Chapter 16: Symmetry and Homework

A glowing line sprouted from the center of the design, stretched past the inner circle, and into the outer transformative balance. It touched the symbol for the void. Lady Zamora raised an eyebrow, and watched as the line pulsed and throbbed.

"The mathematical transformations begin," she observed. "Zero to one."

Monday morning.

Joey was sitting in the car clutching his backpack. He was dressed, ready to go, and was now just sitting and willing himself to open the door.

"Well?" Tricia asked.

He took a deep nervous breath. "Okay, I'm scared," he confessed.

She nodded. "Did you want to stay home today?"

He shook his head. "No. I need to do this. I can't let them think I'm scared."

Tricia sighed. "Don't try to be a hero. Just ... If they bother you, go to the teachers. Stay close to your friends. Are you going to apologize to them?"

He took another deep breath. "Yeah."

"Good for you. I love you." She kissed him on the forehead.

"Love you too." He opened the car door.

"You have your phone? Quantum Knight on speed-dial?" she asked as he got out of the car.

He felt in his pocket. "Yeah."

"First sign of trouble, ANY trouble, you use it! Okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Good luck. Give me a call later, okay?"

"I will."

Joey took another deep breath to steady his nerves, and clutching his notebook and backpack, walked up the front steps to his school.

"I'm sorry", he rehearsed in his mind. "I'm sorry that you made me have to kick your asses." No. She's right. I have to stop this fight, not grind it in their faces. But if I do this, they'll just call me a wuss. They'll think I'm backing down. No, this isn't backing down. It's being mature. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. But you forced me to." No. They didn't force me. That was my fault.

Mr. Grimes is right. The first of us to apologize will be the bravest of us. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. I shouldn't have done that." His fingers were shaking as he reached for the front door. Here goes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hurt you." He took one final deep breath, pulled the front door open, and walked into school.

And straight into thunderous applause.

"GO JOEY!" "YEAH!" "ALL RIGHT!" "WAY TO GO!" "WOOOOOO!"

It looked like just about every other student in the school was there in the front hallway waiting for him, and they cheered and applauded and screamed in his honor as his jaw dropped. Boys came up and grabbed his hand, shaking his and slapping him on the back, congratulating him. Girls he didn't even know came up and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Little kids hugged him. They peppered him with compliments and questions.

"That was awesome man!"

"Good for you!"

"They deserved it, man!"

"Were you scared?"

"Is it true you took all three of them?"

"Did it really take Quantum Knight to stop you?"

"Please," Joey said, trying to push through the crowd of admirers. "It wasn't that..."

"Man, you kicked ASS!"

"You GO Joey!"

"God! I wish I could have seen it!"

"Can I interview you for the school paper?"

Joey tried to play it down, but the questions and compliments and jovial mood were infectious, and he succumbed, breaking out into a smile. "What can I say? They pissed me off!"

This solicited a huge eruption of laughter from the kids, and some in the back started a chant. "O-MEG-A-BOY! O-MEG-A-BOY! O-MEG-A-BOY!"

"Okay! Stop that!" Joey said, even though he was grinning and enjoying it, and he managed to turn the corner to the locker hallway, followed by the crowd of admiring kids. The chant suddenly died down, and the hallway fell to a deathly silence. Joey immediately saw the reason why. Ahead of him stood Clyde, Brandon, and Neal, all still wrapped up in their bandages.

And everyone stood silent and looked at Joey.

Oh god, Joey thought. This is it. He turned and looked back at all of the kids behind him. They were standing and watching, waiting for his next move. I really didn't want to do this in front of half the school. His body went cold, and his mouth went dry, and he looked back at the three bullies. They stared at him icily, with Clyde trying to look indifferent as he rubbed his injured shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he rehearsed. "I'm sorry I hurt you." How am I supposed to do this? I have to. I promised Tricia. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Just say it and keep walking. "I'm..." He swallowed and took a step forward, and glanced back at the crowd of kids behind him. They have my back. Everyone is watching me. I can do this. I can...

