Chapter 2

Ren decided to take a shortcut through the student union. He spotted Scarlet sitting at a table. On it was a paper, face down. She flipped it over, scanned it and turned it face down again. Cradling her forehead in her palm she drew in a deep breath and sighed.

He approached her. "Hi," he said.

"Oh. Hi, Ren."

"Sorry I didn't return your text on Saturday. My phone was on the charger and I didn't see it 'til this morning. I had a real good time, too..." He regarded her and thought she might have been crying. "Scarlet ... what's wrong?"

She looked up at him, flipped the paper over and thrust it in his direction. He regarded it and let out a low whistle. "Wow -- that is an impressive amount of red ink."

"You think?"

"Hey -- this looks like Freshman algebra."

"It is freshman algebra. It's a requirement that I need to fill."

"You didn't take this at WCC?"

"No. I managed to dodge math classes there and I thought myself a very clever girl for doing so. In retrospect maybe that was a mistake. I'm rotten at math, Ren. Math was the one course that kept my grades down in high school. Straight As ... except for math. That was a C minus." She sighed. "I'm not sure I can even pass this course, Ren. I can afford only one C. If I get a D or, worse, an F -- I am screwed. I'm here on a scholarship..."

"Full ride?" She closed her eyes and nodded. "Nothing to be ashamed of, Scarlet. I'm happy for you. I'm on a scholarship, too but mine is only ten grand a year." He snorted. "Only. I said that like ten grand is nothing. I'm happy to have it and I know the pressure not to lose it." He sat across from her and looked at the paper. "This is fairly easy stuff..."

"Easy for you. Not for me."

"Maybe you're not looking at it the right way," he replied. "I'll bet you're not an abstract thinker."

"I guess I'm not."

"Neither am I. I came up with some tricks to help me visualize these problems. Once you see them in your mind, the mystery vanishes. I'd be happy to share them with you. Scarlet -- I have to get to class. How about we have dinner together? Then we can go to my dorm and use one of the study rooms there. We can go over these problems. Okay?"

"Okay. I'm not sure anything will help, though."

"The Quad dining hall opens at five and I like to get there early. Does that work for you?"

"It works for me."

"Then I'll see you at five. Now I gotta run. Bye."

Ren sat through his class. He felt his cell vibrating in his pocket. Flipping it open he saw a note from Stuart. Dinner at five?.

He keyed in a reply. Got plans tonite.

He was slipping it back into his pocket when it buzzed again with another note from Stuart. K.

Ren sat across from Scarlet in the dining hall and regarded her face. "What is it?" she asked, "the way you're looking at me. You're thinking soft-boiled eggs, aren't you?"

"No -- I was wondering what happened to your glasses."

"I have my contacts in," she replied. "Last week I was giving my eyes a break from them. They need a rest once in a while."

Ren regarded her. "I think I you look better without glasses."

She nodded. "Right..." He continued to regard her. "Now what is it?"

"You remind me of someone but I can't place her," he said. "I'm sure it'll come to me." He glanced up and saw Stuart, Mitch and Stuart's roommate Rich picking up trays and standing on line. "I see they have the soft-serve ice cream machine working tonight. Want some?"

"Sure."

"Vanilla, chocolate or twist?"

"Twist. In a dish."

Ren returned with two plastic cups filled with chocolate and vanilla swirled ice cream. "Those look like they came from Dairy Queen," she remarked. "I can never get them to come out looking so good."

"As a matter of fact, I worked one summer at a DQ," he replied. "It does take some practice." He regarded the dishes. "This one came out especially good if I say so myself." He handed it to her.

"So, what is your math trick?" she asked.

"Diagramming," he replied. "I can't explain it but I can show you."

She scooped the last of her ice cream and pressed her hand against her stomach. "That dinner felt good. I was so upset after math class I couldn't eat lunch. I was hungry."

Ren picked up his tray and hers, emptied them into a trash barrel and escorted her outside. It was a short walk to Moore Hall. He escorted her upstairs. "That's my room -- 257. I share it with Mitch. Stimpy's room is across the hall. They have these study rooms on each floor but no one ever seems to use them." She followed him inside and he closed the door. "Now, let's see your paper."

Ren demonstrated how he drew boxes to represent the sides of the equations and partitioned them for the variables and constants. "See? Now you can visualize it." He pointed. "This is what we're solving for."

Scarlet stared at the paper and looked up at him. "This is so simple!"

"It's a question of getting it into your brain so you can process it," he replied.

"How did you come up with this?"

