h o l d e n *
I sit in math class, hoping that it's already been forty-five minutes and that the bell is going to ring. And it does, thirty-five minutes later. I sigh and pick up my stuff as I hear my name called. I turn to see who said it and find myself facing Justice Woods.
"H-hey," I stutter. Why would the most popular kid in class be talking to me?
"Hey," he says kindly. My eyes dart to the rose tattoo on the edge of his right hand. "I was wondering if maybe you'd be able to help me in math, I know you're really good at it, and well I'm not, and-"
"Of course, just meet me after school and you can follow me to my house if you want to start tonight,"
"Yeah! Yeah, sure,"
"What was that about?" Marie asks as I walk out of the classroom.
"He wants me to tutor him in math," I explain.
"And you said?"
"Yes,"
"You said yes to what?" Joey asks, coming up to us, with Georgia following him.
"I said yes to tutoring Justice,"
"Woods?!" Georgia asks in a whisper-yell.
I nod.
"Ooooh!!"
After school, Justice meets me by my locker and we walk out to my car together. I start my gray Volkswagon 2019 Jetta and wait for Justice to pull up behind me in his black Kia 2012 Optima. When he pulls up, I pull out of the parking lot and put my turn signal on.
When we pull up to my house, we both grab our stuff from our cars and head inside. I fidget with my keys trying to find my house key and he looks at me.
"I didn't know you had a tattoo..." he says, gesturing to my rose tattoo behind my ear.
"Actually I have two," I say as I find the right key.
"You do?"
"Yeah, the other one is on my forearm...it says 'adventure'."
He nods. "I have three."
"I thought you only had one?"
"No, I have an arrow on the inside of my middle finger and one that says 'why not' on my pelvis."
I nod. "Hmm...sorry, I'm struggling with my keys today, apparently."
He laughs and smiles. "It's okay," Wow, that smile.
"Mom, I'm home," I say once I've finally gotten my key to work. "I have a friend with me,"
"Okay sweetie," my mom says coming out of the bathroom with my baby sister, Eden, on her hip. Eden is just over five months old.
"We're going to go work on homework."
We walk up the stairs to my bedroom.
"I didn't know you had a sister," he says softly.
"Actually, I have two sisters and a brother," I reply.
"I knew about your brother, but I didn't know you had sisters."
"Yeah, that one was Eden, she's five months old, my parents adopted her, and my other sister is Reagan, she's 7 and a half. And of course, you know Keaton."
"How's college going for him?"
"Pretty good, I think."
"That's good..."
Right at that moment, Reagan runs past my door screaming at the top of her lungs that boys have cooties.
I look at Justice and start laughing. "I'm sorry...she's a little crazy sometimes," I say.
Then she bursts into my room. "Holden! Boys have cooties so I'm staying away from you!"
"Only other boys do, Rae. Your big brother doesn't have cooties!" I correct her.
"Oh, okay...that's good because I didn't want to have to stay away from you because you're my brother and I love you. Anyway, Mommy said I could watch a movie so I'm going to go, bye bubby. Bye bubby's boyfriend." She slams the door behind her and I feel myself start blushing.
"I am so sorry," I say after a minute of silence.
"Don't worry about it...she's a kid, kids say funny things," he says.
"How did you know?" Justice asks me suddenly while we're about halfway through the homework.
"Know what?" I ask confusedly.
"That you liked boys--that you were gay?"
"I-I just realized there was this one guy that I couldn't stop thinking about, and I came to terms that I liked him; also that I didn't like ever any girls...why?"
"Because, there's this guy, and I think I like him, and I-I'm just not sure what to do...I just know that I can't stop thinking about him,"
"Just...tell him. There's a fifty chance he'll like you back, and besides, we miss 100 percent of the shots we don't take, and we end up regretting not taking the shots we didn't take eventually...I wish I had done that too,"
"Why can't you do it now?"
"Because...he's popular and...I'm not. I feel like if I did...I feel like he would just laugh in my face."
"Maybe you should follow your own advice, then. Maybe he likes you too,"
"I doubt it...but if you do decide to tell him, tell him how you really feel, and how you can't stop thinking about him..."
He nods. "Thanks,"
"Yep...so, now we're going to find the cosine of A..."
