The Perfect Balance

Chapter 9

As time ticks by, he loudly notes that an hour is up when the clock strikes nine. "Is my dad home?" I snap. He sighs and shakes his head. "Then don't worry about it. Keep working."

By ten o'clock, he's finished his work and is complaining as he shoves it into his backpack. "Finally," he mumbles to himself.

"Doesn't it feel good to have finished?" I ask him.

"No," he mutters. "I have a headache."

"But now you can go to class with your completed homework," I respond.

"Every boys dream," he retorts. He looks at me and sighs yet again. "How do you do this for, like, six hours a day?"

"I just think about how all this studying is going to benefit me when SATs come around," I explain to him.

"Do you ever have fun?" he asks me and I take a long pause.

"My type of fun or your type of fun?" I ask as I continue to retake my notes. This is considered a break for me. I'll do this for fifteen minutes before going back to my AP homework.

"Well, what do you consider fun?" he asks. I think about it for a minute before shrugging. I consider reading fun but I don't think that answer would satisfy him.

"I don't have time for fun," I answer. For the last three years, I've been doing the same things. I didn't have a job my freshman or sophomore year so I was consumed with school work and that's it. Last year I took on four AP classes, which kept me from going to many family events in fear of falling behind. My mom encouraged me to do half of last years load, but as you can tell, I didn't take her advice.

"Tell me, Orion, have you ever kissed a boy?" he questions, catching me completely off guard. My head practically snaps up to look at him before my eyes dart towards the open door.

"What are you talking about?" I hiss and he laughs.

"I'm going to take that as a no," he replies.

"What does this have to do with anything we're talking about?" I demand to know.

"It has a lot to do with what we're talking about," he responds.

"Have you?" I ask after a moment of thought.

"Kissed a guy?" he asks before shaking his head. "Nah, I'm not into guys."

"I meant a girl," I respond.

"Oh..." he trails before laughing. "What do you think?"

I think you've done a lot more than kiss girls. Of course I'm not going to say that though. That'd be weird. That would mean that I thought about you... "I don't know. Yeah?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I have not," he responds. I scoff without even realizing it as I copy my notes. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes," I answer honestly.

"And why is that?" he asks.

"I don't know. You just seem like the type of guy to have gotten with a lot of girls," I respond, unsure of how else to phrase it. Saying romantically experienced would've sounded way too nerdy.

"Mouth kisses are gross," he expresses and I don't feel like sharing my opinion because what do I know? "Chewed up food and germs- it's nasty. I definitely don't want to do that."

"So you haven't kissed a girl by choice?" I ask him and he nods, resting his head on my blanket as he sits with his back against my bed frame.

"Precisely," he answers, staring up at my ceiling. "And you haven't kissed a guy because...?"

"I've been too busy with work and school to even think about guys," I respond. But then again, it's not like guys think about me.

"Orion have you seen-?" my father interrupts our conversation as he stands in the doorway. His eyes fall on Diego, who is sitting cross legged on the carpet beside me. "There you are."

"Hey, dad. We were just doing some homework," I tell my father with a forced smile. My heart is racing. Had my father heard me talking about kissing boys and relationships with a boy staying in our house, he'd have put ten locks on my bedroom door.

"Really?" my father asks with a large smile. His source of happiness is probably at the fact that I'd gotten Diego to actually bother with his homework. "Diego, I have a few applications for places in town on the kitchen table."

"No need, I got him a job," I tell my dad, who seems even more surprised and happy.

"Really? Where?" he queried.

"The coffee shop next door to the bookstore," I tell my father, who nods in approval.

"When do you start?" my father asks Diego.

"I'm not sure yet. Sue said she'd get back to me," he replies as he looks at my father.

"This is great!" my father grins. "I'm real proud of you two. Keep up the good work." With that, my father leaves the room.

"Well that's my cue," Diego announces as he stands up, brushing off his pants as he grabs his book bag. "It was nice doing homework with you."

"You're not even going to wait until he's settled down? What if he steps into your room and finds that you're not there?" I say in surprise, and a little hurt. Was he that eager to get away this entire time and I hadn't noticed?

"You'll cover for me right?" he checks and I stare at him with a blank look on my face. "You're a bad liar, aren't you?"

"No," I retort quickly, glaring at him for thinking such a thing.

He cringes slightly. "Yeah...you are," he informs me of the information I already knew. "You know, I thought that strict parents create the best liars. But I guess that's just parents with rebellious kids."

"I'm rebellious," I tell him with a slightly open mouth.

With a smirk, he leans against the door frame. "Oh really? Sneak out with me tonight."

"I can't. I have homework," I reply, earning a laugh from him.

"Yeah, you sure are a rebel. Have fun doing your homework, Orion," he responds with a laugh as he exits my bedroom. I stare at the door as he shuts it.