xp_logs | Kitty and Amanda and math...

Kitty tugged on her ponytail, tightening it as she walked down the hallway. It was summer and it was damned hot outside. Swimming might be fun, but it would mean leaving the lovely, lovely air conditioning to go out... Might be worth it. Walking past Amanda's room she spotted the girl pouring over some books and raised an eyebrow. She knocked on the door frame and said, "Hey, Amanda. What's up? Want a break, or help, or a sandwich?"

The relief was obvious on Amanda's face as she looked up. "Algebra," she said shortly, and that was explanation enough - both Doug and Kitty were well acquainted with Amanda's issues with the evil numbers. "I've got another half-hour t' go before I've done me lot for today, but 'm stuck. Help'd be great."

"Always glad to lend a hand. What're you up to? Still doing graphing or...?" Stepping into the room, Kitty moved to peer over Amanda's shoulder, scanning down her notes and picking out a couple of errors in the work.

"It's some stuff McCoy worked up for me - quadri-somethin'-or-other equations." Amanda sighed and moved a pile of books and papers over on the couch, clearing a space for Kitty to sit. "When he or Moira explains it, I sort of get it, but then it buggers off again when I try an' work it meself. Are you sure I have t' know this t' graduate?" There was a definite pout on her face as she looked up at Kitty and she was doing the demon puppy eyes of doom shamelessly.

"Quadratics," Kitty said, settling into the clear space, "and if they say you do, you do. The big hassle with quadratics is to remember the sign. Here, this should be negative to begin with..." She pointed at one of the problems Amanda had started to work out and gotten stuck on. "And remember to always take both the positive and negative squares."

"Like a set of scales - I remember. Balance both sides." Amanda frowned and erased what she'd done and started again. "An' for this bollocks I gave up Mandarin?" she muttered to herself, referring to the notes Moira had given her. "Lookin' forward t' uni?" she asked presently, as under Kitty's quiet directions she started working her way through the problem.

"I am, actually. I think it will interesting, and I always feel wrong when I haven't got homework. I'm strange like that." Kitty starred all of the problems Amanda had gotten right, scanning down the page as Amanda kept working. "You've got almost all the early ones, you know. You've got the theory pretty sound, you just get lost in the details, it looks like."

"Story of me life, gettin' lost in the details," Amanda said with a small snort as she continued a little more methodically than before. "You gunna stay here, or are you an' Jamers lookin' at findin' somewhere?" she asked, and then realised that maybe that was one of those too-personal questions. "Um, if that's not rude t' ask."

Kitty nodded at the result Amanda got on the next problem. "Nah, not rude. We're going to stay here and commute into the city for classes. It's easier and cheaper, and doesn't involve me explaining to my mother or anyone why I'm moving in with a guy at seventeen. Although..." She grinned at Amanda, biting her lip slightly. "Jamie gave me the world's sweetest birthday present - he and
Doug are getting a suite and he gave me my own drawer in his room, as a sort of 'want to try living together some of the time' sort of
thing. Course, now I have to find something wonderful for his birthday..."

Amanda grinned back, perhaps a little wickedly. This was why she liked Kitty, and Marie-Ange, for that matter. Both were more than met the eye, and certainly weren't as straight-laced as they first appeared. Although Kitty kept the lid on a little tighter than Marie-Ange. "I keep forgettin' you're younger than me," she said. "But yeah, could get tricky explainin'. An' that's really nice... romantic, but not over the top, y'know?" A slightly wistful expression crossed Amanda's face - she and Manuel had seen less and less of each other lately, and she missed it, even the drama and the fighting. "You're the genius - 'm sure you'll think of somethin' perfect for him."

"Yeah, most people tend to forget the whole 'not actually an adult, I just play one on tv' thing. And coming up with presents is hard. Especially when Jamie is the king of being a sweetheart and coming up with things which are perfect. Good for me when I'm getting the presents, less so when I'm trying to come up with something that's worth him. Yeah, that's right," she added as Amanda finished another problem.

"Hah, take that, evil numbers," Amanda said with a grin of triumph. "Remind me t' do somethin' really juvenile to you sometime, like fill yer shoes with toothpaste or the like - that ought t' cover that whole fake grownup thing." She poked Kitty's ribs with the blunt end of her pencil gently for emphasis. "An' I'm not the best t' help with presents - I s'pose the thing t' do is t' think of what makes the person happy, an' figure out a way t' give 'em that. Helps if they're unusual things - makes the surprise bigger when you manage it."

"You'll beat the numbers yet... although that's sixty-four, not fourty-six. And I'll be on the watch for any suspiciously mint smelling sneakers," Kitty added with a giggle before leaning back. "Yeah, I'll just keep looking for something perfect, or at least close."

Making an impatient nosie, Amanda corrected the error - she had a habit of switching numbers around like that, she'd noticed. "One more an' I'm done," she said with no small amount of relief. "You're a real mate, Kit, helpin' me with this. I just hope it's all worth it an' I graduate at the end of the year." Chewing briefly on her pencil, she considered the last problem, which was the hardest. "So, besides pinin' for homework an' the Great Present Quest, what else have you been up to? Haven't seen much of you lately, tho' that's probably me more 'n you. Even me roomie practically has t' make an appointment t' see me lately, tho' workin' out a schedule helped a whole lot."

"Not a problem; I like helping. And I haven't been up to much, really. Spent about a week with my nose burried in a programming problem I'd run into, and have done a considerable amount of sun worship. And sort of generally doing the 'getting ready for college'
thing. It's not that I really need new stuff for NYU, it's just that it's such a good excuse to go shopping."

"You sound like Angie," Amanda said with a grin. She scratched a couple more numbers, glaring in concentration at the paper, and then straightened. "There. Think that's it. Or I hope so - the pool's been gettin' mighty temptin' the longer I've been sittin' here." She paused only a moment, and then asked, casually. "You up for comin' down with me? Swmmin' alone is too close t' exercise, an' I've got this unhealthy rep t' maintain."

Kitty glanced at the paper, doing the calculations in her head and coming up with the same result. "Looks good to me," she said, nodding. "And yeah, I can do that. Was just debating it myself before I spotted you in here. Let me go change into my swimsuit and meet you down there?"

Something seemed to relax in Amanda, and she grinned. With a dramatic gesture she dumped the worksheet on top of the pile with the rest of her papers. "Sounds like a plan. Ta, Kit-Kat, you saved me sanity."