AN: Welcome back my friends to the show that doesn't end! Actually, there's an ending but that's a while off, I guess. Anyway, sorry about the lateness of this update but I started school and I'm having the devil of the time with one of my professors. He's, actually, the best example of a nutty professor I've ever seen. Nutty right down to how he conducts the class. We spend most of the class in these little groups "discussing" a question and then presenting the answers to the teacher. Plus, he's a big fan of what I guess one could call "group homework." That is, he gives an assignment and everyone in the group has to do it and hand it in as one single group thing. Either way, I think I have this guy figured out and I'll try not to be late again. Anywho, enough about school, thanks for all the reviews and please, please, please feel free to tell me how you think I'm doing with this story….especially now. This is a bit off of my usual path and I'm not entirely sure how it really sounds. I appreciate all input- good, bad, or indifferent. Just let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own The Matrix, The Animatrix, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.

"But you won't fool the Children of the Revolution
No you won't fool the Children of the Revolution
No, no..." (from "Children of the Revolution" by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer)

"I really dislike this class…it's totally not fair that he's going to keep testing us on this until we all can do it. It's not like we're going to need it in everyday life. I mean, who in their right mind is going to ask about this stuff! Not when you can find a Pod Born with this stuff downloaded into their heads," Aisling whined, as she slumped out of one of the class room's in Zion's Academy, dragging her battered school satchel behind her.

Those following behind her didn't look any better. All were wearing bone tired expressions that seemed to be laced with just a hint of sadness. Not the kind of sadness that forced someone to cry. More like the kind of sadness that came from trying to do something and then realizing that you failed at it.

Probably an all too common expression for those filing out of Professor Huygens- That was what he insisted his students call him. None knew if that was his title from the Matrix or not. - mathematics class. Every student wandered out of the room looking as if they wanted to burst into tears. Those who didn't look that way looked like they were completely prepared to give the older mathematics teachers a good piece of their mind.

"I think," ventured Pixie, her voice not exactly audible over the din of students on their way home for the day, "he just wants us to be prepared in case we're someplace and we need this sort of math and there's no Pod Born around."

She shrugged her shoulders, and went back to the study of the people around her. Pixie was just offering her opinion but was more than willing to accept the fact that it was, really, just her opinion. Everyone had their own opinions and had a right to express them. It was the prerogative of those around them whether or not they wanted to actually take the opinion to heart.

"Easy for you to say, you're a Pod Born," Aisling snapped, obviously in one of her bad moods, "this stuff can just be downloaded into your head one day. The rest of us actually have to learn this trash. I don't even know what in the world that old grouch is talking about half the time."

There was murmur of agreement in the small crowd of students that walked together towards the exit of Zion's Academy. Much to Pixie's eternal surprise, not all of her newfound friends- Maybe not friends but allies- were in every one of her classes. Most of the time they were together, true, but there were certain classes in which they were not. Mathematics was one such class.

Sitting in the torture chamber that was Professor Huygens classroom- because, even during her time in the Matrix, Pixie had no love for math and numbers even though she loved puzzles- with her were Aisling and her twin brother, Ngaio, Wheeler, and Hawk. Needless to say, none of them were wearing smiles as they left the room and made their way towards the exit.

"You did hear the old goat, right?" Ngaio asked, "He did say someone passed the exam."

"I heard him," Adoh concurred, "Someone passed well enough to ruin the curve on the exam. Whatever that means."

"I think that means you'd better study more because aren't curves going to be on the next exam?" Hawk asked.

With a waggle of his eyebrows- A move that made Aisling visibly wretch and Ngaio shake her head- he added, "Really, I'd rather be studying other curves and not the ones that involve numbers. How about you guys? Care for a little science study?"

Adoh stammered something, looking vaguely embarrassed at Hawk's suggestion. Maybe he was afraid that if he, actually, answered the other male, all he would earn was a smack upside the head from his twin sister. That would have been embarrassing to say the least. Though Adoh did like to make jokes and kid around with people, he wasn't really keen on embarrassing himself in front of others. There was nothing fun or funny about that.

Wheeler just shook his head but said nothing else. He wasn't really going to quantify Hawk's rude comment with a retort of his own. However, he did notice, out of the corner of one bright hazel eye that Pixie looked distinctly put off by Hawk's comment. Her face had flushed a bright red and she seemed to be on the verge of hysterics. That seemed strange to him…the fact Hawk was not embarrassed by what he said but Pixie was.

