The Woes of Failing (Lily, Attn: Jay, Any)

[Lily Spencer]

Lily sighed as she walked to the empty classroom. She still couldn't believe this was happening...it was sort of surreal. Okay...maybe it wasn't that much of a shock. She'd never really done particularly well in school after all. But she had her reasons! Most importantly, she just didn't, and furthermore she tended to miss a lot of class in the winter for snowboarding competitions. She'd actually only just gotten back from one, which in her mind was much more important because she'd taken first in the women's half pipe, which clearly was much more impressive than straight A's anyway.

But alas no, she'd missed too much to get by this time. She was officially failing geometry. And since the averages in her other classes were basically D's, she was going to have to be tutored in pretty much everything. This school counselor had set it all up. She had an actual tutoring schedule now.

She hadn't really paid attention to the who part. She didn't even know if it would be more than one person, or one person for everything. All she knew was that she had to go to this particular classroom to meet her tutor, who would undoubtedly be some uber nerd. Okay...maybe Lily didn't exactly mind nerds, after all, it wasn't as if she was possible. She just didn't understand people who loved school so much. Like that girl Summer...she'd been sort of too into it for Lily's taste. She had been really nice to her though, so Lily reminded herself she had to be nice back now. It wasn't that Lily wasn't nice...she just wasn't always particularly friendly.

She walked into the classroom, leaving the door ajar. She plopped down in a random seat. Dressed in a pair of jeans, a fitted Roxy v-neck T-shirt, and a pair of Vans sneakers, she sort of slouched down in the chair, pulling out all of her textbooks because she didn't even know what she'd be doing today. Either way, Lily wasn't exactly happy about this.

The door creaked, and Lily looked up, laying her eyes on her tutor for the first time. Only this couldn't be her tutor, she recognized him from around school, but couldn't recall his name. She did recall him being popular though...and he was good looking. Lily pushed some of her dark blonde hair behind her ear, a little nervously. Certainly, this couldn't be her tutor...just a boy in the wrong classroom....

[Jayson Michaels]

How could fighting be too much? Really. The principle had gotten sick of Jay being dragged to his classroom last week for fighting and now this morning for fighting. The principle had given Jay in school suspension and everything now he was at his wits end, so he offered Jay a deal.

Become a tutor and he would keep out of school suspension off the table, but Jay still got in school suspension. Jay thought about it, cause if he got in one more fight he could face expulsion. So he knew that he had to take the deal no matter how much he hated the idea. Jay agreed. Besides he had to be in school to see make sure Trixie was okay.

Jay got his tutor schedule and a list of students. He was one of those guys that the principle claimed had so much potential, but never applied it. That was kind of the point, which was why this was pointless. Jay did not think he should have to do this, but oh well. he would if it kept him in school. Not that he liked school, but still. his sister was here.

Jay walked into the classroom. He had expected some cheerleader, popular girl, or male jock, not a chick he did not recognize decked out in a Roxy t-shirt and what were the shoes vans...only girls into sports dressed like that. This would be interesting. jay smirked and sat across from Lily, "I'm Jay...you tutor." He introduced himself. "So geometry...and...Literature." he looked over the rest. "Now why are you failing?" He was just curious.

[Lily Spencer]

Lily's eyes followed the boy as he made his way across the room toward her. He sat down and flashed a knowing sort of smirk. Lily wasn't really sure what it was supposed to mean. Jay...the tutor...first question...why she was failing? Because she could care less about learning all this crap that she was never ever going to use? Was that a good enough answer? Lily let out a little sigh, knowing that she didn't have the guts to be that much of a smart ass.

"Well...I've missed a lot of school lately I guess...I had all the assignments sent to me in Colorado but I didn't really keep up on them..." she sort of trailed off, twirling a strand of her hair. She wasn't really used to boys talking to her, at least not good looking popular ones. She wasn't that girl that guys talked to. So naturally, she felt a little uneasy about the whole situation.

She was still so mad at herself for letting herself get so far behind in everything. Stupid...stupid Lily. When she was getting D's but passing everything, she'd been able to keep herself under the radar. Now her parents were getting on her too...threatening to not let her train as much which was totally lame because she had to train. Sure the season was pretty much over, but there was still next year. Lily wouldn't be getting X-games gold again or first place in the other competitions if she didn't train hard. The other girls were training hard, Lily needed to stay consistent.

"So um...are you tutoring me in both then?" she asked, sounding a little meek. She'd been vague about where she'd been because she didn't want to sound like she was bragging or anything. People sometimes took it the wrong way when she explained about it all, as if she was just trying to impress people or something. But she wasn't really trying...she was just really good...

[Jayson Michaels]

Jay nodded. He understood that. Jay was the guy who did mediocre homework, but aced all his exams. His teachers knew he was intelligent, more then they really thought, but he just liked to slack off. It was ironic he was a tutor, but it beat expulsion. Jay could not afford that. "I have a list here of what you need to be caught up on." Thanks to the principle. Jay was suppose to get Lily caught up on all these chapters her teacher claimed she was failing. What fun that would be.

