It was spring, and it made him feel crabby.

Jason Lee Holtz had woken up to chirping birds, sun in his window, and that after a rainy night atmosphere.

Too perfect. It's just too perfect, he thought to himself, With a mood like this right when I wake up, something bad is probably going to happen.

He slowly turned over, slipping out of his bed and onto the hard wood floor. Jason let out a sigh, ruffling his already messy hair, and groggily walking towards the bathroom, where he got ready for the day.

Jason was very particular about presentation and looks; you could practically call him a girl when it came to that. In his opinion, you had to make a good impression to have a good life, and get a good job. However, in Jason's case, his presentation was all about getting a good life in high school.

He pulled on a T shirt, wore a pair of jeans, and styled his hair the way he wanted it to look. Honestly, Jason just looked like the average cool teen, but it took a lot of effort to look like it was effortless. Which wasn't really worth it, but apparently Jason thought that it was.

He walked into the kitchen, where Marissa, his sister stood. She looked the same as she did always, dressed in the same slutty clothing that she wore often. Jason didn't approve of his sister's dress fashion, but who was he to complain about what his sister wore? He couldn't control her.

" Morning," he mumbled, grabbing a cereal bar and unwrapping it.

" Morning, Jason," Marissa replied, offering him a smile and then going back to doing whatever business she was doing.

Jason smiled to himself before finishing off the bar, and heading out the door, tossing his backpack over his shoulder on the way out.

After arriving at school, Jason milled about in the hall with the various other students, then arrived at his first class: Math. Taking a deep breath as he walked in, Jason stepped into the air conditioned class room.

He found his seat near the front of the room, on the left, facing the chalkboard. Jason dug his glasses out of his backpack, and slipped them on, placing the homework previously assigned the night before onto the wooden desk. He rested his chin on his palm, leaning on his elbow.

Five minutes early, huh?

Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound of the alarm clock in the small room filled the air; after a few moment it feel silent but the sound of early birds chirping outside the window replaced the sound. Light tickled through a slight crack in the window curtains and settled against the cheeks of the male that was trying to sleep.

Cooper Allen Cole's hazel eyes flicked open just as a groan escaped his lips and he rolled over onto his side, aiming his back towards the window. His idea was to fall back asleep before his mother woke and forced him up for school; however when the sound of little feet running down the hallway met his ears. He knew that wasn't about to happen.

The door of his room slowly creaked open just as he slid his eyes back closed and footsteps made their way across his hard wood floor room. Little hands reached out and pressed against the side of his head into his obsidian colored hair. "Coop!" A way too chirpy voice met his ears next as his head was shoved by those little hands, "Coop wake up! You've got to go to school."

"Go back to bed Kaidan," the seventeen year old muttered before he opened his eyes back up. Before him stood his eight year old brother - the boy's blond hair was a mess on his head as his bright blue eyes stared wide at his big brother. "I'm getting up, I'm going to get ready and then I'll go tuck you back in." He said.

The boy grinned widely before he hurried to the door, "Okay!" He said before he went to leave the room, pausing for a moment, "Don't forget." He said and then he was gone.

The seventeen year old groaned before he pulled himself from his bed, he walked across the hard wood floor of his room and to his dresser. He pulled on the black shirt that said "U mad bro?" that he had set out the night before on followed by black skinny jeans. He ran his fingers through his messy hair before he slid out of his room and across the hall to the bathroom.

He did his business before he watered his hair down a bit and sprayed himself with some Axe Vice, he scrubbed his teeth to get rid of his morning breath before he washed his face off to wake up more. He hated getting up and going to school; but his little brother had recently started for some crazy reason to think of him as his role model. Now he was going to do everything right he could. He didn't want his brother to grow up and make the same mistakes that he did.

Cooper walked out of the bathroom and made a quick stop into his room again; grabbing his phone before he pulled his black and white checkered Vans onto his feet (after putting socks on and cursing about bumping his toe on his dresser). He left his room and quietly poked his head into his brother's room; the boy was already back asleep so he just closed the door and went to the living room.

There, he grabbed his book bag from the couch before he left the small apartment he lived in with his mother and brother.

The ten block walk from school felt relaxing and he was for once glad it stayed somewhat cool in the morning; the sun wasn't beating down on him too bad yet and it was a lot better than the snow he had been walking through the weeks before when it was winter.

When Cooper arrived at school; he went straight to his locker, as he passed students (mostly younger girls) he heard them whispering either about him or about his break up with Marissa. Just thinking about that bitch stirred up anger within him; they had dated for eight months. Eight long months, and then she had cheated on him; right before Spring Break she had told him she was two months pregnant. They had never had sex, even though she had really wanted to; Cooper just. Couldn't get it up. He always lied and said he just wanted her to be really ready for it; not for it to be her hormones wanting it. She hadn't wanted to wait though; and had gone and found herself a man.

He snorted and grabbed his math book from his locker before he shoved it into his book bag and then walked down the hallway. The new semester had begun and he was back in the same math class he had been in the year before; just with a different teacher this time. He muttered under his breath before he slid into the room and walked straight to the back. He tossed his book bag on the floor before he plopped back on the chair and leaned back against it.

He was early for once; it was part of this whole new "life" thing he was trying out. There was only him and one other boy in the classroom. He had seen the kid around but had never spoke to him before; and that wasn't about to change right now.

He just sat there waiting for something to happen, wondering if life could get anymore boring at that point. Jason just sat there for a minute or two, wondering if he should do something to pass the time, when all of a sudden he heard the sound of the door opening.

Looking up, Jason saw a black haired male come through the door. He was dressed in typical teen clothing, and had a bit of a sarcastic expression on his face. Just the type of guy that Jason disliked. He didn't really recognize the guy though, maybe he was a new guy?

Jason figured that the guy might've felt awkward if he was new, so he went over in an attempt to make the atmosphere less awkward. That, and that he was bored. So he stood up, and walked towards the back of the room, holding out his hand, " Hey, I'm Jason. You must be new, right? Since I haven't seen you around..."

