Chapter Two – Dee Untutorable

A, B, C… is anyone brave enough to try teaching Rusty Parker the alphabet? Why the alphabet? You may ask. It’s quite simple. So far, no one has managed to make the king of Sunny Hill repeat a simple little ‘a’ after him or her.

A new legend is born, guys and gals. We know already that Rusty Parker goes through personalities and quirks faster than, you guessed, you can say A, B, C… But this new skin he’s dressing up in is totally worthy of pursuing in its aim for greatness.

From now on, we will call Rusty Parker by his – currently – true name:

DEE UNTUTORABLE

We didn’t come up with the idea. We just read what’s on the t-shirt. Welcome to Sunny Hill, Mr. New Superhero!

Can someone get Rusty Parker out of that t-shirt? Supposedly, we should wait and see… but we’re not holding our breath.

“Dee Untutorable? For real, Rusty?” Maddox groaned and showed him the phone.

Rusty shrugged and put his hands above his head, proud of making the t-shirt stretch over his chest. He had written the imagined name with a black marker on a white tee, so it wouldn’t survive a wash, but he had a hunch that he wouldn’t need it that long to win the game. So far, he had managed to send several boys and girls running, all with very well-known tutoring experience. This was more fun than he had expected. Of course, it maybe worked because he was so intimidating for those people who spent all their waking hours with their noses buried in a book or textbook.

Hmm, it wasn’t that much of a challenge. But he enjoyed seeing Maddox trying to work out a solution. He had a feeling that he could get the best of people through sheer stubbornness. Maddox was super smart; he would soon realize that Rusty was worthy of the nickname he had recently chosen for himself.

Maddox made a face as he focused on the letters on his t-shirt.

“What? I didn’t misspell anything, did I,” Rusty said and didn’t forget to glare properly.

“You can’t exactly misspell a word that doesn’t exist. And I know that you’re smart, and that pisses me off.”

Rusty shrugged and followed Maddox with his eyes. In all honesty, he hoped Maddox and Jonathan and the others would somehow win against him. It would give him a bit of a sense of purpose, probably. Maybe. Perhaps. He knew a lot of synonyms. Xpress was wrong about what happened with the tutors. Rusty simply proved to them that he knew more than they did; not about studies, which were freaking boring, but about everything else. That kind of thing crushed their spirits, for sure. He didn’t do it because he was unkind.

He was doing it because he truly believed himself to be Dee Untutorable.

“I could hold you down while Jonathan feeds you every textbook available,” Maddox said all of a sudden.

“If you hold me down, I hope you’ll do kinkier stuff to me than forcing me to eat paper. You know, it’s overrated.” At Maddox’s confused look, he added, “I tried it.”

“Without a doubt. Come on, Rusty, give me one good reason why you don’t want to study this year.”

If he had a good reason, he would give it to Maddox. No, not that kind of giving ‘it’ because since the dream with that weird ass threesome, which involved him packed and stacked between that cute boy with glasses and a cat boy, he no longer dreamed of his bestie like that. Even Jonathan could move his sexy bod around in nothing but a towel, and he was no longer impressed. Maybe he was cured of whatever that was.

So, he decided in favor of being honest. “I have no idea. I just don’t like it.”

“We don’t like it that much, either--” Maddox began to argue.

“No, you actually do. All right, maybe not the long hours of going through all that boring stuff, but you like what you’re going to do with it. I just don’t see it.”

“Please, don’t tell me you just want to drop out of college. Do you have a backup plan?”

Rusty shook his head. “No. And my dad paid for the whole thing.”

“And you don’t want to disappoint him,” Maddox completed with whatever he thought Rusty wasn’t saying.

Another shrug was the only possible reaction. “Not really. I just don’t want him to think I fooled him into paying for it or something. Don’t worry that much, bro. I’ll graduate even if I have to crawl.”

Maddox seemed discomfited by his reaction. “Then we should call off the tutoring thing? I thought it would stimulate you somehow.”

“Not yet. I kind of enjoy the new title.” He pointed at his t-shirt. “Plus, I don’t want to wash this tee just yet. When you see me doing laundry, you can call it off.”

“That may be tomorrow or never.”

“No, no, no, it will happen. I don’t intend to turn into Dee Unwashable.”

“Good to hear. But, Rusty, if you need any help with your studies, just tell me or Jonathan. Or Dex or Kane.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll leave this place as the king,” Rusty assured him. “Gosh, you’ve gotten so serious since you got hitched to your boyfriend. Oops, I mean, fiancé. That’s a funny word. It makes me think of a girl in a tutu with a tiara on her head, stuffing marshmallows in her mouth with both hands.”

Maddox dropped his eyelids and stared at him. “Well, that tells me you’re completely sane and you know what you’re doing. Great.”

Well, that was that. Maddox knew very well just how much to push with him. And it was still heartwarming and marshmallowy to know that he cared.

***

“You’ve seen this, right?”

Matty couldn’t dodge, as Zoey was bent on stuffing the phone under his nose and even rubbing it against his face only so that he couldn’t hide from it. “I’ve seen it,” he admitted with a groan. Good thing his roommate was mostly gone all the time, and Zoey could barge in there without shocking the living daylights out of the poor dude. It was as if he lived more with her there, than with his actual roommate.

“So, you’re a tutor. You have like a perfect record tutoring. And Rusty Parker is looking for a tutor! This whole thing is like a freaking godsend!”

“Zoey, please stop shouting,” Matty complained only so that he could stall for time. “It’s not like we are in the same classes.”

“The ones that count do overlap, and I know for a fact that you took them only so that you could ogle him like a poor puppy would ogle a bone hidden behind a fence. Also, your method is infallible. I just know!”

“What are you wearing?” Matty made another attempt to escape.

Zoey had a pink jacket and pajama bottoms on. The fluffy slippers were no surprise. They were her favorites. “I had to come in a heartbeat to box your ears. I was so sure you didn’t go to let him try you on for size.”

Matty felt his cheeks coloring slightly. Zoey hadn’t meant anything by that, but the idea of Rusty Parker trying him on for anything was just wrong to have in his head that early in the morning. His usual morning wood was already sacrificed on Rusty’s invisible altar. His overly active imagination could already make the entire Sunny Hill blush – if they only knew what he was thinking about their king. The last thing he needed was more incentive. “Zoey, really, better people than me have failed. I’m not going to win against him if he doesn’t want to learn anything from anyone.”

“Of course, you need to do your bestest,” Zoey said matter-of-factly. “This is a golden opportunity. If you win, Jonathan Hamilton promised he would personally triple the fee. And if you don’t, there’s still the usual. So, what are you waiting for? You need to pay back the money you will use for your cat boy suit. It’s your plan B, after all.”

“I thought it was plan A,” Matty said brightly. Fat chance for Zoey to forget about their big plan for the year. He had already looked online for some talented people who made custom suits. They were expensive, but their work was gorgeous. Of course, he needed every penny.

“We combine them. Now, let’s play like those lawyers with their clients in movies. I’m Rusty Parker, and you’re the tutor. Come on, convince me that I have to study.”

Matty threw her a look of consternation. “We have class in like half an hour.”

“That’s long enough to whip you into shape. Come on, give me your best shot.”

Matty considered for a moment. There was no way he could send Zoey packing, and he never missed class. So, he pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave his best friend the coldest glare he could muster. “If you don’t study--”

He watched in satisfaction as Zoey’s eyes grew wide while he continued talking. His confidence soared as her expression told him that he wasn’t half-bad when it came to tutoring.

Yeah, because just like he needed a custom made cat boy suit, he always tailored his lessons to fit the student. And that was why he almost never went wrong.

***