Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its' characters...please don't be too mad that I used them...

Story Arc 1: The Project

April 12th, 2004

Chapter 11

"Hello Professor!" Journey clattered from her desk, smiling, to meet an old man at the doorway, taking his coat, suitcase, and hat, escorting him to the front of the classroom, her hand underneath his suit-clad arm, his dark wooden cane thudding against the ground.

"I find her assistance with the elderly adorable!" Jelly's voice was soft and obviously only meant for Caterax: her body was slightly bent over to the side, her mouth resting against hands cupped against his ear. Caterax murmured back, glancing over to me out of the corner of his eye, "You need to learn how to keep your voice down." Blushing, I ripped my gaze from them and threw it back to Journey and the old man. He definitely does not like me.

As he slowly meandered to the front I could see the reason why someone would need to help him. He looked to be about eighty with his back horribly stooped and his shock-white hair. Since he had a large stoop in his back he was much shorter than Journey, who wasn't all that tall to begin with.

The elderly man walked with a cane, the hard wood thudding against the ground as he made his way to the front, his back hunched, his eyes squinting. Eventually, he stood before us and Journey let go of his arm to set his coat, briefcase, and hat on the desk before scrambling to her seat. "Shall we begin?" His voice was raspy, brittle, and a bit out of breath.

Several of the kids murmured a "yes sir," so I nodded my affirmation. He turned to the glass wall, pulling out an expo marker from his jacket and wrote an equation in black ink. When he was done he took a step back to admire his work before he wobbingly turned around. "Would our new addition like to try a problem at the board?"

I stared at the problem passed the teacher's shoulder, nodding my head. He smiled warmly. "Are you ready?" He held out the marker. I nodded, sceptical of his intentions. I pulled myself from the desk, wincing with soreness (my muscle must have tightened up again since I was motionless for an hour). I crossed the small place of the front of the classroom, taking the cap off the marker with a pop and stared at the problem, scanning the letters and numbers.

I heard his cane tap along the ground as he walked up to stand a bit catty-cornered from me. I felt his warmth beside me as he took his gnarled hand a pointed to a section to the equation, he kind of smelled like lennins. "This a variable." I nodded, comprehending what he was saying. I had learned that. "And this," he continued, pointing to another part of the equation. "Is a natural log."

I nodded again; I could feel my eyebrows start to knit together. Still something I knew.

"And this line is the sign for derivative."

Again, I nodded. I could solve the problem. I knew this. I had studied it in one of the books Drew gave me a couple of days ago…maybe he assumed I didn't know how to do these? No, he was probably just one of those teachers that liked to explain things.

"And this," he pointed to a simple number. "Is an integer."

Or maybe he just thought I was stupid.

All of a sudden I felt hot, my brain melting and quivering. Embarrassed and fairly insulted, he had immediately assumed that I wasn't educated enough. I knew what a variable was…I wasn't that stupid. I knew what integers were. I gripped my marker tight and began to write, ignoring what the professor was saying.

As I worked through the problem, I could feel my anger quickly subsiding. I continued with the problem only because of my embarrassment. The marker squeaked against the board as I finished the problem, boxing my answer.

The teacher was silent for a moment and I didn't turn back to face him. Why did I lose my temper? I'm so much better than that.

"Do you know why Calculus exists?"

Calculus? I shook my head…overall it probably existed to prove something to someone, but it seemed like mindless drivel that everyone was forced to learn.

Apparently he read my mind because then he started to launch into the most intricate speech about mathematics I had ever heard. I was more distracted by the way he strung his words together than understanding the meaning behind his words.

"Calculus relates topics in an elegant, brain-bending manner." He pulled his marker from his pocket and began to write strings of equations that were similar to mine on the board. "My closest analogy is Darwin's Theory of Evolution: once understood, you start seeing Nature in terms of survival. You understand why drugs lead to resistant germs. Survival of the fittest." His voice was inspired.

I heard Caterax mumble something in the background I didn't quite catch, but I definitely heard someone loudly shush him. Probably Journey. Jelly and Diligence seemed to polite or quite to that.

"You know why sugar and fat taste sweet? To encourage the consumption of high-calorie foods in times of scarcity." I took a couple of steps back watching the old man flit about, reaching every which way, leaving red scrawl in his wake. "It all fits together. Unfortunately, calculus can epitomize what's wrong with math education. Most lessons feature contrived examples, arcane proofs, and memorization that body slam our intuition & enthusiasm. We've forgotten that math is about ideas, not robotically manipulating the formulas that express them." He paused, sighing and moving back next to me, looking at his work. "It really shouldn't be this way. And children haven't been taught properly...Math isn't the hard part of math; motivation is."

The elderly man took a step back and capped his marker. "I'm afraid I've had too many students meander into this orphanage and be unable to do simple mathematics. And I'm afraid I had assumed you were like them."

He turned back to me and smiled, "Math and poetry are fingers pointing at the moon. Don't confuse the finger for the moon. Formulas are a means to an end; a way to express a mathematical truth."

I nodded, his scrawl on the board suddenly made a bit more sense, it was all connected. Everything.

