CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
SPANISH TESTS

Unsurprisingly, Kimmy and Aaron had grown quite close after he was the person she saw most of her summer by far.

She still hung out with Lucas and Dustin of course, she just happened to hang out with Aaron much more.

Kimmy was refusing to eat the lunch Aaron had made her, she was too stressed out due to the Spanish homework she'd received the class before that was due the next morning.

She'd taken it out during lunch to look over it and had almost fell off her seat at what stared back up at her. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

It was near the end of the lunch period when she'd finally asked the boys she was sat with for help, telling herself that if she was shut down it wouldn't matter anyway.

"Are any of you good at Spanish?" Kimmy finally asked the party, still looking down at the paper with furrowed brows.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Lucas scoffed, Kimmy knew the boy was doing just as bad in the class as she was, they sat next to each other and were both clueless every week.

"I'm taking French instead," Dustin murmured, pausing as he went to stick a French fry in his mouth. "I know a little of Spanish, but not enough to help you with your homework?"

"Here," Aaron spoke up from next to Dustin, motioning for her to hand him her homework sheet, she did so with an eyeroll, watching as he looked at it for no more than ten seconds with furrowed brows before handing it back to her. "Kimmy, this is easy stuff."

Kimmy scoffed, snatching the piece of paper back from him with an eyeroll. "Well, sorry. God forbid I have a flaw."

Lucas snickered from her side at the remark, opening his mouth to add to her point but was cut off by the bell indicating the end of lunch.

The boys were up and away from the table before she could even blink, rushing to get to their next classes.

"Aaron," Kimmy caught his attention before he could walk away from the table, the girl panicking seeing as she still had to pack away her lunch as well as her homework. "I'm sorry to bother you about this but do you think you could help me out with my homework tonight? It's due tomorrow morning and I have a test tomorrow straight after that counts towards my final grade."

Aaron looked confused. How he managed to look confused when she'd just explained herself was beyond her.

"What?" He blurted before seemingly collecting himself and answering her question. "Oh, um, yeah sure I'm not busy tonight."

Kimmy' shoulders dropped in relief and she felt a small smile pull on her lips at the words. If Aaron hadn't been able to help her that night she didn't know what she'd do.

"Okay, thanks." Kimmy rushed out while she packed her bag, apologies beginning to fall past her lips before she could stop herself. "I wouldn't ask you if I didn't need the help, I don't mean to take up your night-"

"Kimmy, it's fine." Aaron dismissed, waiting for her until she was ready and could walk next to him, this calming the boy down slightly seeing as they were now on route to class. "You don't have to say sorry all the time."

"Okay-" she managed to cut herself off before she nurtured the word again. "What time are you free?"

"I'm free all night." Aaron replied instantly, nodding as he spoke his voice giving the impression he was calm. Kimmy knew he wasn't however, seeing as he was messing around with the watch on his wrist, something he often did when nervous. "You can come over straight after school if you want?"

As stupid as it sounded, Kimmg was not expecting to be invited over to his house, she just assumed they'd meet somewhere like they usually did when they hung out.

Kimmy momentarily thought about her parents and what would happen if she didn't come home from school on time, Kimmy disregarded these thoughts, seeing as her dad was probably too drunk to know what time it was and her mom didn't even know what time it was that school was out, not that it mattered, she was usually sleeping anyway.

"Sure," Kimmy replied after a moment of silence, not wanting the boy to think she was turning down his offer in anyway. "Will Steve be okay about me coming over?"

Aaron rolled his eyes at her question. "I don't really care if he's okay with it, Nancy's always over. And anyway, I doubt he'll even talk to us."

Kimmy bit the inside of her cheek as she looked to him, feeling uncomfortable. She hoped the two wouldn't argue when she was over, she had no idea what she was going to do if they did.

She knew the two argued more often than not.

"Okay," she nodded, trying not to overthink things. "Thanks for the help. I'd get in so much trouble tomorrow if I went in with all the answers wrong or didn't hand it in at all."

"It's fine, Kimmy," he repeated once more, sounding embarrassed as his cheeks went pink. "It's no big deal. You can stay for dinner too if you want?"

Aaron seemed more nervous than Kimmy had ever seen him as he asked her to say for dinner, as if he'd expected her to say no.