And it was at this moment when he realized he was wrong. Not everyone was watching him. One face in the crowd behind him was turned to the ground. Sarah Abercrombie stared at the floor and swayed, caught in her obsessive compulsive mode, clutching her notebook, and she kept glancing at the three bullies. Her face was a mask of terror, and she was whispering something. He couldn't hear her words, but he read one word from her pink lips.

"Please ... please ... please..."

Joey made a decision at that moment. He turned back to the bullies and marched up to them. Everyone held their breath and watched with eager anticipation.

He stared them in the eyes; Neal, Brandon, and then Clyde. The first two dropped their gazes as he met theirs, but Clyde held his gaze firmly on Joey, refusing to back down. Joey took another deep breath, and spoke.

"You touch me, my friends, or anyone else in this school again," he whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear it, "and next time I won't hold back. I will rip your powers out of you permanently."

The crowd of kids behind him let out a collective chorus of "Ooooh!" and a few comments, but Joey ignored them. Clyde glared at him. "Just stay out of my way, faggot." he growled.

The first bell rang, giving the three bullies an opportunity to walk away without losing face, and the crowd of students broke up behind him, Joey stood and watched, keeping an eye on them and how they treated anyone else they got close to. A couple other students slapped him on the shoulder as they passed, giving a "Good job, Joey" or other encouragement. Joey just stood there and nodded his head, accepting the compliment, but keeping a firm eye on the three boys.

Sarah timidly hesitated next to him, and then scuttled off towards class. He watched her as she cautiously passed the boys, turning her body in the process, watching them, and defending herself, and then she ducked into a classroom.

Simon hobbled up next to him. "Good to see you back, bud."

Joey gave him a once over. Simon had a few scrapes on his face, and a bandage on one hand. "You okay?"

He nodded. "I'm good."

"What did you do? Tell the whole school?"

Simon shrugged. "I didn't really have to. When you and the stooges didn't show up on Tuesday, and I came in with bandages, well, everyone started asking. And I tried to not talk about it, but when the story broke out on the news, I kind of broke down." He shrugged again. "Had to tell our side of it. Come on."

They started walking towards Joey's locker. "Well, at least you didn't do an interview in the school paper, did you?"

"Hey look! Something shiny!"

Joey facepalmed. "You didn't, did you?"

"What can I say? Melissa can be very persuasive when she's in a tank-top."

"I've got to get you laid."

They reached his locker, and as Joey stowed his book bag and pulled out his English book, Simon leaned against the lockers. "So how are you doing, Joey?"

He sighed. "Physically I'm okay, but..." He looked at his friend. "Did you think I did the wrong thing, beating them like that?"

Simon thought about it. "I don't know. Just hearing the story, everyone else seems to like it. If I only heard it, I would have thought you did the right thing, but ... Joey, I saw you. You looked like you were ready to kill them. Honestly, I don't know what scared me more; them or you."

He closed his locker. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Students were walking by, all on their way to class. One boy slapped Joey on the arm as he passed. "Hey Joey! Heard what you did! Great job!"

"Thanks Yami." Joey waited for the boy to continue out of earshot, and turned back to Simon. "Look, I'm thinking I went too far. I need to apologize to them."

"You do that, and you know they will never respect you."

He nodded. "Yeah. I don't think they're the type to accePPHHFFFTTT!!!" Joey winced and sneezed as the long furry tail of a passing girl brushed under his nose. Kaelyn, the Australian cat-girl was passing by, and she gave him a seductive wink.

"Hiya, Mate!" she literally purred, and continued walking, her wide hips and fine ass swaying hypnotically, and her tail swishing back and forth invitingly. She gave him a longer look than normal, and strutted off confidently down the hallway.

Joey wiped his nose, and shook his head clear as he watched her walking away. "She DOES know what 'Mate' means in American, doesn't she?" he asked Simon.

Simon nodded. "Undoubtedly," he sighed. "You know, I'm beginning to think she really wants to give you some of that down-under pussy."

Joey winced. "Ouch! You are awful, you know that?" They started walking down the hallway together.

"Yes. I. Am."

