In Over My Head -- Final Chapter Is Up!

So, this is the first chapter of In Over My Head. Nothing smutty just yet, but wait and see, it’s coming up pretty soon! Review, please and thanks tons!
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The last bell rang, and Lucas leaned back in his seat and waited for most of the class to file out into the hallway. He kept his eyes on his desk, and ignored the comments a few of the people around him made to him, ignored the unmistakably intentional thud of someone’s backpack hitting him in the shoulder. When the room was mostly empty, he began to gather his books, tucking them carefully into his backpack. Then he stood, unfolding his awkwardly tall frame from the desk, and headed towards the door with his head down. His teacher, Mr. Ewing, almost said something to him, perhaps a congratulation on the essay he had turned in, the best he’d ever read, but somehow he knew that would make Lucas feel worse. He watched the boy go, feeling sorry for him.

Lucas caught the look on his teacher’s face as he passed, the pitying eyes, and bit his tongue. He couldn’t stand people who felt pity for him, anymore than he could stand the other side, the irrational hate and contempt most of his fellow classmates had always felt for him. He supposed part of it was how he looked. He was almost six foot seven, and painfully thin. He hadn’t cut his thick, black hair in years, and now it feel almost to the middle of his back. He kept it tied back with a rubber band, away from his narrow, hawkish features. He had dark, almost black eyes, pale skin, and long, elegant fingers. He might have been attractive, if not for the almost feminine curve of his mouth, or that almost too large nose. He tended to dress and nondescriptly as he could, favoring browns and grays and drab greens. Today he wore brown corduroy slacks and a gray tee shirt with a black bird silhouette across the front, and his khaki and green flak jacket. He wore thin, square, silver framed glasses and hunched as much as he possibly could when he walked. He almost never spoke, had perfect grades, and had never had a girlfriend. He never went anywhere without his handheld video game console, or a book thicker than most of his school texts. Most the books he read involved science fiction. He was, in the eyes of his classmates, a loser.

He stepped out into the hallway, grateful that it was already almost empty, and turned towards his locker. When he reached it, he spun the combination in, tugged the lock off, and opened the door. He stuffed his backpack inside and slammed the door shut again.

Anna Marsh was leaning against the locker beside him. She startled him, and grinned at the way he jumped. “Hey, stranger.” She watched him snap his lock into place, and then moved to link her arm with his. “So I was thinking we could go to my house and you could help me with my math homework.”

He sighed. Anna was his only friend. They’d known each other since the third grade, and he loved the tiny, blonde haired girl, despite the fact that she was loud, abrasive, and a little on the dumb side. He didn’t mind that much that she made fun of him just as much as everyone else did, because she made fun of everyone, even herself. But sometimes he wished he had no friends at all.

“Anna, its Thursday.” He reminded her, and wasn’t surprised at the confused look on her face. “I’m not heading home just yet. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I-”

She rolled her eyes and let go of his arm. “Fine. Go hide in that back room and be a nerd and watch your stupid movies.” She glared at him. “You suck.”

“I’ll call you later.” He promised, and she rolled her eyes again. “I promise, okay?”

A group of kids from their shared math class walked by on their way outside, and one of them, a pretty red haired girl, muttered something to the others and pointed at Lucas. The entire group burst out laughing, and Lucas looked away. He waited until they’d gone out the doors before looking back at Anna. “Don’t be mad.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She flapped her hand at him in dismissive gesture, still frowning. “You still suck.” She turned and bounced away. He watched her for a moment as she caught up with the group of girls, falling in with them easily and laughing with them. He wondered if she was really mad, worried that maybe the next time they met she wouldn’t even bother talking to him. After a while the call of his movies was too great, and decided that she would just have to figure out her math homework herself. He turned and headed for the library.

He kept his head down, trying to ignore the few stragglers that stared at him and made comments behind their hands. He kept his mind on big metal canisters in the cupboard of the film room, on watching his movies, on the cool, dark silence of the film lab. He pushed open the library door and slipped inside.

The four tables nearest the door were occupied with the detention students. They looked up at him, some of them smirking, as he hurried past. He nodded at the librarian, who smiled and returned the gesture. He weaved his way through the shelves aisles until he reached the back of the library. There was a narrow wooden door, the window blacked out, with the words “Film Lab” stenciled on it. He felt around on the top of the door frame for the key the librarian always left for him, found it, and unlocked the door.

There was already someone in the room.

He stopped halfway inside, startled. Not only were his film canisters spread out on the table against the far wall of the room, someone was shuffling through them, leaned over the table with his back to the door. Lucas had time to consider turning and leaving before the guy turned to face him.

