Lessons for the less able..
ooc: This is a private thread between myself and Angie set during the leap.
She wasn't overly impressed that Riley had told Jean she needed to take a reading and writing class, there wasn't anything wrong with her, ok so maybe she couldn't read as fast as he friends but she'd managed in life so far hadn't she. It wasn't like she couldn't read at all and she didn't really see anything wrong with her writing. The fact that it was an almost illegiable scrawl seemed to pass her by it made sense to her when she read it, so it was hard to understand that other people might have difficulty.
There wern't many people in the class, in a lesson such as this though you didn't want a large class because you needed to concentrate on the few students you did have. She didn't really know anyone in the classroom, and she wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a good. She made her way to the back of the classroom, taking a seat as far from the rest of the class as she possibly could even though the room wasn't overly large. There was a window next to her and she found her eyes wandering down to the lake.
She threw her bag onto the table, opening it and pulling out several sheets of rather crumpled looking paper and a black biro. She put the paper on the desk and shoved her bag off the edge of the table. With the palms of her hands she smoothed over the lined paper even though it still looked scruffy. There was something on the paper that she'd started to draw before she'd had to come to lessons.
Jean had had a word with her about her poor attendance and thought it had made Cat go all sulky something of what Jean had been trying to tell Catherine seemed to have sunk in though because she'd missed a few lessons here and there her attendance had drastically improved. This was her first reading and writing lesson though, although she didn't know why it had started late, it was because Riley hadn't come back from Iowa and he was the one taking the class.
She rested her cheek on one of her hands, putting her biro onto the page, seeming quite content to sit here like this even though everyone else seemed to be chatting amongst themselves. All anyone who walked through the door would be able to see of her was her golden hair that obscured the page she was drawing on. Her hair was different though, she'd had it trimmed the other day and the hairdresser had persuaded her to have it curled so now she had soft wavers and curls that seemed to fall throught it. She wouldn't really admit it to the lady at the time but Cat actually liked how it looked. There was a part of her that wanted Riley to notice, she wanted him to like it even if they weren't going out with each other anymore. Maybe it was almost as if she somehow though that changing her hair would alter her and then somehow Riley would want her back again.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
ooc: I'm a little unsure how to start this class..*Babbles on about anything*
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Since there where some mutants who looked different to humans and where shunned by others and they had avoided going to school, as well as some students that where not human yet now where living amongst the humans, Riley had agreed to help teach those that had not yet been able to learn what they needed to know about reading and writing.
Riley was rushing down the hall, a towel in his hand rubbing hurriedly over his wet hair, his other hand carrying his back pack that was full of both some of his study books as well as his teaching books. He had a small limp in his leg from the fight with the demon last night, but was only hurting now because he was running everywhere, once he settled down the cut would stop burning again thanks to his drug and genetically enhanced high stamina. He was going to have to find new weapons to fight the demons, he can't fight them hand to hand, it wasn't going to be easy and he wanted to continue going hunting, no one would miss him if he left the school at about 1am and returned at four or five in the morning.
It was actually very good he thought, he needed a way to release his pent up energy and anger and what a better way then thrashing low lives that are a danger to humanity? Luckily he managed to defeat the creature with just a few cuts and bruises, all of which were unseen save for the faint limp when he hurried about and the cut on his lip, the bruise on his cheek faded after spending an hour in the med bay in the morning. He had fallen asleep and that's why he was late for class, he was going to have to do the school work he was supposed to have completed the night before during his class today, he felt horribly guilty incase people didn't want to disturb him thinking he was busy even though they needed help.
Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Riley folded the towel up quickly and jogged the rest of the way as the bell rang out to signal the start of class, at least he was only a minute or so late.. How can he ask his students to be on time when he can't even show them that same amount of respect? He'd have to set the alarm on his mobile so he wouldn't ever sleep in again like that, even though his body had a right to be tired, he hardly cared right now about what it wanted, only that he had to keep himself occupied and busy every moment the day and night.
Opening the door to the classroom, Riley wiped his finger across the small cut in the corner of his bottom lip where he had been struck so painfully by the demon. He had to get back by four or five in the morning, otherwise if he was hurt then the beds wouldn't have enough time to properly heal him to hide the wounds he was getting while out battling demonic creatures on his own.
"Sorry I'm late," Riley apologized, but had already made up the perfect excuse to cover up the real reason, "I just had to organize some equipment for Arlen, it won't happen again." Riley was lucky for the fact he had one class after this he had to attend and then he could finish recovering in the advanced medical bay, most students weren't permitted down there in the underground facility so it wasn't likely for anyone to walk in on him, and he has told McCoy that they are just his Martial Arts classes that he's been getting a thrashing in. Wolverine did fight really hard against them, as did the students against each other, and his Danger Room training was just as difficult and dangerous, so McCoy had no reason to believe he was lying, even though the good doctor was keeping an eye on Riley already.