"Can we get back to the subject at hand here?" Aisling commented, breaking the tension that was radiating between Hawk and Wheeler and, to a lesser extent, Adoh.

"What was the subject anyway?" Hawk wanted to know, confused.

"The fact someone passed the exam," Wheeler reminded Hawk with another shake of his head.

A shake that earned a small laugh from Pixie. Actually, she'd gotten very giggly at the moment. Almost like she was trying to hide something and was doing a very poor job of hiding it. Then again, in the short time he had come to know the girl, she seemed completely unable to tell convincing lies.

Her inability to tell convincing lies was a fact he learned when Chian had tried to teach the lot of them to play a card game very much like poker from the Matrix as they whiled away the hours in the Orphanage. Whenever Pixie had to bluff, she's start to laugh and blush. Not that he was any great shakes at bluffing either but he was far better at it than Pixie.

Actually, the one that had done the best with bluffing was Hawk much to Wheeler's nonsurprise. For someone who had withheld knowledge from a student and a friend, lying didn't really seem like something too far away. Sort of the next small step really.

"Big deal….someone passed Professor Huygens exam and ruined it for the rest of us. It's not like he's going to count this exam anyway. He told me that if we do really well on the next one this grade doesn't count," Hawk retorted.

"Actually," Pixie brought up in a smallish voice because she really wasn't keen on getting involved in the proceedings, "he said that he was going to average the two grades out. You still have to pass with a really high mark in order to get a good grade."

"What about the person who did pass?" Ngaio wanted to know, directing her question towards Pixie.

"Ngaio's got a point. What about the person who did pass? If he or she does really well on the make-up exam, they could get some massively high grade and still ruin the curve for the rest of us," Adoh agreed.

"Or," Hawk added, with a malicious grin and an almost maniacal laugh, "they could royally mess up and bring their grade down to something worse than what any of us got on the test."

"I highly doubt that. If they've got brains enough to pass once, they can pass again," Aisling stated, "it's the rest of us that can cause permanent harm to our grades by not passing with a really high mark like Pixie said."

"We're just going to have to study more or harder or something," Wheeler stated, as the group started down the school's entrance- now exit- ramp, "I know I am because I don't understand a single thing about this math."

"Didn't you have math when you were in the Matrix?" Adoh wanted to know.

"Nothing like this," Wheeler answered, "at least not in my school. I can't speak for Hawk, Pix, or Ngaio, though. Maybe they had this stuff."

"Don't look at me," Ngaio stated, as all eyes turned on her in the hopes she could help them out, "I never studied this in my old Matrix schools. I did just as poorly as the rest of you and I like math!"

Eyes, now increased by two because of Ngaio's own, turned towards Pixie and Hawk. Obviously, the hopes of their friends rested on them. They were looking for a solution to the predicament they had all found themselves in. One that seemed to require a good bit of team work to get them out of.

"I can't help you. My thing was computers not this stuff. I know I'm smart and all but not this kinda smart. Now you want me to break down and fix a computer…I can do that. You want me to get you a date…I can do that. Maybe not you, Wheeler, because I don't know too many girls who like boys who play games that involve someone hitting from both sides of the plate. This I can't do," Hawk stated, laughing as if his words were a joke.

Pixie too, though she really didn't like having to do it, had to dash her friends' hopes. At least that's what she figured she was going to have to do.

"I'm a confirmed number-phobic. I don't even like looking at this stuff. It gives me headaches," she offered.

Aisling sighed and Adoh looked like a balloon that had deflated. Ngaio frowned and stared at a rock on the ground. Wheeler, simply, shrugged. This wasn't good…not good at all.

"You know what we need to do," Ngaio, spoke, breaking the sad silence that had fallen between the group of young people, "we need to find out who got the passing grade on the exam and ask them for help."

"Why….why would you that?" Pixie stammered, catching everyone off guard and earning herself a few curious stares.

Her face had started to tinge pink and, though she hardly ever spoke up, when she did, she never stammered. The young girl had pulled the cuffs of her battered, blue-gray sweater into the palms of her hands and was playing with the comfortably worn fabric.

To everyone, she looked nervous, almost scared, really, but no one could figure out why. Not that it was the pressing thing on their communal minds at the moment. There were other matters to attend to first before trying to puzzle out Pixie's strange behavior.