He recognized David at once. How could he not? The kid had a reputation. He was known for being brilliant, and a trouble maker. He got into a lot of fights, and had been suspended for three months last year for punching a teacher for his opinion on Hemmingway. It was also hard not to know what he looked like. He had short, spiked hair dyed a startling shade of grass green, and sharp, chiseled features and mismatched eyes, one brown and one blue. He was wide shouldered and narrowed hipped, about six foot one, and had more tattoos that anyone else that went to their school. The black and blue designs went from wrist to neck, and the rumors were split evenly in two, one in favor of the designs being demonic symbols, the other stating that they were another language, all of it profanity. He drove a loud, old muscle car and people were simultaneously fascinated and terrified by him.

Lucas was still trying to decide if he should just turn and run or if he should stand his ground and demand that David leave. He watched David lift one of the metal canisters up and study the handwritten label. “Day of The Triffids.” He read aloud, and looked at Lucas carefully. “You’re a sci-fi nerd.” He laughed and shook his head.

Without thinking, Lucas lunged forward and snatched the canister from David’s grasp. “Don’t touch it.” He snapped. “It’s mine. What are you doing in here? You can’t be in here.”

David smiled. “Oh I can’t, huh? Who says so?”

“Principal Meyers lets me use the room, and he told me very clearly that I wasn’t to share the privilege.” He hugged the canister to his chest, feeling sick. People in general made him nervous, and this guy was dangerous.

David rolled his eyes dramatically. “Don’t get all upset. Meyers will never find out if we don’t tell him, right?” He moved to the door, and instead of leaving, like Lucas hoped he would, he shut it. After a pause, he locked it. He turned and looked at Lucas carefully. “How did you get the school to let you use the film lab like this?”

“I donated.” Lucas said, and turned his back on David. “A bunch of old films to the school.”

“What kind of old films?” David asked, and moved to sit down on the couch. Lucas looked at him, wanting to scream and throw a fit until David left him alone. Instead he turned and began to sort through the canisters David had pulled out.

“War propaganda, old drug scare films, documentaries about the city.” He realized it wasn’t that hard to talk if he kept most of his mind on dates and alphabetizing. It was almost… nice, to talk to someone who didn’t roll their eyes and complain about the subject. Anna never cared about his films. “How’d you get in here?”

“The key. It’s not hard to find. Who put the couch in here?”

“Are we playing twenty questions?” Lucas asked, sounding angrier than he’d meant to. He cringed inwardly and hoped he didn’t start a fight. He was worried that one wrong word out of him would send the kid into a rage, and he didn’t like the idea of getting his face stomped in. After all, the kid would beat people up for lots of crazy reasons.

“Twenty questions is played with yes or no questions only.” David laughed, and Lucas shot him a glare without really thinking. “You’re Lucas Chase.”

“Yes, and you’re David Johnson. What do you want?”

David shrugged one shoulder. “An answer to the couch question is a good start.” He suggested, and Lucas sighed. “You’re very uptight.”

Lucas scowled. He hated that word. Uptight. He wasn’t uptight. He was easily stressed out, maybe, and jumpy, but he wasn’t uptight. He opened his mouth, fears of physical abuse be damned, and started to complain. “I don’t know you. You’re suddenly here, where you shouldn’t be, taking up time I could be using to watch my movie. You pulled all these movies out of order and now I have to put them back.” He glared at David, who stared back serenely. “Principal Meyers put the couch in.”

“Nice set up you’ve got. Can I stay and watch a movie?”

Lucas almost immediately said no. He liked his privacy, liked sitting in the dark watching old black and white movies, pretending he was part of it. He wouldn’t be able to do that with David here. Besides, the rules were very clear about other people in the room with him. Although he suspected the principal made that rule to avoid any inappropriate touching on school grounds… not that Lucas would ever do that, even if he was given the opportunity. He picked up the canisters and moved towards the cupboard to buy himself some time. He didn’t realize David was behind him until he spoke again, and it scared Lucas so bad and jumped and dropped the top two canisters.

David moved forward quickly, catching them before they hit the ground. The movement brought them awkwardly close together, and Lucas smelled him, soap and fresh cut grass and something metallic.

“Careful.” David said with a grin, and leaned forward even closer to open the cupboard. “You don’t want to ruin these.” Lucas moved as though half frozen, jerkily placing the canisters into the cupboard. David place the other two in, then stepped back. “Come on, let me stay and watch one with you. I won’t talk through any of it, I promise.”

