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There were just some days where a person craved something different in their life. Today was one of those days for Yvette. She was not going to be the caged bird, stuck on her own floor while working on homework in the common study area. No! Today was going to be a day where she marched to the first floor and set up camp at a table near the computers. Camp consisted of 3 books, ranging from math to science, each set up standing upright around her, like a little fortress.

Though the indigo haired girl did not look like the bookish type, she had set herself up to seem like one with her little work area. Her mind had told her that this way, she could get more work done, for when she was bored of working on math, she could move to working on chemistry, then move onto anatomy. None of these subjects were really interesting, so it would be a lot of flip-flopping of work.

Casually, she glanced around the room, her eyes wide and doe-like, seeming to judge how many people were around.

This was the sort of thing that Yvette was looking for! Something different! And having the dark blue haired boy zip up and start rambling over his own problems was definitely a welcome change. Her lips rose at the corners, creating a small smile on her rosy lips. When her lips parted, a tiny voice came out.

"Oh, hi there Topher!" She and the boy had the same level of math. Not the same class at the same time, but the same academic level. She turned towards her books and promptly pushed the two science books down so that the math one was still up.

"You know I always have time you help you, silly!" She couldn't help but wonder if her explanations would be just as confusing as they usually were. Poor Yvette rarely took the textbook procedure to solving the problems from their algebra class, so most times she tended to confuse people with her explanations.

Thinking over her own problems with tutoring, her cheeks flushed as she began to flip pages through her math book, still leaving it standing upright as she did such.

In comparison to her friend's "Mile a minute" manner of speaking, she seemed to be left in the dust. All she had initially been able to get in was an "Uh...," an "Ummm...," a "...well...," and a "...but...." Her voice seemed to sink back into the sounds, not really standing out.

Even though it was easier for her to read her book while it was standing up, now she was having second thoughts as Topher suggested it was wrong. Hesitantly, she put her book back down at a normal level, flat against the table.

"Well... let me see what you got done at least..." she uttered as she attempted to tug his workpaper on over to herself. If he kept acting like this, it would be difficult to try tutoring him.

Yvette first looked at the paper the way it was supposed to, right-side up, hole punches facing the left edge of the paper, and a big gap in the striping towards the top edge of the paper. However, when she couldn't read it that way, she began to slowly turn the paper, looking at the partial writing from new angles. Unfortunately, this trick did not seem to be cutting it today.

Finding that Topher had done nothing but scribble on his papers, she opened up her book to the lesson from the previous day. In her quiet voice, she pointed out "That is because the teachers don't explain math right. There's an easier way to figure this out, but the teachers try to teach the long method first."

She used her own pencil to point at the lesson (as the textbook described it), using it to trace the words as she read along. However, her pencil stopped when the mention of an extra pencil came up.

Her voice was her usual quiet tone, but many times people mistook her tiny voice for uncertainty. "No, I don't have any extra pencils." Her lips frowned slightly, figuring the next thing her friend was going to ask was if he could borrow her current pencil.

With her pencil on her paper, she began to work on one of the problems. With her left hand, she pointed to the particular problem, just in case Topher missed out which one she was specifically working on. Most certainly, as Yvette worked on the problem, she seemed to cut out at least 7 steps in the problem. Her dark hair occasionally fell down in front of her eyes, in which she would have to pause and push it back up to its proper place.

"Well, a few years ago, I did ask a teacher about why they taught everything so wrong," she admitted quietly. "I just got a round about answer that translated to 'we do it that way because we get paid to.'" She shook her head quietly, recalling this failure of a mature answer.

For a moment, she seemed to zone out, but then when asked about how she knew all this stuff, she just shrugged her shoulder in a slightly shy manner. "I don't know. I pay attention in class and listen to how the teachers teach, but I usually figure out other ways of looking at it." Her cheeks flushed slightly before she once again attempted to redirect Topher's attention to her work.

"D-did that make sense? Or should I do another one?"

Yvette pointed a finger at her friend and uttered out "Teachers are a mixed bag these days. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." She smiled for a moment before Topher crossed that line.

Crossed the line of things that were okay to say and what was not okay to say. The dark haired girl had known the blue haired boy for long enough to know that he very frequently made such observations that were a bit creepy. This was one of those moments. Her face paled a bit, but also strangely seemed to blush a bit.

"I... I-i don't really notice it t-too much."

Of course, now she got a bit self conscious, and began to try and think of times where her hair bothered her enough to want to tie it back. There were plenty of times, but perhaps she had mentally blocked it out due to how much it bothered her. Damn, it really sucked second guessing yourself so much. Her smile from before turned into a tiny frown.

Well, this wasn't helping her any. She felt as if she was fizzling down into nothingness because of Topher. She liked him well enough, but sometimes he just seemed to familiar.

"...d-d-don't worry about it... i-i-it was no b-big deal, T-t-topher." Her face was now a bright red color, and her eyes almost seemed to beg for a change of subject. Luck seemed to be on her side, for the subject was indeed changed. However, the subject seemed to not be as welcome a change as she had been hoping for.

"Ummm... uh... I'll l-let you try just one problem, okay?" Her fingers clenched tightly onto the small piece of wood. Even now, after such a simple request, she was wondering if it was okay. It wasn't like he was asking to take it to class with him. He would give it back to her right after one problem, right? Her hand extended towards him, offering the pencil with a mildly trembling hand. Why was it so hard for her, she really felt silly getting so worked up over such a small thing like a pencil.

She didn't want to seem clingy to her pencil. She really didn't. Yet, as the boy wrote, her eye was unnaturally drawn to her writing utensil. She knew he wasn't the sort to take things without permission, but that little nagging voice in the back of her head was telling her that it might accidentally get snatched away. Her attention only wavered when a paper got shoved in her direction.

She blinked, as if regaining her composure before glancing down at the paper. Then squinting at the paper. What the heck did he actually write?! Her fingers swiftly picked up her pencil again (it felt so good to get back your property) and began to trace under the boy's chicken-scratch attempt at solving the problem.

"...uh... I g-guess..." she offered, sounding somewhat uncertain, though whether it was the volume of her voice, or the real confusion she felt towards his work, she wasn't about to tell.