𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 30 | 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝗲

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"Wasn't that due, like, a week ago?" Ari questioned as he swept the middle of the record store floor with a broom. 

"Yeah, well, fuck my grades," I grumbled, staring intensely at the past-due calculus worksheet laid out on the front counter tabletop. I sat in the chair, bent over, frustratingly hunched in an uncomfortable position, trying to remember how to solve the problems on the page. But alas, my brain was a scrambled mess.

"Need any help?" Ari suggested, giving the broom a rest and clapping his paws together to dust them off. The store was already closed and empty, despite the two of us (and Vic, who was somewhere in the building). The sun was almost gone from the sky, wrapping up another hard day of work. Well, for Ari, mainly.

"You don't have to be my tutor," I protested unsuccessfully as Ari walked up to the desk across the counter, grabbing the worksheet and reading it for himself. 

"This is easy," Ari stated nonchalantly, stealing the pencil in my hand and pressing the worksheet down onto the countertop. He leaned over and started to do my homework for me, scribbling complex equations and various digits. 

Stunned by his cognitive abilities, I leaned in further and took a peek at his work. It was as if he were the math teacher himself, blazing through the problems like it was a competition.

"...You're really smart," I admired, a little shocked. My friend group and, like, most of the people I surround myself with were widely known to be less academically advanced, so this was a pretty new sight for me.

"Hm, it's nothing, really," Ari muttered, already flipping to the second page. "I just pay attention, unlike some people." He eyed me on that last jab, making me crack up with laughter.

"But, seriously, have you..." I rested my arms down on the counter as a perch for my chin to sit on. "...Have you ever thought about going to college?"

"Pssh, yeah, right," Ari scoffed, barely taking his eyes off of the worksheet. "I don't have high enough grades to get into any schools."

"But, you're really good at math."

"Yeah and that's it," Ari sighed, pulling out his phone to use the calculator app. "Besides, what's the point if I'm gonna go deaf?"

"I highly doubt there aren't any courses for deaf people," I assumed. "Maybe there are some professors that teach in ASL? The thing that I'm teaching you?"

"I dunno, Harvey," Ari shook his head, reaching the bottom of the last page. "I never really planned on going to college."

"What was your plan?" I wondered, lifting my head from my arms. "For after you graduate?"

Ari stood up and spun the paper around on the countertop, sliding it over to me. "Well, I wanted to pursue music, but..." 

"...Yeah. Got it." I didn't need him to finish that sentence. I grabbed the worksheet and shoved it into my backpack. I didn't have any folders or anything, so whenever work went in there, it usually came out all crumpled up and wrinkled. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Ari smirked, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a set of keys. "You almost ready to go? I gotta lock up."

"Yeah, I'm ready," I affirmed, zipping up my bag and shoving my arms through the straps. Ari tossed his keys into the air and caught them one-handedly as I sat up from the front counter and joined him in leaving the store.

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The repeating clicking sound of the wheels filled the night atmosphere as Ari and I biked our way through our quiet town. We passed under several orange-glowing overhead lampposts, illuminating the leaves of steadily growing trees, displaying the rebirth of nature during the spring season.