Arlen's body was slumped forward on his desk with his arms folded and his chin resting on them, Scott and Heath sitting on either side casting some smiles towards Riley. Most of the faces Riley recognized, but he was too nervous to glanced around the room, he knew who else was in here.. It felt as if should he look at her she'd know he was up to something that he was pretty certain no one would like him doing and she'd tell him off. But she wasn't his girlfriend any more, if he was hurting himself she didn't really have a right to tell him off, maybe part of him was crying out for attention, after all, what better way to get attention then from becoming part of a professional Basketball team and going out getting a heavy beating every night.
"Most of you know me from around the school, those of you who don't know me," Riley's hand dumped his bag beside his seat that was behind his desk that was on the side of the room and the neatly folded towel in his currently empty draws. This was Riley's room now, all his classes where here, and he was allowed to keep things in the desk and place students work or certain posters up on the wall for his class to see. Riley's hand grabbed at a black white board marker and he neatly wrote out his name on the top of the board.
"I'm Riley Finn," The white board stretched across the wall in front of the class, on each side of the board there were special boards where Riley could pin up things without damaging the classroom walls. Riley had his blue jeans on, the class wouldn't be able to see the cut on his lip, only if they were right in front of him and where staring at his lips for whatever reason while he talked.
Riley had blue jeans on, a black belt wrapped about his waist with a simple silver buckle, the white t-shirt he wore was a snug fit to his body, the sleeves reasonably short and clung against his skin, not hanging loosely. His silver phone was attached to the back of his belt on his right side, he had a new watch on, it wasn't as expensive as his other one, but one of his distant relatives had sent it to him, a young woman called Riona who was working with homeless youths and felt really horrible when she heard that an unborn Finn had been murdered. The golden chain could be seen around his neck, since it was so short, it meant quite often the chain would end up sitting on the front of the shirt or be seen above the collar, Riley didn't see why he wasn't allowed to wear it.. after all it was a Christmas present, even if Catherine did give it to him, it didn't have their names on it so it was all right.. he just really needed to wear something of hers.
Of course, Riley hardly realized he was going to start wearing things that showed off his well defined form more then before since part of him was trying to win Catherine back. He had a really nice smell about him as well, since he wasn't fully aware he was trying to make himself more noticeable for Catherine, he'll be making himself more noticeable to other girls as well who know he is single and would probably figure he is trying to get another date. Some of the girls think Catherine tricked Riley into having her kid some how, that way he was the type of guy who would stay with her even if he didn't really love her. He had no idea how many would be really glade they were able to have another chance with trying to win him, and the same thing goes for many guys who have admired Catherine's looks from afar.
"I would really like everyone to just call me Riley though," Riley's hands where moving while he talked, forming signal's that most of the people didn't understand, "You're all here because of different reasons, but you're all here to learn the same things, while I speak I am sure you have already noticed my hands are moving, for those not used to human's way of speaking like this, it is called sign language," Arlen was wondering what was wrong with Riley, but was amazed that he was speaking with his hands, when Arlen stared at their movement's he did not understand anything and was impressed there where people who could read those signals.
"Tara, James and Lily are deaf, they can read lips so when you talk to them be sure to face them, talk normally, otherwise it can be hard to understand what you are trying to say." Lily blushed nervously when her name was mentioned with the others, lowering her head so her pale blue hair obscured her face for a moment, but Riley needed to explain why he was using sign language and warn the other students who didn't know and would want to talk with them.
There was a boy who had dyslexia like Catherine, some other students from various countries, but only the countries that Riley was able to speak the language of. There had been some students from countries Riley didn't know the language of or well enough to speak, like the Indian, Arabic and African students that had to be sent into a different class.
Talia glanced shyly over towards Riley, though it was more because his form reminded her of Judas and the daughter of Nightcrawler had taken a fancy to the feral man. Her blue tail swayed slightly behind her, she had sat at the back of the room, her yellow eyes often wandering away from Riley while he talked to stare down at her workbook. The telepathic shape shifter most certainly was glade she had learned now how to block the thoughts of others, tucking her ling blue hair behind her pointed ears, Catherine would probably think she looks similar to the slayer Rogue when she was in her mutated form, only this girl that had sat at the desk beside her was obviously far more withdrawn then the Slayer.
"First of all, I would like everyone to fill out a form I will give you, put your name, then tell me five things about yourself." Now this may seem pretty pointless to most of them, but really Riley was just getting a sample of their writing, and then at the end of the year he will give them something similar to do and then compare their writing and show them how greatly they have improved.. or how little change there has been, depending on the student and how hard they try. Riley stared at the class for a moment, he had twelve students, but that was all right since most of the other classes had twice as many. Riley would have still preferred if it were smaller so he could focus better on each student.
