Now You Know

Jack's stack of failed tests was probably taller than he was. It’s not like he was trying to fail, right? He was just too busy with football, friends, parties, and the like to spend all of his time doing school work. Plus, it was his senior year, and it was his last chance to have fun before college. It made sense really, if you looked at it from his point of view. Isn’t socializing in high school more important than your actual grades? Although Jack thought the way he saw the situation was correct, what baffled his mind was that none of the adults that he knew seemed to agree with him. That’s why Jack found himself sat next to his mother in his English classroom, perched on top of one of those stupid stools that no one actually enjoys sitting on, when he should have been hanging out with his friends.

Jack’s English teacher, who also happens to be his favourite teacher, runs into the classroom. “Hi, sorry I’m late,” Mr. Banner says in a rush, as he puts down the stuff he was carrying and moves to sit in front of the pair.

“It’s no problem,” His mother replies back to the man with a smile, while Jack just rolls his eyes.

His mother nudges his arm as his teacher starts talking.

“So, Mrs. Barakat, I assume you know why you’re here?”

“I can only assume,” the woman sighs, looking over at her son and giving him “the Look,” as Jack would call it.

“Yeah, alright, maybe I failed a couple tests, but I really don’t think this meeting was necessary-“ Jack tries, before being cut off by his teacher.

“Jack,” the man interjects, as he runs a hand through his wavy, greying hair. “This is more than just “a couple tests” that we’re talking about. You’ve failed ALL of your tests, and haven’t handed in at least one piece of homework since this semester started over two months ago. Whether you agree or not, this is a problem, and it needs to be fixed.”

“How do you suggest we go about this?” Jack’s mother asks, and at this point Jack actually considers getting up and leaving, no matter how much he actually respects Mr. Banner as his teacher.

“Well, since Jack has such a busy schedule, I suggest we get him a tutor that will be able to help him out on weekends. How does that sound?”

“I don’t think so-“ Jack tries again, this time being interrupted by his mother.

“That’d be perfect, don’t you think, Jack?” his mother grins at him, receiving a shrug and another eye roll in response.

“Alright, I’ll talk to some of my other students tomorrow, and I’ll get back to you soon!” Mr. Banner says as he gathers up his things and waves to the pair, making his way out of the classroom. Jack can only imagine how long this semester’s going to be.

Jack nearly jumps out of his seat as the bell rings, and starts to make his way to the door of the classroom. Just as he thinks he’s escaped unnoticed, Mr. Banner coughs from across the room. Jack spins around, and realizing he’s been caught, he makes his way towards the teacher’s desk in defeat. Upon arriving, he notices that another boy has also stuck around. Jack hasn’t ever noticed this boy before, but he wonders why he hasn’t, because the kid was pretty cute. He’s pulled out of his thoughts when his teacher starts talking.

“Jack, I’d like you to meet Alexander.” Mr. Banner gestures between the two boys.

“Alex,” the other boy looks up from his shoes, only to meet eyes with Jack and look down again.

“Sorry, Alex,” Mr. Banner corrects himself, as Jack thinks ‘So that’s the cuties name,’ already seeming more pleased with this arrangement.

“Alex is two years younger than you, but excels extremely in English, and has volunteered to tutor you every Sunday.”

“So when do we start?” Jack asks, aiming his question at Alex instead of his teacher, flashing a smile at the boy as he looked up once again.

“As soon as possible, so this Sunday, presumably,” Mr. Banner answers for him, and Jack decides he isn’t so against this whole “tutoring” ordeal after all.

It’s a Sunday afternoon; the first Sunday after Jack was introduced to Alex. He finds himself checking his phone to see if he got the right address, as he makes his way across Alex’s lawn towards his front door. Jack had gotten the boy’s number on the way out of Mr. Banner’s classroom, claiming that it’d be easier to confirm tutoring sessions if they had each other’s numbers. He knocks on the door, and is met with a very nervous looking Alex, hair tousled and cheeks already rosy, without a word having even been spoken.

“Hey,” Jack is first to speak, while the other boy remains frozen in the door way. He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets, raising his eyebrows at the smaller boy.

“I, uh,” Alex finally speaks, moving out of the doorway to let Jack enter his house. “L-let’s go upstairs, and we can get started, okay?” he says as Jack slips his shoes off and looks at him expectedly.

“Sure,” Jack replies encouragingly, smiling to himself as the younger boy turns around and they both make their way up the stairs.

A few hours later, and Alex has warmed up to Jack a fair bit. They were both sitting on Alex’s bed, while Alex was explaining things to Jack.

“An iamb is two syllables, unstressed, stressed, which the words insane, explain, and delight all express.” Alex says in a monotone voice, still trying to keep calm.

“Is that so?” Jack smirks at the boy, hooking his fingers under the younger’s chin and lifting his head up, looking into his eyes.

Alex blushes under his stare, and looks back down at the pile of worksheets situated in his lap, as he continues.

“A trochee on the other hand, goes stressed, unstressed. Words like coffee, crazy, giant-“

“But Alex, what’s an anapest?” Jack wonders, trying to follow along.

