let's make the most of it [kristi]

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/i] working was money he was losing. He was assigned his shifts, and had requested extra recently, but a well staffed coffee shop rarely had room for people begging for extra shifts. His boss let him do overtime on the odd occasion, which Indra welcomed with open arms, but he was beginning to realise if he wanted to keep living, he was going to have to take up an extra job. He had a pad of paper in front of him, chewing absentmindedly on the end of an ink pen as she jotted down his expenses for the month. Not surprisingly, the majority of money that was outgoing was being spent on going out partying. Indra supposed he could cut back on that, and hovered his pen over the column he'd made for 'getting trashed', and made a face. He couldn't do it. He couldn't cut out the few luxuries he had in his life.

He was sitting at the table of his shared apartment, his annoying house mates either at college or at work, away from him. Indra liked them enough, but they grated on his nerves occasionally, as, he supposed, he probably did to them. He was in a pair of boxers and his dressing gown - probably the least attractive outfit he'd donned in a long time. It was one of those rare days off though, and Indra had woken up wondering whether he should even bother changing into acceptable clothes. No one was likely to be around for several hours, and even then he'd be getting undressed for bed later. It was a waste of clean clothes. No, Indra had resolved to wearing his underwear around the house. He'd gotten a strange look when he went downstairs for the mail, but he mentally noted that his numerous elderly neighbours were just lucky he'd chosen to wear underwear instead of going in nothing but his birthday suit. That would set the pacemakers off, he thought.

He dropped the pen and slammed his head hard on the kitchen table.
"Fuck money," he growled angrily. It was a pain. It was more trouble than it was worth. He was practically spending more than he was even earning. It didn't even make sense. His rent wasn't incredibly high - he didn't exactly live in the greatest part of the town - and his only real expense was his car and the partying. He was a careful driver, so his car never needed much repair, and he was a fairly alright mechanic too, so took to fixing things himself when they needed it. What else could he do beside cut his expenses on partying or seek himself another job? Indra wished he'd thought to go to college. If he'd known the pain living like this would give him, he would have considered his future better. Too late to cry over things like that, he thought, and looked up from the kitchen table when he heard a knock at his apartment door.[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

She flinched and took a sharp breath as about four people ran right into her left shoulder. They didn't even bother to look back and say sorry, which she didn't mind at all, she rarely apologized herself. She knew she had an algebra test, she knew she was going to fail. "Screw tests." She muttered and began to walk to her locker. The familiar ring of the bell indicated her first class was going to start. Thank god it wasn't Algebra; she would panic if it was. She was just going with the flow at the moment, avoiding the fact that she had to figure out what to do before the test. She began to walk to her History class, which was her favorite, only because she didn't have to think; the answers were right in front of her.

She stepped into the classroom, 5 minutes late for class. Everyone expected it, so Kristi just shrugged and sat down. She dropped her back on the floor and pulled her books out, sliding them one by one onto her desk. She noticed all was silent, everyone was watching her with a look on their faces. She scowled at all of them and leaned her head on her hand, zoning out as the teacher continued her lesson. She didn't care whatever she was saying. It didn't matter to her anymore, as long as she was in attendance and sitting at a desk, she thought that was good enough to be "in school." What else would the education officials need? Technically, she was doing really good in school. They never said students needed to do anything.

About three periods of classes and fifty-three seconds later, she found herself at her locker putting her books away. Algebra was next. She sighed and pondered on to stay or ditch. If she stayed, she would fail and get another F on her report card. If she ditched she could go home, study, and then get chewed out and take the test over again tomorrow. She couldn't make her decision until the bed rang; that's when she made her way to the nurse's office and faked a stomach ache. After getting an okay from the nurse for her to go home, she smirked and made her way out the door, and darted down the hall. The alarm wouldn't go off if she left now. It was relieving not to hear the loud ringing every time she would ditch. She got caught quite a few times all because of that alarm.