Kimmy hesitated, despite the fact she really wanted to accept his offer. "Are you sure that's okay-"

"Kimmy," Aaron sighed, and for a second, Kimmy thought he might be mad at her. "Stop it."

Kimmy began to panic, turning to him with an alarmed look, suddenly regretting speaking at all.

Maybe she shouldn't have asked him for help, she already asked him to hang out much more than the others, she probably took up so much of his time when he could have been out with the party.

"Stop what?" She asked self consciously, worried she'd done something wrong.

"Saying sorry for every little thing then overthinking everything I say." He replied in a quiet voice, most likely so no other students the two past or walked behind would hear. "I told you I'd help you study and I asked if you wanted to stay for dinner, I wouldn't do that if I didn't want to."

Kimmy nodded once more in response, not sure of what to say in response, knowing she'd just mumble another apology.

She hadn't noticed until that moment, but she'd changed quite a bit in the past year. When she'd first met Aaron, under those more than unfortunate circumstances, she'd been quite blunt with him. Now she was apologising for every little thing. She supposed it was because she'd grown more comfortable around the boy.

Aaron waved bye to her and went to enter his classroom, leaving Kimmy to stress out about heading over to his house later that day.

...

Aaron was beginning to regret asking Kimmy to stay for dinner. He soon realised that he actually didn't have anything to give her for dinner, usually he and Steve just ordered stuff but he was beginning to worry that Kimmy was expecting actual dinner.

Deep down he knew the girl probably wouldn't care, but once Aaron found himself stressed over something he found it difficult to stop.

He'd made sure to rush out of his last class, standing anxiously at the gates of the school as he messed around with the black watch on his wrist out of habit.

He tried to force himself to get a grip, that he'd agreed to help her with her homework and that no one else would see it as such a big deal.

He'd only been waiting for her for a few minutes, but because of his stressed state, it had felt like hours.

"What was it you wanted for dinner?" Aaron blurted as she made her way over to him.

"I don't mind." She responded calmly. "I don't have to stay for dinner if-"

"No, um- is pizza fine?" Aaron asked, sounding just as nervous as he felt. "We usually just call for a pizza or something but I don't know if you-"

"That's fine." Kimmy nodded, clasping her hands together as she spoke. "I honestly don't mind."

Aaron looked to her confused for a moment, well, not confused, it was more as if he was in shock. He didn't know why he always felt the need to stress and pick apart every situation, she obviously hadn't.

"Okay," he murmured eventually, sending her a small unsure smile. "Well I think we'll have to walk I don't think Steve will come."

Steve had gotten better at collecting Aaron from school, he'd not missed as much pick ups as he had last year, but he still missed enough that Aaron wouldn't expect him to come.

Sure enough, the two arrived at the Harrington home to find Steve's car sitting in the driveway.

Aaron didn't say anything, embarrassed at the sight. It was weirdly embarrassing for him that anyone would know about the workings of his family.

He entered the house, Kimmy nervously following behind him, the two taking their shoes off before making their way to the kitchen.

Aaron stilled at the sight of his brother sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal despite it almost being dinner.

Steve looked up at the two looking confused, although this confusion was soon replaced by a smirk as he sat back in his seat.

"Hm, what's all this about?" Steve asked tauntingly.

Aaron wanted the ground to swallow him whole. This was exactly what he didn't want, he'd suspected Steve would be in his room or something and could leave the two in peace. Aaron knew the older boy wouldn't leave them alone.

"I'm helping Kimmy with her Spanish homework, if you must know." Aaron rolled his eyes, hoping the boy would drop it and leave. He didn't want to argue with him in front of his friend. "Can you go-"

"No, I don't think I will go." Steve retorted, clearly holding back a laugh as he spoke. "Think I'll talk with Kimmy for a while, she's probably much more interesting than you."

Aaron took a shaky breath, trying to control his temper and stop himself from snapping back at the older boy.

"I'm not going to argue with you, if that's what you want." Aaron replied, trying to sound as calm as possible.

He could see the way Kimmy was growing nervous next to him, clasping her hands behind her back and swayed slightly from side to side.