He wondered what the guy's reaction would be, after all, it was their first meeting, and an impression was about to be made.

I hope that he doesn't act like he dresses... Jason thought to himself, With an attitude.

He scratched the back of his head, and kept his hand held out, waiting for what the unnamed student's answer to his rather friendly hello would be.

The seventeen year old moved his arms behind the back of his head, his fingers lacing against the back of his neck as he moved his feet onto his desk. A yawn escaped his lips before his hazel eyes wandered over to the blond haired male with glasses in the room with him. He tried to recall where he had seen him besides in the hallway, but he just couldn't quite put his thumb on where; he merely shrugged to himself in surrender, knowing it would come to him eventually.

He looked away but not even a moment later, his attention was once again caught by the male as he got up and walked up to him; Cooper looked to the hand that was held out to him before he rose a black eye brow and a laugh escaped his lips. He swiftly stood up and took the other's hand, shaking it, "Hey baby, you can can call me Cooper," he said, a purr to his tone as he pulled his hand away. "I'm not new, just so special they demoted me down a grade just to put me in the class. Lucky me." He said and rolled his eyes before he plopped back down on his chair.

"Why don't you put your cute ass here beside me," he tapped the desk beside his own, "I'll need someone to stop me from falling asleep during this class and to make sure I stay focused." He mused before he looked to the door as more students started to walk in. A group of girls walked in and squealed when they spotted Cooper before they quickly hurried over.

"Hi Cooper!" The three giggled out before they sat a row in front of the junior. He shrugged slightly before he glanced back to the blond that was still standing there. He couldn't help but give him a wink.

Cooper was confident that almost everyone in the school thought he was straight; so he had no problem openly flirting with other guys because they tended to think that he was only joking around; only guys that were actually gay took him seriously.

“Going to sit by me or not?”

His hand quickly shot back to his side after being shaken.

Jason had never seen someone so...so..flirty! His face turned red at the last comment.

Baby? Who does he think he is? I'm not his boyfriend or anything! How rude of him...

He managed to get a fake looking smile plastered on his face, " Well then Cooper, it's nice to meet you. I hope that you will continue on with your studies, and this time, move on to the next class."

The next comment had his head swimming with thoughts, Ass? Cute? My ass is not cute! What is he talking about? Is he gay or something? I mean, he could be joking..or teasing..But argh, it's so hard trying to keep a straight face!

He glared a little at the girls that giggled and flirted with the guy. Girls like that were just so shallow, and it disgusted Jason. He hated their fake eyelashes, practiced pouts, and their ability to come onto men. Gay guys couldn't just...flirt with people in broad daylight. Except for this guy...Cooper, was it?

Jason considered Cooper's question, but it took him only a few seconds to reach his decision, " I apologize, Cooper, but I honestly cannot see the board from the back of the room, even with my glasses. Perhaps another time..."

He gave an apologetic smile, and turned to leave, as their grump of a teacher, Mr. Hofacker, who was balding, and had quite the attitude towards students that made fun of his name and his hairlessness.

Jason strode towards his seat, and sat, waiting for Mr. Hofacker to begin his 'back to school after spring break' speech, as most of the teachers usually did.

Cooper couldn't help but grin when the boy before him started to blush; his whole face turning red at the last thing he said. Rarely did he actually manage to get a male to blush; he sat in triumph for just a moment before his attention was once again grabbed by the girls.

They were cute and young, but he doubted he'd date anytime soon. He needed to find himself first; never again did he ever want a girl to cheat on him because he couldn't get it going. He had tried every time Marissa had wanted to and he had failed; he had even looked at porn to try to get going but it didn't work. None of it. Well, none of it until he ran into a thing called a web comic. A yaoi web comic to be exact and it was then that he thought he had figured out what was wrong with him; however, he was still attracted to girls, he found them pretty and all but, was he actually guy?

He felt that confidence he had in his sexuality drop a moment before he forced it to go back up. He wasn't gay. No way. If anything he was just bisexual; he liked both genders. Or so he was going to keep on telling himself for now.

His hazel eyes went back to Jason as the boy apologized, Cooper felt like gagging himself at how sweetly-fake he was being at pretending to be sorry. "Eh, sucks to be you." Was his response before he watched the younger teen go back to his seat before his eyes went to the teacher.

A wide grin found his lips; he had, had the man for science as a freshmen, he was responsible for giving the man a horrible nick name.

The man read through the attendance chart before he looked at the class, "Welcome back to school, new students," he said, before his eyes went to Cooper, "And repeater."

"Hey Mr. Hofucker, I mean Hofacker." Cooper said as he lifted his hand and waved his index and middle finger at the man; who grumpily went on with introducing himself to the class.

The first opinion Cooper had managed to give Jason was no doubt, a bad one. Jason didn't like the guy one bit. One, he was rude. Two, he was a flirt. Three, he just wasn't...wasn't the type of person Jason hung out around. He sighed as he sat in his seat, pen tapping against the desk as the teacher spoke.

Ah, so Cooper is a repeater... Jason thought to himself, Mr. Hofacker doesn't seem to like him that much..Wonder what happened between them?

His silent question was answered when he heard Cooper call Mr. Hofacker Mr. Hofucker. Jason had to admit, the sight of Cooper insulting a teacher and succeeding in turning Mr. Hofacker's face a tomato red from anger was just a little entertaining, but it was still wrong.

After the little speech Mr. Hofacker gave, the teacher seemed to give an evil grin to the class as he pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase, " To start the first math class, I'll have to evaluate you, and you will all need to take this test."

Jason immediately went into serious mode, reminding himself of all the little things that he tended to forget during math tests.

Well I'll need to remember this..and this..numbers..hm..

As his grump of a teacher handed out the tests, leering at the students who seemed scared, enjoying his position as a teacher with authority.

Jason looked down at the test that was handed to him, and immediately started. The first page had him smirking, as the content of the test was incredibly simple to understand, as Jason had studied a bit over the summer.