Lucas stared at him, confused and upset, mostly because he knew he was going to say yes. He didn’t know why he was going to say yes, but there it was anyway, ready to pop out of his mouth. He didn’t know this kid, other than by reputation, which by all normal standards should’ve had him running away. He felt his head move, a slow up, then down, then up again, and watched David’s grin spread.

“Attaboy.” David clapped him on the back, and then moved to pull his backpack out from under the table. “Get it loaded, yea?” he unzipped the pack ad started rummaging around. Lucas saw clothes and a notebook and an expensive looking camera. David pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and Lucas thought about complaining, but stopped himself at the last minute. He was already breaking the rules, what was one more?

A little shocked by his own thoughts and actions, Lucas loaded the film reel as David threw himself back onto the couch and lit a cigarette. When he was satisfied the film would feed properly, he sat down beside David, wrapped his arms around his knees, and found it was easy to fall back into his movies, even with David beside him. David kept his promise, and stayed entirely silent through the whole movie. He smoked and smiled and watched. Within fifteen minutes Lucas forgot entirely that he was there, and David was just fine with that.
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The next day was Friday, so Lucas headed home instead of to the library. It was still early in the school year, and the weather was nice, so he walked. He didn’t like the bus anyway. People threw things sometimes. As he pushed out of the double doors into the sunshine, he saw Anna, sitting on the low brick wall that surrounded the front lawns. She waved at him, and he returned the gesture. When he was got near her, and held her arms out like a child asking for a hug.

“Give me a piggy back ride.” She demanded.

He groaned. She was heavier than she looked, and always kicked him in the sides. “Anna, not today.”

She stood, wobbling a little on her precarious balance. “You owe me. You ditched me yesterday.”

“No, I didn’t. You know I always go to the library on Thursdays.” He watched her as she began to pout and whine, and sighed inwardly. He was about to say yes just to shut her up when a car stopped at the curb. Anna shut up and they both turned to look at it as the passenger side window rolled down.

David leaned forward and pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head. “Hey, Lucas.” He called, and gestured for Lucas to come closer.

Lucas felt Anna’s glare on the back of his head and turned bright red. He shot her a ‘I don’t know him either look’ and jogged over to the car. He bent down and stuck his head through the window. “What’s up?” he asked David, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Listen, can we talk for a couple of minutes? I’ll drive you home. It’s kind of important.” David looked a little stressed out, so Lucas almost immediately said yes. Unfortunately, Anna was standing on the wall waiting for him, her gaze heavy on the back of his head.

“I promised Anna I would walk home with her.” Lucas said, and David scowled and looked away. “But if you want to stop by later, after she goes home, we can talk.” He spied a half crumpled receipt on the floor and leaned in to snatch it. He found a pen in his pocket and scrawled down his address. David took it when he held it out. “Is six okay?” he asked, and David grinned at him.

“For being so antisocial, you’re certainly keen to make me your next friend.” David remarked. He studied the address for a moment.

“I could say the exact same about you.” Lucas retorted. “You started it.”

David laughed. “I guess I did. Six it is.” He waved and Lucas stepped away. Anna bounced up beside him as the car sped away.

“Was that David Johnson?” she asked, and put her arm through Lucas’s. She pulled him until he walked with her. “What are you doing talking to him?”

“He wanted to ask me something.” Lucas said vaguely. “I told him I was busy.” He caught the scowl on her face and looked away.

“What did you write down for him?”

“Do I have to tell you every detail of my life?” he asked her, and watched the hurt expression on her face slowly turn into anger. He didn’t care. He was getting tired of how pushy she was. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment. “He wants me to tutor him.” He told her, which was the first excuse that came to mind.

“Isn’t he, like, a genius or something?” she asked.

“He has problems in… uh, math.” He looked away, feeling his face flush with the lie. Anna shrugged her shoulders and changed the subject. He almost immediately tuned her out.

They walked a couple of blocks, Anna chatting obliviously away on his arm, before another car interrupted them. This one was white and shiny and cute, and the three girls inside all started talking at once as it stopped at the curb beside them.

Anna flashed Lucas a bright smile. “I’ll see you later.” She told him, and got in the car without waiting for him to talk. The girl driving rolled her eyes at him. He had the overwhelming urge to walk over and slap her in the face. He watched car disappear around the corner, his hands in fists at his sides. After a long while, he started walking again.

Once he got home, he curled up on the couch and read for a while. The house was perfectly silent. After an hour or so, he got up and started doing his laundry. He straightened up rooms that were spotless, cooked food he didn’t eat. He went through the fridge and threw out perfectly good food, then balanced his father’s check book and worked out how much there was for groceries. He made a list of what to buy when he went shopping tomorrow.