"Before we start, could I change the seating a little I'd like those who do not know how to read or write over on this side, and those who can read and write over on this side." Heath was glade that he didn't have to leave where he was sitting since he was on the side of the class that could read and write.. he just wasn't the best at it. Riley repeated his request in Chinese and then again in Japanese and three of the students hopped up from in front of Catherine and moved over to the other side of the room with the others just starting to read and write. Taking in a deep breath, Riley then gave Arlen some of the forms and asked him to help hand them out to the other half of the room.
Catherine was on the right side of the room, along with Riley's desk the side that had the windows along the wall, it felt really strange being her teacher, and he couldn't help but worry over how he had pushed her before into doing some school work and discovered she couldn't read properly. At least his leg was better now he wasn't running everywhere, so there wasn't a limp like out in the hall where he got a few odd looks. When Riley reached the back of the room he handed Talia her sheet first and then gave one to Catherine, he smiled down at her for a moment longer then he had at the others before shyly heading back to the front of the room.
"Once you are done, please raise your hand and I will come to collect it, once you are done with this, we will be starting with our first exercise sheet, but first I want to say something," He could tell the foreign students would need to have him repeat everything in their language, he was taking all of them in special tutor classes so he knew they where only able to understand a small collection of words.
"Some of you may not think reading and writing is important, or that you can get by without having to learn it, but human life uses words in so many different ways," Riley stopped using his hands for a moment to speak to the death students and picked up the pen, having already explained to them that they needed to learn how to read and write in order to better communicate with other people, especially for when other people want to communicate with them and don't know sign language, like writing them a letter to meet them somewhere.
"But think about it, to go into a place and order food, you need to read the menu, to get a job, even one as simple as a wait or waitress, you need to write down the orders people will read out to you," Riley was writing out what he was saying in Japanese so they could read along with him while he spoke, that way he just had to repeat himself with the Chinese girl, Bei Bei. "For example, I joined a basket ball team, pretty easy right, no need to read or write things, just throw a ball about the place.. but what about the contracts? If I hadn't read what was in the contract before I signed it, I would have agreed to a few things without realizing it and some of those things where terrible.. I thought so anyway." Turning about, he looked quietly over the faces of the students before finishing up, wanting to get the boring part out of the way as soon as possible.
"My point is, reading and writing is very important, when you are older it isn't going to be easy to avoid, you will have danger signs telling you something, reports or forms to write out if you want to have certain jobs in order to earn the money you need to survive. And I know very well that some of you can read and write, but you have difficulty reading, and your writing may be untidy. When you write something, you have to make sure other people understand what you've written, I understand some of you are not pleased about being here. But being here doesn't mean you're not smart, it just means there's something you haven't been able to learn as well as you can, and you all have a perfect reason, but don't let that reason control your life." Riley pointed over towards Bei Bei Woo, the Chinese girl once he finished speaking, "I'll be over here for now, raise your hand and call my name once for my attention if you need help, once I see you, you can place your hand down and I will see you once I'm done with the student I may be with." He was so embarrassed, but he managed to hide it really well, trying to focus on the fact he was going to help them and not worry what they thought of him, after all, he could just picture a whole lot of crude comments Max Chadstone might have called out by now.
Re: Lessons for the less able.. "Sorry I'm late," Her dark eyes looked up for a moment from the picture of Ginuea she was drawing, for a minute she seemed confused as to why Riley was in her classroom when he could easily read and write. It took her a moment to understand that he was probably tutoring them. Cat wasn't even aware that the tutor and teachers names were pinned up on the notice board so that everyone knew what lessons they had with who. The thought that he'd be teaching her was a little uncomfortable, they hadn't really spoken since the cinema and she'd only caught a few glances of him in the hallways or the recreation room. "I just had to organize some equipment for Arlen, it won't happen again." She watched as he shut the door behind him and moved to the front of the class, putting his bag down on the floor. His eyes didn't move across to look at her, though she was sure he knew she was in the class. She was hoping that this would be quite an easy class, even know she knew she found reading and writing difficult.
"Most of you know me from around the school, those of you who don't know me," She was saw him take out a balck marker and write his name up on the whiteboard. The pen squeaked softly as it moved over the surface. Her eyes wandered away to look at the other students in the classroom, she recognised Arlen and Riley's other friends but some of the others she'd never really seen before. There seemed to be more mutants around than normal and Cat sometimes had difficulty putting names to faces.
"I'm Riley Finn," There was something different about him today, she couldn't really work out what though, it was infact that he'd actually made an effort this morning. It took her a short while to relise that he was wearing new clothes. She'd got used to the odd clothes he'd been wearing at Iowa when he'd been depressed, it was strange to see him making an effort like this. Her eyes flicked away to the other members of the class, frowning at one girl who looked remarkably like Jenn who was daring to look at Riley.
Sulkily Cat returned to her picture she'd started. It wasn't very good, she was no natural artist, but she was really happy with what she'd drawn so far. Catherine, as a symptom of her dsylexia found it hard to hold a pen properly making it hard to draw and write well. If she was instructed how to hold the thing then she might find writing that bit easier. For the moment she was still listening to him even though her interest was waining.
