Attempting to learn (Open)

[Arlo Pecatti]

It was another warm day, unusually so for March, and because of this most people in Hammel seemed to have vacated the building, preferring the outdoors. And who could blame them really? Summertime was the favorite time of most teenagers as that meant they could go outside and have fun. Arlo wasn't quite like them though. He preferred sitting inside reading a book or doing something useful rather than playing. In that sense, he supposed he was quite grown up really. Many of the teachers seemed to do similar things to him. Going outside made no difference to Arlo's body temperature so he simply stayed inside doing what he liked to do rather than going outside to do something he probably didn't like much.

That day he had decided he should go and do his Math homework as it was one of the few subjects that shouldn't have been too difficult in English as the numbers would still be the same in Italian. The only thing he might have problems with in Math would be the written calculations using words like 'multiply' and 'subtract' because the words were different in his country. There was so much he still had to learn and so little time in which to do it and it confused him somewhat.

If Jack has 58 chips and Jane has 40, how many do they have in total?

Arlo frowned. The numbers were 58 and 40, clearly. But what did he have to do with them? He could work out that Jack and Jane were people and that they had a certain number of something but what did he have to do with them? Did he need to find out how many they had between them? He frowned, shaking his head slightly, then deciding that would be what he would work out. The answer would be 98. He wrote 98 down on the piece of paper but then seeing the next question confused him again;

Jack has 58 chips and Jane has 40. What is the difference between how many chips they have?

If he didn't have to add them together, what did he have to do to them? He didn't understand why they couldn't just write the sums out as normal with the numbers and signs that he was used to. He preferred straight forward questions to ones with added detail, yet all the sums on this worksheet seemed to be written out in an odd way like this. He sighed to himself, wondering why it couldn't be made more simple than this. He ignored that question and moved to the next to see whether he understood that one any better;

Jack has 58 chips and Jane has 40. How many chips does Jack need to give Jane for them to have the same number of chips?

Give. That was a word Arlo understood. Jack give Jane chips... Arlo thought and nodded slightly. So that meant that he had to work out how many chips Jack should give Jane. But why did he have to do that? He reread the question and saw 'the same' and hoped that meant 'equal'. He wrote down the answer as being 9, guessing that there was 18 between 40 and 58 so Jane would need half of that number to have the same as Jack, who had the other half. Did that mean the previous answer would be 18? Arlo wasn't sure but he wrote it down anyway.

He was sure everyone else in his class was far more intelligent than he was and that they would have worked out all these sums a lot faster than him and he let out a frustrated sigh, putting his head down on the table. He really needed to learn more basic English to cope with Math problems. And that didn't even make sense.

[Kateri Rivera]

Kateri had never been sure about the library. She wasn’t much of a reader to begin with. Books were all well and good when you were bored and had nothing else to do (the long plane rides to Europe were usually where she read, if not the only time when she did) but there were always more interesting things to do. Dating for one—although she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a real date—or even just going out to enjoy herself with friends. Most of the time, she even preferred grading her math assignments to books. Plus, weather manipulators had a trained unease when it came to libraries. They were aware what one bad rain or snowstorm could do to all the books. Meta-school librarians were very good at spotting the potential disaster, pulling students aside, and telling them all the things they would do to them if any of the books got one drop of water on them. After that, Kateri had tended to avoid libraries. She felt it would be better for the librarian’s blood pressure and for her nerves. They wouldn’t be watching her, and she wouldn’t feel crowded.

So why was she here today? Well, for starters, because the weather outside was glorious. Kateri would freely admit that she had issues focusing on her work. So while the students were all outside, enjoying the sunshine, she’d told herself that she had to work and should focus on grading the homework assignments that she wasn’t yet behind on, and that she didn’t want to be behind on. So she’d settled down at her desk and had started to work, but it hadn’t quite lasted. She’d kept looking behind her at the wonderful warmth that she so enjoyed, and thinking about how nice it would be to spend time outside. Except she also knew that once she did go outside, it wouldn’t work, and so told herself to ignore it and deal with it.

