Sorry for the huge delays in actually posting. There's something like 10 more chapters waiting to be put up, but I keep telling myself I should wait between each one. I'm greedy for reviews. :-D

Anyway, this one's a bit short, sorta fluffy, but I promise I'll be quicker about the next one, k? Review-encouragement/nagging is always appreciated.

-Lady

Chapter Sixteen

They had dinner with Sally on Sunday night. She arrived at Wufei's door with a half-cooked lasagna and sat Wumei at the table with a large block of cheese and a grater. Then she pulled Wufei into the living room and forced him to speak to her.

"You look pale as a ghost. Has it really been that bad?" she asked worriedly. "I haven't come over because I thought you needed time to get to know each other, work out the bumps--"

Wufei shook his head. "That isn't the problem. It is a problem, but something worse is happening. Maxwell and Schbeiker are coming for a business visit next weekend."

At first Sally looked overjoyed--and then the full implications cast her face into horror. "To visit?"

"Yes. They want to abduct me for all of Saturday," he replied sourly. Not for the first time, he wished that he kept a supply of alcohol in the house. "'Take us on a tour!' were Maxwell's words."

"Aiya."

"That's what I said."

A timer pinged in the kitchen. "What should I do?" called Wumei from the other room.

"That's the bread. Open the foil and put it back on for another five minutes," Wufei shouted back. He rubbed his forehead tiredly. Worry had kept him up last night. "What am I going to do with her? She was in the car with me when they called, she knows someone's coming."

"Has she asked who they are?"

"Not in so many words. We're not really... speaking, at the moment."

"Wufei," Sally tsked. "What did you do?"

"Why must it be something I did, onna?" he snapped irritably. "She should learn to think before she opens her mouth."

Sally shook her head. "You let something a teenager said get to you? Really, Wufei."

"She insulted me!"

"That's what teenagers do to their guardians."

"Did she say anything bad about you when she stayed with you?"

"Well, no. But I didn't treat her like a convict."

That stung. Wufei retrieved a set of meditation balls from their carved box on a shelf and ran them across the surface of his palms, listening to their chime. "Will you take her on Saturday?"

Sally shook her head. "I already made plans with a friend. She's getting married next month."

"K'so." The balls were a comforting weight, but they offered no solutions. "Do they still do Saturday detentions?"

"Wufei!" Sally scolded. "You want to keep her out of detention. Speaking of which, how's her homework?"

Er. Homework? Oh, yes. "Mei! Come here!"

"I'm not done with the cheese!"

"It can wait. Come here."

She ambled in, one hand held awkwardly away from her so she wouldn't get cheese grease on her shirt. "What?"

"Where is your homework?" Wufei asked imperiously.

She scowled. "In my bag."

"Is it done?"

"Yes, it's done. What do you think I did all yesterday?"

"Laid around on that new futon."

"It isn't that comfortable!"

Sally cut in hastily before things could continue to escalate. "Wumei, would you mind showing me your work after dinner? I'm curious to see what classes they put you in."

Wumei eyed them both and then nodded. "Ok. Can I go back to the cheese now?"

Wufei made a shooing motion and she returned to the kitchen, rolling her eyes.

"See, that's what I'm talking about," said Sally.

"What?"

"That!"

I didn't want to show either of them my homework. Mostly because I knew so much of it was wrong. True to my word, I had spent a good chunk of time yesterday and that morning working on it. The futon was quite comfortable, but it didn't help me understand the heavy-handed English texts. Apparently my new school believed in sink-or-swim. They were tossing me into the deep end to see how well I could float. They had promised that when their Chinese translator returned from vacation—a honeymoon that had just been extended so they could visit relatives--I would have extra tutoring, but that didn't help me until she did.

Numbers were fairly simple. Reading the assigned novel was laborious, but interesting. It was everything else that tripped me up. I could only understand half the words in most textbooks, even with the help of a monstrously large dictionary perched precariously on a bookshelf in the study. The history lesson seemed to run at cross purposes to what I had learned in China, and I was utterly baffled by the grammar assignment from my essay writing class. I was hoping Wufei would ignore my schooling now that he had me enrolled, but if he and Sally were going to take an interest in it... I excused myself shortly after dinner (lasagna: a strange, unpronounceable pile of pasta, meat, and cheese with unexplainable appeal) to look over my work before either of them saw it.

Try as I might, I couldn't see anything new to add. I knew my answers were wrong, but I couldn't see how to make them right. I winced, imagining Wufei's response. The room he had given over to me was proof that he was an educated man. Our culture demanded excellence in all things, but especially in the academic arena. I was about to go tumbling into the sand, face first. Maybe I shouldn't have started cutting classes in Beijing.

Well. Then I wouldn't be sitting here in the first place, would I?

Sally knocked gently at the door, pushing it open slightly so I could just see her face. "Wumei? May I see your homework?"

What more did I have to lose? I nodded and made room for her on the futon, which hugged the wall of bookshelves.

She sat beside me and took the notebook I offered her. Her eyebrows knit together almost immediately, and I resigned myself to a horrible evening. School in the morning would seem like a respite.

Sally leafed through my work, and then laid it down. "How much English did you learn in China?" she asked, using Chinese, as she always did when she spoke to me.

"Not enough," I said, looking down into my lap.

"Neither did I."

I raised my eyes, confused. "You didn't what?"

"Learn much English in China. Not at school, anyway. I learned enough to pass my exams, and then the army brought me up to speed. I speak fluently now." Her calm blue eyes didn't feel mocking; they made me think of hope.

"You... grew up in China? On Earth?"

"Yes. I know I don't look like it," Sally smiled, fingering her blond coils. "I'm not full-blooded Chinese, obviously." Now I could see the features--the tilt of her eyes, her skin, her mouth.

I shifted unhappily. "I'm not going to pass my classes at this rate." And then Wufei will kick me out. That thought surprised me--I hadn't realized that I wanted to stay with him quite so much. Or maybe not with him. Maybe just... here. Not in China.

Sally was nodding, though, like she understood. "Wufei should speak to your teachers. You should be enrolled in ESL--English as a Second Language. It'll help you catch up." She picked up a worksheet and smiled. "At least math is international."

I smiled back.

Wufei cleared his throat from the doorway. "Will she pass?" he asked, in English.

Sally sobered. "Perhaps. Not without a translator, though."

"They say they'll have one by next Friday." They exchanged messages with their eyes again. Wumei squirmed. He glanced at her and sighed. "We'll work it out then. I'll help you tomorrow, Mei."

The girl puffed up like an offended bird. "I don't need your help."

And just like that, they were back to squabbling. "You need to pass."

"Who says?"

"The parole board! The school! Colleges! Employers!"

"I can get a job!"

"You are not going back to the streets!"

"I could! Make better money there than working behind a store counter!"

Shaking her head, Sally stood and went to fix dessert.

(Nope, that's the end! Review!)