Survival Of The Fittest

"I know, I know... I just got back from training camp yesterday, and I was really exhausted. It won't happen again... I hope."

Melissa was awesome. Sure, she was so small, that Rob had to almost crouch to equal their height, and she wasn't interested in basketball, so they conversation options were very limited... But at least, she wasn't just another person who saw Rob as a complete dumbass, who can't do anything except from throwing the ball. She was also very helpful, very nice... And very pretty as well.

Of course Rob knew, he doesn't stand a chance, at least for now. They were too different people, from body build differences, to interests. The only thing, they had in common, was sharing most of their classes.

"Ok, let's do this..." Rob looked at the problem. Few seconds later, he looked at it again. And again.

What the fuck is this?

To be honest, Rob was attending the AP course, only to be in the same class with Melissa. He had no reason, other than this, to be in the class. Not very smart idea, especially, when you have even more work with basketball practice everyday. But hey, not everyone is good in fighting with hormones.

"Ok... any idea about this one?"

Eric jerked in surprise and did his best to cover up the doodle he'd been working on when he heard Peter's voice behind him. Apparently the 'pretend-my-hand-was-just-lying-here-on-the-paper-in-this-awkward-position-naturally' technique worked, because Peter only commented on his poor math as opposed to his poor Pokemon doodles.

Oh of course! Backwards from the derivative! That's just brilliant, Peter! Now if only I had any kind of fucking clue as to what that MEANT.

"Oh... um... right. Yeah. Okay."

Keeping his other hand in the same awkward position covering up the drawing, Eric began re-copying the equation down underneath it, hoping that it would seem like he was doing some kind of work long enough for Peter to leave him alone. True, he didn't like the guy very much, but he just didn't have the guts to tell him off to his face. The last thing he needed to do was get into an argument with somebody and make himself look even dumber...

Ugh. Speaking of people Eric didn't like, now Rob was talking to Melissa, too. Athletes in general just rubbed Eric the wrong way, but Rob in particular bothered him for always getting Melissa's help. Why did he get help from the nice one, while Eric had to get talked down to by Peter to get any help with this impossible fucking class?! Ugggh, why were girls only ever interested in even talking to guys when they were good-looking and athletic? What the hell did he have to DO?

Well, great, now he was getting himself all worked up over something else entirely, wasn't he. He slumped in his chair, resting the side of his head on his desk.

"I fucking hate this class," he whined to Derek, "When can we get out of here?"

Maddy frowned slightly as Nick jumped to her help. Of course she needed it, but she hadn't technically asked, her comment had been intended more as friendly banter. As he darted off she cast a slightly pleading look first at Peter, then towards Melissa and Rob. She barely had a moment before he was back again, complimenting her on her integral signs. It was a rpoud day for people with neat handwriting everywhere.

"Thanks?" she said slightly unsurely, as he launched into the explanation of the maths puzzle. She kind of followed it, spending a little bit of time staring out of the window, wishing that she could be somewhere else. There were a couple of smallish looking kids playing truant in the school grounds, Maddy wished beyond anything that she could join them, to escape to the Mall where the ice cream place was, and she could eat something full of additives and chocolate chips. She was never going to be able to diet, ever. As Nick drawled, and Maddy tried her best to pay attention, she drew a slow spiral with the pnecil that was gripped awkwardly in her left hand, she had always held a secret ambition to be ambidextrous but all her little training techniques were not working. The spiral was still all wibbly and took a long time compared to one that she might have drawn by her right hand.

She shook her head.
"I still don't get why you halve it." she whined slightly, dropping the pencil flat on the table. It rolled away from her and she didn't bother to catch it until it was almost going to hit the wall. She watched the exasperated expressions of Eric and Derek (who's names, she had realised for the first time, rhymed) as Peter tried to help them.

Wanna swap? she thought, slightly bitterly.

Eric's complaint snapped Peter's attention back to his current charge. Eric had apparently decided to just recopy the equation and draw doodles around it. Peter sighed. This might take a little bit longer than he anticipated.

"You can get out in like 5 minutes," Peter said, looking up at the clock. There were moer like eight minutes left in the class, but he usually just rounded down for convenience. "And if you have that kind of attitude about this class, then you've pretty much set course for failure." Peter reached over and plucked Eric's pencil out of his hand. "But if you want to pass without putting in some heart, then I'm sure there are ways you can leech it off others too if you ask nicely."
I thought you didn't want to sound arrogant.
It's hard sometimes to write out neatly a solution in full for the benefit of others. That and the lack of empty space on the paper made it a bit hard to fit all the extra steps and arrows. Peter tried to explain the steps as he worked through it, mainly to fill the silence with something besides the sound of writing and external chatter. He doubted Eric was listening to his explanation. Hell, Peter wasn't really listening to his own words. He was more occupied with trying to pick up what Nick was saying to Maddy back in the corner.

"-and since the integral of a constant is x times the constant, you now have a working equation to plug-and-chug with," Peter finished off by writing down the final answer. He glanced over his work to check for any mistakes, but didn't find anything. "So I'm pretty sure you didn't catch half of what I said, but if you need more help, you know who you can ask."

