It was too late to do anything when I got back home on Saturday, so, on Sunday, I spent the entire day cleaning the house. I couldn't remember the last time I did it; I never invited people over, so there was no need to make it look good. And my father certainly wouldn't expend the effort.

The task was daunting, and actually extremely exhausting. Our house was not a very big one: it only consisted of my room, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the den. I wouldn't need to worry about my father's room. I cleaned up all the garbage, dusted all the tables, and even scrubbed the floors. As I cleaned, I couldn't help but feel just a little embarrassed at my own squalor. Our family was not poor, by any stretch, but the years of neglect turned this house into something pathetic to show off.

"Well, I guess I can just do this. The ceilings may be yellow when it once was white, but there's nothing I can do about that. Not on my own." I tried to pass the time by humming myself a little tune, but I instantly regretted it as my thoughts drifted back to my mother. Would she be quietly singing as she did things like this too?

The cleaning took all day. By the time I was finished I had filled maybe four giant trash bags. But the house actually looked a lot better. Hopefully, touching up after my father wouldn't be this exhausting. Now I needed to decide on a time when Quinn could actually come over, which meant a time when my father would be somewhere else.

I groaned. That meant actually speaking to my father, and ignoring his prodding long enough to figure out when he's be at his sister's, or hitting the bar, or something. But he wasn't around tonight.

"Hardly a surprise." My weekends were usually completely free of his influence. I had no idea where he went, and neither did I care. Not that I could use that to my advantage; as if Quinn would ever study on the weekend.

But since Dad would be somewhere away, there was little else to do. I studied up on some of my bio, since Barch had announced our first test would be this week, and then decided to head on over to Jamie's to check on him. His parents weren't at home; they'd of course be at their restaurant, and so I figured it would be okay to go over without being announced.

Jamie was home, to my surprise, and he invited me in. Surprisingly, there was very little to say. He just said he was sorry for being such a douchebag, and I told him not to worry about it.

"And sorry about the other thing." He told me afterward. "About your mom."

"Hey, no big deal." I replied. "You were right about that. I never did think much of her." I had no desire to go into a conversation about her any further then that, and Jamie knew it, so he let the conversation drop.

"But if you feel that bad about it, we're thinking of hitting up Mackron in two weeks. You can buy the first round." I joked, and Jamie laughed. Now, things were back to normal between us.

"Wanna hit the arcade?" He asked. I agreed, and waited while he called up Joey. It was good to see Jamie well-adjusted so quickly. Last thing I wanted was my good buddy bummed out.

By the time we all met at the arcade, we had all but forgotten yesterday's unpleasantness at the restaurant. Jamie was on fire when we were racing, and he even did better then me at the light gun shooters, which was odd. I always won the shooters.

After we hit the arcade, I headed back home to call Quinn. Although it probably would have been easier to head over there myself, I wouldn't have been able to speak to her alone. She was already self-conscious enough about asking me for bio help, and it wasn't as if Joey or Jamie being there would make it easy.

"Hello." Quinn answered the phone.

"Hey, Quinn, it's Jeffy."

"Oh, hi Jeffy." Quinn's voice actually lowered a bit. Was she trying to keep things quiet?

"I just wanted to ask when would be a good day to stop by and, y'know, help you out with your bio?" I posed the question very directly so as to avoid Quinn having to say anything about tutoring. If she was with Sandi or someone else, we wouldn't make any progress if she had to say things out loud.

"Oh, yeah. We should do that. What about Wednesday?" She asked. Wednesday we had football practice.

"Sure!" I agreed. It would be easy to blow practice off. Us three guys did it all the time if it meant a date with Quinn, not that it happened that often.

"My place or yours?" I asked, only realizing after I said it that I had no idea whether or not my father would be home.