But it hadn’t worked. So in determination to actually complete her goals, she’d picked up the papers and had headed into the library, deciding to brave the librarian’s wrath. After all, she told herself, there didn’t seem to be many clouds anywhere for her to pull on, and she didn’t intend to get upset. Besides, she hadn’t caused a good rainstorm in years. She could manage.

It had been a surprise to her to see a student in the library, especially one who seemed so focused on his work, and who didn’t seem to even have been forced to stay here due to detention. Her brows climbed and then, just because she was nosy (or curious, in her own perspective) she leaned over his shoulder to examine what he’d been working on.

Jack and Jane…that looked like math. Fairly simple math, and this boy seemed a little discouraged, but she would have still bet he knew that stuff. In fact, if her scans of what she thought the answer was were correct, he had gotten it. So why the frustration? Was he just bored, or was it something else? She didn’t recognize him…perhaps he had a different class.

“Hey,” she offered after a moment, still watching him curiously. “Are you all right? Do you need some help?” she motioned to the papers. No, it wasn’t grading anything. But in her mind, it was at least as productive.

[Arlo Pecatti]

Hearing someone else entering the library surprised Arlo until he realised they were a teacher. That almost confirmed his thoughts about teachers being inside when students were outside. He smiled faintly to himself, wondering whether she would work as well. Most teachers seemed to do that when it was sunny. Was he stereotyping there? He was really. He didn't mean to of course, it was just the way that things appeared to the little Italian boy in a new country observing people there for the first time. He was bound to make some sorts of assumptions really. His mind might be changed if he were to observe them more but until then, he would feel that way. It wasn't a bad thing though, he did like that impression he had of teachers. He liked the idea that they might be somewhat like himself. It meant he wasn't the only one doing something for once which would make a nice change.

He half expected the teacher to either sit down and start working immediately and completely ignore the fact that they were about the only person in there or that they would be looking for a book so he looked back at his worksheet and sighed quietly at the next question;

Jack and Jane each give John one quarter of their chips. How many chips does each of them have now?

Arlo sighed again at the question. Quarter. That was something to do with the number four. One four? Arlo shook his head a little. That made no sense. Surely one four would just be four? But then why didn't it just say four? Arlo was rather tempted to just put his head back on the table and pretend he didn't exist in the hope that someone might just do his homework for him if he acted like he was dead for long enough.

It was then that Arlo realised the teacher hadn't just sat down and ignored him. They were watching him. And had they just spoken to him? He really needed to concentrate more. He glanced at her for a few seconds and smiled faintly as his mind worked overtime to try and remember what she had said and then translate it into Italian, then translate an answer back into English. "Erm... Hello," he said when his brain finally kicked in to thinking in English. His accent was clearly not American, even though he had only said a few brief words and he hoped he was understandable. Realising she had offered him help, he smiled a little more, "You... Want to.. To help?" he asked curiously, sounding almost astounded anyone would want to help him. Most people just ignored him because he was small and slipped into the background most of the time so this was something different for him. Now he would have to try his hardest to get this work done if she was willing to help him. Back in Italy nobody ever really helped him other than his brother. Nobody else was ever around to help him. Here, maybe he might get help more if everyone was as nice as this teacher was.

[Kateri Rivera]

He did seem to be having quite a bit of trouble with the math. She watched as he stared down at the problems, and let out a couple of sighs. Well, she could understand how that felt. She’d felt the same way when she’d been working on papers. Especially for any English classes. Oh, that had been a miserable experience. Eventually, she’d bribed someone else to write them for her. Her teachers never asked, and she never told. She figured it was a great solution for both of them. They didn’t have to get a headache decoding her papers, and she got a half-way decent grade. It was perfect.

And that was one of the many reasons that she didn’t tell any students, at all, about her school experience. Or, for that matter, her employers. She shuddered to think about what would happen if, say, James Campbell found out some of the more…interesting details about her past. Yeah, better to keep that all under wraps.