Now that she was out of school she didn't have to take that dreaded Algebra test. She grinned, until another problem popped up in her head: where would she go? She could go home and study, go to the park and watch the skateboarders... There were so many choices. And then one option came to her that towered over all the rest - go to Indra's apartment. He knew that she wasn't a true rebel at heart, that she struggled in school. He would help her with an excuse to get out of school when she needed it. She smiled involuntarily and ran to the apartment building Indra lived in.

She entered the building and took the stairs, taking the elevator was too slow. She made her way to his floor and slowed to a calm walk, knocking on his apartment door when she got there. "Indie, open up!"

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/i] glad to see humanity,"[/b] he told her, leaning on the doorframe. "I mean, aside from the wrinklys who live in the apartment building," Indra muttered in his thick Irish brogue. He liked old people, they were always full of good stories and occasionally a bit of good advice, but for the most part they seemed to look down on the younger generation who lived in the apartment building as if Indra and his house mates were the very embodiment of the plague or some kind of disease that didn't deserve to be allowed to fester. True enough Indra and his friends weren't the greatest of neighbors, but they weren't that bad. "Come in," Indra added, stepping back from the doorway and heading back toward the kitchen.[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

Kristi bounced impatiently as she waited a few moments for Indie to open the door. A huge grin covered her face as the door swung open. She giggled happily at he called the elderly people in the building "wrinklies." It was a funny word for her. Her strange sense of humor was only slightly different from his, so she found it quite funny when he used made-up words. She gladly walked in, and swirled around, letting her backpack drop to her inner elbow.

For the first time she noticed what he was wearing; a dressing gown. "What the hell are you wearing?" She said, a blank look on her face. She wasn't bothered by his choice of fashion, but seeing a guy in a dressing gown wasn't too common in her book. She wouldn't even wear it, only if she was forced to. Sometimes she wore some pretty crazy things, like a polar bear hoodie, zombie pajamas, and dinosaur sneakers but a dressing gown wasn't on the top of her list.

She set her bag down on the floor. She glanced around, the familiar room a comforting sight to see instead of the demeaning concrete walls of a classroom. She bit her lip to hide a smile, knowing that she was missing a test was relieving and fun. She wandered into the other rooms before he could answer to see if anything had changed. She hadn't been in his apartment in a few weeks lately. She knew his house mates pretty well, she had been over a few times when they were home. They were annoying, yet somehow amusing.

She loved Indie's apartment, even if it was somewhat small. Sometimes she thought it was better than her own house, only because her older brother and younger sister were the biggest annoyances ever. She came back to where Indra was and smiled, pulling her hair over her shoulder. She had done her inspection of the place and had settled down for the moment, although she would spring up and walk around again when she felt like it. She was more of a random person, saying things in the middle of conversations that weren't relevant to what she was even talking about. It wasn't something that people really notice about her, only because no one really talked to her in the first place.

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/i] wearing?"[/b] Indra asked, and then looked down to inspect the dressing gown. "It's fucking ugly, isn't it? Christ knows where it came from," he added and looked up to see Kristi inspecting his apartment, almost as if she was looking to see if anything had changed since her last visit. It hadn't, really, because she'd been around quite recently, and also because Indra and his house mates just didn't have the money or time to do anything different to the apartment. It remained relatively consistent and things rarely changed. It was a simple little place, but big enough for all them and comfy enough to earn the title 'home'. Indra loved it, and he enjoyed living there, even if his house mates did annoy him. They never protested to the people who came around though, which he was grateful for. They'd bring their friends too, but as long as everyone knew to clean up after themselves and keep it tidy, the place was relatively free of arguments.

