Round One (Catherine)

[Lukas Wolf]

Lukas walked angrily into the library, his backpack over his shoulder. He didn't want to be here right now, he'd rather be flirting with Andi or working out, but he was very kindly suggested by a teacher to go seek Catherine Novella for tutoring. Lukas knew he wasn't a bright guy, there was no reason for him to really care about his education from where he was from. The school was a troubled school, and they never really expected much from their students. As long as you could read and write, you were fine. But here, Lukas actually needed to try. He needed to focus, and succeed. And he wasn't. He was barely getting by his classes, and needed as much help as he could take.

He let out a huff as he looked around the library for this girl. Short and blonde was what he was told. Glasses too. As Lukas walked through the aisles he couldn't get over the feeling of failure that ran through his body. Like said before, he knew he wasn't a bright guy. But to be "suggested" tutoring, was like a slap in the face. It was like he was being told he was stupid. And he really didn't like that. Lukas was a proud person. His pride was usually what made him do the things he did. Well his pride and his anger. It was like the two of them went hand in hand. If you damaged his pride, his anger would take over. And if he was angry, his pride would work on overtime.

As Lukas made his way around, he was lost in his own angry thoughts, and only getting more frustrated by not being able to find the girl. Who do they think they are? Lukas thought seething, Those fucking goons. They're just trying to embarrass me. Make me feel like shit. Like I'm worthless. Now they're gonna send me to some geek, and she's gonna look down at me cause she's smarter. Lukas thought angrily, Who the fuck does she think she is? Just cause the bitch is smarter than me, doesn't mean she's fucking better than me! Lukas' mind began to run now. His pride kicking in, as he began his spiral into how much he hated this Catherine girl, before he'd even met her. I shouldn't even fucking be here! What the fuck can she do for me? Stupid bitch.

Finally turning a corner, the 6'3 boy spotted the tiny girl. His eyes narrowed in an angry stare, he quietly approached the girl. "The teacher thinks I'm a fucking moron and said I have to come to you for tutoring." He blurted out, as he stood behind the girl, not caring whether or not he scared her. He stood there looming over her, his face hard and cold as ice, "So can you help me or not?" He asked harshly. It wasn't that he had any actual problem with the girl, Lukas was the type that he felt like everyone was against him. That it was him against the world, and that if he felt like you would damage his pride, he wouldn't take it too kindly. And the simple fact that Cat was basically connected with him feeling like he was being called stupid, was the main reason he had so much anger and hatred towards her.

Letting out a sigh, Lukas stopped starring so viciously at the girl. There was a little part in him, way in the back, that told him that whether he liked it or not, this girl would be what helped him graduate. And that she would be the one putting the time and effort into making school and homework so much easier for him. She would be his new teacher, and that he couldn't be such a huge dick to her. So clearing his throat, Lukas tried putting his anger aside, "I'm Lukas," he said, one of his giant hands out to be shaken. "Sorry about that..." He said, awkwardly clearing his throat again, "Just... A rough day..." He lied.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat had readily volunteered her services as a tutor when the teacher had asked her to. Honestly Cat knew that if she was able to help she would. All that she had been told though, was that the male of whom she was tutoring was very tall and had the build of a fighter. His name was Lukas Wolf. Sighing she went into the library for the day. She was holding out there until it was time for her tutoring session. After all she still had stuff to do. She was content and happy to stay in the library. There it was safe.

As the day progressed Cat was content in stocking the shelves with the books that were coming in. She really was all over the library all throughout the morning. She had been just roaming around and looking at books as she was wasting the day away. She had wandered through the halls of the library before finding the section which held tutorial books. She might as well get prepared. Making sure all of her work was done Cat got out a few books on the various subjects in attempts to help the person she was assigned. In all actuality she had not a clue what he was like. She didn't know his strengths, his weaknesses, or how he preferred to learn. Was he the visual type? The sit down and read type? The type to have it explained? The “make it interesting and I can learn type?” did he learn by watching people? Did he learn by being thrown into it? Cat had not a clue. She figured she had better prepare if she was going to be teaching him. So cat got together colored pencils, paper, and scissors, not to mention a whiteboard she was borrowing from the library. It would be easier to show him if he could see it bigger then the notebook. Hopefully she would be able to get through to him.