"So they can tell us what in the world Professor Huygens is going on about. Maybe like play tutor or something," Ngaio answered, still giving Pixie a curious look.

"I like that idea but there's just one little problem, Ngaio. We have no idea who passed the exam. Professor Huygens refused to say, remember!" Aisling reminded her friend.

True, Ngaio's idea was a wonderful one and was, probably, the answer to their prayers but it was not well thought out. To protect the single passing student from pestering classmates, Professor Huygens had not divulged the individual's name. No matter how many times they asked, each student was denied.

The old man just informed them that they were to work things out on their own and study for an exam the following week. There would be no review sessions this time nor would there be extra material to work on. There would be nothing save the corrected exam they had all been given.

"Maybe if we ask around the class, we can find out. Someone's bound to know," Adoh offered as a suggestion, "I know almost everyone in the class anyway."

"That could take a while, though, and we only have a week. It would be nice if we knew like today," Aisling sighed, "that way we can get to work."

Back and forth, the group batted ideas around, trying to figure out how best to discover the passing student's identity. Almost everyone seemed to have one idea or another. Some were good…some were bad…and a small minority were mildly outrageous and involved cornering and threatening old Professor Huygens.

"What about you, Pixie Sticks? You have any ideas? You gotta because you're always thinking about something?" Hawk asked, trying to include Pixie in the conversation.

Pixie had not said two words since the others had started trying to formulate a plan. All she'd done was turn progressively redder in the fact and try to avoid making eye contact with anyone. At the moment, she was still avoiding everyone's eyes. Her brandy brown eyes were firmly fixed on the tops of her boots while her fact seemed to grow redder and redder with each passing moment.

"Pix," Aisling wanted to know, "what did you get on the exam? I don't think you said when any of us asked in class."

"I….I…did as badly as you guys," Pixie stammered, forcing the words out and looking distinctly nervous, "I should really be going. Rain'll wonder where I am."

"You're the one who passed, aren't you?" Ngaio exclaimed, "You have to be! That's why you didn't say anything before! You passed the exam!"

Pixie shook her head, trying to deny her friend's exclamation, but her face revealed the lie. Between the blushing complexion, the fact she almost refused to make eye contact with anyone else, and the fact she seemed distinctly nervous and almost guilty, everyone within a ten mile radius knew Pixie was not telling the truth.

"You little sneak. You were going to let us suffer just because you didn't want to say that you passed," Aisling stated, with some humor in her voice.

"I didn't really do all that well….really I didn't. I just sort of got lucky, that's all. It was all just dumb luck. I'm not all that smart to being with. I just got lucky," Pixie babbled.

"Not smart, my foot," Aisling commented, "You're the smartest one out of all of us. Even if you just got luck you still know something. Now, you have to share what you know with the rest of us."

"But I'm not really that smart," Pixie insisted, "There are plenty of people smarter than me who could help you. Get one of the upper classmen to help you. I'm sure they could do a better job than me. I'd feel badly if I helped you and all of you still did poorly."

She gave her friends a plaintive look, almost begging them to let her off. Pixie knew she should help them- because they were her friends and were, obviously, in need- but she really felt she wasn't the right person to help them. They were looking for someone smarter than she was, better at the subject matter, and did not have an unhealthy fear of anything math related.

"I trust you, Pix," Wheeler stated, "I'll take whatever help you're willing to give and I won't blame you if I still do badly. I'd just appreciate the help. Right, guys?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement from the gathered group. Anything, really, to get what help they could.

Pixie made a few small sounds in the back of her throat and shifted from foot to foot. Her hands still played with the cuffs of her sweater and her eyes still held a frightened look. She really, did appear not to want to help them just because she feared they'd blame her if they still did poorly.

After all, she, herself, was just an average student who had a touch of dumb luck sometimes and was fairly good with puzzles. So long as the puzzles didn't have numbers in them.

"Well, that settles it!" Aisling commented with a clap of her hands, "Pixie's going to share her secrets with us. What's say we all go back to Rain's and get to work."

"Alright," was all Pixie could mutter as they all headed for the elevator that would take them up to Pixie's adopted mother's home, "I'll see what I can do to help you guys."

"Thanks, Pix," Wheeler commented, giving Pixie a friendly sort of smile.

A smile she returned in a small way as her face started to turn back to its normal pasty white. A smile that earned Wheeler a glowering look from Hawk.