A Little More Than Xs And Os

The story of my stupidity

Introduction

I walk into the kitchen on this fine morning to see my mom waving a rag over the oven and the fire alarm going off.

Can I just stop right there and point out that this is almost a daily thing?

Who needs alarm clocks when you have a fire alarm?

"Oh! Good! Adam, you're up! Will you go turn off the fire alarm for me? I didn't even know that thing still worked!"

I grab a chair from the kitchen table and drag it down the hall. By now my little sister has woke up and my older brother is running out in the hall with a baseball bat. "It's okay, Ryan. It's just mom's cooking."

He makes a face. "That's still not okay. Someone should put a stop to that." I jump onto the chair and look for an "off" switch.

"Mom! There's not an off switch on this thing!" I screech at the top of my lungs.

She runs into the hall and sees that we're all up. "Oh! That's right! Sorry!" She runs back to the kitchen and throws up a rolling pin. I catch it one-handed and bang it against the darn thing. It shuts-up, needless to say.

"What is going on?!" Dad comes out now. Yes, this is how we spend our "one big happy family" moments.

I jump off the chair and bring the rolling pin and the chair back to the kitchen. I take a peek at what would've been our breakfast. "Mom," I yell. "What'd you cook for breakfast?"

She runs in the kitchen with a rag still in her hands. "Cinnamon buns," she says depressingly.

A puff of smoke rolls out from the oven and I go to the pantry to find us all Pop-tarts. I hand one out to everyone and pour everyone a glass of milk. "Thanks Adam," Kelsey, my little sister says.

I take mine on the fly. "I got to get to school! Big game today!"

Mom rolls her eyes. "Adam. You have to make me a deal. You keep getting to school way too early and you spend way too much time after school for just football. You have plenty of free time, I can see. But I also see your report cards come home."

"How? I never get them." Which isn't a lie.

"Oh, I know. I ask the principal for them directly and when I get them I throw them in the trash."

Mother of the year, right there.

"So what do you want me to do?" I ask. She sets her glass of milk down. "You're going to sign up for a student tutor. And I'm going to call up to the school to make sure you do it today. I mean it, Adam."

I grab the keys off the rack and my drumsticks off the kitchen counter. I throw my bookbag over my shoulder. "Uh-huh. Okay, sure." I roll my eyes and walk out the door.

I admire my birthday present. The bright red convertible mustang wows me everytime I see it. "Adam!" my mother calls out and runs up to me. "I need to see the keys." I hand them over, thinking nothing.

She sighs, "That was too easy." I look at her, wondering what she's talking about. "You really do need a tutor."

"Hey!" I exclaim. She rolls her eyes and walks back to the house. "Why'd you take them?" I shout.

She looks at me over her shoulder. "Because until your grades come up, you're not being rewarded by riding in that to school."

I would yell that that's not fair, but it is, because I just handed the keys over.

So you see how stupid I am? Maybe I really do need a tutor. But what do I know?

I'll just walk to school. I have to stay in shape anyways and it's not that far. Maybe a mile. I'm sure my friends will give me a ride.

In fact, I think I see Trevor right now. I wave at him and he slows down. "What's up, Greene?" He smirks.

"My mom took away my keys."

He laughs, "Okay, hop in." I go around to get in the passenger side.

When I close the door, I tell him the sad news. "Thanks. My mom's making me get a tutor and until I can bring up my grades she's taking away the Mustang."

"Not cool man. You should just hide your grades from her." He slowly makes a turn.

I mumble, "Wish I could even get my hands on it before she throws it away." He just laughs.

The next thing I know, we're at school, and I'm getting out of his car. "Thanks again!" I say, and I run up to the guys in a minute's notice. Half of them have their girlfriends with them. Which brings me to wonder where mine is.

"There she is!" I shout when Colleen arrives on the scene. I drape my arm around her and she leans into me. "Are we on for Aaron's tomorrow?" Tyler asks me.

I lower my head, "Nah, man, probably not. My mom took my ride." They all laugh at me and I hold out my hands to let them know there are no keys.

"Why'd she take them?" Tyler asks. Tyler's a really good friend of mine, but he clearly doesn't know what kind of shape my grades are in.

"I have to bump up my grades and get a student tutor and all that mess and mom said I couldn't ride to school in my mustang if she 'didn't see improvement'." They lean back on the walls.

"So, you're failing your classes, and you have no ride to school. You're having to get a tutor. Are we ever going to see you? It sounds like you're going to be pretty busy from here on out." Colleen says, but no pouting occurs.

"Well, I mean, I guess it'll take some time but we all know I won't take it seriously!" They all laugh again, but nervously. Colleen doesn't look amused. "What?" I ask.

She glances around her, "Maybe this is a good time to tell you what I've been meaning to tell you."

The boys start to back up now and I look at her, anxiously. "I think we should break up." All the guys "Ohhhhh!"

I stare at her for a minute. "If that's how you feel." I say after what I think to be forever. I can't believe all this bad news is being dumped on me at the same time. She walks away slowly, and joins up with her friends talking gossip.

"Dude. Harsh." Tyler says, putting his hand on my shoulder. I barely glance at him, and he removes his hand.

I walk to the office. This day has taken a curve for the worst. It's all because of my stupidity! If I was just that guy on the football team that had the fantasy that is reality! But I'm not that guy and it's obvious now.

My only option is to sign up for a tutor. Let's just get this over with.

The amazing cover above is by the wonderful bear_smiles! Check out her book! I hope you liked this first chapter!