The first class was bad enough. The students all read from the middle of some book with words that he didn't understand. The second class of the day is completely beyond comprehension, Rya'c thinks grumpily to himself. The teacher is writing numbers and letter and parenthesis on the shiny white thing, and then he turns to the class and ask for an answer.
And they answer him. All of the students tell him what the answer to his math problem without hesitation.
And Rya'c doesn't even see where the question is. He looks around the room at all of the students sitting in their desk.
"Why?" he asks.
The teacher blinks at him. Maybe they do speak a different language here. He hasn't understood a single thing that has happened since Shelby left.
"Why are we just sitting here?"
"Young man, you're being insubordinate!" the teacher exclaims.
But he didn't give Rya'c an answer, so he stands up and leaves. He takes the books with him, because he wants to show them to his father. He is sure that as soon as his father sees the sort of things they want him to do, he will not make him go to school anymore. Maybe he won't let him go back to Chulak, since his father's new wife is so against war (even though she married a warrior). But at least they might not make him come back to this place.
He walks out of the doors, and remembers that it's a bit cold outside. He had on the outer garment they wear in this country (it was not called a cloak, although it sounded like it) when he came to school. They'd made him put it in a thing called a locker, and he wasn't up to doing battle with the metal dragon then. So he just starts walking.
He realizes, not long in, that he doesn't actually know how to get home. He's had lots of survival training, including how to take care of yourself if you get lost in the woods. But these aren't woods, and none of his training is going to do him any good here.
So he just keeps walking. How big can this place called Colorado Springs be, anyway?
-0-0-0-
Pete has never been that good at guessing the ages of people, but this kid looks like he should really be in school. He is debating whether or not to stop the kid when he sees some textbooks under his arm. Well, that settles it.
He pulls the car over to the side of the road. "Hey kid!" he says.
"I am not a goat," the kid responds, without stopping.
"You need to show some respect for authority," Pete informs him.
The kid stops, and blinks at him, "I am new to this country, and am unfamiliar with what your dress means. What kind of an authority are you?"
"I'm a policeman," Pete tells him, because he gets the odd feeling that this kid isn't actually messing with him.
The kid tilts his head at him, "I don't know what that means."
"I enforce the laws. Now tell me, aren't you supposed to be in school?"
"Indeed," the kid says.
That word, and that face bring back a memory for him. But he knows it isn't possible. That man didn't have a kid this age. It's just one of those strange coincidences that happen when you deal with the public for long enough.
"Get in the car, son, I'll take you back to school."
"You are not my father, and I'm not going back to the school."
"You have to go to school, it is the law," Pete tells him, not knowing that the child is actually over the age of mandatory school attendance.
"Your country has strange laws. They will not allow children to fight, and they force them to go to school, and learn about strange numbers and books which do not make sense," he says.
"Every kids feels like that."
"Where I come from, there are no schools."
"You really did just get here didn't you?" Pete asks softly.
Rya'c nods his head.
"Look, can I call your parents for you. I'm sure they're worried about you. Maybe you can work out something about the schooling with them."
Rya'c sets his jaw, "My step-mother was forced to leave me at school today. She told me before we left the house that we would merely be getting information about the schooling, but in truth she forced me to go to the classes without her."
"Well, I'm sure she didn't know what the school had in mind for you. It wasn't her fault."
"I would appreciate help in getting home, it appears that I do not remember which direction home is," the child says.
"Ok, well, what is your step-mom's name?"
"Shelby; and the name of my father is Teal'c."
Pete doesn't have to ask for their last names, which is a good thing, since Rya'c doesn't know them.
"Let me give you a ride," he says kindly to the man-boy before him.
Rya'c nods his head, not because he particularly likes the idea, or particularly trusts the man, but simply because he can see that this is his best way of getting out of the situation without getting into too much more trouble.
-0-0-0-
Shelby's heart stops for a split second when she sees a policemen at the door. She's sure that Teal'c is dead. And then she realizes that it wouldn't be a policeman that would come to tell her if that was the case.
And then she sees her stepson.
"What are you doing? I left you at school!" she shouts at him.
He hangs his head, and doesn't say anything. Pete thinks to himself that this child has been taught how to deal with authority, and can't help but wonder what methods were employed in the lesson.
Shelby turns to him, "I'm sorry, Officer, I swear he's not truant, though. He's sixteen. And I wouldn't just let him wonder the streets. I didn't know where he was." She stops herself, realizing that what she is saying is the opposite of a defense, "I know that's not good parenting. What I mean was, I thought he was at school."
"It's ok. It sounds to me like he was just a little overwhelmed with his new country and school. He might just need a bit of time to adjust."
"Thank you," she says looking at the man gratefully.
He nods his head, and shuts the door behind himself as he exits the room. She turns to her step-son, regarding him for a second as she decides whether to yell at him or hug him.
"Why did you leave?" she asks.
"I didn't understand what they were talking about, and I asked the teacher why we had to sit down, and he didn't have an answer."
"That's what you do in school," Shelby says softly.
"Well, I've never sat down that much in my whole life," he says. Shelby's never seen a Goa'uld ship, so she doesn't know that they don't have any chairs. But she has seen Jaffa camps, and she knows that the only place they have to sit are the cushions on the ground which are only used for meditation purposes.
"You didn't know the way home, did you?" she asks.
"My survival training was of no use," he says.
"I'm going to call the school, and tell them that you're going to start tomorrow. But you can't leave again. You could get lost or hurt. You have to do school, even if it's hard."
"You told the police officer that I don't."
"Well, that's because I didn't want him getting us in trouble. It would mostly be the parents he comes down on if you weren't in school. I don't mean the law is going to make you get your schooling. I mean that your family is."