Let's see if I can score above a 95...

The seventeen year old unzipped the front part of his book bag and pulled out a red and black pencil before he set it on his desk and zipped it back up. He was going to try his best to pay attention; perhaps placing himself in the back of the room had been a bad idea. Especially with the window right behind him, he could easily turn and just stare out it the whole ninety minutes of class. He quickly reminded himself that he wasn't doing this for himself; he was doing this for Kaidan; he didn't want to disappoint his little brother.

He couldn't help but grin at Mr. Hofacker when the man's fat face turned tomato red with anger; however, instead of lashing out on him, he turned back to introducing himself to the class. When his expression turned to one similar to an evil grin; Cooper groaned quietly to himself and the man started to hand out an evaluation test.

It was then that he knew he was screwed; how was he supposed to pass this class? He had already failed it once, yet he remembered nothing that he had learned the year before. Not even half way through the year before his math teacher, Mrs. Frink had given up on him. "Damn it." He thought to himself as he ran his hand through his black hair.

When he got the test, he looked down at the test and he groaned inwardly. The letters and words just blurred together and made his head all jumbled around. Numbers. Words. Numbers. Random letters thrown in with the numbers. None of it made sense.

He flipped through the test and started with all of the things he remembered how to do (which wasn't a lot), he then went onto the things that he thought he knew how to do followed by the things that he just guessed. He was glad that he at least knew how to multiply and divide in his head without a calculator; he'd have to buy one with his next pay check.

Nearly thirty minutes later, everyone was just about done and Mr. Hofacker had them turn in their tests. "You all can now talk quietly together, or text, as I grade these tests so I can see who needs special help." He said.

Now that was new, Cooper guessed that the man was trying to get students to like him so they would stop making fun of his name and the fact he was slowly balding, leaving him with that random bald circle on the back of his head.

The black-haired teen then pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed up his home number to make sure that his brother wasn’t home. The phone rang and rang until it went to the answering machine and he hung up; that meant Kaidan had gotten back up and made it onto the school bus. The boy always answered the house phone if he was there.

Jason finished the test at the thirty minute mark. There had been one or two questions he'd been unsure about, but he was certain that he'd gotten at least ninety percent of the test correct.

Handing his test in, Jason made mental notes of what questions were on the exam, so he would know which questions to study and what Mr. Hofacker's writing style resembled. It always helped him when he studied using this method, because different teachers used different methods of writing test questions, and it was smart to know which teacher used what method.

He honestly didn't text much, and didn't really do anything during the twenty or so minutes that it took Mr. Hofacker to grade the tests. Jason just sat there, looking around, studying his new classmates.

After twenty minutes were up, the teacher stood up again, " Well, it seems that we've got a whole assortment of levels in this class. The people who I name now will need to stay after class, and the rest may go after receiving their tests. Jason Lee Holtz and Cooper Allen Cole, please stay after class for a few minutes."

Me?! Stay after class?! Did I fail or something!?

Panic ran through Jason's body as he hurriedly walked over to Mr. Hofacker's desk, " Um s-sir, did I do something wrong?"

Mr. Hofacker grinned, " No, in fact, you did the best in the class! Good job, boy!"

" Then why was I called to stay after class, Mr. Hofacker?" Jason asked him, confused.

The teacher then glared at Cooper, " However, this young man here, well, the repeater, he failed. I am going to ask of you a favor, Jason. You are going to tutor Mr. Cole, alright?"

Tutor?! This flirt!? Unbelievable! Jason thought to himself, annoyed, Well I can't refuse, it would be a bad impression on the teacher...

Sighing, Jason plastered the smile on his face again, " Okay, I'll tutor him."

" Wonderful!" Mr. Hofacker replied, clapping, " That attitude is what I expect of all the students here."

After Cooper put his phone away, he mostly just sat there and let the three girls flirt with him and giggle over everything he said. They were cute; well two were, the other girl had an acne problem and it ruined what could have been a cute face. The girl's introduced themselves; the blond was Haley, the brunette Clary, and the zit girl was Veronica; they were easy names to remember but he would forget in no time.

Twenty minutes past and the teacher stood back up once he finished grading the tests and said that the following people would have to stay after class. Jason Lee Holtz and himself. "Damn it." He muttered under his breath, he had a feeling it meant that he had failed. He knew he was going to.

No matter how hard he seemed to try, this wasn't working out for him very well, but he was determined to pass the class and double up in math next year so he could graduate when he was a senior. He didn't need math to be holding him back from getting his diploma, it was bad enough he was going to graduate at nineteen.

The black-haired teen got up after the class left and grabbed his book bag before he pulled it over his shoulder and walked to the front of the room. By the tone of the other boy's voice, he sounded nervous. Mr. Hofacker told him he got the best in the class; and something clicked in Cooper's brain. A groan escaped his lips as he got the feeling the asshole was going to ask the smarty-pants to tutor him.

Of course, not even five seconds later Mr. Hofacker was asking him to tutor him and the blond was agreeing to do it.

"Whoa, wait a second," Cooper said, "I don't have time for a fuc--for a tutor. I have work after school most nights, and I can't afford to miss any work days or quit just because I failed some dumbass evaluation test."

The balding man frowned at the teen's language but said nothing of it, "Just give Mr. Holtz a copy of your work schedule and the two of you can work out what days he can tutor you and what days he can't," the man said, "Unless you want to fail this class again."

His jaw clenched a moment before he glanced over at Jason, "I don't have work tonight but I don't have a car, pick somewhere to tutor me that's not too far from the school and find me later." He said before he headed out of the room. His good mood was gone.

A few seconds later, Jason was regretting his decision to tutor the guy.

Ugh, with that kind of attitude, it's going to be a hell of a hard time tutoring him...

He sighed, and turned towards Cooper, fake smile flying up towards his face again, " Well, it'll be a pleasure to tutor you, Cooper. Would you like to meet in the library? It's just a block or two away from school."