It took him a moment to realize he was standing behind her. She credited him for not jumping when he realized it. Then again, perhaps he had just been focused that much on his math. When the boy spoke, however, she realized the problem immediately. Foreigner. Italian, by the sound of it. As an Irishwoman with a bit of Spanish in her blood who had attended a Swiss school…well, let’s just say she knew what it was like to have to improve your abilities in a language, and fast, lest you get into more trouble, or just in order to survive, plain and simple. Oh, yes. She knew how that felt. It was a shame she didn’t speak Italian…oh well. Spanish wasn’t too dissimilar, and besides: she just knew to speak slower, and what she could do to help him.

“Yes,” she told him, then settled down in the seat next to him and offered him her hand. “My name is Ms. Rivera.” Why did he sound surprised that someone wanted to help him? Well, if he stuck to himself, and avoided the more…extravagant characters that Hammel had, she supposed it would be reasonable. There were always bigger things for people in this school to focus on. “I teach math. When did you come to Hammel?” Would he understand that? She wished she spoke Italian…hm. Perhaps she could talk to Caden, the new student teacher. She had a knack (or she supposed an actual power) for languages. She could probably help the boy…yes, she’d do that later. In the meantime, she could work with him on this.

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo watched her silently for a few seconds longer, then averted his eyes back to his Math work. He didn't want to seem as though he wasn't willing to work at all. He was. He wanted to work. He was reasonably okay at Math back in Italy. It seemed that here in America things were different though. He had to work out how to find the answers without so many problems. It was more a case of understanding the English and that was what annoyed him about this. If it was just written in numbers he would be fine and he would probably work the sums out in minutes regardless of how hard they seemed. Numbers was something he liked, whereas words and numbers together was confusing.

Hearing her speaking, Arlo looked up again, only she had sat down in that time. He smiled a little at her, glancing at her hand and then shaking it, nodding slightly to what she had said. Rivera... That wasn't an American surname, was it? "That name.. It sounds to be Spanish?" he smiled a little at her, hoping he wasn't being rude by asking but he did like to know he wasn't the only one to be struggling with the language. She was older than he was though so undoubtedly she would probably speak perfect English anyway if she wasn't from an English speaking country. "My name is Arlo. Arlo Pecatti," he smiled a little at her. As soon as she mentioned that she taught Math, Arlo smiled more. That was a piece of luck for him then! "Why they put words in Math here?" he asked with a small frown, looking back at his work for a few seconds and then returning his eyes to her almost instantly as he wondered if she might be willing to help him somehow. Arlo decided that he would ask her about the question he was on, given that he doubted he would manage an answer at all if he didn't understand what a quarter was. "What a.. a quarter is?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't mind that he was asking her Math questions just because she was a Math teacher.

At the second question, Arlo smiled a little. He hadn't been there for long. How long had it been though? Probably not even a week. "Er.. Maybe I have been at Hammel since one week," he responded, hoping that sentence made sense in English because it certainly didn't sound American. "In America, I have been since a month though," he added, hoping that might explain his lack of perfect English. He had only gone there so he wouldn't have to leave his brother but it seemed that wasn't an option after all as he had been taken there.

[Kateri Rivera]

Ah, so he’d recognized it. And she had been quite right guessing he was Italian. She couldn’t imagine a more Italian name than Pecatti, except perhaps the stereotypical ones…of which she couldn’t think of any at the time. That was why she had stuck to math. It was very simple. You had a problem, a way to solve the equation, and the solution. There was one right answer and usually only a couple of ways to solve the problem. It did not require a lot of thought. Not at all.

“Yes,” she said, nodding in agreement. “My father is from Spain.” She smiled. She would have said that her mother was from Ireland, but she suspected that that wasn’t the reason he had asked. He was looking for something similar. ”“But the school I went to was French. I understand how you feel." Very well. Thankfully, she’d gone through a sort of crash-course in French, and had already spoken it a small amount. She would bet that this boy was going to be able to learn as well.

