Tutor Session with Alfred - RP

[quietcanada]

He was supposed to be meeting Alfred to help him study for their quiz in Chemistry they had in just a couple of hours. He placed his book bag down on the lunch table, and took his books out of it. Hopefully Alfred would be on time, since they only had an hour for lunch.

Comments

[alfredfyeajones]

Alfred looked rushed into the cafeteria, notebook in hand. Not wanting to be too distracted with food, he went straight to the dessert section and grabbed some soft serve. Then he scanned the tables full of people, until he finally found his brother, sitting at one of the back tables.

“Hey, Matt!" he said, as he made his way over.

[quietcanada]

Matthew brightened at the sound of his brother's voice. It never failed, when he heard the happiness there, he couldn't help but smile a REAL smile. His brother, and now maybe Lars, had been the only two to ever really see it. (Maybe Feliks, but he wasn't sure about that one.)

"Alfred!" He said. "Good! You brought your notebook!" He grabbed his own notebook and opened it to the first page of notes. "I know you can memorize this pretty quickly." He said, motioning for him to sit down. "After the quiz, and the test next week, I promise you can forget all about it, okay?" He smiled.

[alfredfyeajones]

Alfred grinned, as he took his first spoonful of ice cream. "So, what are we learning?" To tell the truth, Alfred didn't really have any good notes in his notebook. A paper and pencil meant doodling, which led to comics, which led to not listening at all. So really, he was helping himself by NOT taking notes.

[quietcanada]

"We're learning the basics right now." Matthew started. "Atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons...basic stuff that everything is made up of." He paused, and pushed his three pages of notes at Alfred. "I don't expect you to copy, these. But I think looking over them will help." He opened his book to a certain and also showed Alfred the pictures and diagrams of atoms.

He started explaining more to his brother, calling Alfred's attention back to the study session every few minutes, because Alfred would get so distracted.

He had come prepared for the elements on the Periodic Table they needed to know for the first quiz, with flash cards. He knew those helped Alfred memorize things. Hell, it helped Matthew memorize things. And if a trick worked once, it would work again.

[alfredfyeajones]

Alfred flipped through the pages of notes, trying to make sense of it all. He didn't mean to get distracted... its just; he had a lot more important things on his mind. All the time. But he would try and learn it, if only to be able to stay on his sports teams. After a minute of skimming through a couple weeks worth of lectures, he looked up.

"So... the protons and neutrons are clustered in the middle, and the electrons are buzzing around on the outsides?" he asked, looking to Matt for clarification. "But which one gives it the atomic mass?"

[quietcanada]

"That's correct, Alfred. But both the neutrons AND protons give it its atomic mass." Matthew answered without missing a beat. He had already tutored Lars in this, so this was the third time through his own notes. He knew he'd get a perfect score on this test. The matter was helping Alfred get a good score, too.

"Are you good on which elements we'll be tested on? Or do we need to go over those again?" Matthew asked. "And be honest with me. Don't say you're good and run out just because you have something else to do." He teased.

[alfredfyeajones]

"Well, I did leave Halo 3 on pause upstairs," he admitted with a grin. "But I guess that can wait... Knowing what Pb and K are might help..." he sighed. "What would I do without you?" he asked, shaking his head.

[quietcanada]

Matthew chuckled. He reached over and poked his brother in the forehead, like he'd done a million times before. "You'd do nothing but play video games all day." He smiled.

"Pb is Lead, and K is Potassium. Just think of Vitamin K, and that you get potassium from bananas." He suggested. Any time he could tie something in with food, he knew it would help Alfred.

[alfredfyeajones]

Alfred blushed a little- he hadn't meant to say that out loud. He didn't want his brother to think he depended on him.. even if he did sometimes. Not only as a tutor and a brother, but also as a friend. Matthew wasn't usually noticed by a lot of people, so he liked to think of himself as Matthew's friend. But now that Matthew had all these other close friends who were a lot more like him- patient, calm, rational (Well, maybe Feliks was an exception, but...)- what if he decided he didn't really need his obnoxious brother anymore? He knew a lot of people at this school didn't care too much for the American, but he didn't care. So why was he even thinking about this?

'Aww man, Matt's watching,' he thought to himself, snapping out of his thoughts.

"...Lead, and bananas, got it," he said abruptly. "That's a really bad combination... and really bad initials- seriously, who made these up?"

[quietcanada]

Matthew laughed. He'd noticed the thoughts cross his brother's mind and flicker across his eyes. "I believe a lot of the initials come from the Latin words for the elements. And don't get the two confused. Lead is not in bananas. Potassium is."

He caught his brother's eyes. "Alfred. You know I could never replace you, right? You're my brother." He said, softly, so no one would over hear. He didn't want to embarrass Alfred, but he wanted to sooth the fears he saw cross his face.

[alfredfyeajones]

He didn't say anything for a minute. Mom had always been able to read him like a book. He used to think she had special mind reading powers... Did Mattie inherit those powers? Or was he just that easy to read? Either way, it was a little startling.

"I... uhh, what?" he said finally.

[quietcanada]

Matthew reached over and ruffled his brother's hair. "No, you aren't that easy to read, Alfred. I'm just very observant." He smiled.

"Look...it's incredibly new to me to have friends other than you. But even when I'm used to it, I'm still gonna need my little brother around. You've been my BEST friend for years, and there's no getting around that." He explained. "I just thought you should know that." He smiled a genuine smile, one that reached up to those pretty violet eyes behind his glasses.

"Now...we still have a few minutes, wanna show me the comic you're drawing in Chemistry?" Matthew asked, changing the subject before Alfred became too uncomfortable with the touchy feely moment.

[alfredfyeajones]

Alfred pulled away at the touch and looked down. "S-stop doing that!" he said, really embarrassed now. He didn't really want to say this, but he figured that Matt would figure it out in a minute anyway, since he was thinking it. "Mattie; I never realized how much you give up just being with me. When I'm around; you're Alfred's brother, but when you're on your own, things go better for you- you get noticed."

[quietcanada]

Matthew was a bit shocked. Did Alfred really think that

[alfredfyeajones]

He remembered back when they were kids too- it actually made him really happy to be needed by his brother at school. If Mattie was lonely, he would always be there- it fit in with his whole playing hero thing that he had always done all his life. (Plus, it was nice that he could repay him for all those late nights staying up with him when he had a bad dream, just by skipping a kickball game so his brother would have someone to talk to

[quietcanada]

Matthew laughed again. "Don't worry. Just because two people sometimes need each other, doesn't mean that they aren't independent." He said, reading his brother's worries as easily as the notes in his notebook. "You may be growing up, but if you ever need me, you shouldn't hesitate to rely on me. Even if I have other friends, now, too."

"And yes. Where Mom can't step back and see that you're growing up, I can. You are growing up, and I'm very proud of you." He said, beaming. He really was, too. Alfred may not be a straight A student, but he DID give his classes the best he could, despite his protests that he didn't and didn't care to. Alfred was also a kind and caring person, in his own loud kind of way. He could even get his introverted, shy older brother to open up and laugh out loud.