But When Will I Ever Use It?

[Ixtlilton]

Dragon had just come to this new school, but it wasn't really that different from the schools she remembered from before. There weren't as many students, but it was still really different from being tutored as she had been for a few years now. Tutored? Home schooled? Yeah, something like that. She sure as hell hadn't gotten a transcript, though, so she'd had to do all these retarded tests to see how far along she was, and now she was sitting in a classroom with a bunch of kids around her age and a teacher up there drawing a triangle on a chalkboard. She looked at it dazedly for the first few minutes of class, blindly non-comprehensive. Why was there a shape? Had she been put in kindergarten math for being retarded? What the FUCK was a pythagorean? Was it a snake? Why hadn't her "tutor" taught her this shit?

She decided then and there that her initial hypothesis at the age of six, that "math was for stupids and dumb dumbs," was completely dead on, and she proceeded to spend the rest of the period ignoring the ferret in her hoodie (which she was wearing in September), listening to music from her iPod, conveniently hidden in said hoodie, and trying to build a screwdriver out of the metal on her pencils, bits of eraser, pen parts, and paper. She could hide it in her desk and use it to do other things the next time she had to come to this stupid class. Thank goodness she'd opted to sit in the far back, shadowy corner of the classroom where she couldn't actually see the chalkboard other than vague shapes. That was definitely helping.

[Coconut]

The young math teacher at the front of the class was by no means an intimidating man. He was on the short side, perhaps shorter then many of his students, and his thin frame coupled by light eyes occasionally hidden behind glasses plus fair hair gave him the appearance of a school boy, not the teacher. His nice sweater and black slacks helped set him apart from the more casually dressed students a bit, but it took no stretch of the imagination to accept that he was younger then most teachers. It would be even less of a leap to understand how nervous he was to receive his first students, ever. But Ethan had tried to prepare for it all.

He knew what it was like to be a student in this day and age better then anyone. Growing up outside of the protective borders of the castle, Mr. Jones had hidden his own abilities throughout his early life until college. It wasn't really as hard as it would have been for some of his students. He was just a shifter and, being blessed with a protective older brother and a non-confrontational personality, had almost never undergone an uncontrolled transformation. Just once.

But we aren't here to dwell on Ethan's past! Quite to the contrary, we are very much concerned with his present. More specifically, this class that he is teaching right this moment. And the first student that he is to encounter who might require his special attention.

He'd been watching her all class. At first, he'd only hoped that the girl in the back of the room wasn't social and simply wanted to sit apart from the other students, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that wistful thinking wouldn't help him here. Mostly he hate at least bored expressions following him as he walked around the room, some of the students bothering to take notes, but her... she hadn't given him a glance since class started. This was a problem he wanted to catch before it destroyed her in his class. If she needed extra attention, he wouldn't hesitate to devote time to his students. That's what he'd always wished for in the subjects he didn't understand well.

The young teacher was both excited and nervous as he glanced at the clock and called the end of class. As the students stood and began shuffling towards the door, he eyed his list of names and called out to the girl before she could make her escape. "Ms... Dragon. I'd like a minute of your time."

[Ixtlilton]

She glanced up once or twice during the course of the class, mostly to make sure she still couldn't see or understand the stuff on the board (nope, still clueless). Mostly she just stayed in her corner, nice and quiet, making a makeshift screwdriver head out of pencil metal. Better stick with flathead, easier...

She heard the announcement for the end of class and quickly tucked the mostly-finished screwdriver away into the corners of the desk. She was at the back of the class, and wanted to avoid running into people, so she sort of rambled her way towards the exit, trying to remember whose idea it had been to give her math last period.

And then she heard her name, turned to look, and her heart stopped dead.

Her heart wasn't running, but her brain was FRANTIC. She was close enough to see the teacher's face now, and noticed with much unhappiness that he was blonde, and his eyes were at least PARTIALLY blue. That meant she was at least PARTIALLY screwed.

She swallowed about sixty times as she remained where she was like a deer in headlights as the other students filtered out the door. She felt very much like making a bolt for it, but was well aware that, like in most situations, running wouldn't do her a shit of good. She tried to reassure herself that this was a school and that she had escaped bad stuff, and that Mr. Dmitri wouldn't let anything happen to her. She tried to tell herself the worst case scenario was that he'd noticed her ferret (HOW?) and was going to get it thrown out, but that certainly wasn't calming her down.

