Sue and Adrienne - Wednesday Afternoon

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Adrienne snags Sue after class to ask about her interest in chess club and talks to her about dating Matt.



"Ladies and gentlemen, saved by the clock," Adrienne announced as the buzzer rang to signal the end of class- and the end of the day- before she'd finished entering her next math question into the computer to project onto the screen for the class to answer. She shut off the video screens for the distance learning kids and then began shutting her computer down. "Oh! Miss Storm, could I speak to you for a moment, please?" she asked as Sue took off for the exit with Tandy and Renee.

Sue looked back at Adrienne guiltily, she didn't think she'd done anything wrong, or at least nothing that would get her held back after class. She might have been zoning out a little bit now and then while Adrienne was explaining some of the concepts, but that was only cause she had already understood what the teacher had been talking about. "Yes Adri...Miss Frost?" she asked hesitantly.

"I understand you used to play chess, Miss Storm?" Adrienne inquired, gathering up her papers.

Miss Storm? So this was formal then, well atleast she didn't seem to be in trouble at the moment. "Yeah," Sue confirmed, "I was on my old school's chess team, placed third in New York," she said proudly.

Having read Sue's transcripts, Adrienne already knew this, but she really liked that Sue had such pride in her accomplishment. "That's really great. Do you miss it? Competing, I mean?"

"Yeah, a little," Sue replied pensively, "It was fun, trying to out think people. You know make them admit that you're better, it's pure skill. The first time I showed up at a competition they thought I was an bimbo, a cheerleader." Sue confided a trace of old outrage creeping into her voice. "They didn't think that for long though."

"Good for you," Adrienne nodded. "Being a pretty girl who can think circles around your peers is really a valuable skill," she smirked. "So... I was thinking of starting up a club. Here. A chess club, I mean. At the mansion. If I can get enough students interested. Are you? Interested?"

Sue stared at Adrienne, "Seriously? You're not joking? That would be awesome Adrienne!" the girl almost shouted excitedly, forgetting that she was talking to a teacher. Not that she really cared, she just wanted to play again, "We're in the New York limit right? Can I take part in the state championship again this year?." She grinned at Adrienne, "You think I'm pretty?" she asked. Sue had always been confidant in her looks, but Adrienne was a model, so coming from her that meant alot.

Adrienne blinked a few times in confusion. She'd been thinking about herself when she'd said that. "Uhh... I think everyone here is pretty," she answered innocently. Sue had enough pride already- Adrienne didn't want to go inflating her ego. She gave the girl a wink to go along with the comment, though, as if to imply that she had to keep up the appearance of being diplomatic. "We're in the New York limit, yes," she added. "And yeah, assuming we can get the club registered with the USCF and the State Association, I don't see why you couldn't compete in the state championship. Assuming your points total means you're eligible, or course," she added, a note of playful challenge in her voice.

Sue grinned, "Oh, is that all? I thought you were gonna going to say something that was actually difficult," she teased. "Do you think we can actually do it? Set up a club at teh school here and get it registered?" she asked more seriously.

"I don't see why not," Adrienne shrugged. "As long as we can get more students than just you interested," she smirked. "Although," she mused aloud, "I suppose you could just play against the teachers for practice. But still, it would be more fun for you if you were playing your peers, I'd think."

"It would be fun to play with the others, chess never was really that popular at school. But..." Sue mused as she looked at Adrienne seriously, "I really wanna win it this year," she said quietly, "do you think we can?" Losing had been no fun and the blonde still felt as if she something to prove.

Not wanting to make any false promises or get Sue's hopes up, Adrienne shrugged again. "I really don't know. I haven't seen any of the students here play. And I never competed myself, so I have no idea what to expect from the competitions. I guess I should follow that up with some Responsible Teacher line about how being involved and having fun is more important than winning," she mused as an afterthought, "shouldn't I? Damn, that's difficult to say. But back to the topic of others, I was hoping you might be able to give me some info there," she admitted. "Matt says he knows how to play, and I know Mister Summers has been teaching Layla. But I don't know if either of them would actually come out for a team. And I don't know if anyone else knows how to play. I was going to put up an invitation soon, but I'd rather know that there's really some interest before I do so. I'm hoping Matt will come out because of you. What with him being smitten and all." She grinned at Sue, realizing that as a teacher it might not be the best idea to act like a teenager by telling a teenager that a boy at school liked her. But she wanted to warn Sue about just exactly what she was getting into with Matt, and that couldn't happen unless they actually started talking about him.