"I would really like everyone to just call me Riley though," She found it hard to concentrate in class, her attention easily wandering away out of the window, about ten mintues was the cut off point for her. After that she constantly needed to be reminded of how she should be listening to what she was being told. Her attention wandered off for a few minutes, not really listening to what he was saying about having to use his hands for the benefit of the deaf students. She hoped she could go and ride Guinea later though she was a little worried because the mare had trotted off with her the other day. Guinea could tell that the rider on her had absolutley no control over her so she'd just go off and do what she wanted and Cat was too afraid to tell her what to do even if she knew what that was. As her riding got better she'd learn to control Ginuea but untill then the mare knew she could get away with doing what she wanted.
"First of all, I would like everyone to fill out a form I will give you, put your name, then tell me five things about yourself." Cat glanced over at him before looking back down at her almost finnished picture, it didn't look much like Guinea, infact it barley resembled a horse. She was glad she didn't have to move seats, she liked being over here by the window so she could look out when she got bored. People were shifting around the classroom and Arlen was handing out sheets of paper for Riley. She looked up as Riley came towards her, handing first her neighbour a sheet and then Cat. He gave her a little smile before he moved back upto the front of the classroom.
She really did try and listen to what he was saying but her mind seemed to just wander off onto more interesting topics. The remainder of his speech was spent drawing on Guinea's tail. It took her a few moments to realise that everyone else was writing, Riley had his back to her though so he wouldn't know she hadn't started to do anything. She pulled the piece of paper he'd given her over towards her. There was a space at the top which was clearly indicated as where she should write her name. She filled that in and then looked down to read the next bit. Her mind seemed to go strangley blank as she tried to think of five things about her. It almost felt like a trick question, was there anything specific he wanted her to put? Her eyes moved over to her neighbours sheet of paper as if hoping somehow that she could copy the girls answers.
She held the pen over the paper for a moment before she started to write. I have a horse called Guinea There was a pause, what if he didn't want reminding of anything that they'd done together. She quickly scribbled out what she'd written and replaced it with. I like watching TV. There was another longer pause before she seemed to get any kind of inspiration. I am a mutant. I live at a school. She looked around her, expecting to see everyone else had finnished, after all that was what usually happened in her normal classes. She was a little suprised that some people hadn't even written anything yet, there were a couple of people who obviously didn't really know either what they were supposed to be doing or how to write. The feel that she wasn't the worst in the class made Cat feel almost clever. She was so used to trailing behind people that it felt odd not to be the person eveyone else was waiting for. She looked back at the sheet of paper. She didn't even see the fact that her sentances were completley disjointed and incrediably short. I have brown eyes. I'm an orpan. She seemed to have realised that she'd spelt orphan wrong however since she scribbled it out and replaced it with no mum or dad. She ended up with a completley disjointed sentance that now ran I'm am no mum or dad. She didn't seem to notice however since she pushed the paper away from her and went back to writing in bubble letters above her picture that it was Guinea she's drawn. Her writing hadn't taken up much room on the page since it was squished up and scrawley. She wondered if it was going to be this easy all the time. She was used to being in the normal classes where you had to write essays and things and she'd end up with half a side of writing by the end of the hour.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: Lessons for the less able..
It had taken a few minutes to go around to most of the struggling students who where having trouble with the language, but once they were seen he managed to get back to his desk only for a moment before one or two others had their hands up to signal they had finished the set work. It didn't seem Riley was going to be able to start his assignment just yet, it wasn't the type of class he should be seen working on other things though, he was so distracted with everything he'd realize later that he would have to devote every moment of his time to them otherwise he wouldn't be helping them as well as he should be.
"Alright, I'm coming around to collect your sheets now, I will be handing each of you a book," Riley lifted up a book that had a dull yellow cover with colourful letters all over it, "This is your exercise book, every class we'll be using it so I would like you to bring it to class with you all the time." Riley was supposed to take special classes to help him work with 'special' students, those who had short attention spans and such, but he was so busy that he didn't have time and he didn't think it was too important, he just had to keep an eye on them and make sure they continue focusing. He may have not trained for it but he had been an assistant teacher before so he did have an idea on how to keep students focused and stop their attentions from wandering.
The book was basically a special 'ABC' book, with pages full of letters and lines beneath the letters where you copy and repeat what they have, then simple words and further at the back of the book where short simple sentences for them to trace over as well as copy on the space below each sentence.
"Can I have everyone's attention!" Riley called out when he noticed some people were still struggling with writing, "I will be calling your name for two reasons, when you hear your name please look up at me, when I speak to the class please look at me as well, if I signal for you to come to me and sit with me at my desk that means I will like to spend some time with you. I will be doing this for each of you, in Alphabetical order of your first names. Or if I call you and I just look at you, that means I don't think you are working, if this happens please try and focus back onto your work instead of whatever you have gotten distracted with." Riley was walking around the class while speaking, and since he had things in his hands it meant he had to keep facing the deaf students so they could read his lips.
