Doreen and Johnny (backdated to April 16th)

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Doreen and Johnny get some work done over the break and get to know each other a little better in the process.


Johnny didn't know Doreen very well yet. They had encountered one another briefly in class and in the introductory training sessions, he knew she had a pet squirrel that was proving to be an often entertaining school-wide menace, but that was about it. Still, he wanted to get to know her better...and this was a matter of survival in any case.

He popped the top of his soda with a sigh and glanced over the geometry notes he'd spread over his corner of the common room table, a collection of bad hand-writing and sloppy drawings. He wondered silently if the girl's notes would be any better than his or if she understood all of this any more than he did. He hauled his math book into his lap and set down his drink, flipping through the pages to find the correct chapter while he waited. Some break this was.

Doreen hauled her book, her notes and everything to the place where she said she'd meet and talk out all this homework stuff with Johnny. There weren't very many of them in the Sophomore class, so she felt she should get to know the other few students. Everyone was either a junior or a senior, it seemed. Which was okay.

At least, classes here, they didn't make her stand out in the hall. Because of the aforementioned hall standing she was a little behind but she was determined to not get an F in this class.

"Hi, Johnny!" she said, bouncing in, tail up, Monkey Joe on her shoulder, "I brought my notes and stuff. How are you doing?"

Johnny had no such excuses for the fact that his own geometry grade was hovering somewhere around a low C, unless one considered being generally bored by the subject or possessing little academic inspiration to be valid excuses. And no one did. He raised his head as he heard his name, grinning immediately at the sight of Monkey Joe perched cheerfully upon his teammate's shoulder. An interesting addition to any study group to be sure. "Hey Doreen." At the question, he made a face that was more joke than honest complaining and gestured to the papers on the table, "Somewhere between confused and totally lost." He smiled before continuing, "But otherwise, I'm okay. What about you?"

"I'm okay," Doreen said, sitting down and putting her books on the table, "I kinda know what I'm doing now that they're not sending me outside the classroom, you know?" she said with a bright smile, "I'm starting to like this place."

Outside the classroom? It only took a moment of consideration for Johnny to opt against questioning the comment out loud. It certainly didn't sound like the sort of experience he'd appreciate people dwelling on. Instead, he smiled back, "Me too...despite the far-reaching horrors of geometry."

"It's not that bad," Doreen said, as Monkey Joe went from her shoulder to her the table. She pulled out some treats for her friend and he started eating, "I mean, it's shapes and stuff. And now that I can listen to the lectures I think I'm getting it. Oh! Where did you go to school before this? I'm from LA, in Beverly Hills."

"Trust me," the white-haired teen replied, eyes dropping briefly to watch the furry puff of an animal settle on the table, "I'm glad to hear you say that. These proofs are killing me...Math really isn't my thing." Johnny couldn't help but grin at her sudden enthusiasm, whistling playfully at the answer she gave to her own question, "Beverly Hills, huh? Ritzy. New York City for me, though." He lifted a hesitant hand to try gently scratching the top of Monkey Joe's little head, adding with a somewhat sheepish amusement, "You know, one of those schools with metal detectors."

Money Joe liked the attention, but Doreen knew her squirrel was a ham. When he was content anyway. "Yeah, it's kind of hard, but my roommate offered to help me out and now it's not AS hard. So I'll help you out," Doreen said happily. "Really? I didn't think schools actually did the metal detector thing," she said, her eyes wide. "Our school a lot of the kids had more expensive cars than the teachers. It wasn't the best place, but it was okay."

Johnny seemed more than happy to supply said attention while their conversation continued, petting the squirrel and nodding along with Doreen as she spoke, "I owe you and your roomie, then. Pizza or something on me once we get through the exam." He couldn't help but laugh at her wide eyes and shocked expression, "It's actually not that uncommon. Like a third of the schools in the Bronx have them now...not exactly a shining endorsement is it? But I guess all schools are a little screwed up." Especially for them. And even more so for her by the sound of things. He kept the thought to himself, adding lightly after a moment, "Guess that's why we're trying this one, huh?" Though he doubted the notion held true for her any more than it did for him.

Doreen perked up at the idea of pizza, and so did Monkey Joe, "That will be great, the pizza! Ever have pizza with marshmallows?" she said happily. "Yeah, I guess," Doreen said to the last with a shrug. She couldn't picture her school with metal detectors, she knew some of the other schools in LA had them, "I didn't want to come here at first. But the social worker told my mom that if I didn't they'd have to 'remove us' or something. But now that I'm here it's really not so bad. And I like the trees in back. And Monkey Joe is even starting to like it too."

"Marshmallows?" The look on the teen's face made two things clear: that he'd never had it and now that the idea had been put in his head, it sounded like a very good one. He gave her a playful thumbs up, grinning, "I'll see what I can do!"

Johnny's expression couldn't help but falter at the account that followed and he found himself silently wondering if anybody actually came here of their own volition. He did his best to recover, nodding and smiling a little, "...Glad you two are warming up to it, then."

"Yeah. It's really good," Doreen said as per the marshmallows. She had odd tastes in pizza as Julian likely remembered, but Johnny wouldn't have known she realized, "And yeah. I just didn't want to leave Mom, Dad's not staying at home right now so there's always a lot of stuff that has to be done and I worry. But Ms. M gave me a job so I have a little bit of money that I'm sending back that I hope Mom is using for something for herself."

"I guess I hadn't thought about it that way," Johnny admitted. And he hadn't. "Not much worth missing at home these days." The second confession he regretted at once and he opted quickly to change the subject, smiling a little, "That's nice of you, though. To do that for your mom."

"Yeah, Mom needs to spend more money on herself," Doreen said. She could tell when a subject wasn't one someone wanted to talk about. She wasn't that socially dense, "So I hope she is."

The boy's smile seemed to find some genuine quality, "That's moms for you."

"Yeah, Moms are like that," she said, opening her notes to a page and then showing them to Johnny, "I just hope she's not doing that and is getting something she wants. Here's the notes, I think I explain it okay. If not I guess we can try a few."

Johnny nodded, leaning to look at the opened notebook; even from this sideways angle he could tell they were much neater than his and much more thorough. He smiled sheepishly and gave her an apologetic glance, "I'll try to be a quick study."

"It's not that hard..." she said, looking at the notes and then turning them around, "at least I didn't think so when I wrote these..."