Paris Life-Part III
Max started to turn his life around after the Boston trip but it wasn't easy. Rocco and Hervé weren't keen on letting him go and Max's old friends weren't eager to take him back. Eventually his cousin managed to make amends with his previous pals; as for Hervé and Rocco…well, Se'tak made it very clear what they could expect if they kept harassing his cousin. That threat alone, with him looming large over the two teens, was enough to send them running very quickly.
The holidays were tougher. Uncle Pavel passed away 5 days before Christmas and Uncle Callan and Max didn't get the news until Christmas Eve, making the whole month of December rough. This year Mrs. Chekov flew in to celebrate with them and they spent Christmas Eve feasting, sharing memories, and occasionally crying; but to be sure, there was plenty of laughter too in amongst the tears.
Se'tak spent Christmas Day in San Francisco with Mama, Sa-mekh, and Selas, but not before leaving his cousin a very special gift. He'd reached out to all the aunts and uncles and asked them to share stories of Uncle Pavel as well as any pictures, then he put it all together in a huge holo-album. Uncle Callan could not thank him enough for that one—he said he hadn't seen a smile that big on Max's face in over a year.
But the new year brought with it some new challenges for 'Tak. He thought he'd saved up enough credits before the school year began but Paris was more expensive than he anticipated and his savings were running a little low. Mama and Sa-mekh offered to help but he didn't want their money. His class schedule was such that keeping a part-time job was difficult.
It was Selas who helped him come up with a viable solution. They were discussing the matter over lunch a few days after Christmas.
"Why not become a tutor?"
Se'tak nearly spit out his soda. When he looked closer at Selas he realized he wasn't joking. "You're serious?"
"Yes."
"And what would I teach? No, wait, let me guess—How to Pick Up Chicks 101?"
Selas gazed at him blankly while wearing a disappointed expression. "Why must you always disparage yourself? There is more to you than your penchant for…" here he searched for the right word, "…'wooing' women. You have many talents."
Se'tak thoughtfully sipped his soda while silently conceding the point. "So," he said, dropping the sarcasm, "What do you think I should teach?"
"You are fluent in Vulkhansu," his pi-sa'kai wisely pointed, "And possess a mother with experience in teaching xenolinguistics in higher education who would be an invaluable resource."
He really needed to stop being surprised by how smart his brother was.
Over the rest of the break Se'tak sought Mama's advice, made up a lesson plan, and placed ads on local student center messaging boards. There was a flurry of interest but not everyone could commit and so by the time the new semester started and they all met for the first time he ended up with just 7 students.
L'École Avril Robert de Bibliothèque de Diplomatie, Paris, France, 2291.18, 1530 hours. Se'tak reserved the large study room in the back of the library for the group. The plan to meet twice a week for an hour to an hour and a half depending on interest and how they got along in their lessons. Despite the low numbers the group was rather diverse, as he quickly came to discover during their first meeting.
He watched as they filed into the room carefully eying one another and taking the seats furthest from him around the table. What they needed was an icebreaker.
"Tonk'peh kanok-veh!" All eyes focused on him. One girl looked startled by his speech, two others giggled into their hands, while one of the guys nodded back at him. At least someone in the class got him. "That's Vulcan for 'hello everyone' for those of you that don't know, and welcome to the class. My name's Se'tak and I'll be your Vulkhansu tutor this semester." 'Tak felt a momentary swell of pride well up within him—this was actually going to work.
A small cough from the group brought him back to the present. "Right." He picked up his PADD and flicked it open to the attendance screen. "So what I thought we could do first is talk a little bit about ourselves: name, age, where you're from, what you're studying. Then play 2 truths and a lie."
An outcry arose from the table.
"A lie? Did he say a lie?"
"Vulcans can't lie, everybody knows that."
"Yeah well they're not supposed to smile either but did you see him earlier?"
Se'tak needed to take back control. "Guys, guys, calm down. It's just a little game. Here, I'll go first. My name's Se'tak, I'm from San Francisco, California, and I'm 25 years old. I'm here at l'école studying diplomacy because I'd like to be a part of the Federation Diplomatic Corp someday." He glanced around the room; everyone was leaning forward in their seats in anticipation of the lie. 'Tak took a deep breath. "I was born in space, I like Brussels sprouts, and I can play the piano." He looked into each of their eyes as he spoke hoping to pass the lie off.
"It's got to be the Brussels sprouts," one guy said to the other, "I mean who actually likes Brussels sprouts?"
"Born in space?" a blond girl asked. "I don't get it."
"The piano's the lie."
He turned to the diffident, dark-haired girl on his left with the wide frightened eyes. "That's right. How'd you know?"