"Please put your name on the first page of the book, it has a box with 'This book belongs to' and then a line, place your name neatly on that line." Riley placed his collected sheets of paper from the group onto his desk, "The first page of the book has letters, there should be three lines, one has a letter," Riley wrote an 'A' on the board, and then a small 'a' beside it, "Like this, and then under this it will have the same thing only with faint dotted lines," Riley drew a line beneath the letters and then drew up the dotted Aa beneath it and then made another line under those, "And under the dotted letters there's a blank line, first look at the top letters, then traced over the dotted letters, and then write them out beneath in the blank space." Riley's hands explained that to the deaf people once he placed the pen down.
"If you have any trouble please raise your arm and call me." Glancing over towards Arlen while he took a seat at his desk, Riley motioned for the merman to approach him, "Arlen," Then shuffled through his sheets of paper to try and find Arlen's form, there was a stool under Riley's desk which he pulled out for Arlen to sit on, the merman dropping onto it and curiously looking over at the paper Riley pulled out and started talking with him about. Arlen hadn't written things before, but he had tried to read a few things, so he had a faint idea on how some of the letters sounded and was just trying to spell out the words how they sounded as best he could.
There wasn't much Riley could do right now since Arlen was just learning a new language and would need to learn the sounds and correct spelling of all the different words, though his focus was more on learning to read and understand what he was reading since Arlen didn't really figure he needed to write much. But Riley had suggested if he wanted to learn more about human life he should take more classes and do homework to study and learn, like history classes and biology and all other sort of things that where based on the lifestyle and social life of humans.
Every now and then Riley would be calling out names of some people who either started whispering to others or where staring off into space, while trying to get Arlen to understand the sounds of every letter in the language why going over each letter in Arlen's new book and sounding them out for him and using them in a word. It took a while, but twenty minutes later Arlen as delightedly going back to his desk and getting stuck into his book.
"Catherine," Riley called out and motioned for her to come to him, his voice sounded a little depressed since he had read over her sheet just before he called her and reading 'I'm am no mum or dad' had only reminded him that she wasn't a mother and he wasn't a dad, even though he could figure out easily enough what she meant since he picked out the misspelled word she had scribbled out before. His hand ran nervously through his hair that was now dry, his fingers quickly combing through it in one stroke while she approached before both hands disappeared down between his thighs.
"I'd like you to read back what you wrote." Giving her another smile didn't hide the fact he was a little nervous, when he had asked back at the movies if she was going back to the school he was hoping they could drive her back and the way she darted off before he could ask has been nagging at him since that night. But he had somewhat decided not to push himself back onto her, instead he'd just be friendly when he sees her, after all, he'd rather see her and have her smile then have her look away and ignore him or worse rush off and avoid him.
It was hard though.. she smelt nice.. and she looked splendid, why did she have to be so marvelous and perfect and ... well this wasn't helping, he was already thinking about how he wasn't ever able to let his fingers trace across her cheeks again, to feel her warmth and the security and comfort she brought him. He felt so lonely now.. more then he did last night or this morning, because she was right here, everything he's ever wanted was right beside him and yet there was nothing left between them that he was allowed to share with her expect memories that shamed him to think. Since they were not going out any more, and when you aren't dating someone he thought it was rude and that you can't think of them in that kind of way.
Re: Lessons for the less able.. "Alright, I'm coming around to collect your sheets now, I will be handing each of you a book," Cat had finnished her drawing of Guinea now and was staring out of the window, looking at a small brown bird that was hopping about on the floor outside. It suddenly took to flight, lifting it's self off the floor using it's wings and dissapeared off around the side of the building. She looked over at Riley once again and then glanced down at the sheet that she had in her hands.
"This is your exercise book, every class we'll be using it so I would like you to bring it to class with you all the time." Catherine didn't like the sound of an exercise book, it would however mean that she'd have all her work in one place, rather than at the moment where she seemed to be using paper which she either left behind or stuffed somewhere in her room, never to see the light of day again.
"Can I have everyone's attention!" Several people who hadn't been looking at him stared over at him as he spoke. Cat nervously fiddled with a strand of her golden hair, she'd been hoping maybe he'd say something about her hair and part of her was a little dissapointed now ... maybe he didn't like it, perhaps he pefered it when her hair was straight. She pulled a lock of her hair so it stretched out before letting it recoil into it's curl. Cat found it hard to sit still when she wasn't being entertained by something like the television, her agility made it difficult for her to concentrate on something that didn't catch her attention that much.
"Please put your name on the first page of the book, it has a box with 'This book belongs to' and then a line, place your name neatly on that line." She opened the book straight away and coppied out her name into the space provided, giving Riley half an ear while she was writing. Deep inside though she wasn't aware she was thinking it she knew that she could probably play off the fact that they had a history together, that she'd probably be able to get away with more in Riley's classes than any of her other ones. She turned the next page and looked down at the letters that he was telling them to write. It seemed so pointless to her, she knew how to write her letters even if she did get confused sometimes she didn't think it was bad enough for her to have to go back to this level. She felt like her pride was dented and that she was above having to do something like this. It would of course help her to write better, Cat didn't see it that way however.
