"Uh Cyrus is everything okay at home?" Buffy asks the next day at lunch. "Yeah why?" "You always have homework done" she and Andi look down at the incomplete English homework in front of me. "Well, I just caught up with other stuff and simply forgot, now if you'll excuse me- I need to finish" I try to end the conversation quickly before they asked more questions. I didn't want to talk about Tj. They'd pester me about it. They shrug it off and I quickly finish up.
Maybe it wasn't my best grade, but at least it wasn't a 0.
At the end of the day when the dismissal bell rang as I was making my way to my locker, I completely bumped into Tj. "Oh hey Teej" I say when I notice it's him. At first he looked at me like he wanted to break me in half but his face softened when he noticed it was me. "Hey! You going anywhere right now?" He asks me. I shake my head no "wanna do homework in the library?" He offers. "Uh sure, I'll meet you there. Just need to get my stuff from my locker" "got it" and he walked off to the library. I went to my locker and got my books and whatnot.
I looked around for Tj when I got to the library, he was sitting in the far right corner near the window. "Why all the way back here?" I ask him. "Um, over here is the best view of the sun" he wasn't wrong. It was December so the sun was down by 5 pm. The golden hour sunlight shone threw the window and we would be able to watch it go down. "I want to finish homework now so I don't have to bother you to help me" Tj looked tired. Not sleepy tired but as if he had a hard day kind of tired. "I don't mind, whenever you need help I'm here" I smiled at him. He smiled back and I never noticed that he had such a perfect smile. "Hold on I'll be right back" he got up and walked out of the library. I got my stuff out and placed it on the table, I got a head start on my own math work as I waited him to come back.
"Cheese puff?" I hear his voice say as he stands above me. "Sure" I grab one from the bag in his hands. "So you got any plans for Christmas?" He sits back down. "No" I guess he forgot. "What? Why?" "Tj, I'm Jewish remember" he smacks himself. "Cyrus I'm so sorry I forgot" I chuckled. "Don't worry, no big deal. How bout you? Anything going on for Christmas?" He didn't seem so happy. "Nah, I'm spending Christmas eve with Amber and Christmas Day alone cause Amber's going to a friends house." "What about your parents?" I didn't know much about Tj personally, all I knew was that he wasn't really close with his parents and preferred not to to be around hem much. "They're going to some place on Christmas, I'd rather stay home than spend the day with them alone" I felt bad for him. "Wanna spend Christmas at my house?" I found myself saying. "What really? I don't wanna intrude or anything.."
"Yeah! I mean if you want to. Obviously you don't have to if you don't want to but I mean we're not doing anything and my mom's fine with me having friends over so you can come o-"
"I'll be there" he cuts me off, he could tell I was rambling. "Thanks I appreciate it" he smiles. Wow Tj is a very smiley boy despite him being a serious person too.
We didn't leave school till around 6, since the math homework was more than usual for the break it did take longer but I'm glad I got it out of the way. "Thanks for the help Cy" Tj and I were walking home side by side in the dark. "You don't have to thank me every time I help you"
"yeah but I feel like I should"
"your company is enough to repay your gratitude"
"You enjoy my company?" I shrug "I guess so"
"Well that's good, I don't want to be annoying" I assure him he's not as we approached my house. "Thanks for walking me home" I tell him "your company is enough to repay your gratitude" he repeats. "You mocking me?" I laugh "I guess so" I lightly punch him in the arm. "So see you Christmas?" I nod. I had almost completely forgotten I invited him over. "Bye!" He says as he walks down the steps. "Bye Tj"