“They are word problems,” she explained. He probably wouldn’t understand that. Her lips pressed together as she tried to think. It would have been better if she had actually spoken Italian…oh, well. Maybe she could figure it out. “They are math problems written out. It’s to help students. Now…” She leaned forward and peered at the problem, then sat back. “That’s one fourth. It’s written like this.” She fetched a pencil from her pocket, then wrote it by the math problem, just in case he didn’t know what ¼ was. She wouldn’t blame him. She really did have to talk to a language teacher…

“Do you like Hammel?” she asked. That seemed like a simple question. And she was curious. Was he managing well, in spite of not speaking English? She hoped so. The students in Hammel weren’t cruel. Well, unless they were picking on each other, or some of the teachers. But she was used to that. “Why did you come to America?” It did seem strange…but perhaps his family had moved or something, or maybe he had been visiting when his powers had manifested themselves. That seemed…sort of logical. And if they hadn’t wanted to transfer him…ah, well. She’d wait till he told her to guess at it.

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo smiled when she said that her father was from Spain. Well that certainly explained the fact that her name sounded Spanish when her accent didn't appear so Spanish at least. "I talked to a Spanish lady in Italy. She had Rivera as her second name too," he commented. Was that a common Spanish surname though? He didn't know. He had no way to know. Not really. Not unless he was to study a Spanish census or something. Yeah. Maybe he should do that some time. He liked looking at things from different countries. Well, to be fair he just liked to learn. He didn't overly care what it was he was learning, he just wanted to learn more and more all the time.

As she spoke again, Arlo smiled, "A language that is not a language you speak for school is.. Is.. odd," he said, not really knowing any other way to put it but wanting to say it was confusing. He didn't mind though. It meant he could learn more. He frowned faintly to himself, realising he sounded somewhat like he was obsessed with working, and he decided he should do less learning sometimes and play more.

As she began explain the Math though, he forgot his ideals of playing more often and nodded slightly to her words. Word problems. He didn't overly understand it but she soon went on to explain more so he didn't need to worry. "For helping students?" Arlo repeated, a small frown crossing his lips again. How did writing numbers in words help at all? It didn't. Not in his eyes anyway. Maybe it would have helped if they wrote it out in Italian for him but not English. That made it a whole lot more confusing! Once she wrote the number down though, Arlo grinned and nodded. That made things much easier.

One quarter of 49 would have been 12.25, given that one quarter of 48 was 12 and one quarter of 1 was 0.25. So that gave each of them a remaining 36.75 chips left. "You can have only some of a chip left?" he asked, glancing back up at her again with a slight frown. If not, there would be one chip left over per person, wouldn't there? He then realised he hadn't worked out how many chips John would have so he doubled the number and wrote down:

John: 24.5
Jack: 36.75
Jane: 36.75

He smiled faintly as he looked at his answers. That just didn't work in terms of chips at all, unless he had mistranslated the word "chip" or it was all just hypothetical. Yeah, that was probably it. This was just Math after all, not real life problem solving.

At the question, Arlo nodded slightly, "I like Hammel. But I miss my spider," he frowned slightly. Silvestro, his brother, had told him he wasn't allowed to take his spider to school which he had found to be highly unfair. Of course it made sense given that it was an expensive type that had cost the family a lot of money but then it had kept Arlo company a lot back in Italy when nobody else was around to pay any attention to him. Not that he minded. He was pretty solitary most of the time anyway. "I like this room a lot," he added, smiling as his eyes swept across the books. He loved to read, even if the language barrier made that harder than he really wanted it to be there.

At her second question, Arlo smiled, "I come to America with Silvestro. He is my brother. One of my brothers. Alessandro is my brother too. He is in France. I have sisters too. Carlotta is in Italy with Florentine still and Anna went to England. Silvestro come to America. I stay with him. I like him best," he smiled a little, unsure if that had made much sense to her. He had five siblings and he knew that got confusing. The number of times Anna had hit him (only in play of course) when he had accidentally called her Florentine or something was hard to believe really. Suddenly the thought that where their parents were might come up in conversation made him decide to attempt to explain that bit as well, "Our parents are travel a lot so they not at home to... to care for children," he smiled faintly, hoping that made sense because it barely made sense in his own mind after all.

