I look at Theo, trying to read him. What is this about? Is this another one of those "hey, can you introduce me to your hot sisters" situations?
"Well," he starts, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin, "I've been having trouble in this class, and Selene mentioned you're like, really good at math..."
I blink. Wait. That's it? He just... wants help with math?
"Okay…" I respond cautiously, still not entirely convinced this isn't some elaborate setup. "So you want help? That's it?"
"Yeah! I mean, only if you're cool with it."
I study his face for any hint of deception. But he just looks... genuinely hopeful? Like a puppy asking for belly rubs. It's disarming in a way that makes me even more suspicious, which I realize might say more about my trust issues than anything else.
Huh. Well, this is new.
I don't really have a good reason to say no. And honestly, after days of people only talking to me because of my sisters, someone asking for help with math feels almost refreshing. Plus, I'm apparently too nice for my own good.
"Yeah, sure. What do you need help with?"
Theo's face lights up. "Sick! Come on, I sit over here."
He leads me across the classroom to a different section, and that's when I notice someone's already sitting there.
If I had to describe her with a single word, it'd be "cool." Like, effortlessly, intimidatingly cool.
She has perfect tanned skin. Her hair is cut short in this choppy, deliberately messy style, dyed a dark red. A small silver nose ring catches the light as she turns to look at us. She's wearing a black leather jacket over a white crop top, and I can see defined abs peeking out between the shirt and her blue jeans.
"Yo, Babe!" Theo greets her enthusiastically as we approach, then gestures at her with both hands like a game show host revealing a prize. "Oh! This is Phoebe. My girlfriend!"
There's so much pride in his voice that I half expect confetti to fall from the ceiling.
Phoebe rolls her eyes, but she's unsurprised, and there's a smile tugging at her lips that suggests this is a routine occurrence. "Hey." She gives me a casual nod.
Yeah. She even sounds cool.
"Hey," I give her a wave. "I'm Adam."
"Yeah, I know who you are," she says, eyebrow raising slightly. "Bianca's mentioned you."
Oof. Hopefully Bianca's been saying good things about me and not sharing embarrassing childhood stories.
Theo drops into the seat next to Phoebe, and I take the one next to him.
We have a few minutes before class starts, so Theo pulls out his notebook with this dramatic sigh. "Okay, so full disclosure, I'm like... really behind."
"Alright, let me see what you've got from last class."
He slides the notebook over, and I flip it open.
I stare at the page.
Then I flip to the next page.
Then the next one.
"Dude..." I look up at him, genuinely baffled. "There's like... nothing in here."
The pages are almost completely barren. There are maybe three sentences total, one poorly drawn graph, and what appears to be a doodle of a stick figure doing a backflip. Actually, the backflip guy is pretty well-drawn. More effort went into that than any of the actual notes.
"Haha, yeah..." Theo chuckles, completely unashamed. He's got this grin that says he knows exactly how bad it is and feels zero guilt about it. "I'm real bad at the whole 'paying attention' thing. Can I just take a pic of yours?"
Not great at paying attention. That's certainly one way to phrase "I have written approximately twelve words in three weeks."
"Sure, go for it," I tell him, sliding my notebook closer.
He holds up his phone, snaps a picture, then his eyes go wide when he looks at the screen. "Yo, wait, did we actually cover all this? When did this happen?"
I glance at the pages he's photographing. Oh right, I've been reading ahead.
"Oh, nah, I'm a bit ahead," I point to a section partway down the page. "We stopped here last class."
"Ohhh, okay. That makes way more sense." He grins. "Dude, thanks. You're a lifesaver."
The bell rings, and our teacher launches into the day's lesson. I immediately fall into my usual routine, creating a new quest in my mind while staying focused on what the teacher is saying.
She's going over stuff I've already read, which means I can split my focus: half on taking notes from the textbook, half on monitoring whether she's adding anything new. It's a comfortable rhythm I've developed.
But after a few minutes, curiosity gets the better of me. I glance over at Theo to see what he meant by being bad at paying attention.
He starts off fine, surprisingly. His eyes are bright and focused, he's got his pencil ready, and he's actually writing notes as the teacher explains the concepts. Okay, maybe he was being too hard on himself. Maybe he just needs—
Nope. Never mind.
Not even five minutes in, and his eyes have already glazed over. It's like watching someone's soul leave their body in real-time. He's still holding his pencil, but it's frozen mid-word, and he's staring at the board with the blank expression of someone contemplating the meaningless of existence.
Two minutes after that, the pencil is down, and he's pulled out his phone under the desk.
I can't help but be impressed. The man just speedran giving up on education, and he crushed it. Six minutes has to be some kind of record.
He looks at something on his phone, and his shoulders shake with silent laughter. He nudges Phoebe and shows her the screen.
She glances at it and snorts quietly, shaking her head.
Then Theo notices me watching and turns the phone toward me.
It's a video of two cats sitting next to each other on a couch, just vibing in peaceful coexistence. Then, completely unprompted, one of them just smacks the other one right in the face. The victim cat looks absolutely betrayed, like it can't believe this peaceful morning has been shattered by such violence.