Without waiting for his answer, Jason flashed another fake smile, " I have to go to my next class now, see you later today!" and hurried out the door, slipping into the crowd of teens moving towards their classes.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Classes, speeches, assigned homework, groans from fellow classmates- those were the sounds that made up Jason's day. However, he was dreading the end of the day, where he would have to tutor Cooper.

Ugh, absolute torture... Jason thought as he slammed his locker shut at the end of the day, double checking to make sure that he had the right textbooks and walking towards the school's exit, entering into the streets of New York.

Jason reached the New York Public Library in a few minutes, and entered, finding a table near the back of the building. He sat, taking out a notebook and their math text book, and waited for Cooper to show up.

" Ugh, this is going to be torture..." he mumbled to himself, tapping his pencil against the table and pushing up his glasses, " Why did I agree to this? Oh right, because it'd make a good impression on Mr. Hofacker. Right..."

He sighed again, and looked around the library. Not many people where here right now, just a few adults browsing the history books and one or two kids.

Cooper crossed his arms against his chest and rolled his eyes a bit at the other's fake smile; how annoying. He hated anyone who was fake or pretended to be nicer than they really were. They'd probably eventually get into a big fight of some sort, he was sure of that much.

"Sure, library, that's only fourteen blocks from my apartment. I'll have to head back there quick before I can meet you at the library." He told him before he left the room and walked down the hallway.

He avoided just about everyone who tried to talk to him; he didn't feel like answering questions about him and Marissa, and pretty much that was all those girls had talked about during class. 'Oh you two had been so cute,' and 'oh what happened?' He didn't really feel like answering the questions. He didn't want to have to say anything about himself.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly; he had only almost ran into Marissa once and had managed to avoid directly speaking to her. Classes went by, speeches, some homework. He was beyond ready when the last bell rang and he left the school.

He managed to catch a ride from his friend Chuck, who dropped him off at the apartment just as Kaidan's bus showed up. He walked with his brother to the apartment and when their mom wasn't home yet; he groaned.

"I need to go to the library, buddy. Do you want to stay here or come with me? We'll have to walk all the way there." He told him.

Kaidan happily wanted to go to the library; hopping around before he made a quick snack and then they were out the door again. Cooper didn't even bother to leave a note for their mom telling her where they were going; he was glad he didn't have to work that afternoon. He would have been pissed if Kaidan had, had to go to the neighbors (who were thankfully a very nice old couple) and use their phone to call his cell phone.

The fourteen blocks of walking there; left Cooper sweaty and grumpy, while Kaidan just ran around and was happy to be going to the library. The two walked in and walked around a bit until the black-haired teen spotted Jason and walked over to the table. "I don't know how long we'll be here, math teacher wants me to have a tutor," he told Kaidan, "So you can look around at the books but be good and check in every five minutes." He said as he plopped down on his seat.

"Okay." Kaidan said before he happily went to go look at all the books.

He heard Cooper before he saw him. He was talking to a young boy, who Jason assumed to be his brother. The boy was innocent looking, much too cute to be related to Cooper, Jason thought to himself, turning to meet Cooper.

" Hi," he said, " Nice to see you again," Jason nodded acknowledgement to the guy as he dug through his backpack for his evaluation test, " So, what did you have problems with on the test? The geometry? Let me see your test..."

Jason leaned over towards Cooper a little, expecting to see a backpack, but unfortunately, saw nothing, " You didn't bring your backpack?! How am I supposed to know what you did wrong?!" He sighed, and took a deep breath, before starting again, " Look, just tell me what you did wrong."

Jason's hand unconsciously reached for his bangs, which he tugged on when stressed.

I might've been a bit too harsh...I should apologize...Maybe...

Sighing once more, Jason looked at Cooper, " Sorry about that, I might've overreacted. Anyways, is that kid that you brought with you your brother?" he asked, hoping to switch the subject a little, to make the situation less awkward, " He's adorable."

He tugged on his bangs again, giving a nervous side glance in Cooper's direction, wondering if the black haired guy would react in a rude way, or just calm down. Jason preferred the second way, but he had to be ready if Cooper decided to throw some attitude on him...

Cooper gave the boy a pat on the head before he ran off too far. He then turned his attention to the male sitting across from him. "Hey." He said, just giving a chilled nod as a 'sup' before he crossed his arms against his chest. Snorting slightly when Jason asked to see his test.

"Why would I bring my book bag? I'm already sweating like a pig and I didn't even have it on my back, I wasn't going to carry that thing fourteen blocks on my back with the sun heating up. It's spring but damn, I think its light eighty-six out there today." Cooper said. "What did I do wrong? Everything. I think I got like one question right." He said and shrugged slightly, "Didn't pay much attention to it. Just know I need help, math isn't my thing. Hell. School isn't my thing." He had always planned on dropping out and joining the military, but now you had to graduate to get in; therefore, that plan was smashed.

The black-haired teen leaned back against his chair a bit as his hazel eyes watched his little brother, until the boy ducked into a row to look at books there.

His attention was once again caught by Jason and he merely shrugged at the apology. "Yeah, that's my little bro," he said, looking back over to where he had seen the kid go last. "Yeah, he is, thanks. He's a good kid too, unlike me. He's a smart little guy, I bet he's smarter than me and he's only eight years old, just turned it a few months ago." He said and smiled a bit.

"I might have to bring him a lot when I come here to tutor with you, so when he comes back over I'll introduce you to him. I guess," He said, "Might as well try to be polite, but I'm not very good at it." He said, he then spotted Kaidan again and waved him over.

The boy hurried over and sat in the seat beside his big brother, setting down a rather large book for an eight year old to be interested in; there were no pictures inside either.

"Whatcha got there?" Cooper asked and leaned over to look at the old looking book.

"I don't know!" Kaidan said, "I just thought it looked neat!" The boy then looked to the other blond at the table with his big blue eyes, "Hi! I'm Kaidan, what's your name? Are you going to help my big brother pass math this year? That's great!"

