Demon: Book 1

Chapter 40: A Ticket

Chapter 40

A Ticket

I rolled my pencil back and forth, as Comrade droned on about variables of some kind.

"Aden."

I grunted a response.

He whacked me with a notebook.

"Ow," I sat up and glared at him. "That's child abuse."

"You're seventeen; I think it'll slide." He gave me an unimpressed look.

I shrugged. "Whatever." I laid my head back down.

"Stop it with the teenage drama," he breathed. "I'm treat to be professional here," he fixed his glasses. "But after three weeks of you moping around, we need to try something different."

"Yeah," I muttered. "Like what?"

Comrade took off his glasses and tossed them on the pile of papers. Sinking down in his chair, he folded his arms. "Give me the dirt."

"What?"

"The dirt. Whatever drama that's going on that has you all uptight and depressed, spill it."

"Why should I talk to you?"

"Third party, I have no influences, so no consequences. I won't tell a soul." He crossed his fingers. "Promise."

I shrugged and fiddled with my pencil. "It's school stuff."

"It always is," he said with a little sass.

It threw me a little.

"Um... well, I was friends with his guy and some stuff happened over the summer. He pissed at me now. Made the whole school think I'm a freak."

"Did he find out you were gay?"

My mouth opened, and I just stared. It better not be that obvious.

"How did you? My mom said something didn't she."

Comrade smiled. "Don't be all defensive. They match the tutor to the student. I've had my share of boy problems."

"You're gay too?"

He nodded. "Perfect, right. Gay failing math," he motioned to me. "Gay majoring in math." He pressed his hand into his chest. "What could be better," he laughed with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't have a crush on this him," I muttered. I fidgeted in my seat. "Maybe a little, but I met someone else."

"Boyfriends problems then?"

"Yeah, but mostly just my friend right now. I'm on a break with my boyfriend at the moment." I groaned and rubbed my face. "School sucks, and so does my love live." I slumped down on the table. "Failing math is just one more thing to add to it."

"Well how about we take it off the list."

"It's impossible, I'm stupid."

"No, it's not." He ruffled through some of my old assignments. "You see this. You did all the work right, it just the wrong formula, or you forget a step. Like this one," he pointed to a problem. "You're not stupid, Aden." He grabbed my shoulder and rocked me back and forth. "You're just need to pay more attention to what you're doing."

I sighed. "Fine, I'll try. I'm tired of my dad lecturing me, anyways."

"Alright then," he pulled over my math book and flipped to a fresh sheet of paper. "Let's try this one."

I started to write down the numbers.

"Question for you."

"What?"