I felt my head spinning, I felt ill. This was the exact reason why we were here in the first place. Angel trying to help me, tutor me. I could not take this any longer. “No way,” I protested, glaring at the man. “I don’t want anyone to fucking tutor me!” My temper got the best of me again.

The smile from the principal’s face vanished, I didn’t even spare Angel a glimpse in my rage. “Krane. You can’t behave and speak like this in my school. You have to know your boundaries, do you understand?” The principal sighed, my mood worsened, I clenched my fists under the table. He may or may not have realized my reason, because, after yet another pause, he proposed, “Look, no one here is your enemy, no one is against you. If you don’t want us to call it tutoring, just take it as benefitting me and Misha, a duty for you to visit your beloved gym.” The bell rang, signalling the beginning of the next class.

I was confused, he went on, “Misha here will use the time with you to study himself and give me updates on your behaviour. Maybe, depending on what you want, you will get something out of it as well, too. You can study, or you don’t. It’s up to you. Your only obligations are to visit your classes, not cause any trouble, and spend 2 additional hours every second day with your roommate. During those, he will be studying – either by himself or together with you.”

His explanation was missing some logic. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Angel do that? You explained what you gain from it, but he can surely concentrate better when there isn’t someone next to him for 2 hours every other day, who doesn’t want to be involved in this shit.” 

Angel, I called him Angel. I went quiet and hoped that no one else noticed. Glancing to my left, I saw the boy staring at his lap, wide-eyed and perplexed. Well, fuck.

Livingstone didn’t seem to have caught on because he continued his thought-process. “Studies have shown that your brain processes the learned better after explaining it to someone else. Also, Misha will get a letter of recommendation for being particularly diligent, and it will be listed on his school report. Don’t worry, he will profit from this. I already have his agreement. I’m only missing yours now.”

I didn’t know why his suggestion suddenly sounded better. He only changed the word ‘tutoring’ to some random explanations, but it didn’t feel as suffocating anymore. I didn’t feel as if they were pitying me.

“Yeah, whatever," I paused to take a long breath, "I agree.”

The smile on Livingstone’s face grew before hurrying us out of the room, “Great boys. So, starting today, our agreement is valid. Now get to your next classes!”

We exited the room. I felt the other boy's gaze on me. “Why ‘Angel’?”

Why could he not just act as if that didn’t happen, why must he be so fucking direct? I sighed, “Just get yourself a mirror”, and went ahead. He didn’t follow, but because I had no idea what the next lesson was, I had to turn around again. Angel didn’t look happy with my response. I didn’t mean to come off as harsh this time, but he took it that way apparently. “Come on, what’s our next class?”

That got his attention, and he hurried beside me, “PE.”

That was the first time I was looking forward to a lesson since forever.

´` ´` ´` ´` ´`

‘Angel..?’, the middle-aged principal chuckled to himself, deep in thought, ‘Krane sure has a way with his words. I hope I made the right decision with those two.’ He sighed quietly before focusing back on his work.