He sighed; Cooper was a handful, " Well, if you want to pass, then you should have brought it. And, oh, okay. Guess I'll have to start with the basics, huh?" Jason replied, opening the textbook to the third page, after the title page and whatnot.

" Oh, he's just precious," Jason replied, " But I'm sure that you're good too.."

Of course Jason just said that out of courtesy, but he did see that Cooper cared for the little boy, which made Jason see him kinder than he did before.

His attention was directed at said little brother when he was greeted, " Oh, um, hello, Kaidan, I'm Jason, your brother's tutor. I'll do my best to make sure that he will pass, don't you worry."

Jason offered a smile to the small boy, and this time, it was a real smile. He liked children, as he always felt very responsible and adult like around them. It made him feel like his sister, Marissa, who had practically raised him by herself. Jason's parents just didn't care about their children, so Jason made sure to be as kind and as caring to the children that he met as he would've wanted from an older figure when he was their age.

Turning back towards Cooper, Jason slid the book over towards him, and inched his seat closer, so that it would be easier to show him how the formula worked, " So all you have to do is multiply here..." He moved his finger to and fro, pointing at the various diagrams and figures on the page, then looked back at Cooper, " Did you get that? Do you want me to explain it in more detail? I'm sorry, I might be speaking too quickly."

He tugged at his bangs again, wondering if he hadn't explained it that well, or maybe if he had explained it too much, and overwhelmed poor Cooper. After all, he was trying to help the guy pass his math class, and since that was what he'd been assigned to do, Jason would do it.

"I don't need to bring something if I already know I'm bad at all of it," Cooper said, annoyance audible in his tone. "I failed last year because I didn't understand. I still don't understand any of it; I need help with it all." He said, crossing his arms back against his chest.

"Yeah, he's great. He's such a happy kid despite all the shit our mom has brought into our lives," He said, admiration in his voice. He didn't know how his brother managed to stay so happy, even though he was a child, he had seen a lot. He then laughed at what Jason said next, "Me? Good? Nah. May be I was at one time, but I'm not anymore."

Most of the good had been beat out of him when he was just a bit older than Kaidan; he wouldn't let the same thing happen to his little brother. He'd kill anyone who ever tried to hurt him.

He ruffled Kaidan's blond hair when the boy spoke to the other male at the table. He was such a sweet kid, he really was. He wished he could go back to being his brother's age, back when he could still see all the good in the world.

"Please help him," Kaidan said, smiling brightly. "I know my brother is smart! You just have to make him do his work, that's all. I'm sure you can help him, thank you very much."

"Oh shush," Cooper said, "You're so cute, you might as well start spitting rainbows and skipping around with a basket of flowers to cheer everyone up." He said before he turned his attention back to Jason as the male slid the book over to him.

He listened as Jason explained how to do the formula on the page; however, he mostly just stared at it was his head slightly cocked to one side. It all sounded like a foreign language to him, 3x and
8y and angle A is 38 degrees; he was never going to use any of it, he didn't see the point in having to take a math class he was never going to have to use. He didn't want to be some type of builder. Hell, he didn't know what he wanted to do but he sure wasn't going to build anything.


"You can explain that as slow as you want, I'm not going to get it." Cooper groaned, "All I got out of that was, 'Why the hell do I have to take a class that I'm never going to use in life?'' He said, "I mean seriously. When am I going to need to know the size of a triangle's angles? Am I going to be walking down the street and suddenly some guy is going to be like, 'Raaaa! It's a game show right here! Answer this question, what is the total sum of the angles in a triangle? You'll get one-million dollars if you get it right!'" He said, rolling his eyes. Kaidan looked up from the book he was flipping through to giggle.

He ran his hand over his face and he shook his head a bit, "Let's try something else may be? Like something easier with not as many shapes."

He smiled at Kaidan again; the boy was just too adorable! " Of course I'll make him do his work. It's for his own good, after all."

Then Jason looked back towards Cooper, and sighed, "Oh, okay. So from the very basic basics, huh?"

This was the good part about Jason. When he was told to do something, he did it, and he put a lot of effort into it. He never skimped on anything, nor gave up. And no matter how tough of a case Cooper was, Jason wouldn't give up on him.

Since Cooper got to the library, Jason's opinion of the bad boy with an attitude had changed just a little bit. He seemed to be very protective of his brother, Kaiden, much like how Jason was protective of Marissa. Jason respected Cooper for that. The tough guy personality was probably a result of something that happened in his past, and although Jason wasn't one to dig, he had to admit that he was just a little bit curious as to why...

He dug into his backpack again, " I thought that something like this might happen, so I took simplified notes on the subjects that we have to learn this year and copied them down in this notebook," Jason said, pulling a thin notepad out of the bag.

He set it down on the table, opening it to the first page, then began to read its contents, " So, a prism is..."

Jason looked towards Cooper, wondering if the guy was actually listening to him or not. After all, he had put a lot of effort into tutoring Cooper, but he wasn't sure if Cooper was acknowledging that.

Cooper watched the other two at the table; he made a mental note that Jason's smiles were real for the eight year old. Kaidan thanked the blond again before he started looking through the book he had found on one of the shelves, leaving the two alone to get to Cooper's tutoring.

"Yeah, the very, very basics." He said, shrugging simply. He knew he wasn't the smartest person in the world, but he was going to try to learn enough to at least be able to pass and go onto Algebra 2. He needed to graduate as soon as he could, he was already behind and he knew he was screwed if he didn't graduate at nineteen.

He couldn't help but feel that he probably looked ridiculous in the library; with his shaggy hair and skinny jeans. He had never really been into books, they usually just put him to sleep unless they were really good; but he had barely managed to read the 'Harry Potter' saga let alone read any of the crap teachers wanted him to read. His hazel eyes flicked around at all of the books and he snorted slightly to himself.