“Words like tambourine, cavalier, and Marianne, and by that I mean two unstressed, stressed syllables in succession.” Alex answers, looking over at Jack to make sure he’s following along.

Jack hums in reply, and Alex moves the worksheets off of his lap.

“That’s our first lesson, okay any questions?” Alex asks, uncrossing his legs, moving to get up off his bed.

“Want to go out sometime?” Jack asks, a cheeky smile playing on his lips.

Alex freezes in his spot, and takes a moment before moving back into his previous place.

“Sure,” he looks up at Jack, eyes sparkling, and Jack is almost shocked by his answer. Not that he’d thought Alex would say no, but he just didn’t think it’d be that easy.

He is surprised once again when Alex shuffles closer to him, and takes his chance by pulling the smaller boy into is lap. Alex is startled, but quickly gains his composure. He really, really doesn’t want to ruin this. Jack places his fingers under the other boy’s chin once again, lifting his head up and raising his eyebrows, almost as if to ask for permission. Alex moves the tiniest bit closer, and Jack knows it’s alright to move in closer. He presses his lips to the other boy’s, and it’s not long before Alex is kissing back, threading his fingers through Jack’s hair. Eventually, the boys both pull back for air, Jack whispering, “Great lesson.”

The next Sunday, Alex is invited over to Jack’s house. He’s standing on Jack’s doorstep, looking down at his shoes, as the door opens. Alex looks up, his eyes meeting Jack’s, and he feels the taller boy take his hand. Jack leads him upstairs wordlessly, the smaller boy already feeling flustered. Once in Jack’s room, the older boy motions for Alex to take a seat on his bed, following after him. As he places a hand on Alex’s thigh, he asks “So what are we going over today?”

“Dimeter means two feet, trimeter three. Tetrameter is four, so pentameter must be five pairs of syllables. Shakespearean sonnets-“

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Jack winks at the other boy, putting his arm around him and pulling him closer.

“Now you got it!” Alex laughs, leaning against Jack.

“You have the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard,” Jack says, closing his eyes and taking in the moment.

Alex blushes for the thousandth time since he’s met Jack, and is glad that the other boy can’t see.

“You’re blushing, aren’t you?” Jack asks, smirking, only serving to make Alex blush even deeper. “I bet I can make you blush even worse,” he continues, lightly pushing Alex onto his back, and moving to hover over him. Jack lowers himself slowly, giving Alex time to protest, before slotting his lips between his. Alex puts his arms around Jacks neck, pulling him closer, and they lay there like that for a fair bit of time, before Alex is pulling away, breathing, “We really should be studying.” Jack smiles; replying with, “I’d rather study you,” before placing his lips back on Alex’s.

Instead of studying when the next Sunday came around, Alex had agreed to go on a date with Jack, in exchange for the promise that he’d actually try harder in school. Alex figured it would be fine, since it wasn’t actually smarts that the older boy was lacking, but effort, instead. Just as he finished getting ready, he heard the door opening downstairs, his mom having answered it.

“Hello, Mrs. Gaskarth, I’m here to pick up Alex.” He hears Jack say.

“Oh, you must be Jack. Alex! Come on downstairs, honey!” His mother yells up to him.

“Coming, mom!” Alex shouts back, pulling on his combat boots and making his way downstairs. He hugs his mom goodbye, and grabs Jack’s hand, letting the older boy lead him across his front lawn, while his mom calls out, “Have fun, boys!”

Jack took Alex out for dinner, and afterwards, they ended up taking a walk in the park. Once back from their date, in Alex’s bedroom, Jack had Alex pushed up against his wall. After leaving little love bites scattered across his neck, Jack pulled back, and began to unzip Alex’s jacket.

“Baltimore ravens,” the older boy acknowledged, taking note of the jersey the other boy was wearing.

“That’s my team,” Alex replied, rutting his hips up against Jack’s.

“Didn’t know you liked them,” Jack whispered into Alex’s mouth, after pulling back from a series of short kisses.

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Alex replied, leaning in to kiss Jack again, this time opening his mouth a tiny bit.

The two boys continued to make out for a bit, until Jack broke away, breathing, “Well, give me a chance to learn everything about you.” Alex’s head tipped to the side questioningly. “I know we’re not really having a tutoring session today, but I still have a question.” Jack continued, and Alex smiled, shaking his head, not really shocked that Jack would say something like that at a time like this. “Be my boyfriend?” Jack asked, removing his hands from the smaller boy’s hips and wrapping them around his waist instead, pulling him in close. Alex smiled into Jack’s shoulder, a true grin, one of the biggest he’d ever produced.

“Definitely,” he replied elatedly, not wanting to let go of the older boy.

“Perfect,” Jack replied, placing his hands at the backs of the other boy’s thighs, lifting him up.

Alex hummed in delight, and Jack let out a laugh.

“Y’know, you’re as cute as a puppy,” Jack says, and Alex replies with, “The similes you drop are sharper than daggers.”

Jack laughs again, moving the two over to Alex’s bed.

“So where were we?”

--------------------------------------------------

“Hands up in the sky,
Wave ‘em side to side.
You can touch the ceiling kid,
Like you just don’t care.”