TUTORS ; E.D.

FOUR: HOME

"Try this one, Aph."

"Ethan, my head is going to explode."

"Please?" He sighs quietly, pointing to the sheet. "Y-you almost got it. Last one before... a snack break?"

Aphrodite groans, leaning over the table again with her pencil in hand. They'd been working on chemistry for two hours straight, since the second they got to his house after school. Currently, he was trying to help her balance chemical equations, and it wasn't going well.

Fe + Cl2 + FeCl3
Fe + 3 Cl2 = FeCl3

"...close. You--you're missing a 2 in front of Fe both times in the answer."

"Where the hell did the two come from?!"

"Let's take a break," Ethan sighs, rubbing his face. "Getting there."

She huffs, slamming the book shut and stomping into the kitchen. Grayson is in there digging through the cabinets already, smiling when he sees her.

"You finally free?" He hums, crossing his arms and leaning back. "Ethan's riding your ass."

"We're taking a break," she frowns, Ethan coming to join them in the kitchen now. "As soon as we're done, you and I are going to sm--"

"Hey, watch it," Grayson murmurs, as if Ethan doesn't know they get high together. "E, isn't two hours enough?"

"Y-yeah, it's fine."

Aphrodite rolls her eyes. "No, it's not, I'm the one making him study longer with me. I've been busy, so we haven't been able to do it much and I really can't fail this class."

"Since when do you care, Aphie?" The boy asks, raising his eyebrows. She shrugs, grabbing some chips and salsa. "Sorry, don't wanna be a bad influence. Just weird seeing you care about a class."

"I still wanna graduate," Aphrodite says, watching him check his phone. "My grade has gone up to a D+ at least."

"Good... yeah... hey, I'm leaving. Have fun studying, losers, I'm gonna go hookup with Rachel," he grins, tucking his phone into his pocket. "Colton's picking me up and we're gonna go hang at her place with a few other people. If mom and dad ask where I am, just tell them I'm with friends."

Ethan rolls his eyes but nods, watching Grayson rush out of the house. Rachel was horrible to him often, not that his brother noticed. Now he was going to sleep with her, great.

With a hum, Aphrodite sits back, enjoying her chips, examining Ethan. His brows are knit together tightly, arms crossed over his chest.

"Why don't you say much when Gray and I are both here? He's your brother," she asks, tilting her head.

He looks up at her, pursing his lips while considering his answer. "You guys are close. Usually you can--the conversation doesn't need me, so I prefer to just... listen."

"What if we like talking to you?" Ethan was somewhat more comfortable with Aphrodite at this point, but definitely not fully. He still stuttered, still got awkward and didn't know what to say to her at points. She still made him irrationally nervous sometimes. He doesn't answer. "I see your hickey faded."

"Yeah," he says, swallowing slowly when remembering the night she gave it to him. "Grayson was annoying about it. But it--I heard less virgin jokes this week." It was almost nice that people backed off on teasing him for that. Almost, because instead they just found something else to be rude about when they were bored. "I-I don't fucking get why people care. I'm only 18, and it's not--it's my business. Is it really that weird?"