WHO: Roland and Oliver. WHEN: Wednesday afternoon, August 29th, 2035. WHERE: The library at MH High. WHAT: Roland is the worst math student in the history of ever. RATING: TBA. STATUS: Incomplete.
It wasn't that Roland was bad at math, it was... okay, he was bad at math. It always seemed like just when he thought he was getting the hang of how all these numbers worked together, the teacher would, with a sadistic glee in his eye, throw in mystical letters and curious symbols that made his childhood frustration with fractions look like a round of Candyland. Why did they even need algebra? It wasn't like anyone expected him to become a physicist. And weren't these supposed to be the remedial lessons? Oh, God, why did he suck at this...
And so, one afternoon, he had swallowed his pride like the bitterest dose of Robitussin and crept back into class to furtively add his name to the list of students in need of a peer tutor. It was better to do this in secrecy, lest he become even more of a social pariah for slacking in the "dumb class." Bite the bullet now rather than get in over his head, bomb on every test, and have to forge his mother's signature for the rest of the year. Even if he was getting pretty good at it. Perhaps he had a future as a con artist. Fuck Isaac Newton.
The next few days were spent praying to a god he didn't really believe in with the hope that he wouldn't get some jackass from any of his classes. A senior would perhaps be merciful. After all, the last thing he needed was his tutor spreading (very truthful) rumours about how much of an idiot he was. But when Roland had arrived at the library, the last trill of the digital school bell still ringing in his ears, the boy across the table wasn't entirely who he was expecting. He furrowed his brows and unceremoniously flung his bag into the open seat beside him.
"You look familiar," he said bluntly, pulling up a chair and plopping into it. His tone seemed to imply he was addressing a wad of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe rather than an actual human being.