The seventeen year old look back over when Jason dug through his book bag and pulled out a notepad; explaining he had took simplified notes on the subjects they would be learning. "Nerd." He said and chuckled, "You did this over Spring break? Or did you have this done over the summer? Damn."

He scooted just a bit closer to have a better look at the notebook, "A prism is a parallelogram, with all parallel sides; I'm not a complete moron, Jay-Jay." He mused, giving the other male a nickname, just testing out how it sounded.

For once he was actually paying attention to all of the educational stuff the blond was telling him, he was trying to give all of his attention to the words and lock them into his brain. Every once in a while he would get distracted on looking over to Kaidan before he would look back to the notebook, pointing out the things he already knew.

" I am not a nerd!" Jason insisted, " I merely don't want to fail classes this year!" He flipped the page, " I did it over spring break, okay? You should be glad that I did it or it'd be a lot harder tutoring you..."

He sighed, " And alright then, at least you know tha-" Jason stopped when he heard his nickname. Suddenly, he seemed a bit flustered, and tousled his hair with his fingers.

Jay-Jay, Jason thought, That's a nickname...right?

He'd never been giving a nickname before, and didn't know how to respond to that.

Should I act annoyed? Be fine with it? Ignore it? What should I do?!

Although Jason was used to acting 'cool' or 'nice' in most situations, most people didn't really like getting close to him or giving him nicknames, as he seemed to radiate a sort of 'don't associate with me' aura. Not in the bad way, just that it seemed hard to get to know him, because Jason pretended to be all those things that others thought he was. Sure he had friends, but he was so fake around them, pretending that he didn't care about grades and whatnot.

So when Cooper called him Jay-Jay, Jason had no idea how to react. After a few moments of inner conflict, he decided to ignore it, " So anyways, you need to calculate the volume of this prism..."

They studied like that for another hour or so, with Jason doing his best to teach the guy that sat next to him. At the end of the session, he shut the book, " Good work," Jason said to Cooper, tucking the notebook and textbook back into his bag, " So, according to your work schedule, when is the next time that you can meet with me? I'd like to know, so that things don't get confusing."

He offered a small smile to the guy, "And I think that you'll pass if you try."

"Oh sure, Jay-Jay, and la Luna is not the moon," Cooper rolled his eyes when the blond insisted he wasn't a nerd. "I don't want to fail a class this year but I didn't take any notes. At least you did it during the break and not summer." He mused before he shrugged slightly, "Suppose it does make it easier for you to tutor me, I should be glad Mr. Hofucker hooked you up with me; but I'm not."

His hazel eyes flicked over when the other stopped mid-sentence when he dropped the nickname on him. He seemed a bit flustered, and Cooper couldn't help but chuckle just a bit at the younger male.

The blond seemed to ignore it and went back to speaking and explaining how to calculate the volume of the prism on the page. It wasn't exactly the reaction he had wanted; but it hadn't been a negative reaction either. This meant he was going to stick with the nickname until it annoyed the other; and then he would just come up with other things to call him.

Cooper was used to nicknames, having a name like 'Cooper' people often just shortened it to 'Co' or 'Coop'; and because he was used to having a nickname, he often gave people nicknames. Not everyone always liked their nickname, so he was also used to having to change a nickname until it fit the person he was talking to.

They studied for another hour or so, Jason teaching him different things about different shapes while Cooper tried to understand; and when he didn't, he actually asked him questions about things and wished he had brought a notebook. He would have to remember to bring one the next time they had a tutor session. "Eh. I tried to understand." He said and shrugged. "I work tomorrow after school so the day after I'm free," he said before he took a piece of paper from Kaidan (the boy had gone off and found paper and crayons to color with.) He wrote his work schedule down and his cell phone number, "Here, this is my schedule, unless they change it. Just call me or text me so I have your number and I'll let you know if they change my hours around." He told him, folding the paper before he handed it to him.

Kaidan packed up his things and took them back to the librarian before Cooper stood up and stretched when the boy walked back over. "Yeah, well, normally I think people are supposed to pay tutors. I can't, don't got the money. But if you come in sometime when I'm working I can get you a free ice cream cone or something." He offered.

He nodded, " Alright, so the day after tomorrow, correct? I'll make a note of that. Thanks for giving me your schedule, Cooper," Jason said, tucking the schedule into his backpack, and zipping it up.

Jason hoisted the pack onto his back, and looked towards Cooper again, " Oh, no, you don't have to do that," he replied, " As long as you improve in your studies, that's a good reward to me," and smiled. After all, the goal of a tutor was to help the student improve in their studies.

He gave a small wave as he exited the building, " See you later..."

Jason arrived home at 5:31 pm, as it took him a while to walk home, because he stopped for a snack at a nearby cafe. He had gotten quite hungry during the tutoring session, and had done his best to ignore the inner callings of his stomach.

Entering his apartment, he walked straight to his room, dropping his bag onto the ground against his desk. Jason sighed, " Today was a handful..." he muttered to himself, " Ah well, best get started on the homework..."

He wondered where Marissa was, as she didn't seem to be present in the house. Ah well, Jason figured that she might've been hanging out with her friends. It wasn't his business, after all.

It took him two hours to get through the whole stack of homework his teachers had assigned the first day back from spring break. He sighed as he made sure that he had all of it done, and tucked it into his backpack. Jason then pulled out the paper with Cooper's number scribbled onto it.

Might as well text him now...

So he did:

Hey Cooper, it's Jason.

Jason clicked send, and then plopped down onto his bed, sighing a little.

"Yeah, the day after tomorrow," Cooper said, "No problem, you're going to need it anyway so we know what days to do this tutor thing." He said before he reached over and ruffled Kaidan's head; the boy caught his hand and gave it a pat as he looked around.

"It's no problem, I feel like I owe you something. Improving my studies is a reward to me; not you, unless you want to be a teacher or something." He told him. He hated when people did things for free for him; he always felt like it was because of how poor his family was. Yeah, his grandpa left a lot of money for them, but his mother had already managed to spend all of it on booze and things that they didn't need.