She heard him call out Arlen's name and saw the merman walk up towards him and take a seat at the stool next to him. Cat picked up her pen again and started to quickly join up the dotted lines of the letters. It felt alien and unnatural to be doing it so when she got to writing the letters out underneath she didn't try to get them to be as nice as the ones in the book. It didn't take her long to finnish, one of her problems was that she just didn't take pride in her work, her idea of classrooms was to either hurry it and get it all done or not bother at all. It wasn't just a matter of altering and improving her reading a writing she'd have to change her attitude as well. In boredom she started drawing little pictures of animals using the letters as part of their bodies. To anyone else though it would have looked as if she was studiously working away, that was until you got close enough to see what she was doing. That was the problem with Cat, unless you taught her for a while you wouldn't know whether she was listening to you, even if she was looking in your direction.
"Catherine," She looked over at him with a questionning expression before she realised that he wanted her to go over to his desk so he could talk with her. She left her work book behind, not even thinking that they might need it as she trailed upto the front of the class.
"I'd like you to read back what you wrote." Cat looked down at the sheets she'd filled in, he was pointing at the last sentance. She read over the words for a second, feeling for a moment as if she'd done anothing wrong, she couldn't see anything inncorrect with it though.
'I have no mum or dad.' She didn't seem to even realised that she'd altered a word in the sentance. She looked back at her seat as if requesting permission to go back there, she didn't like being singled out and made to stand at the front. She hadn't sat down, making it seem as if she was impatient to get back to her palce.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: Lessons for the less able..
ooc: Oh yeah and when I said she'd finnished, for Cat that would have meant she'd done as much as she felt she needed to do i.e. upto the end of the first page or something.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: Lessons for the less able..
ooc: Sorry I rushed the ending.. bleh.. I forgot I had forgotten that Riley asked her about visiting the med lab..*got distracted a lot*..If you want to have her reply to him I'll edit and add it to my post! *Pats edit button*
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"Catherine," His voice was soft, he felt as if she was trying to shut him out again since she was acting so impatient with him, his hand timidly touched her arm while he spoke again, "Please sit down, I'm just trying to help." While his head began to turn away to stare at the paper, his eyes stole a glimpse of his fingers touching her arm before he nervously took them away and again placed his hand on his thigh.
"Every few days you'll be coming up here to read a little to me, I'm going to rotate through everyone and do this, give me a chance before you just walk away." He wanted her to trust him, but did he have a right to want that? This was different though.. he wished he could say sorry to her, sorry for failing her so many times, maybe this was his apology, to help her in a way he was able to.
"You have written.. 'I'm am no mum or dad'." He repeated what she wrote a little slower so she could hear how odd the sentence sounded, "Catherine, I think you should go speak with McCoy, I've asked him to work with you, you won't have to come to the next class, just go see him instead, I think it's important you see him." It felt really awkward for him, but he lowered his voice a little since he was worried she might skip seeing the doctor, "You know how I have trouble with flashing lights? You might have trouble with words, and if you do then that could be why you find reading difficult." Riley glanced over towards Tara, one of the deaf students, seemed to be staring at them rather intently.
It was making him slightly uncomfortable, how dare she read his lips when he was saying such personal things, he was lucky though, she hadn't been reading his lips when he had been talking before, she was staring more at Catherine, her brown eyes half obscured by some of her light brown hair. When she saw Riley staring at her she dropped her eyes down to the book again and focused on tracing over the letters with her pen. Riley frowned a little as he looked down at Catherine's paper, he didn't want anyone to know about his condition and now that Catherine wasn't his girlfriend the thought she might tell someone really worried him. The bell rang and every excitedly started packing up and rushing from their desk to the door, Riley didn't notice Catherine had stood up and gone off to her desk, he felt bad because his attention had wandered off for the last minute they were together.
The nicely tanned girl 'accidently' bumped into Catherine when she walked by, clutching her books against her front and throwing Riley a rather bright pretty smile though he only glanced up at her before giving his attention back to the work sheets from the other students. He was really eager to ask Catherine something but he was a little shy and nervous, and since she had to go back to her desk she was going to be the last one to leave the room.
"Catherine!" Riley basically shoved the papers into his draw grabbing up his bag in one hand and trailing after her, flashing his ex-girlfriend a rather nervous smile. "I um.." Both his hands nervously fidgeted with his bag while he tried to speak, "Friday, Saterday and Sunday between 11am and 1pm we have the Cheerleader tryouts, and the week after we have our first game on Sunday.." He was staring down at his bag while he was speaking to her, "Uh.. when the game finishes, if we win.. we'll be going out to celebrate, I told you about that didn't I?" He glanced over at her a little confused for a moment, he's been so nervous about talking with her he has started rehersing things he could say or what he wanted to say if he had a question he wanted to ask her. He always felt everytime he said something she'd get upset when they where first hanging around each other, so he figured if he tried saying them before he met her then he wouldn't mess anything up.
