Kris nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He got up for a moment and went back to his desk, grabbing his textbook and coming back, flipping to the unit they had just finished. The information here would be much more reliable than his half-assed notes. "Not great," he admitted, kind of embarrassed at his shitty handwriting. "I can probably try and make it legible for the project, though," He said with a slight chuckle.
Paris nodded a bit and flipped the page of his notes. "My handwriting is okay… it's nothing special, though." He skimmed the words quietly, his face scrunching up ever so slightly as he concentrated. His handwriting was actually quite nice, if a bit simple. The letters were neat and even in their own rushed sort of way. Paris bit down on the inside of his cheek absent-mindedly, looking almost a bit pouty. "Hopefully this thing doesn't have to be too fancy."
"Are you kidding? Your handwriting's great, dude. Way better than mine." The black-haired boy insisted, admiring how neat the blond's writing was. He ripped out a sheet of paper from his notebook and placed it between them, as sort of a "rough draft" of their posterboard. "Shit, I dont think the teacher has any posterboards we can use. One of us is gonna have to buy one after school." Kris recalled that he probably had enough pocket money to buy one. His parents probably wouldn't care enough to buy him one. Either that or they just don't have enough money to spare.
Paris shrugged a bit, glancing over as Kris pulled out a piece of paper. "Uh… right…" He replied awkwardly, painfully aware of how broke he was. His father sure as hell wouldn't buy him a posterboard either. "Do you think the art teacher might have some? Or any of the other teachers?" He asked. "Then we don't have to worry about buying one. I guess we'll have to set up a time to work on it outside of school, as well… Ms. Morris doesn't normally let us do this stuff in class."
"Yeah, I can ask some of my other teachers. I have art next, I can probably get one there." Kris cursed in his mind when he realized he would have to work on this with Paris outside of school. God, this is why he hated projects. It was already awkward as hell- and working with others outside of school was even worse. "Uh, yeah, true. When are you free?" He cringed. It almost sounded like he was asking him out on a date. He couldn't wait for this project to be over and done with.
"Um… well… I have to work tomorrow, so… Friday, maybe?" Paris replied awkwardly. "I should be free then. Where should we meet? My dad… uh…" He paused, trying to think of a way to word it without being suspicious, "…he's busy, and he doesn't like it when I bring people over, so… we could do it at your house or in the library or something. I don't really care, to be honest."
Kris nodded, clicking and fidgeting with his pen nervously. "Yeah man, Friday works for me. And uh, my place is fine. My parents usually aren't home for a couple hours after school, so it'll work out." He ripped a small strip of paper out of his notebook and quickly, but as neatly as possible, jotted something down on it before handing it to Paris. "Uh, here. My number. I'll text you my address and stuff later."
"Oh… okay. Thanks." Paris hesitated for a brief moment before accepting the slip of paper and sticking out into his pocket. "Hopefully we can get this thing over with quickly… I hate doing projects like this." He sighed softly. "I dunno why teachers still assign them. No one likes them. Students don't like doing them, and teachers don't even like grading them. It's such a waste of time."
"No problem," He said with a light smile. He crossed his arms over the back of his chair (or, well, the front), and rested his head on them gently as he talked to Paris. It was still kind of awkward, but his anxiety subsided as he talked to the smaller boy more. "I know, right? As if we don't already have enough homework and shit to worry about. I think I'd rather just do a test at this point." He was a horrible test-taker, but if it would spare him the anxiety and awkwardness of a group project, then he'd take it any day.
"Yeah, I've got way more important things to do than some dumb project about trig functions." Paris scoffed a bit and rested his chin on the knuckles of one hand. "All of this stuff is so stupid. If they're so insistent on 'getting us ready for the real world', then why don't they teach us something actually useful. I can guarantee I'm never gonna use any of this garbage again." School also took away time that he could be spending working and getting money so that he could run away with his younger sister. He didn't want her to be in that house anymore, even though he took the brunt of the damage most of the time.
"Exactly. Like I'm gonna remember this shit. Hell, I can't even remember what we learned last week." He chuckled, absentmindedly doodling on his notes. "Wish they'd teach us the important stuff. Like, I dunno, taxes? Getting a job and shit? The stuff we actually need to succeed in life. Kids walk out of here knowing math equations but not the first thing about starting a life for themselves. It's stupid."
"Yeah, right. Like, I have no idea how to file taxes or buy a house or anything important. Like, congrats, I can figure out what the sine of some random point is, but I can't actually be a functional member of society or anything." Paris huffed, jotting down a couple of things to add to the project. "It's so stupid. Like, it's like they want us to fail at living."