"Mine. My parents will be out, and I planned on using that night anyway for this." Quinn answered as I silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"But, uhh...I could swing Monday at your place to get started. I'll see you then. Bye." Quinn hung up quickly. Although I didn't mind that Quinn wanted to see me, I was concerned for my father. What hell would he cook up when he discovered Quinn and I were in my room? And, if things did go the way I wanted them, would the ensuing humiliation my father would ensue on her cause her to hate me, or land me in jail for finally snapping and murdering that asshole?

During class on Monday, I made sure Quinn was noticing my aptitude for our assignments. I didn't want her to freak out at the last minute and bail. Everyone in the entire school was looking at me strangely, but I ignored them. Joey and Jamie didn't say anything to me, but Kevin, who was in my class with Ms. Bennett, seemed to take offense.

"Dude, what are you, a brain or something?" He asked me when class was over. Economics was my 5th period, and I was eager to get to Barch's class quickly.

"Don't you have something better to do that piss me off? If not, I suggest buying some deodorant, dude. You stink." Kevin's bullshit was always annoying. When he was on the field, he could be tolerated because he kept his mouth shut. In school, we could have done much better without him.

"I'm just saying, dude, you aren't in the game anymore."

"We haven't had a single game yet." I returned. "I'm just not hitting the gym non-stop. We don't have to do that."

"I mean, come on, dude, you're a football player. We don't have to take tests and study, we have the game. If you need to get a by, I'm sure Coach Stevenson can help you."

"I don't need a by, Kevin, that's you, remember. Now get out of my face, you're irritating me!" I stormed off down the hall. I think I could have been more tactful. But Kevin didn't spread gossip, at least, he only did to the other football players, and I had a pretty good rapport with them, I think. I mean, they wanted me over Kevin to be the captain.

School ended without incident, and, when I got home, I realized my father hadn't arrived yet.

"Now, if Quinn can get here before he does, we can just head upstairs and stay quiet. Then Dad will be passed out by the time Quinn's ready to leave." It was a very chancy plan but maybe things would work.

To my fortune, Quinn arrived about an hour later. I eagerly brought her into my room. I couldn't help but feel a little giddy. I knew for a fact that she had never been inside Joey or Jamie's bedrooms before. I was the first one to get her in there. She took a seat on my bed.

"Is there a specific place you want to start, Quinn?" I asked. I had never tutored anyone before, but I had been tutored several times, in order to get off academic probation. I tried to approach it like they would. I knew that the test was going to be on ecology, as that was the only thing we were studying thus far. Quinn didn't answer me, so I just started from the beginning.

During our tutoring session, Quinn had her eyes on me, more than on the book. It was very exciting, and I tried not to show my excitement. But soon it actually started to unnerve me a little bit. It was as if she was looking at something at a museum, and not at my handsome face and ripping muscles.

"Hey, Quinn, is something wrong?" I asked. I knew that I had showered, shaved, combed my hair, and did a damn good job of it, before she came over. I even put on deodorant and cologne so that nothing could possibly offend her. Quinn didn't answer for a moment.

"Ummm...Jeffy." She started. I didn't exactly know what was going to happen. Was she going to make this more intimate? I was a little nervous, well, a lot nervous, actually. I had only gone as far as making out before. As much as I wanted to get closer with Quinn, the fact that I had absolutely no idea how to properly do things like that was a little daunting.

"Jeffy, can I ask you something?" Quinn asked me formally, which was weird. Quinn was always direct.

"Sure, anything!" I cheerfully agreed, having no idea where this would be going.

"What made you want to do science?" She asked. The answer to that was very simple; I learned it so I could tutor Quinn. Alone. But I absolutely could not tell her that. She'd think me some sort of creep or stalker. I had to think of something quick.

"Ummm...well...I do good at it." I replied. That wasn't a lie, I was doing well at it. Even before this year, I did have a decent handle on science. But, between football, Barch, and the jeers given to all the brains, I didn't really put forth the effort to learn it.

"But you did good at English too." Quinn pointed out, and I acknowledged that. English was actually the subject I did the best in at school before this year. That was partially due to Mr. O'Neill being a pretty easy grader, though. I didn't want to say that to Quinn.

