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Carlisle picked up his head, painstakingly wrote down the date in the top left corner of his page. Attempting to talk without looking like he was talking to another student- who knew if the real teacher might look over?- he watched Ophelia move over to sit with Madeleine. If the black-haired kid really did get sick, he thought, he would probably shortly follow. "What, you mean after we're done?" Of course he'd rather shirk than work, but he had to get good at this sometime. Now seemed like a good time. And what key would you hit, anyway? About to ask Casca what he was talking about- he had enough trouble in the computer classes that he didn't even bother learning the game shortcuts- he shut his mouth with an audible click as Lida escaped past him.

He couldn't help but hear the Jaws theme every time Dr. Darnell passed by. The maths teacher was a force of nature in his mind; you just knuckled down and bore out whatever she had in mind as best you could, and then if you somehow survived you ran away. But then, he felt that way about most teachers; it was just so much more of a complete feeling around this particular one.

"Hi!" Ophelia replied happily as she put the date on her paper. She agonized over the format for a bit and finally settled on slashes between the numbers. Quite honestly, it was reassuring to see people she knew here. Casca and Maddy and even Carlisle were all friendly faces.

"I didn't know you have trouble in maths," she murmured to her butterfly-winged friend. "I'm awful at it."

They could be partners in suckitude. Yes.

Kaeden had done the same as Austin, shamelessly copying off Polly's paper since he was on the other side of her. His name was scrawled at the top in a not very good hand writing, with his e's backwards. Apparently, writing wasn't his strong suit either.

Then he looked around, not at all interested in the computers. What he really wanted to do was go out side and explore. Stupid school. "But if you have to count the shinies to make sure no one's stealin them, then you're not protectin 'em well," he commented, as if it made all the sense in the world.

"I'm here because they dragged me," Austin said shamelessly. "Oye! Frag-eye-ul girl!" It was as if he had just noticed she was there. "I got your gift!"

"You don't do it like that!" Polly told him. "You gotta keep it a SECRET!"

Polly sighed and shook her head, looking as any older female in the family would when confronted with her cousin's stupidity. "He's a moron," she told the other girl seriously.

"Hey, now, I'm offended by that statement," Austin said as he pulled an old, green bottle out of his bag. It was the same as those bottles that usually washed to shore with a message inside. But this one had sand and a few pretty seashells instead.

He got up and walked over to her, handing it off with a crooked grin. "I found that one day as I was lost on the island," he told her. "There was a letter inside, but it was blank."

Polly jerked, her eyes wide. "Did you keep it?" she demanded.

"Naah."

"You moron!"

Finally, the IT pin dropped. "All right," said the teacher assistant, Lida, with obvious and overwhelmed relief. "You're all logged into the system. Maths books open beside your -- beside your keyboard, please -- "

"Polly and Austin, over the other sides of the room," added Beatrix with no small asperity. "Kaeden, in the middle, please -- next to Ophelia, thank you. Maddy, next to Polly, if you will. Everyone else choose their seats."

The program was going through fractions. Casca sat down in his chair, looked at the questions, immediately got bored and opened up MS Paint. He then started to draw dying stick figures (his obvious feelings on the maths class).

Maddy put the bottle in her bag after admiring the tiny seashells inside. So pretty! At Beatrix's order, she shyly moved over to Polly, hoping the other girl wasn't as scary as she'd seemed the other day. So far she'd been okay, but you never knew.

Polly grinned at Maddy as she dropped down next to her. "Well at least he put something in it," she said, looking at the bottle. "He's kinda like my cousin. Hi." She held out her hand to shake.

Austin reluctantly headed for the opposite side of the room, far from the people he knew. But at least now math had a purpose.

Surprisingly, when put in that light he didn't mind the class anymore. It was all about treasure.