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow." He said, Kaidan waved and called 'bye' after the blond haired male.

They arrived back home close to six pm, the walk had seemed longer than the walk there but they managed the fourteen blocks with easy. Their mom still wasn't home so Cooper got the bath water ready for Kaidan before he went and made them dinner; it was done within thirty minutes.

The two ate dinner in silence before Cooper helped Kaidan with his home work and then took his own shower while the boy went to watch some television. When their mom got home it was close to eight o'clock and she was completely wasted; she went straight to her room and passed out. The black-haired teen got his brother ready for bed and then tucked him in at 8:59pm before he went to his own room.

Cooper plopped down on his bed and ran his fingers through his drying hair before he glanced up when his cell phone went off. He leaned over and grabbed it from his night stand and unlocked it before he read the text from an unknown number.

It was Jason. He saved the number to his contacts before he decided to be at least somewhat friendly and replied:

What's up, Jay-Jay?

It took just about two minutes before Jason heard his phone buzz with a message from an Cooper. He flipped it open, and read the message, furrowing his brows a little.

Again with the nickname! Jason didn't really know what to make of it. How did the guy come up with a nickname like Jay-Jay? He rolled over onto his stomach, typing out a response to the text he had gotten.

Nothing much. I've got a question, where did you get the nickname Jay-Jay?

After looking it over a few times and making sure that it didn't seem rude or anything, he sent the text.

" I should go take a shower..." Jason murmured to himself, sliding up off the bed and into the bathroom. He tossed his shirt onto the ground, and stepped out of his jeans, turning the shower on, and then easing into it.

The warm water poured over his body, washing away the memories of the day. He scrubbed at the sweat and grease that had accumulated through the day with lemon scented soap, and then started on washing his hair.

Fifteen minutes later, Jason stepped out of the shower, drying himself off with a fluffy white towel, and slipped into another t shirt and jeans. He threw his old clothing into the laundry basket, and stepped outside, prepared to check his phone to see if Cooper had texted back.

Cooper set his phone down on his chest before he reached his hand over and flipped the radio part of his alarm clock on. He turned the volume down so he wouldn't wake Kaidan if the sound leaked through the thin wall that separated their rooms.

He was about to close his eyes went his phone vibrated and he picked it up off his chest and read the message from the blond-haired male. He thought about the other's question before he sent a responding message.

Ur name duh. jason is sometimes spelled jayson plus it sounds like jay-son so Jay-Jay is part of ur name jay times two and the first letter of ur name is j.

He sent the message before he set his phone onto his night stand and groaned when a song came on the radio he really didn't want to listen to.

It made him think of Marissa, not the whore Marissa had turned into; but the Marissa he had fell for. She started out pretty, before she dyed her hair, before she started dressing like a whore; back when she still wore her glasses and hung out with people who were her friends, not the fake bitches she started to hang out with. At one time he thought they were in love, but within eight months all she did was change.

She had expected him to stay with her; even after he found out she was pregnant with someone else's kid. She wouldn't even tell him who the biological father was; only that she wanted him to help her raise it. He had refused, he had been outraged. Thinking about it brought back the same feelings. He had never thought she would have wanted sex that bad; yeah, she had thrown herself at him a few times but she had always understood, or at least pretended to understand.

He groaned and turned the radio station to a rock station, so he wouldn't have to listen to any songs that she would have liked. He didn't want to think about her. She wasn't worth his thoughts. If he was smart, he'd get up and study his geometry before bed, but instead he just laid there waiting for his phone to go off.

Just as he thought, there was a message waiting for him. It had been sent a few minutes ago.

Jason flopped back down onto the bed again, looking at the text.

Oh god, this guy has flawed logic, was the first thought that crossed his mind when he read the text, Jay-Jay because my name sounds like Jay Son...gosh...

He thought about his reply, " Maybe I should tell him that I prefer Jason...Then again, do I really care if he calls me Jay-Jay? Augh, this is so confusing! Why should I even care if he calls me that?!"

He rolled over and landed face down into his pillow, just a bit frustrated. Jason sighed into the white fluffy feather stuffed pillow, then rolled over again, starting to type his reply.

Oh, ok. Jay-Jay, huh? Makes me think that I should have a nickname for u. Mb I'll call u cuckoo, because ur name is Cooper and Coo is the first syllable in Cooper. :P

Jason looked it over, " No, that seems mean!" he decided, and tapped the backspace button. Only it wasn't the backspace button. It was the send button.

" AUGHHH NO NO NO!" he yelled at it, frantically attempting to unsend the message. But alas, what was done was done. Now all Jason could do was wait for Cooper's response.

So he did just that, lying on his bed, staring up at the blank white ceiling, and just waited. Jason tugged his bangs, wondering if Cooper would find the comment rude or anything like that...

It took a while longer than Cooper had expected for his phone to go off again. It felt like it had been almost fifteen minutes, but he wasn't really paying attention to the time; but more so how much his eyes were seeming to want to close.

When his phone did go off, his hazel eyes snapped open as a yawn escaped his lips. He ran his hand over his face before he grabbed his phone and unlocked it to read the message.

An eye brow shot up when he read it. Jason had said that he should have a nickname for him and said he was going to call him cuckoo because the first part of his name was Coo. He chuckled a bit at the nickname and shook his head; might as well call him that because he was crazy. He was used to strange nicknames but no one had ever called him cuckoo like that.

He shifted himself up into a sitting position before he leaned back against his bedroom wall; mostly to try to keep himself from falling asleep anytime soon. He then clicked 'reply' on his phone and started to type his reply.

Cuckoo, huh? Like the bird or like cuckoo-cuckoo crazy? or r they spelled 2 dif ways? thats a new 1 usually ppl just call me coop but watever floats ur boat bby. S'all good wit me.

He typed before he read over his message and sighed before he decided to add on a little warning; just because he didn't want to seem like too much of an asshole right away.

oh if i dont reply i fell aslep.