"Well, I guess it's just more interesting." Coach Stevenson sometimes mentioned biochemistry during practice. When we were doing weight training, Coach Stevenson sometimes mentioned how the body builds muscle, and, supposedly, understand that would help us do things better.

Quinn didn't reply, but she looked at me as if she wanted me to keep talking. My brain racked my mind, trying to think of something to say that wasn't a lie. I didn't want to lie to Quinn.

"Well...uhh..." I stuttered.

"Do you want to do this stuff when you grow up?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah!" I said quickly without thinking it through.

"Crap." I thought. I hadn't thought this far ahead. Now what would I say?

"There's...there's...I think I can do some good with it." I had stopped thinking about Quinn for a moment, and just thought about the science. Almost everything done with science could be good, especially this biology.

"Like what?" Quinn asked.

"Well, I haven't thought that far yet, but I think I can learn medicine." I stated. It was the only thing that I could think of with what to do with a degree in biology. Isn't that what they all did; became doctors? I knew I was lying to Quinn, and I felt bad about it, but I didn't know what else to say without her instantly hating me.

"That's...that's really good." Quinn replied. She brought her knees to her chest and started to think.

"What do you want to do, Quinn?" I asked her. She didn't reply, she was mulling something over in her head.

"Well, I actually need to get going. There's a big sale at Cashman's, you know."

"Hey, I'll go with you."

"No...no, it's a...it's a lingerie thing."

"I don't mind!" I said cheerfully.

"Jeffy!" Quinn shouted, and I frowned. So much for getting to second base. But it was the first time we were here. What else could I expect?

"We're still on for Wednesday, though, right?" I asked cheerfully.

"Ummm...yeah. And thanks, Jeffy." Quinn bounded out the door. I followed her, just to make sure my father didn't stop her. But the old drunk was already passed out, and I was satisfied.

After I was sure Quinn had gone, I went back up to my room.

"She was acting strangely." I thought. Stranger then that time she wanted to get a steady boyfriend. I didn't mind; Quinn was still Quinn, but it was very odd. Her questions were so...personal. Usually she never asked questions about my personal life. And never ones like those. About college and life paths and all that. I was starting to wonder if she had watched some trippy television show or something.

"And what about you, Jeffy. You were bullshitting the entire time trying to answer her because you didn't want her to know the truth." My brain was chastising me. Did I lack confidence because I thought of myself only in relation to Quinn? Or was I just selfish and competitive, wanting her because everyone else did? And, given that I was so easily able to casually tell her fibs, did that mean I didn't care about her? That my attraction was just physical?

"Shut up!" I yelled at myself internally. God, what was wrong with me? I never thought like this about myself before now. But my mind kept on spinning.

"And what are you going to do with a biology degree, Jeffy?" My mind taunted me again. "You think you can get Quinn into bed with that? Four years of hard work for one night?"

"No!" I protested out loud, not even realizing I was shouting at first. I sat back down on the bed, breathing heavily. God, this was so confusing. I didn't want to be a brain because brains had no friends. Brains had no fun. Brains just sat around in a world of books and thought themselves better then everyone else. My friendships were important; football was important. It meant more to me then biology and schoolwork, that was for certain. So I was telling myself.

But I still liked biology. I was even reading ahead in the bio books during my study sessions, learning all about the different organelles of cells, how everything worked. I could understand the different systems of the human body, even the really weird ones like the lymphatic system. It was interesting, and I liked it. I did well at it when I applied myself, and, to my surprise, I didn't even think of Quinn when I did it; it was interesting enough on it's own. And the more I thought about that lie I told to Quinn, about how I wanted to learn biology, the more I discovered how much of a lie it wasn't. I didn't know what I'd do with college the next year, or even where I'd go, but when I picked a major, I think that was what it was going to be.

"Jeffy Mercer is not a brain. He has friends, he dates, he plays ball like a bad-ass." I said to myself.

"So, why?" I said aloud, quietly to myself as I lay down to sleep. "Why does he keep wanting to learn more? And why does he like it?"