"Anyway.. I know it's two weeks away, but I'll be out a lot, and the weekends I'll be up in New York, during the days I'm mostly studying or teaching and after school finishes I have basketball practice and then..." He was babbling, babbling was bad, they where beyond the nervous need to babble uncontrollably, he has slept with this girl, he can ask her to come to a celebration with a horde of other people without drowning her in needless babble and giving her a headache, "I mean it's just I'll be busy so I thought now.. um.. are you busy next weekend?" That was most definitely not what he had practice he half scolded himself while trying to appear as calm as possible in front of her, though he had his his fingers tightly gripping onto the straps of his back pack that hang in front of his knees.
Re: Lessons for the less able.. "Catherine," She looked down at him, knowing by the tone of his voice that she'd done something or other wrong. She scuffed at the floor with the toe of her right cat boot. His fingers touched the skin of her arm for a moment. "Please sit down, I'm just trying to help." There was a moments silence before she sat down, her eyes looking more down at her knees than at him. She could still feel the warmth of where his fingers had rested over her skin. It made her feel all shakey inside, especailly since she knew exactly what he was caperable of making her feel.
"Every few days you'll be coming up here to read a little to me, I'm going to rotate through everyone and do this, give me a chance before you just walk away." There was a silent groan inside her, did she have to come up and read to him. Maybe she just wouldn't come to lessons when she knew it was her turn to read. She didn't think that he'd just wait until she turned up, either that or come looking for her or perhaps even take the time out of her personal time.
"You have written.. 'I'm am no mum or dad'." Cat looked down at the paper, her face looking decidedly grumpy, she didn't like being told that she was doing work that was wrong. It didn't really matter did it? "Catherine, I think you should go speak with McCoy, I've asked him to work with you, you won't have to come to the next class, just go see him instead, I think it's important you see him." There was a small frustrated noise in the back of her throat at the notion she'd have to go anywhere near the medical bay. At the same time as he was speaking with her he'd be able to persuade her to spend some time on the healing beds so she'd loose her limp and find moving around much easier. "You know how I have trouble with flashing lights? You might have trouble with words, and if you do then that could be why you find reading difficult." There was nothing wrong with her.
'There aint nothing wrong with me. You know what it says, doesn't matter if it's not exactly correct.' She looked a bit like she was about to go into a huff but Riley seemed distracted with one of the girls at the back. The bell rang and Cat stomped off, glaring as one of the girls knocked into her. She knew it wasn't on purpose, it wasn't the first time it had happened, but Cat knew if she retaliated that it would just make things worse since all the girls seemed to be waiting for some sort of excuse to gang up on her.
"Catherine!" She'd only managed to grab up her bag and turn towards the door before she heard him call her name, messing with the straps on his bag. "I um.." He was trailing along beside her as she made her way towards the door. She wanted to get down to the stables to see Guinea but at the same time she wanted to talk to him even if it did feel all horrible and akward. "Friday, Saterday and Sunday between 11am and 1pm we have the Cheerleader tryouts, and the week after we have our first game on Sunday.." She wondered if this was all going somewhere or if he was just trying to be friendly with her. "Uh.. when the game finishes, if we win.. we'll be going out to celebrate, I told you about that didn't I?" There was a shake of her head. She knew about the cheerleader try outs, there were signs up around the school and she'd heard girls talking about it. She wasn't really interested though, it wasn't like she was in any kind of fit state to go jumping about all over the place like that.
"Anyway.. I know it's two weeks away, but I'll be out a lot, and the weekends I'll be up in New York, during the days I'm mostly studying or teaching and after school finishes I have basketball practice and then..." So he was saying he wouldn't be around much, not that she got to see more than a few fleeting glances of him every now and again. She paused and looked back at him, wondering if he wanted her to reply to him or not? "I mean it's just I'll be busy so I thought now.. um.. are you busy next weekend?" Her cheeks turned bright, part of her wishing he was asking her out of a date even though she knew it wasn't since they were hardly speaking anymore.
'I um... I think I have to work ... in the day at least.'She couldn't help feeling all flustered, looking down at the ground as she slipped her bag over her head. Her eyes were looking at everywhere but his face, hoping he wouldn't notice the sudden colouration in her cheeks.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: Lessons for the less able.. 'I um... I think I have to work ... in the day at least.' Riley looked utterly disappointed, it was his first time in the public eye and win or lose he really wanted her there, she wasn't looking at him either, which was probably good since he looked so embarrassed and his eyes where downcast as well. But then she did say during the day right? There was a little spark of hope for a moment while he glanced up at her,
"The game starts at 7:30, are you working then? And the party won't be till eleven, unless we lose, if we lose then there isn't a party." He really wanted to win, even if it was just so he had a chance to spend some time out of school with her. Riley stared at her hair for a moment, he wondered why she was making herself look so nice, there was a little streak of jealousy for a moment, what if sh was trying to get the attention of others guys? Or if there was someone she was trying to impress so he'd ask her out?
