The Nerd's Dark Side (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 4

Much to Thomas' relief, Gabriel isn't in any of his other classes. Much to his distress, Wes is in his last class of the day. He stops talking to his girlfriend as soon as Thomas is in his line of sight.

"Yo, Thomas!" Wes calls out from the corner of the room. Kianna slinks away to give the football player some space. "Come 'ere, bruh!"

Do I look like a lingerie set from Victoria's Secret? Thomas thinks. "Yeah, what you want?" he asks out loud, standing next to Wes.

Wes looks around the room. He then bows his head a says in a low voice, "Some buddies of mine wanna be part of your system."

"Um, system?"

"You know, what you do for me."

It takes Thomas a little longer than it should have. "I thought the deal was I help you pass your classes, and that's it," he says.

Wes shrugs casually. "Sorry, but they're failing, too. And one of them has a scholarship to a university."

"Good for him," Thomas shoots, now feeling snarky. "You know if I'm caught, I'm screwed."

"That's why I thought up of tutoring." Thomas gives Wes a blank look. He goes on to explain, "You can come over to any of our houses and do the homework there. It'll be about an hour, maybe two."

"So, what's in it for me?"

Instead of telling Thomas, Wes pulls out his wallet. "For every assignment you do, you can make five bucks easy. And there's only three more guys. Four times five is twenty, so . . ."

Thomas mulls the offer over. Twenty bucks for the same assignment would definitely help him feel secure. And he's 16, and lives in a town where the minimum age to be able to work is 18. He can probably pull it off long enough to get the things he'll need to relax.

"What will it be?" Wes asks, interrupting Thomas' thought process. "You in?"

Thomas chews on the inside of his cheek. "Yeah," he says.

_________

When the class is over, Wes and Thomas plan out the operation. Starting tomorrow (Thomas states he wants some time to himself before it happens), he'll go to one of the guy's house after school or practice. With that he'll be doing the assignments they need done. The guys will be around to keep him company, and yet at the same time ignore him. As soon as Thomas is done, he'll collect his money, and he'll go home.

By the time Wes mentions the upcoming projects, Thomas puts his foot down. "I'm not going to do those alone! If you guys are willing to help, that's fine." He crosses his arms.

Wes just laughs. "Alright, that's fine. As long as you tell us what to do, I'm sure we'll be OK with it." The buses arrive in front of the boys and the other kids.

Finding his bus, Thomas waves at Wes before stepping inside the vehicle. The kids from middle school are already there, talking loudly over the others. The driver grunts at Thomas and tells him to find a seat.

Now would be the time to play his favorite music, but he accidentally left his iPod at home. Most of his songs are night-core, and the high pitched singing is far better than the screeches Thomas has to hear for the rest of the ride home.

Not only does he have to put up with them, Thomas is out of his supplies, too.