[Kateri Rivera]

“Rivera is a very common surname,” she said. “That’s the…second name. My father says that all of Spain should be related to him in some way because of that name. He wasn’t serious, though.” Her father wasn’t serious about most things. That might have been a reason that Kateri had so many issues not turning something into a joke. But she could talk about her family for days, and that wasn’t why she was here right now. She smiled, then forced herself back to the other subject they were talking about. Math. Yes, Math.

“Yes.” She nodded at his question, smiling at him. “It helps students in life, because most math problems you find in life don’t involve just numbers.” Of course, that was just what math teachers said. And she guessed it was true, even though she felt like a bit of a liar when she said it. The truth was, in her mind, that word problems had been designed to torment students. And yes, it came with the side of making them think of math in a different way, and maybe it even did help them later on in life, but the main goal was just torture, and that was the end of that.

Yet another thing that she would never, ever tell her students. They already thought she was odd as it was.

“In the normal world, you can’t have less than one chip. But as this is just math, I wouldn’t worry about it.” She scanned the problem, just in case, to see if he’d made an error. He seemed to be fine, so she shrugged it off. Nope. Nothing to worry about. “Just think of it as giving your friend half of a chip. It’s sort of the same.” But not really. Oh well.

She blinked at his answer to her other question. He’d had a spider…? He had just said a spider, right? She wasn’t really afraid of bugs, but still…keeping a spider for a pet? Well, she supposed he’d fit in here. There were a lot of people with strange likes. Herself included, except she firmly believed that liking math was still normal.

“I like it too,” she said as she turned her head to look around, smiling. “I don’t come in here very often. I’m worried about damaging the books.” And getting yelled at by the librarian. “You like to read, then? Or is it just the quiet?”

She wouldn’t blame him for either.

From what he said, he had a large family too. She listened with growing bemusement, brows climbing, as the list of siblings went on…and on…. But it didn’t seem to be all positive things. His parents, for example. Weren’t there often? Huh. Now wasn’t that worrying. But she nodded along and offered him a smile, not trying to let on what thoughts were going through her head. “Sounds like a big family,” she said. At least that explained how he’d come to Hammel. “Do you write to them often? Or talk to them?”

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo smiled at her words. Rivera was common. He had met a policeman with that surname once when his brother broke the speed limit. Could a speed limit break? That had always confused him. He didn't want to ask as it would sound very random and unrelated to anything they were talking about though. "It comes from Mexico sometimes?" he asked curiously. After all, not many Spaniards were likely to be in America. Not half as many Spaniards as Mexicans at any rate, given the fact that they shared a border. "Half of Spain?" he laughed at that idea. Spain wasn't small so that would make the family absolutely huge. "Big family. Scary big," he laughed again. He understood that it had to be a joke given that it would be impossible after all.

Arlo nodded slightly, thinking that probably did make sense. When you did things in life they tended to involve a lot of words. "Like in recipes. Recipes have numbers for the ingredients," he said and smiled. He loved to cook. He wanted to be a chef, in fact, much to his father's dismay. He wanted Arlo to be something big and brave like a wrestler or lawyer or something, not a chef. He felt cooking should have been a woman's job. He was very sexist like that. Arlo hated that side of him though. He was more of the opinion that everyone was equal and should do their fair share of housework.

When she explained it was just Math, he nodded. That would make things much easier then. Decimals it was. "I don't have friends. There not are people here that usually make sense to me," he laughed a little. He wanted friends, he was just too shy to generally start conversations with people unless they were in the library and the people in the library were generally there to be quiet and alone. And he wasn't allowed anywhere near the kitchens. So currently there wasn't anyone to talk to that shared any real interests. One day he would find some friends though. Until then, his friends would probably consist of teachers and older kids that felt sorry for him. But he didn't mind. They might teach him something. He liked to learn.