Jay did not mind Lily. She was kind of cute in a Sporty Spice kind of way, but tutoring and being a people person was not his thing but he would try. "You could say that. The principle and your teachers seem to think I am the best person to teach you both subjects. I guess time will tell." After all his status in school depended on the progress Lily made. It was not like Jay could claim to tutor her, and then not tutor her, there were dates he had to meet her and stuff.

"Why don't we start with you telling me what you exactly know about math and literature. Such as what do you know how to do exactly..." Although that question was more for math, cause Literature...really she needed tutoring in that, how did one tutor Lit. "How is you old style English?" He meant how was her Shakespeare, could she understand it, or did the words sound like a bunch of gibberish.

[Lily Spencer]

He didn't seem so bad. He wasn't nerdy or too into it at least. That was certainly a plus. If possible she wanted to get out of this altogether. She wouldn't actually fail would she? She'd still pull some passing grades in the end. Or at least she hoped she would. She'd never actually failed before so she was still in a bit of denial.

"What I know? I don't know," Lily said. The question was sort of vague. What did she know? She could do basic math....as for geometry, she was okay with that whole triangle formula thing...but she didn't even know what they'd done since then. And old English? When someone told her what it meant, it made sense, but as for deciphering it for herself...not so much. "Yeah...not really a strong point...I can't say I've really tried all that hard though," she admitted. "I'd really rather be doing just about...anything else," she said, wondering if somehow he'd very cooly let her off the hook.

"Oh, like this," she said holding up the copy of Hamlet she was supposed to be reading. "If you're good at all that old English stuff maybe you can just like give me the Cliff notes version...like enough to pass the test. I don't care if I actually do well. When am I ever actually going to use this anyway?" Lily said. Okay what she was saying was very true. She just usually wasn't so open about it. Maybe her blase attitude was supposed to make her seem cooler...but she had to get herself by...and the cooler he thought she was, the more likely he'd let her off the hook.

Lily might not have been very social when it came to school but she had a lot guy friends through her brother and mostly through snowboarding and all guys were a same. The better they thought of a girl, the easier they'd go on them. Lily didn't think much of her looks, even though she was quite pretty, so she didn't think she could get by on just them. She did think however she could win him over by acting cool, if that was even possible for her. It was worth a try at least.

[Jayson Michaels]

Jay smirked, "You are different then I thought you would be. I was expecting a whiny cheerleader, painting her nails, asking me to explain what the word Literature means. I am glad that is not the case." He really as glad she as not so dumb cheerleader. Most of them had horrible IQ's, except his sister. "So you just don't like to try, cause there is other stuff you would rather be doing then boring school work." He did not care how it sounded. Jay was an ass, but he gave her a boyish smile. She was just like him. There were always better things to do then school.

"Oh...I hate to burst your bubble sweetheart, but there is no cliff notes version to Hamlet or anything dealing with Old English. There is too much behind the words, multiple dimensions and meanings. It comes in handy when you least expect it." He gave her a devilish smile. His voice dropped to a soft poetic tone, "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

He had only done that once before, to Emma when he quoted Wuthering Heights. "It's also a beautiful language. The reason for knowing old English is for appreciation of history." See he paid attention. Sometimes. Secretly Jay liked Shakespeare and crap, but he would never admit to it.

"So the bigger question is do we do math or literature first." He was not even sure which one to begin with. All he knew was he was stuck here for weeks until something changed. Although Lily was not bad at all. It could be worse, so considering, Jay thought he got the better end of the deal.

[Lily Spencer]

"Yeah...cheerleader...definitely not me, try snowboarder," Lily said. She was surprised that a guy like him wouldn't prefer a cheerleader. Maybe he was just being nice. Lily didn't even compare to the cheerleaders. She was muscular and not nearly as pretty. Okay, Lily was really pretty, but she didn't think she was, so she just thought of herself as plain in comparison to the other girls. The girls that this guy probably dated.

"Well, I guess so," Lily said, but truthfully she didn't know. Maybe if she tried she'd still do poorly. She'd never tried so she didn't know. And her parents didn't care either. They didn't care about grades as long as she passed. They were more concerned about her career, her father being a former pro skier and her mother a sports publicist, clearly they were more concerned with the sport than grades, much like Lily was. But she still had to get through high school. Lily didn't have any plans for college, at least not right away. Maybe she'd go after she'd retired from snowboarding but that was too far in the future for her to consider right now.

She sighed when he said there was no cliffnotes version. And then he went and quoted some Shakespeare. And while it sounded nice, she hadn't a clue what it meant. "I don't have to memorize it, do I?" she asked with wide eyes. "What does it mean, anyway?" she asked, looking at him a little curiously. Oh, he was nice to look at. Annoyingly so, mostly because he was the type of guy who would never give Lily the time of day. He wouldn't have even been talking to her now if he didn't have to.

