"Ms. Roslin, I have a question."
"You'll have to wait a moment, Lee."
"But it's really important!"
Laura looks up from her grading and pierces Lee with her infamous over-the-glasses glare . . . only for it to have no effect whatsoever. She sighs, setting down her pen and taking off her glasses. She loves her students, and absolutely adores Lee Adama and appreciates his enthusiasm, but does the kid ever rest?
"All right, Lee," she says as she walks to his desk and crouches beside him. "What is it?"
"I don't know how to do this problem. Will you help?"
Laura looks to the worksheet on the desk where Lee is pointing to problem number four . . . out of twelve. He should be nearly finished by now; what's taking so long?
"We went over this two days ago, Lee. Didn't you study?"
"Yes! But this one's different, it's harder."
"There was a problem just like this on the homework I assigned. You didn't cheat on the homework, did you?"
Lee's jaw drops.
"Never, Ms. Roslin! I promise!"
Laura nods. She believes him. But he's been doing poorly in math for weeks now, and she's starting to get concerned.
"Why don't you skip this problem and come back to it later?"
"I tried that, but I can't figure out the other ones either."
Laura sighs. She's going to end up having to call his parents.
"All right, Lee. Just try your best and I'll help you later. Okay?"
"All right Ms. Roslin, I guess I'll try."
"Good boy."
Laura stands and retreats to her desk, but just as she sits down a little hand shoots into the air.
"Ms. Roslin!"
I probably shouldn't be starting another long work, but I already have a lot of this written and it's coming along unexpectedly well. So, stay tuned, it shouldn't be long before I post more.