Arlo smiled at her reaction to his statement about having a spider. Most people found it odd. "Her name is Andreana. She amused me in Italy when nobody was there at home," he smiled as he remembered when he had gone to a pet store with his brother and he had bought him the spider. He loved that creature, even if most people ran away screaming when they saw it. She couldn't help being big and scary looking. She was harmless really.

Damaging the books? He looked around the library, wondering how they could be damaged. Then the idea of fire or water hit him and he nodded slightly. "Books are safe with me. I like my power not hurting them," he smiled. That sounded odd, most probably. The idea that books could be hurt was slightly odd. But he liked books. He didn't want to damage them and not be able to read them. He was lucky to have a power that wouldn't make them unreadable. When she asked him if he liked to read or if he just liked the quiet, he shrugged slightly. "Uh.. I like the cold," he responded and laughed. "But the books, they are good too. And when there is loudness, I don't like that," he smiled again, feeling that she seemed to understand most of what he was saying so he didn't need to worry too much if some words were wrong. "My power, heat resistance, it makes me ill in the sun or hot places," he added to explain his preference for cold. He didn't want to sound completely weird with the whole 'preferring spiders, cold places and no friends' things he had expressed in the last few sentences.

Arlo smiled as she seemed amused by his family. It was quite large compared to an American one. He had a few nieces and nephews too apparently but he had never met them. They lived in other countries and had never been to Italy to see the family home. "It is big," he agreed. "But it doesn't feel so big," he added. It appeared a lot bigger than it was, after all, when you spent no time with them at all. "I write to Silvestro. But the others, not so much. They don't write back so it not is fun," he laughed a little. "Silvestro has my spider now," he added, smiling. He loved that spider but Hammel didn't want a tarantula running around so he had to leave it with him instead.

[Kateri Rivera]

((Bah. Short. Sorry.))

He seemed like a sweet boy, even if his English was a bit rusty. But that would only improve with time, and as intelligence certainly wasn’t something he was lacking, she wasn’t worried. If she’d been able to figure out French, he would be fine. “It can come from Mexico too,” she agreed, then smiled. “But he never mentioned them. Actually, my family is very small. I only have one brother. But I want him to have a very large family. I just have to find him the right girlfriend.”

Kateri didn’t really picture herself as having a lot of kids. In spite of being a teacher and spending a lot of time with children, she always insisted that she was bad with them. She was convinced that if she ever had a kid of her own, all she’d do was nag them. So it was better for the non-existent child and herself for them never to mix. Besides, having a husband for that kind of thing was probably a good idea. No, what she wanted was a bunch of little nieces and nephews to spoil rotten. Ha.

“You could also use it later, with banks and salaries,” she suggested, turning her attention back to the current conversation. “Knowing the words for numbers is good. It’s just difficult at first. But I think you will be able to figure it out.” Then she frowned and tilted her head to the side. “I’m sure that’s not true. And if it is now…well, I’m sure you’ll make friends. Students here can be quite kind. Maybe you should look for other students who aren’t from here? Maybe there’s another one who speaks Italian. Have you tried that?”

And the boy had really had a spider. She was still trying to wrap her head around that one. Who would have…oh well. None of her business, right? Besides, if it made him happy…if his roommate would put up with it, she could suggest that he bring it here.

Maybe later, though. If things really didn’t get any better.

“The library is nice,” she agreed. “And heat resistance? Sounds interesting. I’m a weather manipulator myself.” She glanced about to make sure no one else was in the room, or likely to come in, then focused, and the wind that had been blowing past the window picked up in speed, swirling around. That was enough that she could manage without getting too bad of a headache, but also to put on a bit of a show. “See?” She smiled at him, then let it fade. “Problem is, in certain buildings, I could start a rainstorm, and then the books would get wet. That’s when I worry people.”

“That sounds nice.” She nodded. “I write to my family too. Or…do you have a computer? Or does your brother? There’s a program that could let you talk to him, like on the phone.” Wonders of technology: she wanted to kiss the man who’d invented Skype. It made things so much easier.

[Arlo Pecatti]

((It's fine! I just write until I'm out of words XD lol))

Arlo listened to her talking about her family. It interested him how the typical set up of a family there was 4 people. Two parents and two children. "My family is large. Too large," he laughed. There was so many of them that he was usually entirely ignored. There was 6 Pecatti children from his father, 5 from his uncle and 3 from his aunt so far. And then the oldest of Arlo's siblings had children as well. Alessandro had 2 already and from what he had gathered from half a conversation (as he could only hear Silvestro's side of the phone call) he was fairly sure his wife was pregnant again. "My oldest brother not wanted children but then he went to France and came back with 2 children and a wife," he laughed. "You should send your brother there and see if he can copy my brother," he laughed again. Maybe there was too many women in France or something? He wasn't sure. He couldn't remember it well. He just remembered coffee. And lots of it.

Arlo contemplated the idea of using Math with banks and then he shook his head slightly. "If I do that, my father gets what he wants me to do not what I prefer. He said I have to be lawyer. I don't want to," he frowned slightly. He didn't want anything to do with law enforcement or banking or legal processes in general. It wasn't that he wasn't clever enough because he knew he was. He just preferred creative things.

Arlo slowly nodded when she said he should try to find friends, "My accent, it is hard to understand. Many people stop talking with me because it confuses them," he frowned a little more than he had done before. "I try to talk slower but not always it works." He looked a little happier at the idea of there being other Italians though, "There are Italians?" he asked hopefully. If there were, maybe they could help him.

When she still seemed confused by the idea of him having a spider, he decided he would attempt to explain that a bit more. "My brother here in America is vet. He got the spider when someone wanted to kill it. Then I got it from him as present. It not was her fault she was too big for to put in the old owner's cage. That not a reason for killing her though," he frowned. He never understood that. If a dog got too big for it's bed, you didn't kill it. You bought a bigger bed. If a baby got too big for it's cot, you got a bigger got or a proper bed. You didn't kill that either. So why kill a spider that got too big?

Arlo followed her eyes towards the window and watched as the wind swirled around. He smiled. He liked the look of that power. It seemed fun. "Like in here? Rain is bad for books," he smiled a little. "But you could make wind more to dry them," he stated, trying to find a positive in there somewhere. After all, she seemed to not use her powers for bad anyway.

Arlo nodded slightly, "My brother has one. But I not has one yet. He said one day I get his old one," Arlo smiled at the idea of getting a computer. He wasn't sure what he would use it for yet but he wanted to get one. He liked the idea of taking one apart and then putting it back together actually, although he was fairly sure that wasn't what they were for.

[Kateri Rivera]

Kateri laughed as well. Send her brother to France to get married? Well, perhaps it was worth a shot. But Neil was young yet. Only twenty-five. She wasn’t going to pressure him to have kids just because she rather badly wanted to be an aunt. Maybe she could adopt. Then again, her two-bedroom apartment, which tended to house whomever she came upon first, was exactly the place for her to raise a kid. Plus, she was single. And although she knew of many traits of hers that made her act like two people, such as hyperactivity, her rather easily-excited temper and her tendency to be a little bouncy, she doubted adopting would work. Oh well. Maybe one day. She wasn’t a spinster yet.

“I didn’t mean you would have to work with banks,” she said. “I just thought it might be helpful if you ever wanted to do things with banks. But if that’s not what you want to do, that’s fine. What do you want to do, Arlo? Do you have any idea?” He was still pretty young. That meant there was time yet to figure it out. But some people knew what they wanted to do, so perhaps he did know already. She’d wanted to be an astronaut, until she’d figured out that she didn’t want to do that much work.

She frowned. Yes, she could guess how he could have problems with people understanding him. Especially with teenagers, who just might not have been that interested in trying to understand the little foreign boy. High school and middle school kids were some of the cruelest of all, so she didn’t know why she should be surprised. “I think there are some students or teachers who speak English. There is a new teacher who should, I think. Her name is Caden Cameron. You should look for her if you are ever homesick. I think you would like her.”