They reached their classroom, and as Simon took his normal seat up front, Joey glanced about the room. Raquel simply glanced at him and turned her eyes back to her notebook. Lynne looked up from her book and caught his gaze. She gave him the slightest of smiles, and shyly turned back to her book. Sarah sat in her seat, rocking obsessively and scribbling in her ever-present notebook, and didn't even look up when he entered. Clyde sat in the back, trying to look bored as usual, and he pretended to not notice him coming in at all.

Jeff spoke up. "Joey. How're you doing?"

"I um..." He thought about it, and noticed Clyde glance in his direction. Joey allowed himself a smirk. "Not bad. Nothing I can't handle." And he took his regular seat next to Sarah.

Their teacher, Mr. Larson, a gray-haired middle-aged man came in. "Joey. Clyde. Good to see you both back." He set his books on the desk. "While you were out, the rest of us were diagramming compound sentences. So let's open our books to page sixty-two. We're going to review what we learned last week."

Joey dutifully opened his book, and overheard Clyde scoff and cop an attitude until he finally opened his own book. Sarah started frantically turning back several pages in her notebook, searching and scanning the multitudes of handwritten scribblings. "Wrong book! Wrong book! Wrong book! Wrong book!" she quietly chanted to herself as she searched. "Not supposed to go backwards!" she whispered harshly.

"Just copy this stuff again," Joey suggested to her. "I need to see it."

Sarah nodded, and flipped back to the empty section of her notebook, where she prepped the page for notes. "Monday, October 5, 2009. 8:00 AM. Mr Larson's Remedial English. Students present are Simon Riley, Raquel Rose, Sarah Abercrombie, Joseph Harper, Lynne Sullivan, Jeff Sullivan, and Clyde Gangjeon." Then she quickly jotted down the colors of clothing people wore, her fingers and pen madly dashing across the page in a beautiful script. Joey smiled as he watched her compulsively write down every unnecessary detail.

Mr. Larson started the lecture, talking about how compound sentences worked, how they differed from simple sentences and complex sentences, and how to diagram them by identifying the independent clauses. Joey listened and drew, and occasionally got confused with the details of identifying the different parts of speech. Words were not his strong suit, but lines and visual structure made more sense to him, so the sentence diagramming helped him make sense of grammar. Often during class he would look over to Sarah's copious notes to figure out what was going on, and she would let him copy from her. Complex sentences were confusing, and he found himself once again looking at her notes.

"I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English."

"I am a mutant, and my friend is a mage."

"I have a lot of work to finish, so I will be up all night."

"Thank you, Joey."

This last sentence caught his attention, and he frowned, trying to figure out the two independent clauses. But then he felt pretty stupid because he eventually realized he was not looking at an example of a compound sentence, but a personal message from Sarah. He glanced up at her. Her violet eyes peeked out from behind her dark glasses, caught his gaze, and then shyly dropped down back to the paper.

Joey was stunned. For all of the weeks they had sat next to each other, this was probably the first time he had really made a direct connection with her. They had talked before, but had never really done anything other than say "Good morning" and "Later" to each other. He studied her face. Her porcelain-white albino skin was flawless and smooth, like her features were sculpted in a ghostly ivory. There was not a hint of teen acne on her skin. Her long silky hair was platinum blond, as were her long eyelashes. Her lips and her eyes were the only parts of her that betrayed any color. Her eyes were a light-violet, very exotic and strange looking, and her lips were pink and moist.

He had never really noticed how lovely she was before.

Joey moved his pencil over to her book and wrote in next to her thank-you note. "You're welcome, Sarah."

She glanced up at him, smiled faintly, and dropped her head back down. Her cheeks flushed.

Sarah. He had never really considered her potential before, but as he looked at her, he could see a tender beauty housing a troubled mind. He considered what it would be like to draw her. Charcoal, delicate lines with light hints of red chalk would work best for her, he decided. Words echoed in his thoughts. "Do you like her? Then tell her, and take interest in her." He did like her, he realized. And he thought about her, remembered her screaming in terror as Clyde startled her, and recalled the way she shied about him in the hallway. "No wonder," he thought to himself. "I'd be terrified of him too if I were her."

She wrote another message in her book. "Were you hurt?"

He smiled and wrote back. "Yes. But don't worry. It was worth it. He won't bother you again."

He saw her smile as she read that, and she wrote back. "I hope so."

