xp_logs | Backdated to mid-Jan. Kyle, Marie, Education

Backdated way the heck back. Kyle's a senior now. That means looking at future education. He's way over his head, and seeks out his RA to sort out some of the issues.

Marie was sprawled on the floor of her suite, amongst books, notes, index cards, and highlighters. It might've looked to someone else as if a minor wind storm had passed through, swirling school supplies about at random. To Marie, everything was in its place for a major study session. After her talk with Kurt, she'd decided to bust her butt trying to catch up for missing the first week of school instead of dropping down to part time status immediately. So when she heard a knock at the door, she called out "Come in" instead of disentangling herself from her study materials.

Kyle pushed the door open, and stopped and stared for a second. It was like his room, only with half the number of people and twice the number of books. Which considering he had a roommate was pretty impressive. "Uh. Do you have a minute or should I call the X-Men to rescue you from the paper monster?

She grinned and floated up to be at eye level. "If Ah ever go missing for a 24 hours, just promise to come dig me out," she said. "Come on in...if you can find a free surface, sit and make yourself comfortable. What's going on?"

Luckily, there was enough free space to move an unopened stack of books off a chair, which Kyle did and then sat down, dumping a pile of papers of his own from his bookbag onto his lap. "I, uh... colleges keep sending me applications." He said, by way of cutting off what would obviously otherwise have been an extended explanation. "And they make my head hurt to think about it."

"Lemme see," she said, dropping her feet to the floor to walk over to him. She took one off the top of the stack and scanned it quickly. "Well, first we've got some questions to answer. You trying to stick around here for college? Or looking to go elsewhere?"

"I want to go somewhere near here - I think I'd rather stay here, keep doing the X-Men thing. And I think I get, um, in-state tuition? I think. I mean, my driver's license is from here, right?" He'd divided the stack into "Places that are close" and "Places that are not.". "That part's confusing me. And the community college or four year thing? I'm kind of confused about that. Sort of. Dani kind of explained it." Even so, the idea that he was seriously considering college was a little staggering. The phone call with his parents later would be interesting.

"Ok, well community college is good if you aren't sure if you're ready for college or aren't sure exactly what you want to do...but Kyle, Ah don't want you underestimating your abilities. Ah think you could handle a four year school, with some assistance for your attention and impulsivity and stuff. Do you have any idea what you might want to study? Or what ya like?"

Kyle rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his feet. "Um. I was kind of thinking about teaching. Maybe?" He couldn't look away from his feet, and suddenly, his toe-claws were just fascinating. "I like tutoring English, and I like helping with PE. And nothing else sounds both, like, interesting and like something I could do." He paused, as if he was done, and then added. "I didn't know colleges could help with the attention span thing. I swear, they totally need to print brochures. "All the crap that bitchy vice principals lied to you about college when you were in middle school."

"Maybe that can be something you do," she teased, before turning her attention back to the stack of letters Kyle had brought. "Well, your closest options would be Westchester or Pace," she said, pulling out the school's respective letters as she talked. "If you're willing to commute to the city, that opens things up more, but might be kinda difficult to maintain along with team stuff and if you want to keep working here too."

"Closer is better. I mean, I like driving, but I'd rather be somewhere I can take the bike." Kyle explained. "I mean, if Marius is gonna up and give me a motorcycle and then I'm gonna spend all that time learning how to ride it, I'm gonna use it." Not to mention that it was just cool. Really cool. Really really unspeakably cool. "But I mean, how likely am I gonna get accepted to one of those places? Can I afford it? What if they say no? What if they're no good for wanting to be a teacher? And how do I even tell what's good for that and what isn't?" He paused to take a breath, realized he'd exhausted almost his entire list of questions, and slumped a little. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"First...just breathe Kyle. We'll get it all figured out - there's plenty of people here who can help with that, myself included. Let's take your questions one at a time. First, closer is better, so let's concentrate on these two," she said gesturing to the two pamphlets she'd already pulled out. "As for how likely you are to get in, the next step is to contact their admissions office and find the stats on the people they accepted last year. Then compare your GPA and SAT scores. You've got a good amount of extracurriculars, which places always like, so that helps too. As for affording it, you apply for scholarships and then we can figure out if you think you can still work here some. Living expenses are covered and you'll be an instate student, so affording college should be a breeze, potentially with some minor loans." Marie then followed her own advice to Kyle and took a breath. "As for if they're good for teaching - they both have certification programs. Ah think Pace even has a student-teacher program. You know, you might want to talk to John about his experiences too, he might be able to help ya out with figuring out that part."

"Uh. Yeah. The SAT's." Kyle frowned, making what was an obviously unhappy face. "I'm supposed to take them in March. Cause Doc Moira had to get me some kind of documentation thinger saying I needed extended test time and a quiet room and there were letters and my folks had to sign it and my dad had to learn how to use a fax machine. I think Forge might've tried to strangle him through the phone trying to explain it." He slumped down a little further. "I am totally freaked out of my entire mind. My mom did night school. My dad never did college. My grandparents never did college. What if I can't do it? I'd be totally letting them down, and everybody else here and ..."

"You realize you've already done some college level work, right?" Marie asked, not waiting to see Kyle's reaction before she continued. "And if you try it and it's not right for you, you're not letting anyone down if you went and tried your best at it."

"But..." Kyle's hands went into his hair, and the expression on his face was exactly that of someone trying to physically remove a set of thoughts from their brain. "I want to. I don't want it to be wrong for me, I want to say I did it." He took his hands out of his hair and looked down at them. "I want to prove almost damn near every teacher I had before I got here, and -every- social worker at that stupid juvee center that I am not a colossal screwup."

"Then you will do it Kyle," Marie said firmly. "If you want it that bad, then nothing will get in your way of success. Look at all you've accomplished here, right? All you needed was the right motivation."

"And Doc Moira glueing my mouth shut with caramel." Kyle added. "That was totally a way important part of getting through my first year here. And passing Biology." He relaxed visibly. "I am totally being a spaz about this, aren't I?"

"Yes," Marie said with a grin. "But that's a normal part of the process. Just keep reminding yourself that you can do it - and don't forget about your support network here if you start feeling overwhelmed."

"Dude. I'm already overwhelmed. If I get any more whelmed, I'll be stealing whelm from other people." But this time, it was a joke, and Kyle had his normal grin on his face. ".. I guess this means I should probably start to find a way to bribe Forge to do my math review, if my SAT score is actually gonna not suck a big suck?"

Marie was glad to see Kyle back to his normal stuff. Sure, college was scary - but she knew he could do it. Now all he needed was to keep that realization himself and he'd be fine. "Ah hear cobbler works great as a bribe with him. Ah'll even give you the recipe," she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Without missing a beat, Kyle went all wide-eyed. "Gosh, I don't have any idea how you'd know that. You'd never bribe Forge for any trickery, would you?" He couldn't keep the faux-innocent expression, and ended up snickering through the last of his words. "Seriously though, thanks. This whole college thing is ... a little scary, so I totally appreciate the help and advice and stuff."