November 20, 1989

Manhattan, NY

Alexis Davis pushed her glasses back up to rest securely on the bridge of her nose and released a long frustrated sigh. She had read the same page of the contract a dozen times and it still wasn't sinking in. She had no idea what was wrong with her. It was almost as if she was back at Briarton Griggs Academy struggling and suffering through Professor Eddington's Trigonometry proofs.

December 12, 1979

Alexis Davidovitch sat in the library in Dorchester Hall and frowned at her Trigonometry proof. Mathematics was not her strongest subject so while she was sure that the squared secant of theta should be the same as the squared tangent of theta plus one she had no idea how to prove that. Sometimes she wished that Professor Eddington would just let them take his word for it. Her paper was a mess of various cosines and she was definitely missing the tangent in more ways than one.

Celia Quartermaine must have noticed her struggles, or frustration, because she paused for a moment by her left shoulder. "You need to use the fundamental formula of trigonometry," she whispered.

Alexis supposed it might be easier if she had an idea what the fundamental formula of trigonometry was. "I beg your pardon," she finally stammered.

Celia shook her head but then she pulled out the chair across the table from Alexis. "My cousin Alexandria calls it the magic identity. One is equal to the squared cosine and the squared sine of theta. Basically, you just need to start by expressing both the tangent and the secant in terms of sine and cosine. Then you can just use the fundamental formula and simplify."

Alexis could only shake her head.

"Here, let me show you," Celia said and pulled Alexis's notebook across the table.

Alexis felt her eyes glaze over. Through the fog she watched Celia's pencil move across the page without really taking it in. Her head began to swim again, something which had been happening with increasing frequency lately. Twice she had actually fallen out, fortunately no one had noticed.

"See, it is really quite simple if you use the magic identity," Celia said. She passed Alexis's notebook back to her with a smile.

Alexis had no more idea what Celia had meant than when she had first stood at her elbow but she tried to appear as if she understood what Celia had so painstakingly outlined. Celia's father and grandfather were both engineers. They owned some company with letters, EBQ ,or something like that. "Thank you. You're right it is much easier that way," she lied.

"No problem, I've always liked math. I'm destined to be an engineer. My cousin, Alexandria is going to graduate with her degree from Stanford in the spring. I think I might want to go there as well."

"That is nice," Alexis said. She didn't know what else to say. Her head was still swimming. She and Celia weren't really friends. They were merely suitemates. Usually Celia spent most of her time with her best friend, Holly Sutton, or some of the older girls.

"Aren't you heading over to lunch?" Celia asked.

Actually, Alexis had been planning to skip lunch. She was famished but the mere thought of food was more than enough to turn her stomach. Lately the nausea had been easing up enough to allow her to eat her evening meal and she hoped that would be the case.

"You should go ahead, I haven't been feeling well, lately," Alexis forced the words out as her head swum more. She caught her breath and willed Celia to go off on her own.

But Celia didn't budge, instead she laid a hand on Alexis's arm. "Do you want me to walk you to the Infirmary?"

"No, that really is not necessary," Alexis choked out as everything went black.

Alexis was unsure how much time she had lost when she awoke laying on the floor of the library with Celia kneeling beside her. "What happened?" she managed to croak out.

"You passed out. Don't worry I didn't let you hit your head. I can summon the nurse if you like," Celia offered.

"No! I mean, truly, I am just tired. Perhaps you could just help me back to the dorm," Alexis said. She saw the concern in Celia's eyes and hoped fervently that she would not insist on summoning the nurse.

Celia hesitated for a moment in silent thought. "Are you sure it isn't something more?" she asked.

Alexis pulled herself into a seated position. "Yes, truly, I'm fine. I've just been working hard on schoolwork because of the end of the term."

"Ok, why don't you just sit there for a moment and I'll pack up your stuff," Celia offered.

Celia had eventually helped her back to the dorm. She had offered to stay with her but eventually left, after multiple reassurances, when Holly Sutton had stopped by to invite Celia to lunch with her cousin, Basil; who attended a nearby boy's school.

In the present, Alexis shook her head to clear the memory, and perhaps return her focus to the verbiage of her client's carefully negotiated golden parachute. Her strategy failed miserably the words began to swim on the page. Alexis yawned, then reluctantly closed the file and removed her glasses. Perhaps she was just overtired and everything would be much clearer in the morning. Perhaps...