I can't help it, I smile too. Cats are great. Chaotic little agents of mayhem wrapped in fur.
When the video ends, I lean over slightly and whisper, "Okay, I see what you meant about the attention thing."
Theo grins and whispers back with zero shame, "Dude, I can't do this. It's so boring."
I glance over at Phoebe, hopeful to find at least one more responsible person in our group. She's hunched over her notebook, eyebrows creased in concentration, pencil moving across the page with intense focus.
Finally! Someone who's actually taking this seriously.
"Look at her," I whisper to Theo, gesturing subtly toward his girlfriend. "Take some notes from your girlfriend. That's what you should be doing. She's actually focused."
Theo just gives me this shit-eating grin that immediately makes me suspicious. "Right, yeah. Totally."
He nudges Phoebe. "Babe, you wanna show Adam what you're working on?"
Phoebe glances at him, then at me, her expression unreadable for a moment. Then she shrugs. "Sure, whatever. Just don't be a dick about it."
Phoebe flips her notebook around and shows me what she's been working on with such intense concentration.
It's a car.
She wasn't taking notes at all. She was drawing an incredibly detailed, genuinely impressive sketch of a sports car, complete with proper shading.
It is, objectively, a sick car.
"Dang, that's actually sick," I say without thinking. "Nice work."
Theo straight up loses it, trying to muffle his laughter into his arm. Clearly, he expected me to scold them, not compliment the art.
Phoebe looks surprised for a second, but then this genuine smile breaks across her face. "Oh shit, thanks dude."
I pause, my brain finally catching up with my mouth. "Wait, okay, yeah, it's cool, but you guys still need to actually pay attention to class. What the hell."
"Nah, too boring," Phoebe responds with a shrug, already going back to adding details to her car.
I roll my eyes and force my attention back to the teacher. At least someone at this table should learn something today. Even if that someone is apparently just me.
The next few minutes pass peacefully. I work through another section of problems, occasionally glancing up to make sure I'm not missing anything important from the lecture.
Then I feel a gentle nudge on my arm.
I look over at Theo. He's holding out a small, folded piece of paper, and his expression has gone completely serious. Gravely serious.
"Open it," he tells me, his voice low and solemn.
Oh no. His serious expression actually scares me a little. I mean, so far, Theo and Phoebe have seemed like normal, fun people to hang around. But I haven't known them for very long, and I'm still worried about trusting people too easily.
I slowly unfold the note, bracing myself for whatever I'm about to see.
I stare down at the paper.
I look up at Theo. He's nodding at me solemnly, like he's just shared something profound.
I look back down at the paper.
Yup. It's a dick.
The design isn't even particularly artistic. Just two circles for the balls, a rectangle for the shaft, and a semicircle making the tip. It's the kind of anatomically questionable dick drawing that has been passed between bored students since the invention of paper itself.
I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this.
I grab my pencil. If we're doing this, we're doing it right.
I add some veins along the shaft for anatomical accuracy, and a little droplet at the tip for that extra touch of realism.
I fold the paper back up and pass it to Theo with the same serious expression he gave me.
He unfolds it carefully, studying my additions like an art critic examining a masterpiece. I can see Phoebe leaning over curiously, clearly wondering what's on this note that has both of us looking so intense.
Theo glances at her, still not breaking his serious expression, then passes the paper over.
Phoebe looks at it for exactly one second.
Then she smacks Theo in the back of the head.
The smack sound is muffled but satisfying, and Theo's face scrunches up as he rubs the spot, trying not to laugh out loud.
I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from cracking up. Phoebe shoots both of us a look that very clearly says, "You're both idiots," but there's also amusement in her eyes.
You know what? I think these two are pretty chill.
By the time class ends, we've exchanged Instagram handles.
"Hey, so like," Theo says as we're packing up our stuff, "is it cool if I ask you about math sometimes? If I get stuck on homework?"
"Yeah, sure. Just shoot me a message."
"Awesome! Dude, you're the best."
Phoebe finishes packing first. And when she's done, she stands up, waiting for us. Oh… She's tall. Like really tall. Probably around 6'2".
We make our way out of the classroom together, chatting about nothing in particular.
Then I see Bianca waiting for me in the hallway, leaning against the wall in her usual spot. She's scrolling through her phone, but she looks up when we approach.
"Oh, hey Bianca!" Theo's face lights up. "Your brother's pretty cool."
Bianca's lips quirk into a small smile. "Yeah, told you."
Phoebe walks up to Bianca and immediately shows off her car drawing, holding her notebook up proudly.
"Damn, that's sick," Bianca says, sounding impressed.
"Right?" Phoebe grins.
After a bit more chatting, Theo and Phoebe head off to their next classes, waving goodbye.
Bianca and I start walking toward my next class together, falling into our usual routine.
"So you met Theo and Phoebe," Bianca says after a moment.
"Yeah. They asked me for homework help." I pause, then add, "What do you think of them?"
Bianca shrugs. "They're cool. Phoebe's chill as hell, and Theo's a dumbass but he's funny."
Well. I've heard enough. Coming from Bianca, that's a glowing recommendation. She's not one to throw around praise lightly, and she definitely doesn't waste time on people she finds annoying.
I like them.