"Well the Responsible Teacher line may have carried more weight if I didn't know you were a motorcycle riding ex-con instigator," Sue replied with a grin. "As it stands I'm afraid your responsibility credit is pretty much burnt out." she teased. "Besides, winning is way more fun than just taking part." The girl paused thoughtfully, "I didn't know Layla played," and she's my roommate Sue thought, how did I miss that. "Matt did mention that he played," Sue continued as a slight blush colored her features. "You know about that?" she asked in disbelief.

"It may just so happen that he told me," Adrienne answered coyly. "If you tell him I told you he told me, though, I'll boot you off my not-yet-created chess team," she warned, heading towards the door of the classroom and ushering Sue out so she could close the room up. "I told him I didn't think it was a good idea for him to have a girlfriend right now," she told Sue plainly. How was that for responsibility credit?

Girlfriend? She hadn't thought it out that far, it had just been one date which she had enjoyed. "Why'd you do that?" Sue asked as she stepped out of the door and turned to look at the teacher, disbelief shading her voice. This was Adrienne, she wouldn't get involved unless she had a good reason would she? "Why did you tell him that? Why tell me that?"

"Because I don't think it's a good idea for him to have a girlfriend right now," Adrienne repeated. "And I don't think it's fair for me to just be giving him the third degree when this thing involves you, too. Like he told me, you have a say in this. He gets that. But I don't think he's in a good place to talk about this with you in an objective way, since he's made it pretty clear he's going to try and make things work with you despite everything he's going through." Okay maybe she should start from the beginning, she realized as she started walking towards the kitchen. "You know he's an addict, right?"

Stepping away from Adrienne Sue followed her to the kitchen unconsciously keeping a steady distance between the two of them. "He told me about that," she confirmed. "But he's recovering, and doesn't he deserve a chance from me instead of just writing him off because he's an addict."

"Of course he deserves a chance," Adrienne answered, surprised by the emotion in her voice. Touched by Sue's compassion, Adrienne found herself turning back to Sue and, before she could talk herself out of it, hooking an arm around her shoulders and hugging her. "Of course you shouldn't write him off. That's a very good answer. I just..." She pulled away awkwardly, still struggling with this whole topic. It was really damn confusing! Vanessa said having people to help you made you stronger, but she knew from personal experience that, as she'd told Matt, being dependent on other people to stay sober could actually make it more difficult. So how was Matt supposed to balance the two? "I just..." she tried again, "think maybe he needs a... friend... rather than a girlfriend?" Yeah, maybe that was it. "Does that make sense?" Were she and Sue even on the same page about how the two were different? "I mean, that's how I dealt with things when I was tempted to use again last year."

Sue hadn't really understand why Adrienne was saying any of this and if she was honest with herself was feeling just a little hurt. She had been shaken by her favorite teacher turning on her, that was until Adrienne's admission. Suddenly it made more sense, Adrienne was worried because of her own experiences.

The cold expression fled from the girl's face, replaced with a mixture of shock and understanding. "I...I don't know. You and Matt aren't the same," she said hesitantly. "If he needs support then everyone is here for him, and you; but doesn't everyone need a life beyond that? A chance for normality?"

"Of course," Adrienne repeated, leaning on a kitchen counter to formulate her thoughts once again. "And this isn't about trying to restrict his life so he can't be normal. I just worry that he's going to use you as a crutch, tie his feelings for and his experiences with you into his feelings and experiences of being clean. And then if something happens between the two of you and you're not in each others' lives anymore, he's going to go back to using, no matter how extensive his support system is. Look," she added, arms up defensively, "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I'm just concerned. For you as much as him." And how the hell had that happened? "Because, like it or not, this puts a hell of a lot of pressure on you. I mean, as much as I hate to suggest it- and I hope I'm wrong- dating an addict is not necessarily going to be normal for you, and I don't want you to end up blowing a possible chance for normalcy yourself if you get too tangled up in all this." But that was pretty much all she had in the tank on the subject, so she shrugged and added "If you don't want to listen to me, that's fine. But it had to be said, y'know? Responsible Teacher and all that."

Sue fell silent as she stared down at her feet, mulling over Adrienne's advice. She wasn't going to dismiss it out of hand, especially since the older woman was talking with the voice of experience. "I...I'll think about it," she promised in a small voice as she looked up at Adrienne. "I don't want to let it be everything, but I'd hate it if I ended up hurting more than I was helping. All I can do is take it slowly and see how it goes I guess. Besides," she said in a stronger voice, a familiar twinkle appearing in her eye, "what around here is exactly normal anyway?"

"Ain't that the truth," Adrienne answered with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, good talk. You want a sandwich or something?"

"Sure." Sue nodded, "A snack would be great, but then I've got to go and get started on the massive pile of homework my evil and sadistic maths teacher set me tonight," Sue replied grinning at Adrienne.