"I'll do it again if I have to. You are worth it."

Sarah took in a sharp intake of breath as she read that, squirmed a little, and jotted in the corner of the page the letters "XI-II-IX". Joey had no idea what that meant, but he enjoyed the way she reacted to his note. He decided to press his advantage and wrote again. "I need some help with my homework. Do you know anyone who wrote down the assignments last week?"

She giggled under her breath, and bit her lips, trying to control her smile. It was very cute. She cocked her head and wrote again in her flowery script.

"Yes! I did!"

"I know you did." He drew a little smiley face.

They both looked up to the front of the class, pretending to pay attention to the lecture, and glanced at each other. She was trying to mask a look of happiness, but as she peered over the top of her dark sunglasses, he could see her eyes betraying a sense of delight.

Joey decided to be bold. He wrote down next to his smiley face "Do you want to come over to my house after school?"

Sarah had gasped slightly before he even finished writing it. Her pen hung over the page and trembled slightly. He wrote some more. "We can work on homework, and maybe play some games or see a movie?"

She touched her pen to the page. "Are you asking me on a date?"

Joey smiled. "Yes."

She shuddered and giggled to herself, and bashfully glanced away from him. Joey waited, and she coyly looked at him once more, and then turned away again. Her face had turned crimson, and she dipped her head down low, hiding her face with the wide brim of her black hat.

Joey wrote again on the page. "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

She squirmed and rocked, hugging herself, and smiling as she saw the words on the page. Then she quickly underlined her "XI-II-IX" and added the numbers "2-3-5-3-2" underneath. Then she held her pen over the page, but didn't write anything.

Joey decided to get cute. He drew two boxes and labeled them "Yes" and "No". "Check the box." he instructed.

She chuckled under her breath and bounced slightly in her chair. Her face flushed with excitement. She moved the pen up between the two boxes, and just held it there, teasing him.

He waited. She didn't make a decision. She just wavered slightly between the two boxes. So he took his pencil point and touched it to the tip of her pen, and she squeaked quietly with laughter at the moment of contact. He slowly pushed her pen down towards the "Yes" box, and as soon as the point touched the paper, she enthusiastically checked the box with a giggle.

Sarah was giddy, and she rocked and squirmed in her seat, rewarding him with faint smiles and subdued giggles. She then turned to a fresh page in her notebook and wrote at the very top the phrase "Joey Harper just asked me out on a date and I said Yes!" She then flipped to the front of her notebook and consulted the calendar. Then she flipped back to the last page where she carefully tore the last line she wrote from the page. She folded the paper strip several times, and placed it in front of her notebook.

Joey looked between her and the folded paper strip several times, trying to figure out what she was doing, but then suddenly the paper strip shot across the room and landed in Lynne's hand. She unfolded it, read it, and gave them both an astonished stare. Sarah grinned in pride, and resumed her school work, beaming with happiness.

"I got a date!" he told Tricia.

"What?" her voice asked over the phone. "A date?"

"Well, it's just for homework. I have a lot to catch up on. Is it okay if we bring her home? I may have to skip the shelter this afternoon."

"Oh, absolutely! You go, stud! Who is it?"

"Oh, um, Sarah Abercrombie."

"Is that the bouncy one?"

"Well, she is kind of bouncy, but I think you're thinking of Racquel. Sarah is the albino mage?"

"Ahh. So, you're going to try white women now?"

"It's just homework."

"Well, I'm very proud of you, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. Should I pick you up some condoms?"

"Trish!"

At three fifteen that afternoon, Joey made his way into the dormitory section of the school. A lot of the students in the school stayed in the local dorms, seeing as their real homes were usually several states away. It was a side-effect of the fact that there were not that many schools in the country available for kids with special needs like his. Joey was one of the few who actually lived in the city and commuted to school.

He checked just one more time the room number he had gotten from the Miss Daschofsky, the school secretary, and climbed the stairs. Other students were running up and down the stairs, and a couple said 'Hi' to him or congratulated him again. Joey tried to shrug it off. He never really felt comfortable with a lot of attention, and he also felt a little odd about how his return to school had stolen a lot of thunder from Willow Booth. Her big news was that she had apparently gotten Snow Angel's autograph over the weekend. He reached the third floor and pushed open the door, and nearly ran straight into Lynne.