[Coconut]

Ethan had been expecting a wide range of reactions, but the sight of his student standing in front of him as if he were about to run into her with a car wasn't pleasant for the young man's nerves. He felt his heart give a few hard thuds and struggled not to let his composure slip. He wasn't a student anymore, he was a teacher, and he was leaving this stupid shyness behind. He had to command a classroom and take responsibility for the welfare of his students, now. This girl was one of many steps he'd have to take before this job ever became even close to comfortable for him.

The teacher sighed and tried to remember the words he'd wanted to say before he saw that look she gave him. "Dragon. I... I don't expect all my students to love mathematics, but you're not going to pass my class if you spend all your time here fiddling in the back of the room. Do you even know what I was discussing in today's class... lecture?"

God, that could have gone better, but at least he'd been able to get out the words that needed to be said. It was all going according to the script, so far, but Ethan was getting a sinking feeling that that wouldn't last long. She had already reacted to one thing differently then he had anticipated, what was next? Bolting and cowering in a corner for fear that he'd give her detention for not paying attention?

He had to remember that not all the students that came to this school had a happy past. Certainly, there were more tragic stories here then in an orphanage, so of course they wouldn't behave like the people he'd grown up with. God, he so needed to get over himself and start opening his eyes. He sucked at this. But he'd getting better, just watch. He hoped.

[Ixtlilton]

he man didn't LOOK strict. He wasn't wearing a suit or a tie or anything that said "RAR I AM IN CHARGE HERE ANGRY FACE." But he was, technically, even if he didn't look that old, really. Dragon's eyes shifted towards the door as he spoke, wondering how much trouble she'd get in if she made a bolt for it. She could dive under that table if he got too close, the shadow connected with the one under the door, and from there... Ah, but shit! She had Bon-Bon on her! He'd follow her, but she'd have to be out of eyesight, or else they'd know she'd been carrying him around!

"Um, uh..." she said, trying to sound more certain than she felt. She'd been paying SOME attention. "Well, chapter 1.1 in our books, and uh... triangles... and the pythagorean... thing." She held her large math text book in front of her like a shield, as if to say "I HAVE THE TEXTBOOK OF POWER YOU CANNOT HARM ME."

"And, uh, you assigned homework," that I had no intention of doing. But she didn't feel the need to actually say that part out loud. Now she probably would, though, if just to make him never have a reason to call her after class ever, ever again.

[Coconut]

Ethan followed the girl's eyes as she pondered her escape, silently willing her to stay here and talk to him, no matter how nervous she might be. He wasn't a scary person. At least, he never thought himself one nor had he ever met anyone in his life who would give him one look and call him intimidating. He had no idea what might have prompted this student's particular weird behavior and honestly he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. It was probably worse then his imagination could conjure, especially considering that he had a mind for numbers, not fantasy.

"Pythagorean theorem." He murmured softly, automatically. It was a throwback from the days where he'd quietly correct the stupid jocks who said stupid things yet still passed the class. Morons. The young man summoned a small, friendly smile, trying to fall back on friendliness in the hopes that it would calm her down, if only a little. "I'm glad something stuck."

"If you have any trouble with the homework or following along with the class, you can come to me for extra help. Uh, tutoring, too. My door is always open." He hesitated, hoping that the invitation sounded more inviting to her then failing and being called in after class even more in the future. But maybe he should try to appeal to a different aspect just in case.

"I know it might not seem important now, but everyone needs a little math to get by in life. Especially if you might be interested in any sciences... or engineering." He spoke almost wistfully, missing his own schooling already. He blinked, pulling himself away from that and finished with, "But even if those subjects aren't for you, basic math is essential for any profession."

God, he sounded like a high school teacher. Feeling that he'd said enough to maybe start getting though to her, Ethan gave her a few minutes to let his words sink in. If she didn't seem to have anything else to say to him after his little speech, he'd end her suffering with another small smile and finished with. "I'll see you next class."

[Ixtlilton]

Dragon didn't mention that she was just parroting things she'd picked up in the first three minutes of class, nor did she mention that she couldn't see the board anyway, and had no idea what the fuck the "pythagorean theorum" was and what it had to do with triangles and why she should care. She just sort of inched slowly towards the door.

"Uh... yes... I'll definitely do the homework..." she muttered, plotting an escape route in her mind. Her mind perked up momentarily on the phrase "engineering," which she understood was a fancy term for building shit. She looked at him like he was out of his mind for a good three seconds before remembering she was supposed to be terrified.

He was a loon, anyway, she'd NEVER used math higher than like, long division in building her stuff, and it worked fine! That screwdriver hadn't needed math! He was crazy. "Uh... right," was all she said. "Well, um... I'm going to go, uh... do my homework now."

And then she scurried out the door, rocketing back to her dorm where she could hide under the bed and hyperventilate for a little while.