tutoring sessions

[two]

IT'S THE FIRST AND WORST DAY OF SCHOOL TODAY. after almost two and a half months of not having to deal with all the jerks from school, you have to go back and deal with them for a whole year. the first day is always the worst. people bragging about their trips and their tans and their glo ups. and then you have to deal with the people in your classes, having to develop a whole new tolerance to a whole new class of jerks. and somehow each year there's always at least one class filled of people that hate you or that you hate. in my case that's lidia benjamin. when we were kids, she told everyone that every morning i shower in poop which is why i was black. that was when we were kids we didn't know anything about the real world so i've forgiven that. but what i won't forgive is the things she used to say to abel back when he was still struggling to control his ADHD, not that it can be fully controlled. that's one of the reasons i didn't want abel coming to this school but he wanted to go where daniel was going, and it was just more practical if we went to the same school.

it was abel's first day of high school and my dad wanted to drive us to school to see him off. it was a good and a bad thing. on the upside i get to wake up a half hour later since i don't have to run to get the bus. but on the downside i have to deal with my dad's inspirational first day of school speech. it starts the moment we get into the car up until the moment we get to school and get out the car.

"yo abe, you ready for school?" i called, jogging downstairs to the kitchen where abel was sitting eating cereal.

"i'm just dreading dad's speech." he chuckled slightly

"so you're not at all nervous about school?" i questioned, glancing under the the table to see abel bouncing his leg vigorously. he only does that when he's nervous or hasn't taken his pills

"nope." he replied in all confidence.

"have you taken your pills?"i asked making abel choke on his cereal and  shake his head. i tossed him the almost empty bottle and scrawled 'buy more of abel's pills' on the to-do list pinned to our fridge. he downed one with a cup of water and went back to his cereal.

"okay lemme see your outfit." i demanded and abel stood up to show me. he had simple black jeans and a grey sweater paired with black boots. a chain peaked out from under the sweater and i pulled it out. it was a simple silver chain with a simple silver ring on it from my dad. the ring has been passed on in our family for generations. it came from the original greene and since has been passed on to the firstborn male of the family. if there is no male child then the ring gets passed to the firstborn and they would pass it to their son. when a greene has fallen in love they propose with the ring.

"nice, very simple yet cool." i approved, tucking the necklace back in

"show me yours." i took a step back to show abel my outfit. it was simple, like his. i had black jeans that had a rip at the knee and a white lace up top. and i had the exact same boots as him. abel's weird and likes to buy two pairs of every shoe he buys and since we're the same shoe size we usually end up matching. abel nodded his head in approval. i reached for a banana since i couldn't be bothered to make toast or cereal

"your love of bananas sicken me." abel shuddered

"your face sickens me." i retorted

"hey! that was uncalled for." he whined

"your face is uncalled for." i stuck my tongue out at him and he scowled at me. i went back to eating my banana and abel back to his cereal. the only sounds in the kitchen was the tapping of abel's foot against the tiled floor, and my nails tapping against the worktop. i guess it runs in the family to fidget and tap. i don't tap my nails because i'm nervous, i just tap them without knowing but when i am nervous the tapping gets faster and supposedly more annoying.

"y'all ready to rock and roll?" my father asked, coming downstairs with his laptop bag across his shoulder.

"please never say that again." i begged

"say what? y'all?" dad questioned

"that whole sentence." abel answered.

"fine, just get in car." dad ordered. i grabbed my backpack from the worktop and followed him outside to his ice white 2015 range rover sport. i'm not a huge fan of cars, but i fell in love with this car the moment i saw it. which is why when i get my license next month my dad's giving it to me. i climbed into the passenger seat and buckled it whilst abel tapped away on his phone, probably playing some  game.

"abel buckle up and put your phone down." dad ordered and abel complied which meant the talk was about to begin.

"kids, it's a new year which means a new beginning, a new chapter in your life. try hard, and make the most of it."

the car was silent for a while as abel and i waited for the talk to carry on. when it didn't we shared a look of concern.

"who are you and what have you done with my father?" abel shouted

"what?"

"your signature new school year speech. where is it?" i questioned

"that was it." my father shrugged

"really, no long message?"

"nope. i'm too tired today. you'll have to go on without one this year." he explained

"YES!" abel and i cheered simultaneously

"alright alright calm down or i'm going to be forced to give you one." dad threatened making abel and i shut up instantly.

i'd rather not have a 20 minute long speech, thank you very much.