"In high school we had a unit on different math teaching techniques. This came from Singapore Math, if I recall. It's a way to teach elementary school arithmetic. I kinda elaborated on it and adapted it to algebra. It really helped me. I got to the point where I saw these in my head without having to draw them out. Now I'm taking probability and statistics and it's not much use ... but it did get my confidence up, and it helped train my mind to think abstractly. Try one on your own."

"Okay..." She copied an equation and began drawing boxes.

"No -- the unknown goes here."

"How do you know?"

"Think about what the equation is expressing. Take an inventory of your needs and your haves."

"Yeah ... It's making sense."

"You need practice, that's all. Do a few of these and I'll look them over." Ren leaned back and locked his hands behind his head as Scarlet worked.

"There," she said.

He looked at her paper. "I think you've got it."

She looked up at him. "I'm impressed, Ren. I think you're in the wrong major. You should be in education. I think you're a natural teacher."

"There's no money in teaching. Sorry if I burst your bubble, Scarlet."

"I know that ... but there IS the opportunity to make a difference."

Ren glanced out the window. "It's getting late, and I have an eight A.M. class. I'll walk you back to Lawler."

"Okay..." She packed her papers into her courier bag and slung it over her shoulder. Ren accompanied her to the courtyard. She took his hand and they locked fingers for the short walk to her dorm.

Ren sat across from Stuart in the dining hall. "So, you haven't said," his friend said.

"Said what?"

"How your second date went."

"We haven't had a second date."

"That's bullshit and you know it. I seen you and Scarlet in the dining hall the other day. You texted me you had plans. You didn't say she was your other plans."

"That wasn't a date. I was helping her with her math."

"You're not trying to cheat, are you?"

"No," Ren protested. "We had dinner and then we went to Moore and sat in a study room. I showed her how to do her math. Does not count as a date."

"It has to count for something, Ren. How do I know you're not trying to influence her while you're doing math ... or, so you say."

"Yes, so I say."

"Who's to say what you were doing?" Stuart asked.

"Scarlet's a nice girl," Ren said. "She needs help with math. She does kinda grow on you..." His cell warbled and he dug it out of is pocket. "Hold on." He flipped it open. "Hello?"

Ren -- it's Scarlet.

"Oh, hi."

I just checked the grade postings for my math test. I got a B minus, Ren!

"That's not so shabby."

Not shabby? Ren -- that's the highest grade I ever got in math. When I took the test I ran out of time 'cuz I was drawing diagrams like you showed me. I'll bet if I had finished it I would've gotten a straight B or maybe even a B plus.

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you."

"What is it?" Stuart asked and Ren waved him off.

We're starting a new unit and I was hoping you could go over it with me. Like I said, Ren -- you're a natural teacher.

"When do you want to do that?"

Umm ... I have a paper to work on tonight that's due first thing tomorrow. How about tomorrow night?

"Tomorrow ... Tomorrow I need to go to the Downer Gallery," he said. "There's a new exhibit opening -- on photo-realistic painting."

Oh! I love art. Do you like art, Ren?

"This is for a class I'm taking -- survey of modern painting. I needed a humanities elective and this course was open. My prof is curator for this exhibit so that's why we need to go see it." He paused for a moment. "Want to come along?"

Sure.

"We can meet for dinner and walk over to the gallery. Then, afterward, we can go somewhere and look at your math."

Okay. Dining hall at five again?

"It's a date." Ren flipped shut his phone.

Stuart stood, pointing at him, mouth open. "Ah-ha! Third date!"

"Second date ... and not really a date. It's more schoolwork."

"Third date, Ren."

Ren held the door and Scarlet stepped into the gallery. "I'm my prof's biggest pain-in-her-ass," he remarked. "I keep pushing back on her as to whether something is or isn't art."

"I have a little test for that," she replied. "Anything that's art has to pass two tests."

"What are they?"

"First -- you have to recognize it as art outside of a gallery or museum," she explained. "If you came across a statue in a parking lot, you'd say, what's that statue doing in a parking lot. If you came across a stack of bricks, you'd say, who left these bricks here."

"I think I buy that test," Ren replied.

"The second test is it has to demonstrate virtuosity beyond the average person."

Ren approached a painting -- a large, white canvas with a small, blue dot in the center. "Take this," he said. "I had a long argument with my prof on this one. Its title is Misty Three."

"It passes my first test," Scarlet said. "You know it's a painting, even if you saw it in a parking lot."

"Agreed."

"But it fails my second test. I could paint that and I'm no painter."

"I see ... I'll try that one on my prof. The exhibit is in this gallery room." He scanned the walls covered with what from a distance appeared to be photographs, enlarged. Closer examination proved them indeed to be paintings. "Holy..."

"These are very good," Scarlet remarked. Together they examined the paintings. Ren brushed the back of his hand against hers. She made eye contact, smiled and they held hands, locking fingers.