Cat glanced at her watch. She knew she had better make her way towards the table and set up slightly. She then proceeded to wander through the library trying to distract herself. She hoped this Lukas person was pleasant. Most of the time she avoided the outside world. To her it was too scary. In the library she could be safe, secure. Nothing could harm her here. Smiling she wandered towards the rows of books that had and held her dreams. They always seemed to cheer her up, no matter what the occasion. She wandered into one of the rows and pulled out a book to read. She let herself get lost in the story, absorbed. She honestly didn't and wouldn't notice anything else outside of her world.

Cat was jolted out of her world of books when someone came up behind her. Turning slowly she looked up. And up. It seemed that the person addressing her was very tall. And very out of place next to the shorter girl. Listening to his words Cat silently looked up at him. He seemed to be cold, and angry. Yes angry was definitely the emotion sprawled all over the boys face. He didn't want to be here and having her as at tutor made it worse. Looking up at him, hiding all of her fear she slowly waited for him to finish speaking. “Do you want the help?” Cat had to ask. She could help if he truly wanted it. I he didn't she would just be wasting her time. One thing about Cat was that she didn't like to waste her time. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and looked at him with an equally icy glare. “I can help if you want it.” Yes she was ignoring the swearing, the cold glare, the fact that he obviously did not want to be here. She would ignore it all if he said he wanted help. Cat would not have someone in her library asking for her help if he was to be miserable every time he came. That would not work or either of them. Only her shivering in fear gave away her true emotions. As much as she try to ignore it, she was afraid. Especially when he towered over her and looked at her in that menacing tone. Cat would stay strong though, she had to.

Cat would only watch him as his gaze loosened only the slightest and his posture gave just a bit. It was almost if he was expressing remorse. Smiling only the slightest she quickly turned around and placed the book back on the shelf. Like it or not, he was there to learn, and with that Cat had no qualms. She looked up at him again, her own eyes softening a bit as he stuck out his hand in a slight offering of a truce.Smiling she looked up at him and shook it, placing her small thin hand in his. She smiled again as he gave a rough explanation of his attitude. “It is perfectly fine.I get it. You don't want to be here and you do not like the fact that you were made to. Even if you can not stand me i will try my hardest to help you.” Shaking his hand she slightly pulled it away after. “I am Catherine Novella, I am assuming you are Lukas Wolf.”

[Lukas Wolf]

Lukas stood there looking down at the girl when his face softened, she was kinda cute, but tiny. He felt like he might break her hand if he wasn't careful while he shook her hand. Lukas found it surprising that the girl took well to his attitude and his anger, and immediately understood him. Most people just walked away or didn't understand him at all, but she seemed to already. And they had just met.

"I do want to learn..." He said quietly, mostly talking to himself. He would have never admitted this to another person. He would usually play it off that he didn't care about school, but he did. He wanted to do well in school, because he wanted to prove to his mom that he could be something and someone she could be proud of. He had been such a bad kid growing up, and either than his fighting he really had nothing else to be proud of. If he ever had to give up fighting when he was older he knew there would be nothing else he could turn to. Nothing positive that is. All he could do was throw punches, and take them. And that wasn't something to really be proud of.