"It doesn't matter," Lily said. "I guess literature," she said mostly because the Shakespeare was pretty sounding even if it didn't make a word or sense. She crossed her legs and twirled a strand of her blonde hair. "So...Hamlet," she said quietly.

[Jayson Michaels]

"Snowboarding.....that explains it." The get up. Jay would have guessed skateboarder or a girl who chased skateboarders around, but snowboarder made sense. Now it was all coming together. Jay had no experience with snow sports, but this could be very interesting. "So is that recreationally or competitively." In other words for fun or did she make it more then a hobby. This girl was more interesting by the minute. Jay would definitely add her to his list of woman to talk to.

He had different lists, there were the women he slept with, which tended to be cheerleaders, or ones that were unbelievably hot, those he ignored which were the dorks, clingy, or ones that just needed help and then there were ones he would talk to, like Emma and now Lily. Yeah that list tended to be the shortest. Jay really had two lists. He was a bit of an ass. Okay maybe he was more then a bit, but occasionally there was a third list, like now. When he met someone that was different in his opinion.

He let out a laugh as he leaned forward, "No. You just need to pass the test. I happen to memorize interesting things. Comes in handy sometimes." Jay grabbed her copy of Hamlet and flipped it open. "So lit it is. We will begin with themes and motifs?" He opened it up to the first page, "Assuming you have read it...if not then, we should start with Act I scene I." Jay commented with a laugh.

This could be fun. Jay had no real faith as a tutor but apparently the principle saw some sort of potential in him. "See if you can understand the motif or the theme of the play, then understanding the words comes naturally."

[Lily Spencer]

He seemed semi-interested in her snowboarding. Lily wasn't usually one to brag, she usually didn't like to talk about her accomplishments at all, and when someone who actually followed the sport recognized her, she usually got embarrassed. But for some reason, with this guy, Jay, she was finding that she was having the urge to impress him...acting more blase' about school than she really was and actually wanting to admit how good of a snowboarder she was.

"I'm the current winter X-games gold medalist in women's half pipe," she said as if it wasn't a huge deal, even though it had been. She'd been the youngest girl to be awarded gold and there had been an article in Sports Illustrated about her as well as the fact that she'd made the cover of Snowboarding Girl magazine. In the snowboarding world she was kind of a big deal, the problem was that most people in Southern California didn't really follow snowboarding. And at school, she was a big fat nobody.

Lily didn't really have any sorts of lists. If she knew that Jay did, she wouldn't be surprised to know which one she was on. She just wasn't the type of guys wanted to date. Sometimes she wished she was, but she just wasn't. She didn't know really how to make herself up like a lot of the others did. She didn't own the right clothes or anything like that either. And more often than not, she didn't care, she just did her own thing, kept to herself, and saved her socializing for when she was with her snowboarding friends. However, it was times like this, that she wished she could be different...more likable...more relate-able. And for some reason, right now it was particularly bothering her. She just wanted to be normal...the kind of girl that boys were actually interested in...

He seemed to keep the conversation mostly to school work, which was another thing that Lily didn't particularly like, however she supposed that he was her tutor... "No...I haven't actually read it....we read bits aloud in class but I didn't really get it," she shrugged. "And I missed the first half cause I was at a snowboarding competition in Aspen," she explained. She'd placed first in that too, but she didn't say so, although she sort of hoped that he'd ask. What was she thinking? She couldn't actually be interested in this guy, could she?

As for the motifs and all that, she didn't really have much faith in what he said, nor did she really care to understand it. But she supposed that she had to at least try. Jay was going to probably end up hating her if she didn't try at all. Not to mention her parents would get on her. As lenient as they were when it came to her grades, they wanted her to at least pass.

[Jayson Michaels]

"So I am in the presence of an award winning athlete. I bow down to thee then." Jay said to her, "You are young to hold such a title, I am very impressed." He would have thought she was a beginner. Someone who says they snowboard, but stuck to the bunny slopes. So jay was impressed when he found out that was not the case, "I am learning a lot of interesting things today." He said with a sly grin. This girl was definitely different. All the girls he knew who rather cheer on athletes then be one.

"No one ever gets it when you read it aloud in class cause people butcher the words." The words were hard to say. Jay hated them yet he memorized them. Mostly cause girls would eat that shit up and it could almost always get him in a girls pants. So why not.

"Aspen huh...How did you do there?" Now he was curious. Was her title a fluke. Maybe she got lucky. Or was this chick really that good. Jay was interested. He always liked to learn about women. Friend zone or more then friend zone. When it came to women Jay was all about finding out information. He was a flirt no matter who the woman was.

Jay was a funny guy. Women were his game. She could be ugly or gorgeous. He would flirt. Usually there was a motive. The ugly girls were easy to fall prey to his words and lead them on and the gorgeous women always fell right into his hands and he could usually get into their pants. Jay was that way. He was an ass at times. Yet he always enjoyed learning more about people then letting them find out about him.