"Diligence," The elderly man turned to the orange scarved, curly haired boy. "Tell us what the definition of Calculus is."

His eyes lit up, the corners of his mouth peeked over the edge of his scarf. "Calculus is the mathematical study of change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of operations and their application to solving equations. It has two major branches, differential calculus - which concerns rates of change and slopes of curves - and integral calculus, concerning accumulation of quantities and the areas under and between curves;[2] these two branches are related to each other by the fundamental theorem of calculus." Diligence looked like he was smiling as he droned on. The professor smiled and motioned for me to sit down with a incline of his cane. "Both branches make use of the fundamental notions of convergence of infinite sequences and infinite series to a well-defined limit.

"The ancient period introduced some of the ideas that led to integral calculus, but does not seem to have developed these ideas in a rigorous and systematic way. Calculations of volume and area, one goal of integral calculus, can be found in the Egyptian Moscow papyrus, but the formulas are simple instructions, with no indication as to method, and some of them lack major components."

He continued on and on and on, listing and describing. How could he know so much about one topic? It was insane. Too insane. Way over insane. And very boring. His tone was inflectionless, facts were said in the same continuous monotonous voice making it difficult to pay attention what he said at all.

Where Diligence ended, the professor took over, erasing the equations on the board and writing a new one - a much more difficult one; one that I didn't know how to solve. He went through it, explaining the properties and different ways one could get through to solve the problem.

I scrambled to take notes - the professor and Diligence were both spoke too quickly through all kinds of details and ideas. It was impossible to keep up. I wasn't well versed at writing quickly - my mother had alway printed out her notes and gave them to me after the lecture was over. I could type rather well, but my writing hadn't developed to the point where I could shorthand on a moment's notice.

And halfway through my fucking hand started to cramp badly, which made my handwriting nearly impossible to read at all.

Eventually, the old professor ended his lecture, gave me a textbook and us all a list of math problems for homework and left. I silently prayed that the things the teacher had talked about where in the textbook as I set the book on the ground, resting against on the wooden desk legs.

The next teacher to stroll in was a very broad faced, middle aged woman. Her hair was pulled up in a tight, brown and gray bun; not a single strand out of place. While the bottom of her body set a leisurely pace, her legs quietly moving fluidly forwards, the upper part of the body moved jaggedly, her arms jutting forwards as if the top part of her body wanted to move faster than she was already going. She wore a white button up top and black slacks with brown leather shoes - where those penny loafers?

"So." As she stalked towards the desk the teacher talked, her voice was deep. "I heard we have a new student." Almost masculine...it was definitely husky. It was sultry like Ms. Hat's. No. This was an interesting voice...not quite a man's voice coming out of a woman's body. More like a man's voice that was trying to be feminine.

I was a bit thrown off. I turned to the rest of the room, but if they gave any indication that this was weird they were very good at hiding it. When I turned back I was met with the sight of a large textbook the picture of a decrepit castle, "And this is for you. Read it. Love it. Memorize it. Bed it. Write in it. Care for it. You don't get another one." I gingerly took the book from her and set it next to my notebook and pencil.

She nodded before moving to the other students. "I trust that you all have your assignments ready." It really wasn't a question. No. It was more like a command. Or a statement.

They sifted through their papers, gathered them, and handed them over, laying them in her outstretched hand.

After they were all there she nodded, "Your next assignment is the Chapter 6. All the questions. Notes. And choose one of the essays at the end." Journey and Caterax grumbled their assent while Jelly and Diligence nodded their heads. Satisfied, she turned to me and pointed to the book. "Your assignment is to try to catch up as quickly as possible. You have at least a month to do notes, questions, and essays for each of the chapters until you've caught up."

I nodded. Jesus Christ! This was going to be a lot of work.

"Alright then, class dismissed."

Woah, what? It was dismissed? Just like that?

"Apparently my confusion was evident on my face because the teacher raised an eyebrow. "I run the library and I can't really afford the time to babysit all of my classes. We only have class once a week...the other days that class is scheduled can be used for work or whatever."

With that, the teacher left us.

Journey immediately stood and made her way over to me, "What are you going to do now?"

I shrugged. I didn't really know what I was going to do. "Lunch, I guess." I signed. I kind of hoped she would offer to eat with me.

She beamed, "Well, I have to do some studying for the next class I have. So I'm not going to lunch." She turned back around before I could answer, grabbed her things and literally sprinted from the room.

She's a fruitloop. I thought, slightly confused by her sudden absence.

The room was suddenly very empty - the rest of the students must have made their leave while I was distracted with Journey. A sliver of loneliness slithered through me as I gathered up my supplies. I wish Drew was in my class.

With my things in my arms I trekked back through the hallways to my room. I clumsily shifted them to side to reach into my pocket and pull out my room key, unlocked the door and nudged open to set my stuff in a messy pile on my bed. Maybe I should organize this stuff...I thought to myself before shrugging and leaving the mess on my bed to walk out the door - quickly locking it behind me - and heading to lunch.

