fandomhigh | U.S. History, Thursday, Period 2

Tyler was feeling lazy this week. Lazy, lazy, lazy. "The Great Depression," he began, without preamble. "A lot like what we have now, except people couldn't write blogs about how much being laid off sucked and there were more soup lines. Lasted from the stock market crash of 1929 until World War II. Here's a handout about the whole thing, and we're going to watch a movie. It's set in Mississippi during the Great Depression."

This totally made it educational. He poked at the DVD player, cuing up "My Friend, Whither Dost Thou Go?"

When the movie ended, Algren stood, nodding to the class. If he seemed somewhat skeptical about the educational content in the movie, he kept that mostly to himself.

"Your homework this week," he intoned, "is to economize in some way and tell us what you did next week. Did you switch to the cheaper store-brand food? Did you skip out on seeing a movie you wanted to see on opening night in favor of the matinee? It doesn't have to be much, but it does have to be something."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ino gave him her most innocent look back.

"You could always be into watching other boys kiss boys!" she chirped. "Which could be really pretty, even if I'd rather be kissing someone than watching."

Watching was, in her opinion, kinda boring.

"I am so not into that, either," Cal muttered. "It was Merlin who was gay, not me."

She tried nudging his foot with hers. "Hey," Ino said, glancing at him, "I'd tease any boy 'bout something like that."

She was being helpful!

Cal cleared his throat a little, half-wanting to remind her that he wasn't exactly in the same...position of just any boy.

But saying it would be the antithesis of too many other things.

So he just settled with a, "yeah, okay."

"Nuh huh," she said, frowning at him. "Now you're, like, annoyed at me. I'm not stupid. Spit it out."

"I'm not annoyed with you," Cal said. "I'm not. Everyone knows that Fandom High School girls are weirdly obsessed with boykissy. It's common knowledge. You can't help yourself."

"Oh?" she said, eyebrows raising. "Do tell. What else can't I help myself from being? It's been a wonderful week for that, please, add to it."

"You can't help yourself," Cal stated, "from being someone who asks annoying questions."

"And yet," she said, rolling her eyes. "Somehow you put up with me."

"It helps," Cal said, "that you're mostly cute."

She grinned at him.

"You've just got a thing for blondes."

"Noooo," Cal said, shaking his head and trying not to smirk. "Blondes just have a thing for me."

"And yet," she said, sticking her tongue out at him because that was totally true. "You don't chase them off so well. So you can't mind us all that much."

Cal couldn't help a broad grin there. She didn't deny it! It was true! Ha!

"I'm too lazy," Cal said with a shrug. "Especially considering how much work it would take to drive some of you off."

Or the levels of drama involved, if one took into consideration that he had pretty much driven Amber off.

"It'd take eons," she said, nodding seriously. "So of us are ridiculously tenacious."

And, you know, liked jerks.

"Tenacious," Cal tilted his head thoughtfully. "That's one word for it. I think a better one, though, would be stubborn."

Ino couldn't help the sigh.

"My name does mean boar, you know 'stubborn as a boar'. Stubborn is a family thing."

Putting it mildly.

"...Your name means boar?" asked Cal, utterly failing to keep back his grin. He succeeded a little better in holding back the giggle, so that it only really came out as a small snort.

She sulked at him.

"...yeah." A pause. "But at least I'm not a boy whose name means butterfly."

Sorry Chouji, she added mentally.

At first, Cal almost thought Ino was accusing him of that before he realized that made no sense. "That's a good point," he said, feeling simultaneously bad and incredibly amused over that poor boy's fate.

"I didn't do so bad. I'm a Muse of Epic Poetry."

She giggled. "You need to work on your epic-ness then!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cal said. "I'm plenty epic."

Epically messed up was on the tip of her tongue, but Ino thought he'd have issues with that one.

"Oh, I don't know," she deadpanned. "You seem to be missing some of the epicness of a lot of stories. How have you saved the world lately?"

He would have agreed with it, though. Epically.

"Hey," Cal said. "I'm the Muse of Epic Poetry. I don't create it myself; I simply inspire other people to do it."

"If I ever start spouting poetry, I'll kick you until I stop," she informed him. "Poetry is not my thing."

Re: Talk to the TA [3/19]

not-a-mused.livejournal.com - 2009-03-20 23:44 (UTC) - Expand