Kyle and Adrienne (Backdated- Random Logging Pair)

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Kyle and Adrienne chat about teaching.



There was some sort of hockey game on the screens at Harry's, but hockey wasn't a game Adrienne had ever really gotten excited about. She was currently staring at the game because it kept her mind off the fact that this was the first time she'd been to Harry's since joining her Narcotics Anonymous support group and making the decision not to drink publically until she felt more comfortable. And she did feel better about things, which was why she was here, because she felt confident she could handle it. But she was still easing into it, and pretending to watch hockey was helping her get a better handle on herself.

"You know, the Caps aren't having like, a -bad- season but I'm still not gonna root for them." Kyle said, by way of hello, pointing at the screen with the top of his beer. "What I don't get is like, why you're staring at that game like you care if they get out of the middle of the pack with the NE. They're not even in the same division as Boston."

"Huh? Caps? What?" Adrienne blinked rapidly, focusing on Kyle's face. "Uhh, sorry? Kyle," she said, sounding surprised, as if she'd just realized he was there. "Hi. How's it going?"

"Caps? Washington Capitals?" Kyle pointed at the screen. "The guys in skates on the television with the ice and the sticks?" He looked
more confused now than he had earlier. "You're watching hockey but
don't know who the Caps are? Man, and I thought I was in over -my-
head this semester."

"I wasn't really watching it," Adrienne admitted, "I was completely spaced out, hanging out in the Frost Wonder Themepark inside my head. You wanna sit?" she asked cordially, gesturing towards the barstool next to hers and taking a sip of her wine. "Tell me why you think you're in over your head this semester; I won't even charge you to talk to me like a therapist would!"

"Does the Frost Wonder Themepark have funnel cake? Because funnel cake
is the bomb." Kyle said, grinning. He dropped onto the stool, and set
his beer on the bar. "Eh, it's not like I'm really mad stressed, it's
just that damn, there are like really kids in a classroom and I'm
teaching them stuff and I swear I remember being fourteen like it was
five minutes ago."

"Sometimes a good memory is a real curse," Adrienne smirked, sipping at her beer. "I suggest drinking copious amounts of alcohol so you stop remembering being fourteen. It will definitely make it easier to teach kids stuff." Okay, that was most possibly the worst advice ever. Adrienne hoped Kyle knew she was joking.

"Pretty sure I'd be bankrupt before I started having brain problems."
Kyle said, laughing. "So, did you just like totally stare at the kids
the first time you taught and go "man, I don't -remember- being that
much of a kid at that age." because seriously, they're all like
little kids and I swear when I was that age I thought I was like half
an inch from being so totally grown up."

Adrienne shrugged and shook her head at Kyle simultaneously. "Not really, honestly. But then I didn't have much in the way of a typical high school experience myself." Nor had she ever really thought of herself as a 'kid'. "I was off modelling most of the time, so I did a lot of correspondence credits and not a lot of classroom time. But yeah, I did think I was 'so totally grown up' at that age, so not much difference there. It's not a bad thing that you remember how you thought of the world at that age, though," she added, sipping at her beer. "It means you can relate to your students more easily."

"It's probably not helping that I was like six foot two at fourteen,
and half these kids aren't even like, five and a half feet yet." Some
of them were, but most of them were still short like kids tended to
be. Kyle shook his bottle of beer to see if there was any left, and
then ordered another when the bartender came by. "I'm not sure if I
wanna relate to them. Then I gotta remember that I was pretty
asshat-tastic at that age, and can't be all "Okay, guys, stop saying
Shakespeare was gay." because I'm pretty sure that I said the Civil
War was gay and Sam damn near tried to wash my mouth out with soap."

"But knowing you were... asshat-tastic," Adrienne quoted, awkwardly, "is the whole point. You remember you were, and now recognize that it was wrong to be so, so you can see both sides of the coin, student and teacher." She took another sip of her own drink and thought for a few moments. Having always been a complete control freak about her work, it took a bit of internal wrestling before she made up her mind, but eventually Adrienne made Kyle an offer. "You could always sit in and do a lesson or two in my math classes or my history class if you wanted to, just to be around kids you already know? I dunno if that would make it harder to see yourself as an authority figure, or easier since you already know how to handle the more... vocal ones like Layla, but you can if you want to."

Kyle considered that while he finished about half his beer, and then
shrugged. "Might help, yeah. I'm stronger in history though, you ask
me to teach the kids like, that python hag theorum and I'll stare at
you because all I remember is that it's triangles. Mostly I just kinda
feel like, you know, four years of college and I still have no idea
what the hell I'm doing in a classroom."

"We can fix that, have no fear," Adrienne reassured him with a nod. "Although for the record, you should probably be adopting the 'fake it 'til you make it' mentality, and not, y'know, calling the pythagorean theorm the... python hag theorum which I think you know is just blatantly not right," she smirked.

"Dammit, Miss Frost, you caught me." Kyle said, grinning. "You're
quicker on the uptake than my morning teacher. I had him going for
like two hours about how "I didn't know anything about no Jean
Eye-Rye" right up until I slipped about Lord Byron being basically the
Kanye West of his day. Dude should've known better, I did come with a
whole letter of recommendation about how I actually know my shit."
The slight nervousness had slipped back into Kyle's normal easy
confidence. "So, fake it until I make it? That easy, huh?"

Adrienne sipped at her wine and gave Kyle her most reassuring smile. "It's that easy, yeah. Really, it's all just about confidence. That's all 'making it' entails. Convincing yourself you belong up there at the front of the room... y'know, for reasons other than being up there in the corner with the dunce cap on your head, of course. That's why I think it would be easier for you to find that confidence in yourself doing some lessons at the mansion. Much more relaxed atmosphere, because you know everyone, and you can threaten them with stable duty if they don't respect your authoritar," she explained, ending her speech in her Cartman-from-South-Park voice. She then added in a quiet voice: "I know you're going to make a great teacher, Shoeless. You just have to believe that yourself."

"Can't hurt. I mean, I can't not do my student teaching at the DX,
because it's part of my diploma requirements, but hey, I am happy to
grab onto any classroom experience I can and run away with it stuffed
in my pockets like I'm stealing candy from the 7-11 or something."
Kyle paused, drank some beer and then laughed. "Man, if nothing else,
it'll cut back on my ridiculous metaphors. maybe."