Asu Mo Furu Kana: I Wonder If It Will Fall Tomorrow Too: Chapter 1

A shonen-ai story about a boy and his tutor. James is about to fail out of school. He is assigned a tutor, but will he and his tutor get along?

Bring bring.  The phone in the hall rung endlessly as the boy rushed from out of the living room to answer.  ‘I wonder who it could be at this hour…??’ the boy thought as he picked up the receiver.

            “Hello,  Barret residence.”

            “Hello, may I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Barret please?  This is Mr. Brown from Sir Walter Johnson High School calling about their son, James’ resent performance in school,” the voice replayed.

            “I’m sorry, but they are out at the moment.  This is James speaking.  Is there a message that you would like to leave?”

            “Just tell your parents to call the school and set up a parent-teacher conference ASAP,” the voice said and then sharply hung up.

            Mr. Brown was James’ home room teacher.  Mr. Brown never really liked James, and since recently James have been failing most of his classes, Mr. Brown now has a perfect reason for his dislike.  James had never met him before this year, James’ second year at high school.  ‘What reason does he have to hate me so much?’ James wondered whenever he thought about Mr. Brown.  ‘It’s not like I have ever done anything to him.  Unlike most students, I actually respect him and have never shown him any disrespect.’

 

2 WEEKS LATER: at the Parent-Teacher conference

 

“Look, we really don’t care what James has been making in his classes, just tell us what you want called us here for really,” said Mr. Barret at the conference.  He was a larger man in the waist, not height.  Granted, he wasn’t too terribly short either – standing just less than 6 feet, but, weighing almost 300 pounds.  His wife was a shorter woman – about 5 feet 4 inches – and was of average build.  Now, at the conference, she wore a look of languid dissatisfaction.  Despite James being her son, she never really cared for him.  Her past husband wanted kids, but she never wanted to deal with brats.  Eventually she gave into his requests, and now she wished she hadn’t.  He was becoming quite a problem to her.

“If his grades are failing, then why not put him in easier classes?  It’s not like he’s going to make much of a future for himself” Mrs. Barret added.  She really didn’t care to be there and she had a hair appointment to get to.  “Just put him in remedial everything and then we’ll be off.  I have a 4:00 appointment at the Chic Blanc – an appointment which took me months to get!” she added in hopes of hurrying the men along.

“That is not possible….he’s already in the easiest levels of the classes he needs to graduate” Mr. Brown answered with an air of authority.  “We could, however, assign him a tutor.  This is usually reserved for students with a learning disability…”

“That’ll be great.  We’ll leave the picking of the student to you,” said Mrs. Barret as she stood up to leave.

“Great.  Is that all right with you Mr. Barret?” Mr. Brown asked as he too stood up from his desk.

“His not my kid,” Mr. Barret said as he reached out to shake Mr. Brown’s hand.  “I’ll leave that decision up to the interested parties…and the interested party has a hair appointment, so I’m guessing we’re all ready then.”

“Excellent, I’ll call James in to tell him the news once I have picked someone out.”  Mr. Brown showed the Barrets out of the room and bid them farewell.  That had been easier than Mr. Brown had hoped.  Now, to chose the unlucky fellow who will become James’ tutor.

 

A FEW DAYS LATER: after classes

 

            “We have decided to assign you a tutor.  He is a forth year student, who has a promising future.  Hopefully some of his intelligence will rub off on you…it is doubtful though,” Mr. Brown said to James at their meeting after school.  Just a few days earlier, James’ parents have a private conference with Mr. Brown.  Getting a tutor was suggested and decided upon by the three adults - neither James nor James’ new tutor was consulted before the decision was made.  Luckily enough for the tutor, his services would not be for free.  Advanced credits in the areas that he would tutor James in were to be given.  That meant that the tutor would be able to graduate with more credits than were needed and even gain credit for some of his college credits.

            “Your tutors name is Scott.  He is in the forth year of Japanese, so he can even help you out there.  It really is miraculous that you passed the first year of that class,” Mr. Brown continued.  “He has arranged to meet you at Cappi’s Coffee Shop at exactly 4 later on this afternoon.  Do not be late.  He knows what you look like so try not to look too much like an idiot later on.  You’re dismissed, and I suggest you go wait at Cappi’s.”

 

James took Mr. Brown’s advice and quickly went to Cappi’s.  It wasn’t too crowded so he hoped that Scott was not all ready there and waiting.  He looked around the room anxiously and decided it would be better to go ahead and sit down.  It didn’t seem that anyone was there waiting for him. 

            James walked over to a small table with three chairs and sat down. 

