F.A.G. (boyxboy)

F.T.G.T.B.C. (Forced to Get Tutored By Crush)

We took that as our que to leave, and both returned to our seats. He sat a few rows over from me, but I could still see him, and he was smiling. It was only because he got his way. He seemed like the kind of person that always got their way. He was persuasive.

After class, Shelley grabbed my arm and pulled me to her locker. Earlier, I had asked her where my locker was, and she gave me a slip that she had stolen from my yellow envelope. I was starting to think she was a kleptomaniac by that point. She had explained, "Your satchel looks cute with your outfit, so I didn't want you to put it away. You thinking you didn't have a locker made it much easier. If you want, you can put it away tomorrow, Satchel Boy."

"What was that about?" she asked, carefully putting her books back into their "alphabetical slots" as she had called them earlier.

"Thomsen wants Mr. Roberts—Cameron and who is that anyway?—to tutor me. Niels volunteered and was all, 'I can do it sir because I want to.' Thomsen broke and let him."

She laughed. "Niels, forever the hero. Are you excited?"

"No!" I shouted causing a few kids to look at me. "I mean, no. Why would I be? He's an extremely beau—hot guy that I have to get over, and I have to get help from him! If that's not torture, then I don't know what is."

"Nick! Nick!"

I looked around to see who was calling my name, and didn't see anyone shouting. It was coming from outside the school. Oh yeah, Rick. Rick! "Hurry," I said, grabbing Shelley by the hand and pulling her along.

People parted a way, probably not wanting to face Shelley's wrath.

We stopped in front of the school, looking around for Rick.

He was standing in front of his car with his hands cupped around his mouth. "Nicky!" he shouted, sounding like a rock singer. "Nick!"

"Rick, shut up!" I shouted back.

He looked around before spotting me. "Come here then!"

Shelley and I walked to Rick, out hands still intertwined. To everyone else, we probably looked like a couple, a very fashionable couple.

"Hey, Rick," I said.

He raised his eyebrows and bent down at the knees, making a point to let us know that he was staring at our hands. "Ahem," he said, fake clearing his throat. "What is this?"

Shelley removed her hand from mine and held it out for him. "I'm Shelley Mason, the class president. You're Richard Cranston, an astronomy and physics major at MIT, and my Nick's older brother. Don't worry about the two of us holding hands. It's merely the thing that a straight girl and a homosexual boy do."

The two of us were both staring at her in disbelief. How did she know some of those things? "I didn't even tell you that his name was Richard."

She shrugged. "I figured it out myself, knowing that you're full name was Nicholas and you were called Nick, so a long-form version of Rick is Richard. Dick is also another nickname for it, but I see why you choose the former."

Rick laughed, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "I like you, and you know that he's gay, so there's no secret." He elbowed me. "I'm happy to see you've made friends already, Nicky, so about Niels."

"Oh, god," I said, groaning.

"That doesn't sound too good."

"Nick's been assigned to be tutored by Cameron Roberts, my ex-boyfriend and nemesis," Shelley replied, "but Cameron is out with a mysterious case of the flu. Our calculus teacher Mr. Thomsen fell for the spell of the grandmaster wizard Niels Bourne, and let him tutor him instead. They're set to meet after school, which leads me to remind you, Nick, weren't you two supposed to meet?"