"Right? And then, not to mention, they expect us to go to college, get even more 'education', and then be in debt for the rest of our lives. It never ends, man." Kris wrote down some things too, he didn't want Paris to be doing all of the work. Not like he felt like he had much to contribute, but still. "And heaven forbid, if you don't go to college, you're seen as a failure and someone who's gonna end up homeless." The boy said in a sarcastic tone, smiling.
"Yeah, right. Like… damn, I'm already in debt and I'm not even out of high school." Paris laughed weakly, running his fingers through his hair. "You really think I can afford college like this? I'm probably not gonna go. Or I can go to one of those work colleges where there isn't tuition."
"Damn.." Kris said, half-wondering why Paris was already in debt at this age. He ignored this thought, as it was really none of his business. "Honestly, I don't think I'm gonna go to college either. My parents really want me to, though. They act like we have enough money to afford it. But nah, there's no way I'm going. Probably just gonna get a job somewhere, that sounds like my best bet."
"Yeah. My dad doesn't really care about that kinda thing." Paris sighed and shrugged a bit. "But I guess that's… uh… personal. Don't worry about it." He scribbled down a few more things in his notes, not looking up anymore. "Make sure you write down anything that seems important. I'd like to pass this project."
Kris nodded a little. "Alright." He didn't question it any further. Attempting to get his mind back on track, he began reading through the textbook more and jotting down things that looked important. He didn't really care about passing- he was already miserably failing the class, so what difference would it make? Though, he recognized that it was important to Paris, so he tried his best to do this right. After writing a couple more things, the bell rang and their work time was cut off. "Damn it," Kris grumbled, gathering up his stuff and standing up. "Uh, guess we gotta go now. I'll see about getting a posterboard and text you if I do. Seeya tomorrow." And with that, he grabbed his backpack and left. Wow. He hadn't had an honest, nice conversation with someone like that in a long time. It was…refreshing. As he left, he realized something- it was probably the first time he had left that classroom with a smile.
"Alright, bye. See you tomorrow." Paris waved to Kris and sighed softly as he got to his feet. He gathered his things and left the classroom, not smiling, but in a decent enough mood nonetheless. It had been a while since he'd properly talked to anyone other than his sister, honestly, and it wasn't half bad. He almost enjoyed being able to talk to someone. He shook his head a bit and continued on with his day. No… I shouldn't be dwelling on stuff like that. It's just a stupid school project. I'm sure he'll never want to talk to me again once it's over. I don't exactly have the most charming personality. At the end of the day, he reluctantly walked out the front doors of the school and started heading home.
Kris let out a sigh of relief as he finally got home from school, a posterboard in his hands. He had managed to get it from his art teacher, who was more than happy to give it to him. Honestly, she was probably the only teacher that he liked. He made his way up to his room, picking up his cat, Hank, as he walked. The black and white cat was fat and pretty heavy, and he carried him upstairs on his shoulder, softly petting and kissing his head. They made it to his room and he sat down the cat, the posterboard, and his backpack on his bed. God. Finally he was able to somewhat relax. He flopped down onto the bed next to his cat and pulled out his severely cracked phone to text Paris.
hey dude. i got the posterboard :)
Paris got home and immediately locked himself in his room, not wanting to come into contact with his father at all. He pulled out his homework and started scribbling down the answers with a soft sigh. He was pretty much in a trance until he heard his phone buzz. Huh? Who's texting me? Oh, it must be Kris… He picked up his phone and read the message, going ahead and adding Kris as a contact while he had it open.
Cool, thanks
He then put his phone back down, finished his homework, and headed to bed early so that he could wake up before his father in the morning.
(wanna time skip to friday? since they're probably not going to interact much before then)
(Yep! That's fine ^^)
Before he knew it, it was Friday, and Paris was about to come over to his house. Oh god, it had been a long time since he had someone over to his house. He frantically tried to tidy up the place, especially his room, which was a huge mess. He also hoped that Paris would be able to find his house okay. He had sent him his address the other day so hopefully he didn't have to worry about that. Thankfully, his parents wouldn't be home for a while, so it would be just the two of them. That also made it more nervewracking. Once he finished cleaning up, he sat on the couch and anxiously waited for the blond boy to arrive.
Paris pulled up a GPS on his phone so that he could find Kris' house more easily. He couldn't drive himself, and he didn't have a bike or anything, so he would have to walk. It wasn't super close, but he didn't mind. Getting out to walk for a while felt pretty good, anyway. Eventually, he made it and knocked on the door, sticking his phone back in his pocket. He was limping a little, but he already had an excuse prepared if Kris were to bring it up. He was just hoping it wouldn't come up so he wouldn't have to worry about being convincing.
Kris's heart jolted a bit when he heard a knock at the door, and quickly went to answer it. "Hey, dude." The taller boy greeted him as he opened the door. After a moment, he stepped back a little and held the door open for him. "Uh, come on in."