            ‘Should I start to study…so maybe he won’t think that I’m too much of an idiot??’ James thought once he sat down.  ‘No, as soon as I open my mouth he would know…it’ll probably just make me look stupider!’  James looked up and noticed the building.  It was a pleasant space.  It was actually pretty big.  Most of the other coffee shops he had been in were rather small, but this one had lots of space.  He had actually never been in the building before.  He had gone by it lots of times on his way to school, but never came in.  He wasn’t much of a coffee drinker so he never even thought about coming in.

            “I wonder if they have other things than coffee?” he thought out loud as he looked toward the register.

            “Of course they do.  Have you never been to a coffee shop before?” said a voice that James did not recognize.

            “I’m Scott and I am going to be your tutor.  I have spoken with Mr. Brown about you and it seems that you need tutoring in just about every subject.  The most predominate being Japanese.  The others you seem to be able to pass with a D at least.   Now, today I thought we would be could use to get to know a little bit about each other, but first let’s get something to drink.  It’ll be okay, they have tea and a few other things so there is no need to worry.”

 

            “God, you really are a child,” James said as we sat back down with our drinks.

            “What??” James asked not fully understanding the forth years implication.

            “Hot chocolate?  I haven’t had that since I was 7.”

            “Well, I’m too young to be drinking coffee, not to mention coffee taste’s bad.”

            “Okay, whatever.  So, you are a second year, correct.  Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

            “Ummm…well, I…I really don’t like school…and it will probably be impossible for you to tutor me so I wouldn’t even try if I was you.  How is this, we can say that you do tutor me but, in reality, we can both do other things that we both enjoy!  What do you say?” James replied not really knowing how to reply to him.

            “I think I should tell you something about myself.  When I get an assignment, I do it to the best of my ability.  And I will expect the same from you.  Do you understand?  Or need I answer your question more simply?” Scott retorted with a dissatisfied look on his face.

            “…I understand,” James replied with a look of dejectedness.  He didn’t realize that Scott took this so seriously.  “What are you getting for tutoring me?  You cannot be doing it for free?”

            “I’m getting credits.  Now, jamuzu no shuumi ha nan desuka?”

            James looked at Scott with a look of perplexity on his face.  He knew that Scott was speaking Japanese, but he didn’t fully understand it.  Maybe if Scott had warned him, or written it James may have had a chance of understand but this just caught him completely off guard.  “eeto…mou ichiji hanashimasu ka?”

            “God…you are an idiot.  I asked ‘what are your hobbies?’ and you reply with ‘umm…will you speak for one more hour?’?  You need more help than I thought.  How did you pass the first year?”

            “Well, you surprised me!  All of a sudden using Japanese! How do you expect me to respond?” James retorted.  James had been embarrassed many times before but, for some reason, in front of this person, it was even worse.  He didn’t know if he would ever be able to face him again.  Unfortunately, he knew that he would have to at some point. 

            Luckily, Scott’s cell phone began to ring before he had time to respond to James’ outburst.  James didn’t know who it was, but he felt like he owed him a lot.  As Scott began to talk to his friend, James gathered his things and began to leave.

            “Hey, hold on a minute will you?” Scott spoke into his phone and turned to James.  “Where are you going, we’re not done yet?”

            “Sorry, but I have plans so I cannot stay.  Good bye,” James said as he quickly left the building.  James felt like crying.  He had no idea why this person was just a cruel to him as Mr. Brown.  They had only just met and already Scott didn’t like him.  Maybe Mr. Brown picked Scott because they both hated people without any cause right from the start.  James didn’t know, the only thing he knew right then was that he never wanted to see Mr. Brown of Scott again.

 

“I think I blew it,” said Scott into his cell phone.  “I don’t think the boy and I are going to have a very good relationship.”

            “Ehh, can’t win ‘em all.  As long as you do your job that is all that matters right?” said the voice from the other end.  “Which reminds me, they need you at 10, okay?”

            “Yeah, I’ll be there.  See ya later,” said Scott as he hung up and threw away his coffee.  He looked down at the umbrella holder by the door.  “No one’s brought their umbrella’s today I see.”  Scott turned and left the building, heading off in the opposite direction as James.

Author's Note

Script meant to be turned into a comic, first chapters reflect this heavily. Please feel free to review with or without this in mind. I know I need as much help as I can get.

Reviews

[Chris]

Well, since this is just supposed to be a script, my review might not really matter too much, so feel free to just ignore it if you want. Anyway...

You gave descriptions of James' parents, but you never described what James or Scott look like. If they're going to be the protagonists, it would probably be a good idea to at least give a brief description of them too so the reader can have some kind of idea of what they look like.

"Just a few days earlier, James' parents have a private conference with Mr. Brown. Getting a tutor was suggested and decided upon by the three adults..."

You don't really need this part added after the conference took place. The reader should easily be able to follow along with what just happened and the outcome of the conference, so there really isn't too much of a reason for it to be added. As far as the story itself and the characters are concerned though, I don't really have any problems with it. It's off to a good start so far and the characterization is pretty good.