Long Live Us

The idea of being on tour and living life to the fullest was a great one, but there were several flaws. For one, I knew I wouldn't get as much time alone with my girlfriend, and even though we were in a band together, it was necessary for us to have that. Then, there was the fact that while we're out there trying to take on the world, we'd have to come down from that high long enough to keep up with our studies. No kid wants to think about school while they're having the time of theirl ife.

This brings us back to our current situation. The five of us were sitting around with our parents, waiting to meet the tutors that would keep us in check with our school work while we were on tour. Stella and I were seated away from each other, because of her mom and dad, but Aubree and Tom were curled up together on the couch. Naturally, this bothered us, but we simply bit our tongues.

Minutes passed and evenutally there was a knock on the door. Apparently Mr. Gaskarth told them all to gather at once, because when the door swung open, four adults stepped into the room. We kept our mouths clothes and waited patiently while they greeted our parents and shared in minute-long conversations. I think it's safe to say we were all dreading this- Well, all of us but Aubree, that is.

"Which one of you is Nate?"

"That'd be me," Nate held his hand up, but barely even looked at the man in front of him. "You're my tutor?"

"Indeed. I hear you're a grade lower than everyone else. You're going to have to buckle down pretty hard so you can graduate."

"No one even bothered to ask me if that's what I want to do," Nate challenged him. "What if I wanted to drop out?"

"Well, I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen. Let's go review everything you've been learning in school, okay?"

Nate groaned, dragging himself from the room to trail behind the middle-aged man. Mr. Merrick didn't seem offended by Nate's attitude, though, but then again, he always did connect with his son easily.

Next, a woman that looked to be about thirty-five made her way to Aub. She greeted the younger girl with a smile and a shake of the hand. The two of them instantly jumped into conversation.

"I'm Mrs. Harris," she beamed. "I'm so excited to work with you. I love fresh minds that are interested in learning more."

"Just promise you won't let me lag behind. I'm determined to graduate early."

"I promise."

With a big smile on his face, Mr. Dawson motioned for his daughter and Mrs. Harris to follow him out of the house. They were probably going to head over to the Dawson home and make Aubree start on her work already. I knew Aub was stressed with everything going on around her, but her dedication to her education really did amaze me.

After Aubree and her dad had left with the tutor, another man made his way over Tom. Mr. Gaskarth pushed Stella over to where they were so she could meet her tutor as well. He seemed kind enough, I suppose, but Tom clicked with him a little sooner than Stella did.

"Are you two excited for tour?"

"Absolutely," Nate grinned. "But can you imagine trying to get everyone together for study time? Making these guys do something they don't want to is probably the hardest part of my job."

"Come on, Tom," Stella lightly pushed him. "You know we agreed to finish school so we could be signed."

From there, I pulled myself away from their conversation to stare at the woman standing in front of me. She didn't look to be any older than twenty-nine, wearing a skirt and buttom up shirt, with her blonde hair curled around her shoulders. Honestly, she looked like one of those slutty teachers that you would see in a music video. I rose an eyebrow and turned in my chair to look at my dad, but he was smiling at the woman. I could feel a knot form in my stomach. Something about this would go wrong, I just knew it.

"Jack Junior, right?" She held out her lightly tanned hand and bright red nails for me to shake. "I'm Ms. Tilley, your new tutor."

"Yeah," I nodded, awkwardly shaking her hand. "I gathered as much."

"Come on. Your dad already said I could walk you home so we could get to know each other a little better. I'm going to be a big part of you life now, Jack."

The words so smoothly rolled off her tongue, which made me feel even more obligated to follow them. I slowly stood from my seat and shot a wave to my girlfriend, who was talking to her brother and tutor, then left the house with Ms. Tilley. We walked in silence for a few seconds, before she cleared her throat and smiled.

"I hear there's some drama going on in the band," she glanced in my direction. "Mr. Gaskarth asked me to wear this-" she motioined to her current outift, "-because he thought it would be fitting for your first class. Sex education."

"Are you kidding me?" I snorted, stopping in the middle of the street. "Alex knows that... Nevermind, it's none of your business. I don't need sex education, Ms. Tilley, I promise."

"Call me Kathleen. And really, Jack, I have no choice but to make you study it for a few days. Mr. Barakat thinks it would do you some good to learn about it, too. I won't make it awkward of anything."

"Have you seen what you're wearing?" I eyed her, a small smile coming to my face. "I'll be lucky if my girlfriend doesn't screw all of this up by trying to kick your ass."

Kathleen laughed a little and gave a small shrug. Even she had to admit, the skirt was a bit short for her job description.

"Look, I'm really excited about this job. If you put your trust in me, you'll glide through the rest of high school with no problems.. Which means you have to take sex-ed. If it means anything, by doing this, you won't be required to take any physical education classes."

"Am I the only one taking it?"

"No. Everyone else will be forced to take at least one lesson on it."

"Great," I smiled sarcastically. "This is my stop. I guess I'll be seeing you soon, Kathleen."

"Absolutely," she gave my shoulder a soft squeeze. "Goodnight, Jack."

At least Kathleen was young enough for me to get along with. Maybe it would make life a little easier on me. The only problem was: Mr. Gaskarth had definitely planned this. I don't think he's trying to mess up my studies or my relationship, but this is certainly some kind of test. I'm stuck with a young, blonde, fine tutor.. Stella wouldn't be happy about this. But in the meantime, I have no reason to complain with Alex's choice.

Notes