Hopeless

Cezille07

A/N: About time I updated this, right? I know, it's been a long while since I last even looked at this fic. I've been wondering whether or not to delete this because I couldn't continue it. Then a few days ago, voila! Another chapter! "Hopeless" is going to stay for now.

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Battling Exponents

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He came inside the house, greeting her mom, "Good morning, Mrs. Potato!" before making a beeline for her room. "Elena," he called, interrupting her solemn meditation on the laws of exponents.

"Yes?" she looked up. She knew why that took a bit more courage than usual. "Zick? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to invite you on a little monster hunt today," he explained. "Jeremy found a huge pack of Foulers in the sewer. We'd normally ignore it but the Monster Pod was complaining."

"And he actually asked you to catch them?"

"No, it's more like some training. Teddy and the others have assignments too."

"And so do I." Elena gave her math notebook a dismayed look before continuing, "So, you want me to come?" A harmless question, it seemed. She waited with bated breath, twiddling her pencil in her hand. Harmless, yes, harmless.

He grinned. "Of course I do. You're my assistant Tamer, remember?"

Elena felt her face turn the shade of an eggplant as she gathered her stuff. "Great!"

They came down the stairs mentally planning the assault on the Foulers. That was when Julie blocked the way, her arms crossed, and her right foot tapping the floor.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked her daughter.

Elena looked at Zick, then up the stairs. "Somewhere."

"That wasn't a smart answer. And I'm not seeing your finished homework. I thought we'd agreed on that?"

"It's a nice and sunny day, can't I go out for a few hours or so?"

Julie turned her look to Zick. "How can you influence her to mind something other than schoolwork? What can be more important that school?"

Elena felt like melting. Taming was more important than school. But her mother didn't know that. If she only knew—

"Go back to your room and finish that assignment!" Julie scolded. "And you, Zick, I don't want you here for a week, until you both learn to keep your priorities."

After Zick left, the sky darkened all of a sudden and poured all its tears on the earth. Perfect for Elena's mood.

She sat listlessly on the bed, her hand on Purrcy's head, stroking him gently as she always did on this kind of day. Forget exponents. She had a good chance today. Like the many other days she spent with him.