"You look nice.. are you going out somewhere?" The curls gave her such a nice soft look, he wanted to reach out and touch them, he missed touching her, she was so smooth and silky, he liked running his fingers through her hair as well. He liked the curls, though he loved how she had her hair back in Washington, the way it covered one of her eyes made every time she looked at him so seducing. Now she when she moved there was a bounce in her hair, it made her more noticable..
Re: Lessons for the less able.. "The game starts at 7:30, are you working then? And the party won't be till eleven, unless we lose, if we lose then there isn't a party." He was asking her to go to the game? Or the party afterwards, she felt a little thrill run though her ... even if it was just as a friend, he wanted to spend some time with her ... There was the thought at the back of her mind that this might be the first step on the road to preparing their relationship. At least he seemed willing to speak to her now.
'Umm I finnish work at four ... where's it at?' There was the sudden horrible feeling that she wouldn't be able to go because it might be really far away, somewhere she couldn't get to. What if it was in New York? ... she'd never be able to get anywhere like that.
"You look nice.. are you going out somewhere?" There was the start of a faint red blush in her cheeks. There was a shake of her head, making the curls bounce slightly, her hands nervously playing with one of the badges on her bag.
'Ummm no.' There was a nervous look at the floor before she allowed her eyes to glance back up at his face again. She didn't know what else to say, her cheeks turned a darker shade of red.
ooc: Blerg sorry short and useless ... didn't know what to put.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: Lessons for the less able.. "Oh um," Riley blushed a little as he looked away, that was humiliating, he didn't want her to think he was being nosey, she was all done up so he was just wondering if she was going somewhere. "The party is at 'Reverie', it's a higher classed Nightclub compared to the Dying Star Graham says.. it's just a few blocks from the Dying Star." There was a slight pause before he added, "Oh, and Angela said if you don't have something to wear she has plenty of dresses you can use." It would hint that he had been talking to other people about asking Catherine to go with them, Angela said he should ask if she would be his date for the night, only Riley didn't want Catherine to think he was already starting to pressure her.
Although now Riley was pretty sure he's convined them all that he is just her friend and nothing more, it's bluntly obvious for them Riley still likes her, and Angela isn't sure but she is keeping an eye on Catherine, figuring the agility mutant might still be keen on Riley. Besides, once you love someone it's not easy to fall out of love with them unless they did something horrible, only Riley made it absolutly clear he didn't want them to push Catherine into spending time with him again.
"Anyway.. I should go," He sounded a little hesitant about leaving, but if he didn't leave soon he'd end up standing around forever since it was letting him have more time with Catherine, and he was sure she had other places she'd rather be. "I have to go to class," Riley sounded a little surprised, mainly because he had forgotten that he had class, he was going to be late, he didn't even know what he had, only which room he was in, Riley didn't have time to check the list properly since he was rushing to his first class.
"Oh um," He didn't sound too happy with her reply and she wondered for a second if something she had said had annoyed him. Perhaps she should have thanked him for realising that she looked nice. She was suddenly very self concious of her apperance, her eyes looking down at her self, making sure she still looked like she had when she'd left her room.
"The party is at 'Reverie', it's a higher classed Nightclub compared to the Dying Star Graham says.. it's just a few blocks from the Dying Star." That didn't overly comfort her, she found the Dying Star a lot more upper class than she was used to. In Washington they'd go out to places that had posters that had been stuck up years ago and drugs were as readily available as the drinks were at the bar. There'd always be fights breaking out or ocassionally some sort of gang warfare and someone would end up getting stabbed or bottled. "Oh, and Angela said if you don't have something to wear she has plenty of dresses you can use." The thought didn't fill her with confidence, she had been avoiding Angela for some time now, it wasn't that hard though since they didn't have any lessons together. Lisa however kept trying to talk to her, Cat had got into the habit of pretending she was out whenever she heard the girl knocking on the door.
'Uh thats ok I'm sure I've got something.' And if she didn't then she'd simply buy it, she wasn't feeling enamoured at the thought of having to go and speak to Angela or Lisa. She made her mind up that once she'd been to see Guinea she'd go upto her room and see what Xavier had put in her wardrobe, and if there wasn't anything there that was suitable then she'd simply go to the mall.
"Anyway.. I should go," There was a nod in response to him, she wanted to run off and plan what she was going to wear. She'd never really been someone who loved dressing up but there was a large part of her that wanted to impress him. "I have to go to class," Cat gave him a small smile in response to his statement, her eyes dropped away though, looking down at the tips of her cat boots.
'I guess I'll see you around then.'
ooc: We can fade out there if you want? Did you wanna do another of our threads?
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
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