Indra considered changing into actual clothes now Kristi had arrived, but he still found he couldn't really be bothered. It was a waste of clean clothes which he'd have to wash later, and that was never fun. He watched Kristi as she finished her inspection and seemed to calm down a little bit. Indra smiled at her and looked around.
"Y'want anything to drink?" he asked. He figured she was supposed to be at school, but he wasn't about to give her a hard time about it. Everyone else would do that pretty well, and Indra intended to be one of the few people who wouldn't judge Kristi because of it. She came to his apartment because she felt accepted and because she felt safe, not to be given a lecture about the importance of education. If she was looking for someone to give her a hard time about it, she was looking in the wrong place. Indra wasn't exactly a role model for educational success, after all. He knew Kristi struggled with it all, but he was positive she would find something that she could apply herself to eventually, she just hadn't discovered it yet.
[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

Kristi gave Indra a weird look. "What aren't you wearing... A shirt, pants..." she said, trailing off and laughing. "It's ugly alright. I wouldn't even wear it!" She said, shrugging. She looked around. Surprisingly, everything was neat - something she didn't expect of 3 or 4 people in one apartment. her house was pretty big and most of the rooms were trashed, except for the ones that everyone shared - her parents didn't allow messes in those rooms. No one follow those rules anyway, not her siblings, at least. Her sister drew on the walls with crayon that she had to clean up. Her brother was a complete slob and left garbage everyone. Kristi was the neat one, she would pick trash up on the street and throw it out if she had to.

As he asked if she wanted anything to drink, she shrugged and nodded. "Water, please." she said, sliding into a chair. She kept thinking about her algebra test. Now that she was out of school, she didn't have to worry about it as much, but the guilt just kept coming back. She reached down to her half-open bag and pulled out her algebra textbook. She opened the thick book and flipped to the chapter her class was currently on. She looked up at Indie, smiling slightly. "Help me study?" she asked, her eyes saying please and thank you for her.

She wasn't the one to crack open a textbook and study every night. She had to be helped and encouraged to study. Indra didn't usually help her learn, he wasn't very good with school himself, but she didn't have anyone else to help her. Her brother would say no, her mom would say "ask your brother," her sister didn't know the difference from an addition and multiplication sign - Indie was really the only person who understood how she learned. He didn't push her into trying harder in school. He was always on a positive note, although she knew that he should be telling her to go back to school. That was the whole reason why she came to Indra - to get away from it.

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/b] Indra said, throwing his arms up and pretending to be offended. "I'm just trying to fit in with the old wrinkles in the building. They might even take me bingo if I'm good," he joked. Despite the teasing and how ridiculous he looked, he refused to give in and get changed. The dressing gown came down to his knees, so it fairly adequate cover all things considered.

He gave Kristi a wink as she asked for water and walked to the cupboard to pick out a glass to fill up. He busied himself with being a good host and poured her some water before leaning over to fill the kettle so he could make himself a coffee. He'd thought that working at Starbucks would put him off drinking coffee, but it had actually done the opposite. Indra loved coffee with every fibre of his being, and working at Starbucks just catered to his love even more. He could barely get through the day without several cups of coffee. He was just about to make his second of the day. Having poured Kristi's water he turned around, surprised to find that she had her textbook out on his kitchen table. Indra narrowed his eyes, surprised by this strange turn of events. Kristi had come to him to get away from school, right? So why was she here in his kitchen wanting to study? He placed her water down in front of her and turned back to the boiling kettle and his coffee cup, scooping some coffee into the mug.

Indra supposed it was a feeling of guilt, she knew she ought to try harder. Indra knew that she ought to try harder. Both of them were well aware that Kristi struggled, and perhaps now she wanted to crack down and learn something? Indra moved to the fridge, where one of his house mates had spelled out in a magnetic alphabet that they needed more milk. He opened the door and picked the almost empty milk carton up. There was enough left for his coffee at least, and he'd already had one today. He poured the milk into his cup and dumped the empty carton in the bin, turning to Kristi as she spoke to him.