When Cat began explaining that she understood him, Lukas just stood there listening and watching the girl. He still couldn't believe that this tiny little girl understood him, and that she was going to help me. And she was actually going to try to help him. She wasn't going to give up on him like most of the teachers did with him as he grew up. "Yeah, I'm Lukas." He said, a little bit of his crooked smile coming onto his face. "Nice to meet ya, Cat," Lukas said his smile widening a bit sideways. "So... Let's do this," He chuckled a bit, adjusting his bag, and making his way to a table. "But I'm gonna warn you, I don't understand any of this shit..." He said shaking his head, "I'm just fucking dumb... y'know? I don't get any of this shit." He said with a half shrug, "But don't go runnin' around tellin' people that..." Lukas said throwing a look over to Catherine as they walked to the table.

As they made it to the table, Lukas put his bag on the table, "I'm a fighter. All I know is how to take a punch and how to throw one right back... Nothing else." He said, a small smile on his face as he looked at the tiny blonde. He wouldn't lie, he noticed how cute she was, and she seemed very timid and quiet. Watching her Lukas had the sudden urge to protect the tiny little thing. Like a little kitten. Or a helpless puppy. He just wanted to pick her up, and protect her from the world.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat looked up at the older student. She wouldn't back down from a challenge. Show no fear correct? She trembled only slightly as he loomed over her. Honestly Cat was not fond of his swearing left and right but she could not really help it, as she was she really had no authority over him. It was all on him to listen and take in what she was saying. She knew that he didn't want to be here. She also knew that he needed to be here. With those thoughts in mind she finished the handshake, pulling her hand away from him.

When the words came out of Lukas's mouth Cat gave a smile that was parallel to none. With those words she knew he was sincere in his wanting to learn. Cat could never refuse anyone who wanted to learn. She just couldn't. With her gaze easing and she smile constant she led him over to the table and motioned or him to sit. “ Then I can help you. I shall warn you now it will be hard. It will be frustrating. Most of all you will feel like you are being sucked into the work and you wont be able to escape. If you let me I can teach you, or try to. I am probably one of the most stubborn people you will meet. Know this now. You have committed. Now I wont give up.” Smiling over at him she looked up at him again. “ You have been warned.”

Cat looked up at Lukas as he confirmed her thoughts with his name and a crooked smile. Looking up at him once again she smiled right back. If he was going to be pleasant so was she. “ A pleasure to meet you Lukas.”Cat just followed silently as he walked over to the table with his very enthusiastic “lets do this” and sat down waiting for her. Before she could begin to speak however, he started talking about how he was stupid. The hell with that, was Cats very first thought. Trying to keep her temper even she slowly closed her eyes and counted to ten, waiting for him to finish his rant before she began hers. Once he was seated and had ceased talking she slowly moved towards him and slammed her hands on the table, across from where he was sitting.

Her blue eyes were full of passion and they were conveying her feelings exactly the right way. “Firstly, if you are ever to enter this library again I never want to hear those words out of you mouth again.” Cat stared at him eyes glazing over just a smidgen. The fear that had accompanied her first meeting was long gone. “It is okay if you don't understand something. We can work on that. But if you ever for a moment think you are stupid you are wrong. There is nothing about you that is stupid. I don't care who you think you are or what you think your intelligence level is. You are not stupid. In truth you are smart. You just don't know it yet.” Cat took a very deep breath before shakily continuing. “To be smart you have to believe you are. I believe you are very smart. Now you better believe it too”

Cat took a bit of a breath before looking over at the much taller male who was, by now standing by the table. “ If you are a fighter you have determination and a strong will. That is really all you need. You take those punches that are thrown, those insults,"oh your stupid","You can't do this", "you are unable to learn this" and you throw them right back," I am not stupid." "I an do this", "I will learn this". You show them your determination to getting this. You show them your fighting will.” slowly Cat smiled at the much taller, and much more intimidating boy, “ You do and I promise you that you will come out on top and you won't, I repeat won't, hear those words again.”

