Not as bad as they say (AJ)

[Ciaran O'Reilly]

Ciaran O'Reilly, a small eleven-year-old with bright blue eyes, had never had homework before. Or, more accurately, everything he had ever done was homework. Being homeschooled all his life meant that he never did any work outside of 'school' hours, which meant that the concept of homework was new to him, but it also meant that he didn't mind it as much. He had seen people complain in movies and TV shows, but it really wasn't so bad.

He was sat at a desk with a large book and a slightly smaller book. The larger one was titled, 'Countries of the Middle East: Conflict' and the other was titled, 'Ciaran O'Reilly, History'. His task was to research about Sudan, the country he had been assigned to and so far it had gone okay. He had a mind map in the middle of his page, with branches and bubbles. He wouldn't go as far as to call it fun, but, again, it wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ had taken solace in the library recently. With everything in her mind so jumbled, she thrust herself into her studies, unsure of what else to do. She'd taken the walk from her dorm room to the library once again, and sighed at the state of the place. With school back in session, the Hammel library was swamped with students trying to get work done. It didn't help that it was a Monday.

Brown eyes glanced around the library, not wanting to sit next to anybody who was close to her age or who might know her. She didn't need to deal with that right now.

She caught sight of a small boy with bright blue eyes, intently working on a project and pulled out a chair at his table. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked.