Disclaimer: Do you know that Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon own "The Fairly Oddparents"? Not really, but if you hum a few bars, I could fake it.

Study Break

(...a bedroom...about dusk...)

It very much looks like the bedroom of a sixteen-year-old boy. The clothes strewn about and the guitar resting against the closet door are dead giveaways. The posters on the wall are mainly from movies, especially those not tied to reality. The pair of lovebirds in a cage hanging from the ceiling, however, is something new.

The young man sitting at the edge of the bed stares at an open, somewhat beat-up book in front of him. The look on his face suggests that he's not having the best time of it.

The girl across from him glances at her own sterling text with no problems.

"Aw, man!" He closes the book in frustration. The action gets the attention of his companion. "This is so hard."

"It's not that hard." Her voice lilts somewhat.

"No, not for the class brain. But for someone like me, it's a nightmare." He puts his head in his hands. "I bet this was some sort of torture in the Dark Ages."

"You'd lose", she replies dryly.

"Just like the stocks or--wait, lose what?"

"That bet." He gapes a little. "You see, you said, 'I bet this was some sort of torture...', so I just went from there."

"That's just what I need now: jokes that fly over my head." A defeated tone coats his words.

The girl hops off of the bed. "Really, this stuff isn't that hard." She walks over to his side and picks up his book. He scoots over, allowing her to sit down. "Here on page 163. Take this first problem."

"Please." She narrows her eyes, but tempers it with a smile.

She places the book down. "Now the problem here is a pretty good one: '16x - 4y 7x + 8y'. All that we really need to do is a little adding."

"But how the heck do we add letters? I guess if we add 'x' to 'y', we could end up with 'z'."

The girl stifles a giggle. She had known of the boy for quite some time, but failed to reckon with his sense of humor. The boy needed tutoring in a few subjects, but algebra was, perhaps, his biggest academic affliction.

She takes a breath. "No. All we need to do is add '4y' to both sides. That will give us '16x 7x + 12y'."

The boy raises his finger in the air and spins it. "Hooray for us."

The girl pays no mind to the sarcasm. "And then we subtract '7x' from both sides, leaving us with '9x 12y'."

The boy doesn't look terribly interested in this. "Cant we just take a break?"

She closes the book. "Hey, you may not care about passing your classes, but that doesn't mean that I have to feel the same way."

"But this is so...boring."

"Boring though it may be, you'll need it for life after school."

He exhales. "One more example of how life is unfair."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not the most popular guy in school. Everyone thinks that I'm a loser." He slouches over. "Sometimes, I think they're right."

The girl glances around his room. She grimaces at the mess; company was coming over and he didn't even clean up. She looks in his eyes and puts her hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me: you are not a loser. Messy and a little unmotivated, maybe, but not a loser. We all hits our stride at different points in life." She looks away. "To be honest, I'm still waiting to hit my stride."

He looks at her. For the first time, he notices her glasses. A little big to be on a teenage girl, but they're effective.

"People look at me and think: 'She's such a geek.'."

"How do you know?"

"Because they walk up to me and say so. As if I'm not having trouble dealing with it on my own."

"I don't think you're a geek. Well, I kind of do, but you're very nice and very smart."

The girl chuckles a bit at the boy's stumbling compliments. "That's very sweet of you."

He looks off. "If only more girls were like you. They take one look at me and laugh, or go, 'Ewwww!'."

A sad expression crosses the girl's face. She takes a good look at the boy before her: messy hair, a nice smile, nice ears, a cute little nose, eyes one could get lost in, lips she can see herself kissing...whoa! Where did that come from?

She looks away ashamedly. He notices her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh. Nothing. I just..." The girl glances around. Her eyes fix on the guitar at the closet door. "Oh! You play the guitar?"

"Yeah, but it's just acoustic. I got it for my birthday. I wanted an electric guitar. I have these delusions of being the next Brian May."

"The guitarist from Queen?"

"Yeah!" There is great surprise in his voice.

"My older brother's girlfriend's a fan. She got me hooked."

"Not a lot of people are Queen fans. They like the newer stuff."

"It's just not as good. Would you play something?"

The boy shakes his head. "You mean now?"

"I don't mean tomorrow."

He walks over to the guitar, picks it up and goes back to the bed. He puts the strap around him and sits on the bed.

"I have to warn you. I'm not that good."

"I'm sure you're fine."

The boy reaches over to his night stand and grabs a pick. He strums it on the guitar, producing a 'twang'. He tunes the keys at the top of the instrument.

The sound from the guitar is much softer. He strums it slower. The girl looks at him with quiet awe.

"Wow. This is really nice."

He stops playing. "Really. You're not just saying that?"

"No. You are good."

The boy blushes a little. "Thanks."

"You ever consider playing in a public venue, like a talent show?"

"Nah. First, I'd need more practice, and second, what if they don't like me?"

She takes a breath. "A few years ago, my mom told me something, and I think it's gonna help you. 'You never know what you can do until you try it. People may not like it, but remember: the worst thing they can do is boo you. You'll still have your talent.'"

"That's pretty good. If I ever meet your mom, I need to thank her."

"Wait, if you meet my mom...?"

The young man rubs the back of his neck. "Well, I..."

"We've only just met." She chuckles nervously.

"I just thought..."

"I really liked that melody; it sounded like it was in 3/4 time."

"Actually, I...hey."

"What?"

The boy puts his guitar down and picks up the math book. He flips through it enthusiastically. "What page was that problem on?"

"163, I think."

"And how did we break it down?"

"Um, '9x 12y'. Why?"

"Well, three can go into both numbers."

A look of sudden realization hits her face. "...which would leave us with '3x 4y'."

"Now, both sides are supposed to be equal, right?"

"Yes."

"And there aren't a lot of numbers that will make them equal, so I figure that 'x' would equal four and 'y' would equal three. And both sides would equal twelve."

"That's right", the girl beams. "But how did you figure out...?"

"I don't know. Sometimes, it takes a while for me to work stuff out. They must've been tired of waiting, so I was given a tutor." He motions to her.

"Oh..." She looks away sadly.

He looks at her. "Hey, I might still need a tutor..." He takes her by the hand. "...and a friend."

A big grin develops on her face. She grabs him close and kisses him on the lips. The surprised expression on his face melts into one of desire.

After a few moments, they break away. He has a somewhat dopey look on his face. If this is what it's like to be kissed, he definitely wants more of it.

The girl looks out the window. "Oh, man. It's pretty dark out now." She grabs a math book and puts it in her backpack.

She heads for the bedroom door. She spins around, her ponytailed pink hair flying behind her. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Cosmo."

He waves a bit. "Goodbye, Wanda." She walks out.

The lovebirds in the cage - one brown, the other black - poof out of the cage. They re-appear before the boy in a markedly different form. The brown bird becomes a brown-haired young man in pants and a shirt. The black bird is now a dark-haired young lady in a dress. They float in the air with wings on their backs and crowns sitting just above their heads. Wands materialize in their hands.

"Well, she's definitely not like the other girls", the female fairy states.

"Yeah, Tootie. This one actually seems nice. Much nicer than that Lizzie Lang." The male sticks his tongue out.

"Timmy...sure Lizzie's not that nice..." Cosmo counts the points on his finger. "...but she's beautiful and popular and rich."

"Oh, Cosmo, how long can those last?" Tootie is like a second mother to the young man, and her tone conveys that feeling.

Timmy flies next to his wife. "Good point, Tootie, but those can mean a lot to a teenager."

The dark-haired fairy waves her wand and Timmy's mouth is replaced with a closed zipper.

She floats next to Cosmo. "Sweetie, I hope you give the matter some thought. Wanda seems like a very sweet girl."

"Mmmh-mm-mmh-mmmh-mm-mmh?"

"What's that, honey?" Tootie poofs the zipper away.

"Will you be seeing her again?"

Cosmo looks up wistfully. "I'm sure I will." He picks up a neat textbook and laughs a little. "She left her book here."

The End

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A/N: This is the first of several FOP one- (and possibly two-) shots I'll be writing. Just a little way of burning off some of the ideas gathering in my head. This structure is borrowed from "Danny Phantom" author Danni-2005. Be sure to check her work out. This first story was something rolling around in my head. I don't think this has been done before and I'm quite proud of that.

Be sure to look for more and have a nice day.