He was about to go outside and mow the lawn when the doorbell rang. Frowning, he went to answer it. When he saw David through the window, he nearly panicked before remembering that’s he’d invited the guy over.

David grinned at him when he opened the door. “Six sharp.” He said, and came inside without waiting to be asked. “Nice place.”

“Thank you.” Lucas shut the door, feeling awkward. “You said you wanted to talk?”

“Are your parents home?”

Lucas shook his head. “My dad’s work keeps him away a lot.” He watched David’s eyebrows raise a little and waited for one of two inevitable questions; where was his mother?... or what did his father do for a living? Neither topic much pleased him. His mother had died the summer before his freshman year of high school, and his father was a truck driver. Most people couldn’t understand how someone could leave their teenage son all alone 25 days out of every month.

David asked neither. He simply nodded and started to wander through the house. Lucas stood by the door for a while, listening to him open and close doors farther inside. When there was silence for more than a minute, he went in search of his guest.

David was standing in his bedroom, looking through his bookshelf. He saw Lucas out of the corner of his eye and wagged a paperback at him. “You’re a Philip K. Dick fan, huh?”

Lucas nodded. “My mom got me onto him when I was just starting to care about literature. You said you wanted to talk about something?”

David grinned and sat down at Lucas’s desk. “You get right to the point, don’t you?” he shrugged and went on without waiting for an answer. “I need you to tutor me.”

Lucas burst out laughing. He saw the look of confusion and the flicker of anger on David’s face, but he couldn’t help it. “I’m sorry.” He cackled and sat down on the edge of his bed. “That was just too perfect. Please don’t tell me its math.”

David, looking a little amused now, shook his head, “History. I’m absolutely shit with dates and names. I know you’re top in the class.”

“Is that why you invaded my movie?” Lucas asked him, his humor sliding away a little. “So it wouldn’t look like you were just trying to get a tutor?”

David rolled his eyes. “Look, man, I know life has treated you like shit, but did it occur to you that I might just want to make a friend and pass my history class all in one swoop?” he waited, and when Lucas just stared at him blankly, he shook his head and sighed. “Didn’t think so. Look, I’m willing to pay you, if you want. Fifteen an hour to tutor me through the semester. “

Lucas thought about this. He didn’t like tutoring, he’d done it before and couldn’t stand the whining and complaining, the false niceties. But fifteen an hour was pretty good, and David didn’t seem like someone to complain. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll agree to it, so long as I can set the times. Also, if you get anything higher than a B on your midterm, you have to pay me an extra fifty.”

David smiled brightly. It did something to his face that the smirks and grins didn’t. he looked almost nice, like he might stop and consider your feelings before he punched you in the face, instead of just going ahead and doing it without a moment’s thought. Lucas looked away. “That’s deal, but I have one stipulation of my own.” Lucas shrugged and nodded. “If we are going to study over the weekend, we have to do it here.”

Lucas nodded eagerly. “I wasn’t planning on studying anywhere else anyway.”

“What was so funny, anyway?” David asked, folding his arms across his chest. “Earlier, when I first asked. “

Lucas shook his head. “I lied to Anna about why I was talking to you after school. I told her you wanted me to tutor you.” He chuckled again. “I hate lying.”

“Well, now you aren’t lying, huh?” David stood up and wandered around the room aimlessly. “So what days are we going to study?”

“Tuesdays. And Friday or Saturday, whichever is best for you.” Lucas got up and took David’s place at the desk. He turned on his monitor and opened his calendar.

“How about both?” David asked. “I’m not working at the garage this year, so I have a lot of free time, and I really need to pass this class.” Lucas considered this, and then nodded. “Great. So between studying and movies, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

Lucas turned around too quickly and banged his knees on the leg of his desk with a loud whack. Wincing, he glared at David. “What are you talking about, movies? You mean you want-“

“-to keep going to the film lab with you, yes.” He flashed him another one of those face altering smiles. “I already asked Principal Meyers, you know. He said it was an excellent idea. It would keep me out of trouble.” He walked over and leaned down, one hand clapping onto Lucas’s shoulder. “Looks like my whole academic future’s in your hands, huh? I get into another fight, and I get expelled. So do a job on me, yea?”

Lucas stared at him, completely at a loss. David straightened up, still smiling, and with a wave left the house. A moment later, Lucas heard his car engine rev as he sped up the block. Very slowly, he stood up and moved over to lay on his bed. Six days a week? With David? No more quiet, peaceful movies (despite the fact that David had promised not to talk)?

He buried his face in his pillow and groaned. How had he let himself get into all of this?