[Lukas Wolf]

Lukas stood by the table now and listened to the tiny little girl lecture him, every time she took a pause or a breath Lukas would try to interrupt her or cut her off, but she just kept pushing through her lecture, and after awhile he just gave up. He hated being talked down to, and she was talking to him like he was a child, but he felt a form of respect towards her. He didn't know what it was, but he was just used to people usually being afraid of him, and not wanting to talk to him, but this girl not only had the guts to talk to him, but the balls to lecture him, all in one day. So Lukas stood there quietly and listened to the girl, he normally would have gotten upset, pissed off, and would usually storm away, but he needed her help. And honestly at this point he was willing to do anything to get the help he needed. Even if it was having to suck up his pride, put away his anger, and focus on school work.

When Cat finished lecturing him, Lukas just let out a small chuckle, and gave her a small smirk, "So... Should we get to work or what?" He said opening up his backpack and pulling out his textbooks. After sitting down, Lukas looked up at Cat, "But thanks for that..." He said quietly, mostly in a whisper, and part of him hoped that Cat wouldn't even hear him. Because unlike most people Cat understood him, and she seemed to believe in him as well. She was different. So very different than other people that Lukas had met throughout his life. This girl who just met seemed to believe in him, more than he believed in himself. She seemed to understand him more than his own mother understood him. And Lukas felt a strong connection, albeit confusing, but a very strong connection to this little tiny girl. He respected her, and felt that in time he may even be able to trust her.

Lukas dug into his backpack and pulled out his copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird," and put it on the table, "So we're supposed to read this..." he said pointing at the book, "And all I understand is there's shit going inbetween black people and white people... But that's it... And like the guy, Boo something, raped someone or something. I dunno..." He said with a shrug, and then a scratch of his head, to further express his confusion.

"I just. I don't know... School's hard to understand."

[Catherine Novella]

Cat's emotions were on high. She hated people calling themselves stupid. She in fact hated that word. There is no such thing as stupid and o her it was just a derogatory term that people made up to make the object, or person feel like crap. That was not acceptable to Cat. Sure she was ranting and sure she was basically cutting him off when he tried to but in, but she knew he would only deny what she was saying and Cat didn't want that. She wanted him t believe in himself that he could do it. If only to pass. If he got it through his head that h could do anything then maybe he would understand and apply it to life. Her eyes had flickered over to him during the of lack of a better word, lecture. She really did not mean to lecture him but people calling themselves stupid really got her goat. She didn't understand why people would do that and she refused to believe he was stupid.

Cat took a breath after she finished with his rant. She looked up at him again and grinned slightly when his attitude improved. “ Yes lets” Chuckling Cat began to pull out her own textbooks and her own study materials when she heard almost a bare whisper coming from the boy who was now sitting and waiting for her to finish. When she finally put two and two together she just nodded and smiled slightly. “You are welcome.” She had meant every word. He wasn't stupid. Not a person was. Smiling she set down her textbooks and sat down waiting for him to pick out a subject to first look at. Se hoped she had come prepared enough. As it was she had gotten a list of things that Lukas was learning at the moment and what he had learned in the past from the teachers. She was as prepared as she was going to get, so it was now or never to try and teach him.

Cat smiled as Lukas dug around in his bag obviously looking for something. She watched silently as he put the book on the table in front of them. Smiling she pulled out her own copy, fully sticky-noted and highlighted in advanced. The book was semi hard to understand with the narrative of a little girl often confusing the reader. She politely listened to Lukas as he explained what he understood. “ Well, you got half of that right. It is a conflict between the African American Community and the southern white community. Boo, is someone who plays an important part, we will get to him later and the other conflict was a black person being accused of rape by a white person in the south.See you have the knowledge, you just get it all jumbled up in here.“ Cat tapped her head with a finger and then she smiled and pulled out a piece of paper. “ All right I want you to write out all the characters you can think of. Then write what you think they are like. Your terms, no literary mumbo jumbo, just describe the characters as you would describe a friend.” Cat smiled and pulled out her own sheet to write on. “Lets see what you come up with. Go from there. The base of the book is the characters. If you don't understand them you can't begin to understand the plot.”