"Oh! Hi," he said, startled.

She and Jeff jumped slightly at his sudden appearance. "Oh!" she gasped, nearly hitting him with her guitar case. They stared at him curiously. "What are you doing here?" she asked almost accusingly.

Joey faltered. Lynne was just too damn gorgeous, and he really wasn't prepared for her sudden appearance. He also felt a little guilty. Here he had been nursing this crush on her, and now he was here to pick up her friend for a date, having never had the guts to ask Lynne out. "Um..." He considered lying, but remembered Lynne was the first one to know about their date. He shrugged. "Do you know where Sarah is?"

"Should be in her room," Jeff said flatly, and he gestured with his own guitar case.

Joey chewed on it for a moment. The way he said it, it was almost disappointing. "Thanks, man," he said, and he scooted past them. He started down the hallway, but stopped and turned back. He caught them both watching him a little too intently. It was slightly awkward.

"Um," he started. "What's with the guitars?"

"Busking," Lynne said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," he said. "Well, have fun."

And without a word between them or even a glance at each other, the twins then simultaneously turned and headed out the door. Lynne just simply pushed the door open and walked out, and Jeff caught it and walked through behind her.

Joey watched the door close behind them and rolled his tongue through his cheek, wondering. "What the hell is 'busking'?" he asked nobody in particular. He shrugged and turned down the hall.

When he found Sarah's room, Joey stopped to smooth his hair down and adjust his shirt. He took a deep breath before knocking on her door.

KNOCK-KNOCK...

"AAACK!" she shrieked from inside.

Joey stopped. "Sarah? Are you okay?"

"I'M OKAY!" she yelled through the door. "You startled me. That's all."

He digested that. "Can I come in?"

"Umm ... umm ... umm..." She sounded frantic, and he could hear her pacing.

"Say 'Yes'," he suggested.

"Yes!" she answered.

Joey opened the door and found Sarah standing in the middle of her room, swaying and clutching her hands. Her room was dark, immaculate, clean, organized, and decorated with a horde of crocheted doilies and wall hangings. A huge crocheted afghan covered her bed, and books lay organized across the bedspread. Several bags of yarn sat on the floor next to the bed, with two knitting needles poking out of one of the bags. She was dressed in her usual all-black outfit, but without the hat and sunglasses, and she was muttering to herself, chanting in rhythms.

"Eng-lish, His-tree, Math! (breath) So-cial Stu-dies Sci!" She counted on her fingers, and then she rearranged the books. "So-cial Stu-dies, His-tor-ee (breath) Math-and Eng-lish..." She grunted and stomped in frustration. "Five subjects, twelve syllables! ARGH! And nothing rhymes!" she complained, pulling her hair.

"Sarah?" Joey asked with some concern.

"WHAT!" she shrieked and turned, and seeing him for the first time, caught herself. "Oh. Hi," she said apologetically, and a wave of embarrassment washed over her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah ... yeah ... yeah," she said, nervously turning and shaking her hands in the air. "I just want things to fit together, that's all."

Joey watched her as she considered the books again. "Well, it's just homework. It doesn't have to rhyme."

"That's easy for you to say," she said, and she put the books into a pile again. Then she ran to her dresser and dug through her purse. "Keys. Phone. Tissues. Aloe vera. Moisturizer. Sunscreen. Sunglasses. Coin purse. Wallet. Farecard..." She gave Joey a concerned look. "How much is the Metro to your place?"

Joey shook his head. "No Metro. Tricia is downstairs. We have a ride."

Sarah digested this for a full ten seconds, apparently getting lost in her thoughts and giving Joey enough time to wonder if she had blown a fuse. "Oh," she finally said, and she pulled the farecard out and put it in a drawer. Joey frowned, wondering why she put the farecard away. They were the size of a credit card and made of paper, so they really didn't weigh down anything or take up any space. But apparently to replace the farecard, Sarah rummaged through another drawer and pulled out a sanitary napkin. As she went to put it in her purse, she caught Joey watching, and spun and hid it behind her.