The Reluctant Student

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Don glanced at his niece Ramiela, she was currently bent over the table top of her desk, one arm crooked over her paper and books while her other was free to move the pencil that was busy scratching away on the paper.

From Don's vantage point at his own desk, it was clear to him the scowl of concentration Ramiela bore as she worked away at the math work he had assigned her. Such diligence on her part was unexpected and Don felt uneasy, as to his knowledge and experience, this was an almost unheard of event.

Carefully and cautiously Don moved to get around Rama and see if she actually was doing as she was supposed to. He moved around his own desk and quietly along the wall coming up behind her where he could get a view of what held her attention.

Rama was scratching away with her pencil drawing a rather amusing picture of her Uncle Donatello with his eyes crossed, tongue hanging out and bandanna tails entangled around a bo staff.

Don glowered " RAMIELA!" he barked sharply.

Rama jumped a good two feet or more out of her seat her legs hitting the bottom of her desk causing her pencil to draw a jagged line right through her drawing.

" What?" Rama demanded quickly doing her best to recover from her Uncle's sudden appearance and yell.

" This doesn't look like your math work" Don replied testily as he snatched the picture from off of her desk " it looks more like art and that isn't the subject. Two pages of math homework for you tonight." Don declared quickly.

Rama scowled " Gives that back. It's mine I worked hard on it ya know" Rama snapped.

" I suggest you work hard on the work you are given three pages of homework ought to do it" Don said as he crumpled the artwork by closing his hand into a tight fist around the paper.

Rama crossed her arms over her plastron " I weren't done with that yet." She sulked

" Trust me you are done" Don insisted opening his fist revealing his hand to be empty of the paper in question.

" How'd you do that?" Rama asked knowing it had to do with ninjitsu but not knowing how.

Don smiled down at her " It was done and you best be getting to your math work" Don ordered, " before I decide to give you a lot more homework."

Rama frowned " You sure know how to take the fun out of everythin."

Don chuckled wryly as he walked back to his desk " It is my whole mission in life to make your life as difficult as you make mine"

" I knew it!" Rama exclaimed quickly, " I knew it all along" Rama gave a knowing nod as if her uncle had truly confirmed her worst fears.

" You have fifteen minutes to finish the original math work before I give more math homework" he announced.

He heard Rama sigh wearily and heard her petulant response " Least after this I gets Aunty Karena."

Don turned to face her as he leaned against his desk " I'm afraid not Ramiela, Leo told me this morning that Karena isn't feeling well, she was up most the night looking after Jeff." Don's own tone was quite short of an enthusiastic response.

Jeff was Aiden, and Kaliann's baby brother he had been teething and up crying and cranky for most of the night.

Rama's eyes grew large with disbelief " You gots to be joking" she wailed.

" I only wished that I was" Don groaned, for he knew full well what to expect from his niece whenever he ended up substituting for Karena.

It had only been a month since Ramiela had the audacity to recite humpty dumpty as a poem for literature, however when she recited Jabberwocky shortly there after Don had felt a spark of hope.

That spark of hope hadn't long unfortunately for it had been quickly dashed, suffocated might actually be a better term, as Rama returned to her old tricks and games in her lessons.

Don knew now that Rama did have a great deal to offer, but it was trying to convince her to give it on a daily basis that seemed to be his latest challenge with her.

" What a rotten day" he heard Rama mumble.

Don took a deep breath of his own in hopes of instilling a certain level of calmness now for he knew that no matter what he was going be in for it for the rest of the day.

A few minutes later Don asked for Rama's attention " Karena feels you are ready to learn cursive now."

Rama gasped, " Don't says that."

Don blinked in confusion " What?"

" Not what. That thing you said. My dad don't want me saying that."

" What cursive?" Don asked furrowing his brow.

Rama clapped her hand over her ears " That's a bad word. My dad don't want me cursin' he says its bad" Rama explained quickly, " Dad also says I gots to sets a sample for my cousins."

Don barely was able to choke back the laugh that threatened to come out at these words he rubbed his face with one hand masking the smile " Ramiela cursive…" he tried to explain once he managed to get a hold of his emotions.

" You said it again. Boy you are saying lots of bad words," Rama scolded.

" Ramiela cursive is not a bad word…"

" Your saying my daddy is wrong? I start a cursin and dad might just chuck me out of my shell" Rama protested.

" RAMIELA!" Don growled losing his patience " I am trying to explain that cursive means…"

" He's swearing again," Rama, sang out as she clamped her hand over her ears " nuff of that cursin."

Don threw his hands up in frustration " Why don't I just teach you to write then?"

Rama lowered her hand giving a cheeky grin in response " Bout time you realized you was wrong."

" I didn't say anything about you being right" Don insisted firmly.

" But if I write you wrong" Rama pointed out firmly.

Don groaned and rolled his eyes " Ramiela there are words that sound the same but mean different things and they are called what?"