Cooper added to the message before he pressed the send button.

Jason rolled over again, " Augh...he probably hates me now or something..."

In all honesty, Jason was overreacting, but he wasn't really used to situations like this. Never did he really text casually with a 'friend.' Not that Cooper was his friend as of now, he was only a student.

He sighed, but then was surprised by the vibrating of his phone.

Opening up his messages, he read the text. Jason blushed halfway through.

What was this guy's thing with the word baby?! Godamn people, thinking that the could do whatever they want to do. But...he doesn't seem mad, so I guess that's good...

He sighed again, and started to text back:

That was a joke, silly. :P

....bby?!

Jason looked the text over several times, wondering if it seemed too...Jason like. He didn't want to make a bad impression via text, as he was almost completely certain that he hadn't made a bad impression in reall life.

He thought a little bit more, and then added a little bit more to the end:

And it's fine, go to sleep. You'll need it for school tomorrow. Mr. Hofacker can be a real bore sometimes.

Jason then hit the send button, wondering if his message was a decent one. Then he rolled over, and decided to read a book, The Princess Bride, that he had started a week ago. So far, he was on page three hundred and two, and had only a few chapters left until he finished. So he opened the dog eared book up, and began to read.

Cooper kept his head pressed against his off-white colored wall, his hazel eyes staring in front of him at one of the many posters on his bedroom wall. He was curious of what Jason had to say, and he didn't want to have to wait for the morning to find out what he had meant when he called him cuckoo. The blond seemed to be socially awkward or something; that or he was so used to acting fake he didn't even know how to act normal anymore.

He snorted at the thought. The same thing had happened to Marissa, she stopped knowing who it was okay to talk about behind their back and who it wasn't okay to; after she had started hanging out with the snotty girls, she talked bad about all of her old friends. He had even heard her say shit about him before they broke up, and he had no doubt she was talking even more now that they were over.

His eyes then went back to his phone when it went off and he picked it up before he chuckled a bit. He could almost picture the expression on the four-eyes face.

That was a joke, silly. :P

He played copy cat with the first part of the text message from Jason, sure, for now he would pretend he was just joking around with him. He read the last part of the message and sighed a bit before he typed out a response to it.

Sometimes? mr. hofucker is bore al the time.

He added before he clicked send and waited for it to pop up on his screen that the message was sent before he set it down on his night stand. He leaned under his bed and pulled the charger cord up before he pulled it into his phone; he wanted to get it charged before he had the chance to fall asleep.

Cooper slid down against his wall and ended up laying back down before he rolled onto his side; his hazel eyes slid closed and a yawn escaped his pale lips. Sleep was begging for him.

He had gotten onto the next chapter when his phone dinged again. Jason rolled over and turned his phone on once more, setting the book down onto the nightstand next to his bed.

His lips turned up into a smile as he read the first line of text, and then he just burst into laughter at the second.

" Ahaha! Haha! Oh gosh, this guy..."

Jason then started texting out his reply, pausing for a moment or so to think about his answer. He was putting way too much effort into this simple text that he honestly didn't need to be doing.

Lol! I only act nice around that guy because he's my teacher.I would have neverddsfggfd./23

The text became muddled at the end because Jason's eyes had slowly fluttered close, and the guy had fallen asleep.

The blonde's hand shifted a little as he moved whilst entering the land of dreams, and the phone slipped from his hand to the ground, accidentally sending the message.

In the morning, Jason blinked his eyes open sleepily, a hand reaching up to ruffle his golden colored hair, " Ugh...I'm tired..."

He slipped out of bed, and nearly tripped on his phone that was laying on the ground, " Crap!" yelled Jason as he flipped backwards, landing on his backside, " That hurt...Why the hell is my phone on the ground?"

And then he remembered the night before, " Right...I was texting that guy...Cooper or something..Crap, did I fall asleep while texting him?! That was so rude of me!"

Jason scrambled to look at his texting history as he walked towards the bathroom to prepare for school. He groaned when he saw his unreadable text message that he had sent while being half asleep, " Damn, he must think I'm some weirdo or something..."

Before the teen's phone went off, it had fallen from his hand and his eyes had closed for the last time that night. His head landed lightly on his pillow and in a few moments he was fast asleep.

When his cell phone buzzed beside him, he didn't even notice and slept right through the message; he rolled over in his sleep and knocked his phone to the floor. He managed to sleep half way through the night until the feeling of little fingers met his cheek and he woke to Kaidan hovering over him.

"I had a bad dream!" The boy whispered and the teenager scooted over in his bed and let his little brother curl up with him, wrapping the blanket around them both before they were both out. It was sad, whenever the little boy had a nightmare, he went to his brother rather than his mother; it had been something he had done even when they were both still young.

The next morning, when Cooper's alarm clock went off, he didn't even have time to turn it off because Kaidan had already rolled over and turned it off for him before he curled back up against his brother's warm back. The black-haired male rolled over and set a light hand on the boy's head, having almost forgotten he had come in the night before because of a bad dream. "What was your dream about?" He asked softly as he yawned a bit.

"I don't want to talk about it." The little boy said, so his brother just nodded and got out of his bed; just letting him stay there until he wanted to go back to his own room.

Cooper dug through his closet and pulled on a pair of skinny dark red denim jeans before he pulled on a black tee shirt that said, 'When the zombies come, I'm tripping you'. He then got a pair of socks and pulled them on followed by his shoes, he then went over to his floor and looked around for his phone before he picked it up and pocketed it followed by his wallet.

"Just don't forget to get back up for school." He told his brother, going over to give the boy a light brotherly kiss on the cheek before he left his room and walked across the hallway, checking his messages in the process.

He chuckled at what Jason had sent him, he then replied:

Did u fall aslep or wat?

He then clicked send and set his phone down; he brushed his teeth and then he straightened his messy black hair, combing it down the best he could before he grabbed his phone and left the bathroom. He grabbed his book bag from the floor just before he headed out of the house to start the walk to school.