He went on to describe how he’d gotten his spider. Unlike Arlo, Kat could kind of understand not feeling comfortable with having a spider that had gotten too big. That didn’t meant she would kill it. That seemed cruel, and Kat was many things, but she’d never gotten the point of being mean to an animal. It was like being mean to a baby. It couldn’t really defend itself. Even a spider. “It’s nice that he took it in,” she said. “Me, I always just wanted a dog. I had one, once.” It had been her husband’s. Well, not everything worked out for the better.

“I suppose I could. But I think the water would damage them anyways, no matter what I did.” She smiled, then shrugged. “But why don’t you ask someone if they can lend you a computer? Or maybe go to one of the teachers and ask? That way you can find a way to talk to your brother more. I do it all the time with mine. Do you have any other math questions?”

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo smiled when she said he didn't have to work with banks. He hated banks. They seemed to use big words he didn't understand to confuse him all the time. As she asked if he knew what he wanted to do, he nodded eagerly, "Yeah. I want to cook. To be... A... Er..." he frowned. What was the word for a cook that restaurant cooks were called? He didn't know. "But my father said I can't.. He said cooking is only for women to do," he frowned again. "He's not right though, is he?" he asked. From the few things he did know about his father, he wasn't a very nice person, particularly towards women. He didn't know him well though.

Arlo nodded as she said there were teachers that spoke his language. That would be good. "They sound like to be good teachers to know," he commented. Many students seemed to just think he was stupid so far and therefore wouldn't help him but teachers? They seemed nice.

He noticed the way she seemed to find taking in a spider a little odd but then most people did. "She's a friendly spider. Doesn't bite anyone but she does bite my father," he laughed. He hated his father, from what he knew of him, and it seemed the spider did too. "A dog? They are good," he smiled. "You have a dog now?" he asked her. Jordan, an older boy he had spoken to a few times, had said he had a dog. Were dogs popular in America?

"I dont know if my brother would reply... He doesn't know I would be using a computer," he said with a small frown. "Maybe I could tell him though. By letter..." he smiled a little at that idea and then as she spoke of the Math again, he laughed a little, "I forgot the Math," he said, looking back at the sheet. He saw a few more questions there though. "Their dog, Joe, ate a third of each of their chips. How many do they have now?" he read the question aloud and frowned. "What a third is?" he asked, shaking his head a little. He needed to learn what these words were.

((Its short... Im sorry >.<))

[Kateri Rivera]

“A chef,” Kateri said, smiling down at Arlo. “It’s called a chef.” She knew that her brother had been looking into it for a while. Her father happened to love to cook, which was good, because her mother was pretty much a failure when it came to that kind of thing. Kateri herself was just enough of a cook to manage not to burn things, and to be honest, it didn’t go beyond that much. She could feed herself and that was about it. “But no, he’s not right. Actually, most chefs are men. And I can’t cook at all. But maybe he thought you could do something else.” She didn’t want to upset his relationship with his father. It didn’t sound great at the moment, but all the same…she had to be careful.

“It’s a start, at least.” She shrugged. “You’ll find someone, Arlo. There are many friendly students here. You just have to take a look.” And it was true. “And if you ever feel like you need to talk to anyone, just let me know. You can even teach me Italian.” She smiled. “I’d like that.”

Hmm. Yes, that relationship was definitely strained: the one between his father and him, that was. “I don’t have a dog now,” she admitted. “But I’m glad your spider’s friendly. I had a dog a long time ago, and the apartment I’m in doesn’t allow pets.” It was a shame. She missed having a dog. Oh well.

She nodded to Arlo’s next statement. Letters were lovely. She missed writing them. She leaned forward as he pointed out the math, then smiled. “A third is one over three. Like this.” She sketched it out on the paper, then took a look at her watch and grimaced. “I gotta get back to class, Arlo. If you need any help or anything, come back to my room and I’ll see you as soon as I can.” She smiled at him. “Sound good?”

((No fear!))