"It didn't make any sense," he says, thrusting the math textbook and a paperback copy of Macbeth at her. "Maybe we only think that Tau'ri English and Jaffa English are the same."
"Oh, Rya'c, I can understand why you were confused. This is really old English. Trust me, some of your classmates were probably having trouble with it, too. But don't worry. It's a story that you can really get into. There is war and battles in it," Shelby says.
"I would rather fight a battle than read about one," he grumbles.
"I'm going to print you the Sparknotes on this off the computer before I go to bed. If you read that, you're going to get a general picture of what the story is about, and then it should make more sense. It's probably a good thing that you don't sleep a whole lot, we're going to need that time in the next couple of weeks. I think we should probably work on algebra right now, though, because you're going to need help with it. What page were you on?"
"I don't know," Rya'c says, trying to open the book with his fingers. They are so clumsy at the task that Shelby realizes with a sharp pain that the boy has never seen a book before. She's expecting him to be able to deal with high school when he can't even open his textbook. "Ok, let's start with something else. We'll see what math you DO know, and go from there."
-0-0-0-
Shelby discovers that her step-son's math skills are not at all bad. They just make a sharp drop off as soon as things went from the concrete to the abstract. He works next to her for five hours, with only a short lunch break. And by the end of it, he's completed the first five pages of his textbook.
It isn't a bad showing, and considering that only a few weeks had passed since the beginning of school, she is beginning to think that this was not as impossible as it first seemed, if only because the child doesn't sleep.
The Next Day
He was required to be here, Rya'c told himself over and over again. It was required of him, and that was reason enough.
He was discouraged once again. He had spent most of the night with the small paperback. He'd read background information, and the book twice just to gain the most basic understanding of plot. Then he'd poured over reference materials in order to draw out the theme and symbols, after first learning what all of these words meant.
He was certain that whatever they talked about in first period, today he would be prepared.
But he was wrong, because today was a day that the people of the Tau'ri called Wednesday. And apparently, in Mrs. Morris' class, Wednesday was grammar day. He didn't know what grammar was exactly, but he did know that it had something to do with saying the words like "gerund" or "participle" when they called on you.
At least Mrs. Morris was merciful enough not to call on him. Although he suspected it had something to do with the note the counselor had slipped to her at the beginning of class.
Rya'c was sure the note said something like "this boy has no honor and he runs from challenges".
He dreaded the class with math even more. Before the class began, he walked up to the teacher, and said, "My actions yesterday were without honor. I will not undertake them again," and then he handed the teacher the pages of homework that he had spent the afternoon before working on.
"I didn't assign that," the teacher says.
"I was uncertain what work to complete," the Jaffa says, taken aback by his unaccepted apology and uncelebrated work.
"Look at the board," the teacher says, pointing to the shiny white thing in the front of the room.
There are some letters, and numbers on it, but the boy can't figure out what they mean.
When the teacher tells the rest of the students to open their books, Rya'c flips through the book, clumsily, because he is still new at this, until he finds the page with the same pictures on it as the student that is next to him.
Within minutes, he knows that nothing the teacher says is going to make sense to him. So he begins to stare at the page in front of him, slowly absorbing the content, and trying the figures one way and then another until he starts to get the answers in the back of the book, carefully marked by Shelby the day before.
When he knows how to do the problems, he starts at number one, and does them one by one until he reaches the bottom of the page.
The student assigned by the counselor comes and gets him at the end of the period to take him to his next class.
He isn't even sure what this class is studying, but Shelby told him that if you sit down and put a pencil on top of a notebook, teachers think that it is a good thing.
"Hello! You must be my new student," the teacher says, kneeling next to his desk.
He nods his head gravely.
"Where did you move from?" she asks cheerfully.
He forgets the lie answer. He knows it is a continent that they have on this world where most of the people have skin like his. He shrugs.
"Well, ok, I'm glad you're here. I'm Mrs. Jeske. I've got an orientation packet for you that explains how my class works. I go over it the first couple days of school, but you can get the idea by reading it tonight. Today we're going to be taking notes on acids and bases. We're almost done with the unit, so don't feel bad if you don't understand. But if you read Chapter Three in your book, it will help you understand," she says, handing him a textbook with a thin pack of paper on top of it.
"Thank you," he whispers as she walks away.
The teacher than turns from him to ask hulking figure next to him if he won last night's football game, and then a quiet girl about her art. The girl takes out a piece of manga to show the teacher. While she oogles over it, she greets another girl at the door, and asks her if her weekend was alright. The voice implies there is a secret message in the words.
The bell rings, and the teacher walks down the aisle, greeting each student she hasn't yet talked to by name as she reaches the front of the room.
"Oh, my darlings, it's time for lighting review. Rya'c, I don't expect you to know these answers yet, you'll be as quick as the rest of them before long. Ok, pH stands for…"
Together the class murmurs, "Power of hydrogen."
"Water has as pH of…" She prompts.
"7," most whisper, although a few say other things.
"Water has a pH of," she prompts again.
"7," everyone, including Rya'c courses together. That earns him an extra smile from his teacher.
"Acids have a high or low pH?" she asks.
"High," they say.
"And bases are…"
"Low," they complete.
"Great, open your books to page 52," Mrs. Jesek says.
Rya'c starts on page one, looking at the other books for what picture he needs to look for.
"Helper!" Mrs. Jeske calls.
Three student wiggle their hands eagerly. She points to a tall thin girl, and then Rya'c. Rya'c's ears go red in shame. The girl walks across kneels next to him.
"The page numbers are on the bottom," she points. "Do you know what 52 looks like?"
He nods, "It was so simple."
"Mrs. Jeske says it's all simple when you know it, and impossible until you do," the girl whispers as she flips to the correct page, and returns to her seat.
"Write what I do, listen to what I say," the teacher reminds the class as she takes up her pen, and begins the lecture.