Peter headed back to his desk, in other words toward Maddy's desk. Nick was hunched over her desk, twirling his pencil absently. Maddy looked several shades of bored and confused, which was no surprise to Peter in the least. "Hey Maddy, Nick. How goes the solving?" Peter stopped in front of the desk and looked down at their work. There was a large squiggly spiral on one side of the page, while the other side alternated between Maddy's neat handwriting and Nick's barely legible chicken scratch. Not that Peter was one to criticize others' handwriting. "Wait, why are you moving the dx like-"

Peter was cut off by the annoying ring of the class bell. Seemed that he had spent more time than he expected trying to help out the two guys earlier.

"Well Maddy, if you need more help with the material, just catch me at one of my usual hangouts," Peter said to her as he packed up the few papers and notebooks he had taken out for the class. "Or give me a call if you're too lazy to look for me."
That's an amazingly smooth way of saying "Call me".
Peter shuffled his way out the door toward his next class. Maybe he'd be able to catch some much warranted sleep then.

((Peter Siu continued in Shopping for SOTF))

Melissa laughed a little at Robert's question and shook her head, getting ready to explain the question. She put pencil to paper and began writing out the first couple of steps to solve the equation. She wondered how she should describe the various tricks and techniques that they had been taught in order to solve equations like this but quickly pushed those doubts aside. She had done stuff like this with Robert before...this would be no different. She cast a brief glance at the clock.

'Around 8 minutes left, huh? Well...finish up with this and it's off to the next class. Then free time before heading back...home. Better than nothing, I guess.' Melissa closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself before looking back at Robert. "Okay, let's begin here...Looks like gibberish, right? There's really no way to solve the first part of this problem unless you find the derivative first so..."

Seven minutes later...

"...And then for the last part, all you need to do is find the integral and with that, you can just put in the numbers that are provided and find the answer. Do you get it?" Melissa lay the pencil down and looked at her detailed page of notes. She had taken special care to go through each step precisely just so there would be nothing left out. Her parents liked that. She smiled at Robert. "If there's anything you don't understand, please, just tell me."

There was no time to wait for his answer, though, since the bell rang just seconds after she had finished talking. "I guess we'll have to shelve that for later...Sorry."

She carefully tore the paper out of her notebook and handed the paper to Robert with an apologetic smile. "Hopefully this will do for now, okay? Make sure to study it since I'm almost a hundred percent certain that this will be on the test."

Another minute or so and she was packed and ready to leave. "Don't forget to call me if you have any other questions. I'd be happy to help."

With another smile and a wave, she left the classroom and ran down the hallway towards her next class. 'Why oh why does math have to be on the second floor?'

(Melissa Li continued elsewhere.)

I wish I could explain at least something right...

Nick expounded on the problem in quick words, stumbling over himself as he tried to explain his thought process, what he assumed was Maddy's thought process, and how he thought the book might put it, all at once. He wasn't doing so well.

Dangit, this is like trying to shoot a quarrel out of a bow...

"I still don't get why you halve it."

"Well, that's- ehh, well put it like this. You have this bucket, and when you fill it, you've got to- well, I mean, it's got a constant right there, although it's not really a constant, its just kind of a number that wandered in, although I guess it has the same rules, and, um, it's like this."

He tried helpfully to demonstrate it, scrawling out a few lines of math on the paper and missing a step as he went.

Screw the bow, this is like trying to shoot a quarrel out of a freaking sword.

His voice slowed, and he drew back to consider things. His thoughts raced as he drew back. Inept as he was, he could tell he wasn't scoring any points with anyone at the moment. He took a cheery attitude and spoke with a laugh.

"Heh, just a second, I'm gonna think of a way to explain it in a way that makes sense."

That makes sense for you. How can you not get it?
Real smooth with the ladies there. This is why you're dying alone.
Don't say that.
If I killed myself right now I'd die alone.
That's not doing anyone good. Only idiots and emos think like that. I'm not emo.
You're freaking depressed.
Lies.

He started twirling his pencil through his fingers as Peter made his way back. When the bell rang, he scooped up his stuff and headed out with a smile on his face but a thousand-mile stare.

"Uhh, yeah, Seeya Maddy. I'll get some sleep tonight, I'll be lucid tomorrow! Haha."

He barely saw as he weaved through the crowd with his distinctive gait carrying him twice as fast as those around him.
"Heh, olympic speedwalker? Do you know how bad my endurance is?"
"Okay, you try getting carriers. I'll be over here, winning with hydralisks."

Gee, that would have been a great class if it wasn't boring and if I could explain myself and if I could socialize at all and if...

Today was going to be one of those days. Again.

((Nick Reid continued elsewhere))

((Well, I was gonna wait for Dark, but he's been MIA lately, so...))

Eric hadn't exactly intended anyone besides Derek to listen to his complaint, but then, he had been whining a little more loudly than usual. He gaped at Peter for a few moments, not exactly sure how to react to being overheard, but he was spared the effort of having to explain the many reasons he was miserable when Peter came over, snatched the pencil Eric was holding, and started writing out the solution to the problem for him.