" If you don't knows you can't spect me to tell ya" Rama declared giving an exasperated shake of her head.

Don gritted his teeth patience, he reminded himself, remember that you are the teacher. " Ramiela I am sure that Karena has taught you about homonyms and synonyms."

Rama licked her lips " I like cinnamon its good on toast. Is it break time yet?" Rama wondered suddenly having an urge to have a piece of toast with cinnamon on it.

Don rubbed his temples with one hand as he felt the start of a headache forming, this whole routine with Ramiela seemed reminiscent of the old Abbot and Costello whose on first routine, which Mike at one time had memorized and then preceded to drive the rest of the family almost up the wall with.

He scowled wondering if Karena hadn't taught Rama about these words, or if Rama was just playing dumb with him. Either was possible and Don was fully aware of how much his niece loved to play him for a fool, still if she didn't know what he was talking about it might be better to explain it.

Don went around his desk to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk before starting to write something blocking Rama's view so she couldn't see what he was writing down.

Rama knew that Uncle Donatello often asked her to put things on the black board and she was amazed that somehow with all their talk she had caused her Uncle to start writing on the board, perhaps this would come in useful later on.

Don was fully aware of Ramiela's interest in big words, she had always had an interest in them and learning about them so perhaps by putting things on the board she would understand better then if he simply tried to talk to her.

" You are mixing up many of your words Ramiela" Don informed her " the word cinnamon" he pointed to the word he had printed on the board " is a spice which is good on toast or in baking. A synonym however, happens to be words that are spelt differently but mean the same thing such as anger, rage and fury." Don printed these words out under the word of synonym. He then turned and faced Rama " If I wanted a synonym for the word youth I could say what?"

Rama grinned this sounded almost like a game, and she liked games. She scowled a bit then her face brightened " Child."

Don nodded " Right very good Ramiela. Now a homonym is any word that sounds the same but has a different meaning such as the words whole and hole. Or write and right." Don explained putting these words on the board.

Rama recognized those words she had them on spelling tests before " Or witch and which" she suggested recalling a couple of others she had on her test.

Don grinned " So you do understand" he replied as he turned to face her again he noted she was sitting up straight at her desk, an alert look on her face paying very close attention to him and the board.

" I told you I was going to teach you to write" Don pointed to the word he meant " but you got confused with the word right." Don pointed to the other word, " Perhaps Ramiela you can give me a synonym for the word right." He glanced at her an eye ridge raised in anticipation.

Rama grinned this was kind of fun, it really was very much like a game and one which let her use words she knew. Uncle Donatello never seemed to appreciate games of any kind, especially not the games she tried so hard to play with him. He usually didn't play at all just spent his time giving her homework for playing.

Rama tapped her fingers on her desk top as she considered " How bout correct?" Rama asked using one of the big words she knew for that.

" Correct is a very good word" Don agreed " so is precise or exact."

Rama giggled a bit, " Sensei" she said before starting to laugh out right at her joke.

Don chuckled himself recognizing his niece's sense of humour with that choice and yet she was also very correct in it for Leo was a perfectionist and that trait was not lost on Rama who had to meet his demands when it came to ninjitsu.

Rama grinned even wider when she heard her Uncle laugh, he laughed almost as rarely as sensei did, most of her efforts to get him to smile was a lost cause as Uncle Donatello usually ended up giving her a harsh scolding if she was lucky.

Maybe Uncle Donatello could play after all.

Don realizing that his student was now capable of understanding that much moved on " The act of writing isn't just used in doing individual letters like so" he wrote a few letters of the alphabet down " it also means joining the different letters to form a word. In printing we clump all the letters together to form the word we want." Don explained his back to Rama.

Rama sighed softly realizing her uncle had all of a sudden stopped playing and gone back to his famous, and incredibly boring explanations. Here she thought he was finally getting somewhere!

" In writing when the letters are joined together it is known as cursive" Don finished his explanation, picking up a rag to wipe the chalk dust off his fingers as he turned around to face Ramiela.

He noticed her slumped figure and her disinterested bored look, a sheer contrast to just moments ago when he had her complete and undivided attention. For a moment he could have sworn that she was getting into things and once again willing to give him an honest effort.

Now he saw her reluctant petulant look on her face and he could only shake his head.

He had been sure that he had come so close but now he felt that he was further then ever.

" So ready to learn cursive?" Don inquired arching an eye ridge at her.

Rama gave a small grin determined to try again, teaching her Uncle to be less boring and more fun wasn't easy but she had done it once she was determined to do it again " Sorry Uncle Donatello but my daddy really don't wants me swearin" Rama insisted firmly.

Don groaned inwardly, whatever connection he had with her for that brief moment was clearly gone, but he knew he had gotten through to her and had her full interest and attention and while it might not be easy he knew he could get it again. It was just a matter of time.

The End