There was already a long line of children in the dining room and several groups of children sitting. I scanned the room for Drew. Instead Jelly and Caterax in line talking to one another. They looked like they were having a good time for a moment I wondered if they would be okay with me joining them. Suddenly Caterax caught my eye and glared, stamping out that thought process. Instead, I shuffled over to the end of the line.

"I don't know how the fucking albino does it Matt!" Someone whined. I turn to the voice and saw Mello leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, glaring at the few kids that were sitting down, trying to ignore him. There was one person between us,

There was one person between us, some random figure with messy hair and a striped shirt. His head bent low over a electronic device as he answered, "Does what?"

"Get a higher score than me! He has to be cheating."

"You know he is at least as smart as you."

"What was that?"

Matt sighed, "I'm just saying that you're better at him in other areas."

"Like what?"

"Um…" There was a slight pause where the tall boy paused his obnoxious device and put it in his back pocket. "you're a likeable person."

I didn't mean to find that so funny, but suddenly Mello had pushed Matt out of the way to confront me. His eyes glimmered in recognition and his face started to turn red. "What are laughing for, you fucking mute?"

"Nothing," I signed, backing up a bit. He followed, his eye glowering darkly.

"Obviously it's not nothing, I want to know what's so damned funny!"

I flushed in anger, my body heating up. What the fuck? Was he posturing me? Today? I already wasn't having a good day, why did he have to antagonize me today?! I straightened my back and signed back. "You are not a 'likeable person'. A likeable person does not posture people for having an adverse opinion of them. A likeable person doesn't accost them the first time they meet!"

"Ya?" His eyes narrowed. I could see the gears turning in his head, his blonde hair shifting as he bent forward just a bit. "At least I'm not fake."

I snorted, fighting back a laugh. "You're not fake?"

He hummed, "No. At least, not like you."

What did he mean by that? What the fuck? I could see a glimmer of something in Mello's eyes. Something nasty but altogether gleeful.

"Come on Mello," Matt grabbed his shoulder. I had a small sense of deja vu. "She's not worth it."

"Oh no, she needs to be taught her place." He pulled his shoulder from Matt's grasp and move closer.

"No, you, " He practically hissed, smirking. "You're obviously a fake...a nobody just floating through." The dining room was deafeningly silent. "Wammy's gets people like you from time to time. Come and go. They get kicked out or they violate the rules because they can't keep up."

I felt myself bristle. "Are you saying that I would cheat?"

"I'm not saying you're a fence!"

"Fuck you!"

"My what language. And what about your muteness? It's obviously selective. I heard that you were singing a couple of days ago."

"Where did you hear that?"

"A little birdie told me." He took a step forward. "So tell me, what's the reason you pretend to be unable to talk? Want to be noticed? Sympathy?"

"It's none of you business."

"Oh, but it is. It's everyone's."

"No it isn't!"

"Yes, it is."

"Fuck you."

"You've already said that. You're going in circles Miss Flia-" A sharp sound echoed through the dining room. It was only when my hand started to sting did I realize that I had slapped him. I took a step back and glanced up.

I instantly regretted that.

Jesus...why was I having such a bad day?

Mello was standing there, his face contorted. His face was a deep red and he was beginning to breath raggedly. His eyes were piercing, the blue irises were pinpricks as his gaze raked over to me. I felt a shiver go down my spin; this look was similar to the hide and seek game. But this wasn't a game. This time, the intensity was thick. Deadly. Palpable. I could feel the anger as if it swirled around me like mist. It made my knees weak. And I kind of wanted to throw up…

Suddenly Matt's arms were wrapped around Mello's torso as the blonde writhed and clawed at his arms. "Kid," He grunted over Mello's profane cursing. "You might want to make yourself scarce."

I absently nodded and ran from the room, up the stairs and to my room.

AN:

I suppose this a long time coming…but I'm going to respond to the reviews I've gotten!

Lucifea: I see it's been a while. I hope you are continuing to read...it's been 8 chapters since you reviewed and I am very sorry for the delay! I hope I have lived up to your expectations!

God of Twilight: I've read some of your stories and I have to say that I loved them! I appreciate the compliment! I really want to emphasize B's thought process in every way. She hasn't met Matt yet, but I could see them being great friends.

MyTypeOfGuyIsFictional: Very interesting screen name. I like it. I hope I've fixed the couple of grammar mistakes you saw...I'm really bad about wanting to post chapters right away without editing them. Honestly...I think it might be a problem. I'm not impatient, but I think it might be hurting your guys' thoughts of me, especially when you all get a message that says I've updated, but the content is riddled with mistakes. Perhaps it's a habit that I have to break….

PondRiverWilliams: I see you have figured out something about the future of the story. Shhhhh….don't tell. Also, kudos to you for reviewing twice! Your the first one to do that for this story….. To answer your additional statement about B being good at something: she will be. I promise. It's a school for gifted children. Trust me. I'll move her along in that department. She barely got in...let you develop some of her neutral kill before she discovers something that she is good at.

As of the update of my seventh chapter February 1, 2015 I've gotten five reviews! Thank you so much for all of you support and love! I really appreciate all of your feedback and I will try to continue to make adjustments as you guys point them out!

Much love!

AAnnR