Cat had to laugh at the fact that he had just stated something so simple that everyone would understand it within a minute of hearing it. “ Don't you know it. They expect us to understand and learn things all the same. Different people learn differently. We aren't robots. We each have an individualized style of learning. The sooner the teachers learn that the better we can become.”

[Lukas Wolf]

Lukas sat there and starred at the tiny girl infront of him. She had sent him into silence once again, standing up for herself. He was also taken back once again about the fact that his stupid summary of the book had somewhat been right, and that Cat hadn't used Lukas' stupidity to beat him with it.

When Cat told him to begin writing down the characters he remembered and to describe them in his own words. His own words.

The little girl who tells the story. She acts like a dude, but she's pretty smart. She thinks everyone is good, but learns they aren't.

Atitcus- The dad. A law person. He's funny. His wife is dead. He thinks it's cool for blacks and whites to chill. He defends the black guy who is being charged with raping the white chick.

Jem - Scout's bro.

Boo Radley - The creepy black guy. Scout and Jem are scared of him." [/font]

Lukas finally put his pen down, and pushed the notebook towards Cat, "I give up." He said, a frown on his face and his eyebrows furrowed. He shook his head before looking down at the book again, "I know there are a lot more characters but those were the only ones I could think of..." He said quietly, opening the book again and scanning through it.

"I'm sorry..." He said mostly to himself, as he watched Cat read through the paper.

As he sat there in silence he couldn't help but get frustrated with himself, he couldn't imagine how stupid he probably sounded to this girl. This genius of a girl. She was so smart, and he was an idiot.

Lukas stood up angrily, and pushed his books off of the table. "This is fucking ridiculous!" he said in a huff, "How the fuck is 'To Kill A Mockingbird' supposed to help me in the future? It's not like one day I'm gonna be like 'Oh boy, aren't I glad I read that shitty book or else I wouldn't know how to fucking... I don't know... This is retarded."

Lukas huffed again, and crossed his arms. These temper tantrums were very common with him. And he usually couldn't control them when they took over him, but he stood there, his eyes glancing away from the petite girl.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat smiled as Lukas began to write down his interpretations of the characters. She kept a watchful eye as she herself wrote down her list. He was doing good, he already had four. She took the time to write down who she considered to be the main people of the plot.

Scout- main protagonist, naive, goodhearted, adventurous

Jem- “American boy”, older brother, close to scout,

Atticus- father of Jem and scout, defends Tom, a activist, believed all should be free, educated both children

Boo- A source of imagination. A monster, but also a kindness, a image for a good person tainted by evil

Cat looked at the paper that Lukas had pushed over and smiled. It was the same four people she had put. He did know the stuff, just didn't know how to put it. This piece of paper just confirmed it. “No this is good. You got the four main ones!” Cat smiled and showed him her paper. It had the exact same names, just different information after it.

Hearing the other boy Cat frowned. “ Don't apologize, you have done nothing wrong.” Honestly, Lukas was smart, he just needed to elaborate more and needed to read a bit more into it. He knew what he was talking about, he just didn't know how to say it. Lukas had the bare skeletal systems of the characters down and he should be proud of that.

Before Cat could even get a word out she was bombarded by the loud voice of Lukas. He was swearing again wasn't he? Sighing she stood up and gathered the books that he had pushed onto the floor. Silently she waited until he was done with his rant before saying in a voice that was just above a whisper, “ Are you done already?”

Honestly he was just like a big baby. He would ran and rant and rant until he got tired out then he would sleep. That wouldn't work with Cat. She would demand that he have respect for not only her, but himself as well. “If you are done with your rant you may sit down, and we can continue. There is not a damn thing wrong on your paper Lukas. Give yourself a little credit.”

Cat looked back up at the taller boy with a glare and a her own crossed arms. “ Sit down Lukas and tell me more about Scout's brother.”