"I'm not asking for an argument." Steve laughed, sounding as if an argument was exactly what he was looking for. "I'm just asking if I can hang out with you two."

"And I told you no." Aaron snapped, tucking his hands up into his jacket sleeves in hope to calm himself down. "Why do you-"

"I just want to sit at the table and talk with you guys, can I not sit at the kitchen table in my own home?" Steve teased, shrugging his shoulders.

Aaron was pissed by this point and Steve knew it, yet he kept pushing him, as if he wanted him to lose his cool in front of his friend.

Aaron wasn't even allowed to say hello to Steve's friends or even Nancy for that matter when she was with him.

Yet, Steve was allowed to push Aaron into an argument in front of his friends just to make him look stupid.

"Alright, fine," Aaron murmured, storming over to the kitchen table and slamming his bag down, motioning for Kimmy to follow him. "But if she fails her test tomorrow it will be your fault and it will be you who fucked up her grade."

Kimmy hesitantly sat down across from Aaron, looking startled at the two brothers arguing and yelling.

She kept her head down as she got the stuff from her bag, not even daring to look in Steve's direction, almost as if she was scared of him.

"Don't be so dramatic, Aaron." Steve rolled his eyes, turning to Kimmy to ask her a question. "Do you care if I sit here?"

Kimmy snapped her head up, eyes wide as she violently shook her head, despite the fact Aaron could ultimately tell she very obviously cared. "I don't mind-"

"See?" Steve turned to Aaron smugly. "She doesn't care."

Aaron was absolutely furious. No doubt the girl would never want to come over again. She looked incredibly uncomfortable and most likely couldn't wait until she could leave.

Steve ended up staying at the table the entire time Aaron and Kimmy were sat there, constantly picking at his younger brother and teasing him, meaning Aaron and Kimmy got hardly any work done.

In fact, Kimmy didn't even get her homework finished.

"What the fuck was that for?" Aaron snapped at his brother after closing the door behind the girl and telling her goodbye and wishing her good luck on her test the next day.

"What?" Steve laughed, only angering Aaron further. "I'm allowed to talk-"

"I don't do that when you're with Nancy!" Aaron yelled, his ability to control his temper slipping away from him. "You don't even let me say hello to her-"

"What?" Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes. "So she's your girlfriend now-"

"No, I'm just using Nancy as an example because unlike me, you don't have any friends!" Aaron spat, unable to stop the way he was throwing insults left and right.

"Fuck you!" Steve yelled back at him, rolling his eyes. "You're acting as if i harassed her or something-"

"You did!" Aaron retorted, frustrated beyond belief that Steve couldn't see his point. "She was obviously uncomfortable and you kept pushing at-"

"No she wasn't!" Steve cut off his younger brother. "If she was that uncomfortable she could have left-"

"She did leave!" Aaron motioned to the closed door behind him, never being able to remember ever being so angry at his brother before. "She was supposed to stay for dinner so I could help her pass her test and you made her leave-"

"I did not make her leave!" Steve scoffed furiously. "You asked her to leave, not me!"

"Yeah, because you were making her uncomfortable and she wanted to go!" Aaron rolled his eyes at his older brother. "You only did that because you wanted to be a dickhead and piss me off in front of my friend!"

"Whatever, believe what you want." Steve muttered, now sounding uninterested.

"It's the truth!" Aaron yelled as he went to climb the stairs to his room. "You think you're so cool because you know how to piss me off and make my friends uncomfortable! None of my friends will ever want to come over anymore because you act out and try to make yourself seem cooler than you are!" 

Aaron didn't bother listening for a response, slamming his door closed as he went to try find his walkie.

He called Kimmy, apologising for that night and his brother.

Kimmy had told him not to worry about it, but Aaron couldn't help but fear that she may hold something against him for it.

Kimmy told him that she did end up failing her test, and Aaron wasn't surprised, she hadn't gotten the help she'd asked for. Aaron was absolutely furious at his brother and refused to speak to him for about a week.

...

SEASON 1 IS FINISHED!!!!!

Season 2 will be the next chapter but I'm not sure when it will be posted hopefully by Thursday? I'm not sure.

Thank you all for reading and TYSM FOR 6K READS!!!

Have a good day/night!!

- AJ :)