Hate at First Sight [boyxboy]

Chapter Two

Lee and Jackson stayed in the classroom, and an awkward silence settled between them.

"How much am I getting paid?" the Scottish boy asked very bluntly, perhaps foolishly so.

"I don't know. Make an offer."

Lee pondered it for a moment or two. He was staying in school longer than absolutely necessary, and on top of that with the person he hated most of all. And he had to help him with things, pretend to not completely loathe him.

"Let's say... twenty an hour," he finally proposed.

Jackson scoffed, "No fucking way. I don't even know if it'll help."

Let rolled his eyes and reclined into the chair he was sitting in, "Don't pretend you can't afford it."

Everyone knew Jackson had a lot of money, as he liked to take any opportunity to brag. It made Lee want to throw up, but now it might come in handy.

"That's not my point," spat the dark-haired boy, "I'm not paying you twenty dollars an hour. You're a fucking junior."

Lee shrugged, indifferent to Jackson's incoming temper tantrum, "I'd be glad to tell Ms. Evans all about it. But would you please make up your mind? I have better things to do than sit here and argue with you."

It was quiet for a moment and Jackson looked like he was thinking hard.
Lee sure hoped he wouldn't overdo it - he'd hurt himself.

"Fine," it sounded like someone was holding him at gunpoint and forcing him to agree, "Let's start, then."

He looked at Lee expectantly.

"Oh, right," Lee said sarcastically, "Let me just get out my special teaching materials for illiterate seventeen year olds."

There was a short silence.
"Listen here, pipsqueak," Jackson finally spoke, his tone threatening, "I'd watch my mouth if I were you. Your own parents wouldn't recognize you after I'm through with you, so you'd better think twice about insulting me."

Lee tried his hardest to keep his facial expression at 'indifferent', but it was becoming increasingly more difficult. As much satisfaction as he got from insulting Jackson, he figured that maybe his life was worth just a little more.
Because, yeah, in comparison to Jackson, he was a pipsqueak.

"Whatever. Do you have any homework? We can just do that for now."
He quickly changed the subject, and it seemed to work. Though the scowl was still present on Jackson's face, he now went to get his things out of his bookbag.

---

The first tutoring session went by relatively uneventfully. Lee had helped Jackson with his homework, though the older boy kept dropping not-so subtle insults and hints about how much of a loser Lee was.
He thought it was more hilarious than upsetting - it clearly showed how much his ego was suffering from being tutored by a junior, and not just any junior, but one he was bullying.

It was quite ironic when he really thought about it, and Lee didn't exactly hate the fact that he now had something he could use against Jackson in a way.

He threw the front door to his family's two story house open, kicking off his shoes right next to it and letting it fall closed behind him.

His parents weren't home yet, so he simply dropped his stuff where he stood and continued on into the kitchen.
Contemplating what to eat, he scanned the contents of the fridge. He finally decided on an ice cream sandwich from the depths of the freezer and moved along into his room upstairs.

Lee didn't really have any friends, so his time after school was spent reading, napping or doing school work. He didn't even have any siblings to annoy.
He reckoned there were worse things though, so he threw himself onto his bed with a sigh and began to eat his ice cream sandwich.

The red-head began thinking about what he would do with the money he would earn from tutoring Jackson. Maybe buy a guitar, he thought. Or maybe he'd just save it up.
He finished his "dinner" and lost in thought, he was asleep before he knew it.

---

Something was off the second Lee set foot in his history class the next morning. Everyone was talking excitedly - actually, whispering was more like it.
He felt this scenario was familiar to him, and he realized why when he saw a tall, skinny boy with jet black hair, sitting by himself at the back of the class.

He was wearing ridiculously skinny jeans and an equally as tight, bright pink t-shirt under a black leather jacket with rivets all over it.
He was reclined into the shitty plastic chair like it was the most comfortable thing in the world, looking around the classroom curiously.

Lee didn't realize how long he'd been staring, until the new boy's eyes lingered on him for a second and he gave the Scottish boy a smile.
Lee smiled back uncomfortably.

Much to his dismay he realized that the boy's desk was right next to his own. He could only hope and pray that he wouldn't try to befriend him.
The red-head made his way over to his seat and sat down, making a point to avoid looking at the new boy.
He felt his eyes on him though.

The class started, and unfortunately they got a stack of worksheets to complete, which resulted in all of the students chattering amongst each other.

Lee tried concentrating on his work. That plan soon failed though, when he saw the new boy scooting closer to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey," he said simply.

Lee looked up awkwardly.
"Hi?"

"I'm Tyler."

"Lee."

The Scottish boy expected the conversation to be over then, but Tyler seemed to have other plans.

"Your accent's funny. Where are you from?" he asked curiously.

"India," answered Lee sarcastically.
His Scottish accent was quite thick, and not very hard to identify - or so he thought at least.

"Ah, I see. I'd say Scottish? Irish? English? Something like that. I like your jokes though. A sense of humor is a good thing to have," rambled the black haired boy.

"Scottish," replied Lee curtly.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" said Tyler and chuckled softly. He was in a surprisingly good mood for a Tuesday morning in history class as 'the new kid'.

"Can I help you with something?" asked Lee finally, looking up from his worksheet that wasn't even close to being finished.

The black haired boy shrugged, "Not really. Just trying to make friends. So, what are the groups here? Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, gays? I'd personally like to join the gay clique, if I'm perfectly honest. How about you? Who are your friends?"

Lee shrugged, only slightly annoyed at the other boy's rambling, "I don't know. I just got here a few months ago. Don't really have friends."

"Really? Why not? You're so cute, though! Well, then it's decided!" he declared dramatically, "From now on; we will be friends!"

And yeah, that's how it went.
The following days were very confusing, and maybe a little stressful for Lee.

Tyler deciding that they were best friends resulted in him following Lee around the school all day long.
And while it was nice to not be so alone a lot of the time, Tyler was very talkative and very loud.

This was not only annoying sometimes, but it also drew a lot of attention to him, and consequently to Lee. That, he did not like at all.
He had gotten very used to and comfortable with just blending into the crowd for the majority of the time at this American high school.

Tyler definitely was not about that, though. He took to speaking to several new people each day like it was nothing. Lee got a feeling of anxiety just thinking about that.

All in all though, the Scottish boy was more grateful than he let on for finally having someone friend-like at his new school. It was almost like a comfort sometimes, and sometimes... he just really needed that.