sixwordstories | (no subject)

[Doing some homework at his desk]

[And now there's a hint of red hair, blue forehead, and two bright eyes peeking up over the edge, just opposite him. Yes, she snuck over here, and she's barely managed to keep in her giggles.]

Charles?

[He pretends not to see her, even though he knows she is there without looking. A smile curves on one side of his face to give him away]

[When she says his name, he feigns surprise, one hand over his heart] ...were you trying to sneak up on me?

No. [She's giggling though, ducking behind the desk again until she can straighten out her expression. When she stands at her full height, she's still only tall enough so that her shoulders are above the top of the desk, so she folds her arms on the surface and leans her chin on them.]

Are you done with your homework yet?

[He smiles fondly at her before going back to his writing] Almost, it's a pretty long paper.

[there's a pause] ....you want to help?

Can I? [Her expression brightens further with that, somehow, and she moves around then desk until she's standing right next to his chair.]

Sure. [He reaches over to pick her up and set her on his lap. Charles pulls another pen out of a cup on his desk and gives it to her along with a new sheet of paper] I could use a picture of a cell, like that. [He shows her a picture in a book that's open a little higher up on the desk] Because if it's all words, it might look a little boring to the teacher.

Okay. [Raven leans to pull the book a little closer, just enough so she can trace the cell with her fingers, like that will help her draw a better picture.]

What's a ..cell do?

[Charles loves questions like that] A cell is a very small living thing. They're so small that you can only see them with a microscope. This one is a skin cell [he taps the picture] it's job is to hold to other skin cells to keep germs out.

[He takes her hand splaying the fingers out against the back of his hand] Your skin cells are even better, they're extra smart because they can change color faster than other people's can.

Really? [She's grinning, so flattered, because he said her cells are better. And not just because they were blue - it was science that made them better. Her fingers lightly drum against his knuckles before her hand flips over, and she wiggles her fingers a bit, hoping maybe to spot one of her cells even though Charles said they're so little. Her eyes squint a bit.]

So I can change because my cells want me to? But they like being blue, mostly. [Her hand rests back down on the desk again as she looks over at him with a small smile.] And my cells are blue because they're part of my mutation, right? Like you said. A mutation. [She thinks she's saying it right. Mew-tay-shun.]

Really. [He chuckles as she tries to see her skin cells] We can try to look at them under a microscope later if you like.

You change because your brain [he puts a finger to the side of her head] tells your skin what to do. Like when you first came here, you remembered how the lady looked in the picture and that translated onto your skin. [Charles nods] It is a very groovy mutation. It's uniquely different than what skin is normally for other people. That doesn't have to be for skin cells... [He turns a page to show a brain cell, which looks a little like a squid (http://images.paraorkut.com/img/health/images/b/brain_cell-715.jpg)] My brain cells have an extra job they can do by picking up on what another person's brain is doing and thinking. Like a radio.

I thought I heard someone.

[HRK!! No, he wasn't supposed to notice her yet! Raven's just going to stop right in her tracks and press her mouth shut, like maybe if she's very quiet and very still, he won't see her any more.]