Not a Love Story

One // Smart or Whatever

Oliver Greene

I pulled into a parking spot, barely putting the car in park before Henry was out of the car and rushing to the trunk. He opened it and pulled his football bag out. I got out of the car and shrugged my backpack onto my shoulders.

"What time do you have practice until?" I asked Henry. He looked over at me and shrugged.

"I dunno. I'll just ask one of the guys to give me a ride home." I nodded and locked the car before we went our separate ways, him towards the group of his football friends who hung around the front of the school, calling him over to them, and me towards my locker. I rolled my eyes at my younger brother as he did some complicated handshake with one of the guys, Josh.

I spun the lock on my locker and opened it, putting a few of my books I wouldn't need until after lunch inside.

"Soooo, how was the calculus homework?" Mia asked. I closed my locker to see her leaning against the lockers next to mine, a pleading smile on her face. I smiled at her and rolled my eyes.

"It wasn't that bad. I'll help you with it during lunch." I said. She smiled and hummed in agreement.

"Have you seen Emily or Alex?" Mia asked as we walked down the hall to our first class, English. I shook my head.

"I was running a little late this morning. Henry couldn't find his cleats." I said, rolling my eyes. Mia chuckled and pulled out her phone, texting the group chat with all our friends in it.

We walked into English and sat down in our usual seats next to one another in the front row. Mr. Richards walked in as the bell rang and turned to write something on the board.

"Alright, everyone, good morning! We are going to get started with a new unit this morning, Romeo and Juliet!" he said, clapping his hands together excitedly. "We'll get started by doing some background on Shakespeare and the play as a whole, and we will begin reading tomorrow in class, so don't forget your books! Yes, Emma?" Mr. Richards said, looking at the girl in the back with her hand up.

"Will we get to watch the movie after we finish reading the play? Like the Leonardo DiCaprio one?" she asked. Mr. Richards sighed quietly but smiled.

"Yes, Emma. We will be watching Mr. DiCaprio in Romeo and Juliet at the end of this unit." he replied. Emma smiled and nodded as Mr. Richards began his lecture on Shakespeare.

The bell rang just as Mia and I were scribbling the last bit of notes into our notebooks.

"Well I'll see you all tomorrow. And don't forget your books!" he reminded one last time as we packed up and walked into the hall.

"I'll see you at lunch. Don't forget your calc homework!" Mia said as she headed to her next class.

"Will do." I said with a smile and a nod as I walked into my world history classroom.

After an hour of Mrs. June enthusiastically lecturing about different religions around the world, I was ready to go to my favorite class, AP biology. Mrs. Newsome was my favorite teacher by far, and she allowed me to be her lab assistant for the last hour of my day. One of the perks of being ahead in classes needed to graduate. I walked into the room and smiled when I saw Mrs. Newsome setting out some lab equipment in the back.

"Good morning, Oliver!" she greeted.

"Good morning, Mrs. Newsome. How are the frogs?" I asked, gesturing to the back of the room where she had a few live animals the school allowed the biology and life science teachers to have.

"Todd and Tom are doing just fine." she answered. I smiled at her and sat down in the front row. "Oh, and Oliver?" I looked up at her.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can you stay back for a moment after class?" she asked me. I nodded, a tight smile on my face as my heart began to beat faster. Am I in trouble? Did I accidentally put the lab equipment back wrong last week? The bell brought me out of my thoughts, causing me to scramble to pull out my notebook and pencil as Mrs. Newsome began talking about cell division.

The door opened and none other than Ben Jones waltzed in.

"Ah, Mr. Jones. Nice of you to join us." Mrs. Newsome said, her voice flat.

"Sorry about that, Mrs. Newsome. Won't happen again." he said, flashing her a smile as he sat down. Mrs. Newsome just lightly shook her head and continued teaching. As soon as the bell rang, I slowly began to pack up my things. I saw Mrs. Newsome stop Ben as he was walking out. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked up to Mrs. Newsome's desk, where she was already talking to Ben.

"Ah, Oliver. So as I was saying, Ben, you aren't doing so well in this class. Your coach has noticed your grade is slipping and recommended I assign you a tutor. So, Oliver, you will be tutoring Ben." I stood there, shocked.

"With all due respect, I think I can handle myself, Mrs. Newsome. I can just ask one of the guys on the team to help me. I don't need a tutor." he replied. I felt a pit in my stomach as he spoke, taking his words to heart even though I knew I shouldn't. Mrs. Newsome sighed.

"Ben, your coach has demanded it. He said if you don't get your grade up then you'll be benched for the rest of the season."

"What? He can't do that! You can't do that! I need to play so I can get scouted!" he replied. Mrs. Newsome gave him an understanding look.

"I know that, Ben. That's why I've assigned Oliver to help you. He's the best student I've had in a long time. I have no doubts he'll help you get your grade up so you can continue to play." she answered. Ben groaned and shook his head.

"Fine. Whatever." he muttered. Mrs. Newsome smiled and nodded her head.

"Great. Oliver, I'd like you to begin tutoring Ben as soon as possible. The next test is going to be here before we know it." I nodded.

"Okay, uh, sure." I replied, still confused and slightly shocked about this situation.

"Great. You boys may go now." she said. I nodded and Ben sighed as he turned and walked out of the room.

"Hey, uh, so do you want to start studying tonight?" I asked Ben in the now empty hallway. Ben turned to face me.

"Look, I know you're smart or whatever, but I can handle this on my own."

"But Mrs. Newsome said-"

"I don't care what she said. I can handle it, okay?" with that Ben turned around and walked down the hall.