"But if you want to pass without putting in some heart, then I'm sure there are ways you can leech it off others too if you ask nicely." Eric pulled a face, but didn't respond. He couldn't just be being melodramatic this time, right? He was actually being talked down to, wasn't he? It definitely sounded like he was. It fucking figures. Like he cares, anyway, he's probably just trying to show off. Well... at least somebody's trying to help, anyway. ...Oh shit, he's been writing this whole time. Okay, well, might as well try to catch up, anyway.

Eric watched as Peter scribbled letters and numbers switching places and chasing each other around every side of the equation and scrawled down the occasional note when Peter said something that vaguely made sense to him, but he still couldn't follow. Part of him was still fuming over what Peter had just said to him, and over Melissa and Rob and just about anything else that happened to be bothering him at the moment, and the other part wanted to beg Peter to slow down. But he could hardly do that. Peter already seemed annoyed enough about having to deign Eric with his presence, and Eric didn't want to hear what he'd have to say if he admitted that he was right, that he was too stupid to keep up.

"-and since the integral of a constant is x times the constant, you now have a working equation to plug-and-chug with."

Wait, what? It was done already? ...Shit...

"So I'm pretty sure you didn't catch half of what I said, but if you need more help, you know who you can ask."

...What. That did it, he WAS condescending him! What the fuck?! Was trying to teach him THAT much of a strain on him? Eric pulled another face, ready to make a sarcastic retort.

"Oh... right... sorry, I'll just... ask Mr. Kwong or something..."

Nice going on that retort, there.

"Did you hear that?" Eric said, turning to Derek, "You cannot fucking tell me that that was just me over-reacting, he totally thinks I'm dumb!" Eric shot a glare in Peter's direction, but he didn't seem to notice - he'd moved on to helping Maddy instead. "Ugh, fuck it, I'll just show the problem to Kwong..." he muttered, but was interrupted by the ringing of the bell.

Oh, PERFECT! I don't even get to do THAT! This period just gets BETTER AND BETTER.

Thoroughly frustrated, and wanting nothing more than to get this stupid school day done with and EV train his Starmie, Eric hastily snatched up his books, shoved them into his backpack, and stormed out of the room, too ticked off to either listen to what Kwong was telling the class or to wait for his best friend before leaving.

((Eric Cooper continued elsewhere))

Derek, lost in his thoughts, shook his head a bit as the bell rang. Eric was stroming off seemingly angrilly as the rest of the class filed out, the teacher moving back to his desk in that annoying smud manner. Derek looked around the room, finally eyeing the clock. "What the..." Gathering his stuff quickly he stumbled out the class also, searching the halls for Eric.

((Derek Atul continued Elsewhere))

((One crappy post, coming right up...))

Rob listened carefully to Melissa, as she was explaining the problem. He had no extreme talent for science, especially math, but he wasn't an idiot neither. His average at best grades, were a result of his training schedule. If he would spend some more time with his schoolwork, then maybe even he would get some more C, or maybe even B from time to time.

Surprisingly, he understood more or less Melissa's lecture. It was hard, but definitely makable. Before he could ask her about anything the bell rang. Melissa offered some more help alter, if needed, and she quickly left the class. Rob looked once again at the now solved problem, and sighed before packing it with other stuff to his backpack. The class was almost empty by the time. Rob was also leaving, when Mr. Kwong stopped him.

"Can I speak with you for a moment, Mr. Jenkins?"

"Sure, Mr. Kwong. What is it?"

Kwong looked at Rob with a completely stone face, but Rob knew, that inside his head was filled with a mixture of irritation and hate. Needless to say, Rob had a similar feelings toward his math teacher.

"As I said before, I won't tolerate that kind of behavior you present in my class. And I don't care, that principal-"

"STOP IT ALREADY... sir"

Oh bugger, he did it again. Rob let his temper speak for himself again. And that meant big troubles. Kwong already looked like he was going to explode. But it was too late already to hold back.

"I understand what do you mean, sir. My school status, and principals opinion about me are not an issue here. Basketball is my main priority, and you know it well, sir. It's a normal thing to oversleep sometimes, after an exhausting traini-"

"But of course, Mr. Jenkins" Kwong changed his face again. Now, he had an ironic smile on his face. Rob didn't like it any single bit.

"This is understandable... But why you are attending at the AP course, then? You know, how difficult it is. Why didn't you pick any easier class?"

"Well, the truth is..." Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you the truth... "...It is my insurance. If by some way, I'll fail to get to NBA, I'll have to study something on the university, because according to NBA Draft rules, I will be banned from playing in the university basketball-"

"Oh, I see. Then I will help you Mr. Jenkins..."

Yeah, I bet you will...

"By checking your knowledge on the next lesson. Very Precisely" Kwong was almost laughing now. "After all, I must know, if you are properly prepared for an eventual exam"

Christ...

"...Yes sir. May I leave now?"

"Of course, Mr. Jenkins..."

Rob quickly turned his back, and left the class, so he couldn't see that shithead Kwong anymore. Rob was almost sure, that if he won't be prepared next time, Kwong will do anything to dump him. It looked like another harsh week for the Redhead...

((Rob Jenkins Continued Elsewhere))