thirty minutes, just sitting and talking about video games that we enjoyed. It felt nice to discuss the gameplay and graphics and soundtracks and everything else. Aside from Mark, none of the guys cared about games that didn't involve sports. But Jack truly seemed to love them as much as I did, if not more. We would have gone on for hours if it wasn't for my alarm going off that signaled that I need to go home.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Jack," I stick my hand out.

"Nice to meet you too," his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as our hands touched.

"I'll see you next Monday," I picked my stuff up and headed towards the door.

"Bye," Jack waved nervously.

I couldn't believe it; I actually learned something from Jack. Maybe this semester wasn't going to be so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, I would actually be able to pass Algebra 2 and keep my spot on the football team. One thing I knew for sure is that I owed Jack big time.