Thursday, September 23

   Beeeeep!!

   The last lunch bell rang and I jumped up, shoving my Calc textbook into my backpack. Last lunch wasn’t really the best, but there were a lot of others from the team who were with me. Aidan Fisherman, Liam McNeil, Brayden Patterson, and Charlie McCarthy were all juniors on the team who were able to snag spots on the team.

   “What’s up, Alex?” Liam asked as I sat with them. “You look happy.”

   “What?” I asked, chuckling a little. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

   “Did something good happen this morning?” Kyle asked.

   “And it’s related to Paul Simon,” Kevin added.

   “The tutor kid?” Aidan asked, taking a cookie out of a plastic bag. “He’s in my Mandarin class. That kid is just a nerd.”

   “An unpopular nerd,” Declan said, sitting next to me. “He’s got Ms. Thompson as an aunt.”

   “Damnit!” Travis exclaimed, looking up from his phone. We all sighed, knowing he wasn’t even paying attention.

   “Dude, you just lost big time,” Charlie said, looking at the game Travis was playing. Travis groaned loudly.

   “Help me, Charlie!” he exclaimed, passing his phone to Charlie.

   “No way! I’m terrible at this game. Ask Ethan to do it.” Ethan looked up from his soup container.

   “What are we talking about?” he asked.

   “Typical Ethan,” Brayden said, shrugging. “You don’t even know what we’re talking about.”

   “Shut up!” Ethan shouted, throwing a fruit snack at him.

   “Hey, Alex,” Declan said, looking at a table near the front of the cafeteria. I noticed a certain hoodie-wearing boy with his nose in a book. I immediately looked away, but Declan was grinning at me.

   “So that’s the lucky tutor?” Travis asked, looking at the kid. “Seems like an average nerd to me.”

   “Well go say hi, Alex!” Kevin said, nudging me with his arm. “The look on your face says that you want to.”

   “No thanks,” I said, looking at my half-eaten sandwich. “He doesn’t like getting disturbed while reading, so just stay put.” I could tell the others wanted to go over and talk to him, but stayed put for my sake.

   “He’s hasn’t even looked away from his book,” Ethan said, still staring at Paul.

   “Nerd,” Charlie said, but I looked at him.

   “Don’t call him that,” I warned. “He’ll get angry. Plus it’s not nice to call people stereotypical names.” Just then people were getting up and leaving. I shoved everything in my lunchbox and grabbed my backpack before standing.

   “We’re not done with this, Alex!” Liam called as I swiftly left the cafeteria. I made it to the second floor English hallway before stopping to catch my breath.

   “Hey, Alex,” someone said from behind me. I turned around and saw Emily smiling widely at me.

   “Hi, Emily,” I said, forcing a smile. She was so annoying.

   “I was wondering if you were doing-”

   “Yes,” I said. “Now please leave me alone.”

   Emily stopped as I left her behind. “You’re such a jackass, Alex!” she shouted. “You and all the rest of the stupid soccer team!! Can’t wait until you lose the game this Friday!!”

   “What’s going on?” someone said. I looked over and saw two seniors coming over. Izan Ramirez was swinging a red lanyard with a laminated pass attached to the hook around his fingers. Cooper Garcia was walking beside him holding a paper he probably just printed.

   “Hey, Emily,” Cooper said as he and Izan stood on either side of me. “Are you bothering our captain?”

   “You’re always drawing unwanted attention,” Izan commented.

   “Go away!” Emily shouted. “This has nothing to do with you!”

   “What’s going on here?” a teacher asked, coming out of the classroom we were shouting in front of. “There are classes going on. The four of you go down to the office this instant!” I glanced at Izan who just glared at Emily. Emily just seemed to get more pissed off as we walked down to the main office. The woman at the front desk looked at us.

   “Come on in, you four,” she said, nodding to the door next to the desk. “I just got informed of what happened. Unfortunately Mr. Jones is in a meeting now. You’ll have to wait until he’s done.” The three of us sat on the bench inside the office, and I just looked at the ground.

   “Thanks a lot, Emily,” Izan mumbled.

   “It’s not my fault, damnit,” Emily growled. “If Alex hadn’t told me to leave you guys alone, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”

   “Yeah right,” Cooper muttered, rolling his eyes.

   “When we ask you to leave us alone, then leave us alone,” I hissed.

   We didn’t talk again until Mr. Jones came out of his meeting. He looked at the desk lady and she talked to him, hiding her mouth with a folder she was holding. Mr. Jones nodded and came over to us.

   “So you four were fighting in the hallway?” Mr. Jones asked. “Care to explain?”

   “Emily was the first to come up to me,” I started. “She’s been bothering everyone, and when we tell her to stop, she doesn’t listen.”

   “You guys are always thinking you’re so high and mighty,” Emily said. “In truth, Alex, you’re the one who’s dragging the entire team down.”

   “Emily!” Izan exclaimed. “What does Alex’s grades have to do with this?”

   “He can’t even go to practice because of his new tutor,” Emily scoffed. “Why is he still team captain?”

   “I am aware of Alex’s situation,” Mr. Jones said, looking at me. “It was wise of Ms. Thompson to get you a tutor. If your coach is fine with it, then it shouldn’t be a problem.” Mr. Jones looked at Emily. “Emily, if the boys tell you to leave them alone, then you have to listen and leave them alone. Next time I hear any of the boys on the soccer team fighting with you then it will be detention. Understand?”

   “Yes, Mr. Jones,” Emily muttered, glaring at the ground. The bell rang, and Mr. Jones sighed.

   “Now go to class.” All of us stood up and walked out of the main office, taking the passes the desk lady handed us. Emily pushed passed us, angrily glaring at us before going down a different hallway.

   At the end of the day, I headed right for Ms. Thompson’s classroom. Paul wasn’t there, so I sat down and took out my math binder. My phone buzzed, and thinking it was Paul, looked at it. Instead, I saw a message from Declan to the group chat. Practice was being held on Field 2 since football was using Field 1.

   “Hey Paul,” I heard someone say from outside. I glanced over at the doorway and saw Paul’s arm. Skyler was talking to Paul.

   “Oh,” Paul answered. “You’re Alex’s sister, right? Skyler?”

   “Oh you remember me,” Skyler said. “I’m glad I caught you. I want to talk to you about Alex.”

   “What about him?” Paul asked.

   “He can be very stupid sometimes,” Skyler started, “and is stubborn as well. Please just make sure he graduates and gets into college.”

   “I know,” Paul said. “He’s a handful.”

   “And, Paul?” Skyler hesitated. “I know he might not remember you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t become friends with him now.”

   There was a moment of silence and then Paul spoke very quietly. “I know.”

   “Alright,” Skyler’s tone became upbeat and happy again. “Have fun at your tutoring lesson!” Her footsteps faded, and I looked at my phone so Paul would see me staring.

   “You’re already here,” Paul said, sitting next to me. “I was sure you’d skip and go to practice, then text me tonight asking for help.”

   “Shut up,” I muttered, turning away. I rested my head in my palm, staring out the window. I could see the team in the distance kicking the ball around.

   “So you got these right,” Paul said, making me turn back to him.

   “Do you think I’m attractive?” I asked.