"Er... sure," Indra replied. Kristi didn't come to his apartment to study, she came to get away from it all. He was surprised by the turn of events, but by no means was he going to insist she did something else. If Kristi wanted Indra to help her study, then he'd do it. He didn't want her to turn out like him.
"How about this - for every page of studying we do, I'll go put some clothes on?" Indra smirked, sitting down beside her with his coffee. "Consider it... reverse study stripping."
[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

Kristi watched Indra as he made his way around the kitchen. Her face was still down toward the textbook, but her eyes were following him, traces of hair dangling in front of her face. She giggled at the magnetic, colorful letters spelling out what they needed from the grocery store and quickly pursed her lips to stop from laughing. She looked back down at the math equations, sighing as the letters and parentheses made no sense whatsoever to her. She tried to figure just one problem out, the shortest, easiest looking one, but all she could get out of it was confusion.

As he set down the cup of water on the table, she smiled and picked it up gently. "Thanks." She said, before taking a sip and setting it down again. He seemed confused when Kris asked him to help study, but it was only out of guilt. She knew she should try harder, at least get a decent grade for once, that was all she wanted. She smiled thankfully as he accepted to help her. "Reversed study stripping... Different, but acceptable. Let's do it!" She said with a trace of motivation in her voice. She was actually going to study; it was exciting for her. For many others, studying was a bore and they didn't need it, but understanding an equation was a pretty big milestone in progress for Kristi.

She looked down at the book again and smirked. It was a familiar sight to see, but it was a whole different thing to understand it. Sure, she could read it, and understand what it said, but she didn't really know what it was actually telling her. She would read it and it would go right through her. She had lived her whole life like that, only understanding the work a few times recently, but now she felt as if she could if she wanted to. She just avoided it since the beginning, which became a terrible habit.

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/b] he smirked, and took a drink from his coffee. "Okay... we can do this by the elimination method, the signs are different, so we add together the two equations," Indra instructed her. He took his pen and pad of paper, ripping off his expenses list so they could do working out. He held the pen out to Kris and smiled at her. "Man, this all brings back my highschool memories," Indra smirked. "During the war..." he joked, faking an elderly voice.

The equation was the shortest on the page, and was 5x+4y=6 and 3x-4y=10. Indra didn't consider himself great at maths, but he'd done something right and had managed to graduate. He certainly hadn't been top of his class, but he had a basic knowledge of equations, enough to try and help Kristi.
"Add the bottom to the top," Indra instructed, though he wasn't too sure he was pointing her in the right direction, he didn't allow himself to show her uncertainty, because she'd begin to doubt herself. "The four will cancel itself out," he informed her, his maths lessons coming flooding back to him. He wished his house mates were here, one of them was a genuine wizz at maths and would be able to figure it out in seconds, but he'd probably move too fast for Kristi to grasp it. He really hoped he wasn't steering Kris wildly off course. He took another drink from the coffee and looked at her, hoping she'd be able to follow. The last thing he wanted was for her to just give up.
[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

Kristi giggled at Indra as he said it reminded him of his high school years. "Yeah, I doubt you're seventy-something years old." She said, a grin on her face. She was currently in high school, just one year before college. She didn't know which one she wanted to go to, but if she wanted to make it into one, she would have to work until she fell over dead to improve her grades.

Kristi felt three whole thoughts whurr through head: "I'm gonna do this!" "This is harder than I thought..." and "I give up." She knew that if she finished the equation and got it right, Indra would put pants on. It would sound like a ridiculous deal to anyone else, but to her, it was a pretty good offer. She decided that she would at least try to get the equation right; at least try. Try before you say no, wasn't that an important rule? The thin was, she had tried so many times before on her own and all she saw was gibberish. Why would she only be willing to work on it when she was with someone else?

Value...Elimination...Add... She was only barely understanding it. She realized how much she really knew and didn't know. She shook her head and bit her lip, scribbling down letters and numbers as she went along. She became overwhelmed and looked up at him. "I-I don't get it..." She admitted, utterly confused. She shook her head slowly, looking down at her paper. She was not only ashamed of herself but embarrassed about showing it in front of Indra. She wasn't afraid of him or anything, she knew he wouldn't punish her, She just didn't want to put him through trouble that didn't even have to do with him.