Her cheeks flushed crimson. "Because everyone knows Vulcans are vegetarians," she uttered quietly, "And you were born on a starship."
"Oh right!" said the blond, "That's how you can be born in space."
"That's absolutely correct," he said with a grin, turning away from the shy young lady back to the rest of the class. "I can't play the piano to save my life; I can't even carry a tune. The musical gene skipped me completely. And now that you know a little bit more about me, how about letting me know a little bit more about you? Miss…" he turned once more to the quiet girl.
"Oh! Um…my name's uh Helia. Helia Moghadam." Se'tak urged her on. "I'm, um, 21 years old and my family's from Ankara, Turkey…and I'm studying at l'école too." The girl next to her nudged her and reminded her of the two truths and a lie. "Uhhh, umm…I um…I have 2 cats, I grew up with 5 brothers and sisters, and my grandfather only has 1 eye."
The rest of the group stared at Helia in astonishment and she shrank from all the attention. When no one ventured to guess which were the truths and which was the lie Se'tak offered up the answer. "You don't have any cats."
Her mouth fell open. Got it in one. "H-how'd you know?"
"There's no cat hair on your clothes." The others turned to her non-descript outfit to see the truth for themselves.
"So your grandfather really only has 1 eye?" the blond next to Helia asked. She nodded.
"How'd that happen?" the boy across the table wondered aloud.
Helia shrugged her shoulders. "He doesn't like to talk about it. Baba says he lost it in a fight a long time ago. Büyükanne says it happened after they got married—and a good thing too or she never would've married him." The small smile quickly fell as she realized she was sitting among strangers talking openly about a rather personal subject. She began to blush from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair.
Se'tak gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder then turned to the blond sitting next to her. "And you are…?"
The tall girl grinned. "Hey all! I'm Desiree Hernandez and I'm from Tallahassee, Florida. I'm 19 years old and my two truths and a lie…hmm…oh! I know! Ok, so I like to bake, ride my bike, and hang out on the beach." While the others all deliberated over which was the truth or a lie the girl next to Desiree reminded her she didn't tell the group her focus. "Oh, and I'm studying at the University of Paris. Undecided—still." To the few raised eyebrows she added, "The language requirement kicked my butt last semester. I'm getting a leg up for Round 2." They nodded.
'Tak brought their attention back to the matter at hand.
"Well the lie can't be the beach," the lone Tellarite in their midst declared. "You're too tan."
"I agree," the guy next to him added. Desiree giggled.
"Baking?" one of the girls offered. The group nodded in agreement that that was the lie.
Desiree looked offended. "No way!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a container of treats that looked to be chocolate chip cookies. "And here I was ready to share this with y'all!"
"So the bike was a lie?" the Tellarite asked.
Desiree nodded. "Uh huh."
"What don't you like about it?" Helia whispered.
"Oh I don't dislike it, Honey, I just never learned." She threw up her hands in an 'oh well' gesture then turned to the girl sitting next to her. "Your turn!"
The petite Bajoran woman wore a very serious expression as she apprised her companion then faced the rest of the class. "My name is Nyah Gemu. I'm 23 years old and I'm from the Tempasa settlement on Bajor. I am furthering my studies of intergalactic diplomacy at l'école. My two truths and a lie are: I have a younger brother, I am an accomplished bassoonist, and I enjoy romantic comedy holo-vids."
In the same instant everyone agreed that the line about enjoying romantic comedies was a lie. They were all immediately proven wrong. "I do in fact enjoy romantic comedies; what I do not possess is a sibling."
"Huh." The girl next to her declared. "Go figure. Which movie's your favorite?"
Nyah considered the question briefly. "I would have to say my current favorite is 'When Eron Met Ilom'."
"I'll have to check it out." The girl with the wavy dark hair seated next to Nyah gave them all a wave. "Hi, I'm Zosia Andrysiak. I like romantic comedies too—but that's not part of the truth or lie thing. I'm 20 years old and I'm studying xenolinguistics at the University. Now for my truths and lies: I was born in Poland but raised in Maine, I don't have a boyfriend, and I love ice skating." Zosia kept her eyes on him the entire time trying to pass the lie off as a truth but he thought he saw her flinch once.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Se'tak asked.
Zosia winked and leaned forward provocatively in her seat. "I might soon if you keep asking." The girls—save for Helia who looked mildly alarmed—all laughed at her flirtatious cheek.
The Tellarite, who was taking this exercise far too seriously, then said, "So you don't love ice skating then? Is that the lie?"