She hid her face with her hair, not bothering to pull it back behind her ear. She scribbled out her previous work and sighed, starting over from the beginning. She took another sip of her water and clicked her pen a few times. She began again, going slower this time. She was still overwhelmed by the amount of thinking she had to apply, but she just kept nodding and faking that she understood it. She propped her feet up on the legs of her chair and tapped her fingers unknowingly on the table.

[indra]

WE'LL BE OLD IN A BIT. BUT NOT YET.
SO LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

[/b] he pointed out. "I look damn fine for seventy," he added, and gave her another wink. He took a drink from his coffee and leaned back in the chair and watched Kristi's face. She wasn't getting it, he knew it before she'd even spoken the words. He knew equations were difficult, and he didn't blame her for her confusion regarding them. It left him in a tough position though, because acting tutor wasn't exactly his best skill. Indra was impatient, he wasn't one to try and take things slow, but he'd try, if only for Kristi's sake. This was her future at stake - Indra had already royally screwed his up, he didn't want Kristi to go down on the same ship with him.

"Okay, it's okay," Indra assured her. "We'll take things slow," he smiled sadly. He knew this was tough for Kristi, but it was enough for him to know she wanted to learn. That was what everyone didn't seem to understand - what the school and her teachers didn't understand. Kristi was dying to understand and know everything that was put in front of her, but she struggled with it. They either wrote her off as lazy or couldn't be bothered with her because she was a little slower than everyone else. That's how Indra had felt at school, that everyone was above him, running a race he would never catch up with. He slacked off and generally did things that became detrimental to his future. He did some stupid stuff, and now he was paying for it, and he wasn't ready to see Kristi have to suffer the same fate. No way. Someone had to believe in her, even if she didn't and Indra was determined to be that person.

"Look, Kristi," Indra said after a moment of silence. "Whatever happens, don't ever let anyone fuckin' tell you that you're dumb, alright?" he said. "You're not dumb. You have the capacity to understand all this, it just takes time. And that's fine," he assured her, putting his feet up on a spare chair underneath the table and stretching. "I've got all the time in the world," he smiled. "Actually, I've got until bingo starts, but I guess I can skip this week, just for you," he joked with a grin.
[/size][/ul]

[vampy]

THE RUSH IS WORTH THE PRICE I PAY.

Kristi shook her head slowly, doubting she could get anything right. She was basically giving up on herself. She couldn't do anything without getting it wrong about four hundred times before. She knew Indra was determined to get her to do it right, and she didn't want to crush that determination. She felt like everything was impossible for her. She wanted to learn, she knew that, she just didn't know how to. She could try and try and try but everything came out wrong in the end.

She looked up, knowing that a pep talk was about to come. Indra wasn't the type to give educational advice, but the look in his eyes said everything for him anyway. "It's been like, four years and I can't even tell the difference from variables and exponents. I think time isn't the problem here..." She muttered, only slightly effected by his lecture. She shook her head quickly and bit her lip, looking down at the table. "I know you've got until forever, but I don't really want to put you through trouble that you don't even have to do with." Kristi said, standing up slowly. She kept her eyes on the floor and pulled her tank top down, sitting down again. She looked up at Indra and sighed, leaning on her hand. "I know I can understand this... it's just, I don't know how..." She muttered, feeling very stuck in the middle of three roads.

She looked at the textbook in front of her and looked at the characters on the page. They seemed to dance around on the paper, making it hard for her to think. She felt a twine of pain in her head and she put her hand on her forehead to suppress it. She still felt the headache coming on, and this time it was a bad one. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, but the throbbing of pain kept going her her head. "I-I have a headache.." She admitted reluctantly, not wanting to stop studying but the pain was overwhelming.