She nodded. "It is. I almost drowned skating on our back pond when I was 6." Zosia shuddered at the memory and the mood of the entire class instantly sombered.
"And on that note…" the striking woman beside Zosia declared, "I'm Ifama Jalloh, I'm 21 years old, and I'm from Kumasi, Ghana. I'm also at the University—part-time—studying anything that they'll let me. My 2 truths and a lie are that I only have 7 toes, I'm a model, and I'm related to the great actor Darby Obasanjo."
"Well it's the 7 toes thing that's a lie, obviously," the young man beside her blurted out. "Anybody can see that you're a model. No wonder you're related to Darby."
Se'tak knew exactly what he meant; one look at Ifama with her high cheekbones, glossy black hair, and glowing brown skin and it was obvious she was a model. But the sly looks she was shooting the boy next to her made 'Tak think the thing about the toes was the truth. No sooner did he think this then she surreptitiously began wiggling her feet out of her boots.
"You're wrong. I don't know Darby Obasanjo anymore than you do—that's the lie." She bent down and picked off her socks while everybody stuck their heads under the table to watch, the boy beside her in horror, the rest in grotesque intrigue. Her feet now bare, Ifama wiggled the few toes she possessed and giggled at their collective surprise.
"What happened?!" the boy cried.
Ifama shrugged. "Don't know; I was just born this way." She then got up from her seat and did her best catwalk strut up and down the room. "Doesn't stop me from getting runway shows though."
"No I bet it doesn't," Se'tak muttered to himself, eyeing her slender form with great appreciation. If only she wasn't his student…
Ifama sat back down and began putting her socks and boots back on. To distract himself and move the class along he turned to the man sitting beside her. "And you are?"
The preppy-looking boy gulped and tore his eyes away from Ifama's feet. "Oliver. Oliver Brown." He nervously reached up and smoothed out the neat part in his brown hair. "I'm from Baltimore, Maryland, and I'm 24 years old. I'm studying history at the University and my thesis is focused around First Contact. As for the 2 truths and a lie…ok, so I come from a long line of home brewers famous for their mead, I was valedictorian of my high school class, and I'm color blind."
The class was torn between all three 'truths' Oliver told until he outed himself. "I wasn't valedictorian—there were 2 people ahead of me, and that's the truth." Se'tak gave Oliver a quick nod then handed the floor over to his last student, the Tellarite.
The man gave a throat clearing cough (which made his paunch jiggle) then began. "My name is Venn Narggaw and I'm from Tellar Prime originally but have spent the last 8 years with my family living here in Paris. I'm 23 years old and I'm also studying diplomacy at l'école; I want to represent Tellar in the Federation someday.
"My 2 truths and a lie are that my family owns a mud bath spa, I've flown in a hot air balloon, and I can play the guitar." Venn gave himself away by stroking his beard as he told the lie but Se'tak wanted to see if anyone else picked up on his tell. Amazingly the class was evenly split over the subject of the hot air balloon ride and the guitar; no one questioned the spa ownership. Venn laughed as he explained how they all fell for the stereotype. "My mother owns a boutique and my father is an accountant. The guitar playing's the lie."
"Ok!" Se'tak clapped his hands then rubbed them together, eager to get going. "Now that we all know each other a little better how about we get started? I take it you all downloaded the workbook I sent you, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well go ahead and open it to page 5 and take the test on there and send it to me when you're done." He glanced around the table and saw Helia break into a sweat. "This isn't going to be graded—I just want to see where your Vulcan language skills are at, that's all. Take your time."
Once reassured they began working on their tests in earnest and Se'tak took a seat. This tutoring thing really was going to work out—he had to remember to thank Selas next time they talked.
They left the library and agreed to meet in the same room the following Tuesday. After that Se'tak headed to the cafeteria for an early dinner before attending a late lecture entitled "Diplomacy: History, Theory, and Practice". When it was through he went to his dorm to attack a little homework. As he took off his jacket he felt a bulge in his pocket and, uncertain as to what it could be, reached in and pulled it out.
It was a paper note folded over several times in an origami-type pattern and it had his name on the front. Very carefully he unfurled the design to reveal a silly poem inscribed inside.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, I know someone who's got a crush on you! XOXOX." Se'tak examined the note closely but couldn't find a clue as to who had slipped it in his pocket. He thought back on his day-he'd gone to three lectures, hit up the coffee shop, spent time tutoring at the library, then visited the cafeteria and that last lecture. Anyone could've slipped the note in his pocket at anytime. With a shrug of his shoulders he hung his coat on the peg and set the note aside on his desk while powering up his PADD.
He had a secret admirer.
Se'tak smiled to himself. Who'd have thought…?