Another chapter! Don’t die plotbunny, please!
Notes/Disclaimer: See an earlier chapter
Chapter 3
“All right, if I take the derivate of y = sin (e^x) cos 2x, that should be…”
Real life was such a tedious task, but it had to be done! He couldn’t wait to escape. But then, dreams were escape from real life.
A pity they were dreams.
Wataru spent a few minutes staring at the derivative before he realized he would need both the product and chain rules, and got to work.
“So… the answer should be y’ = e^x cos (e^x) cos 2x – 2 sin (e^x) sin 2x.”
Done!
He quickly went to work on the other twenty-nine problems.
At least Calculus was doable, Biology was okay, English was a pain but he would live… that left…
Spanish. Ick.
He _hated_ Spanish, but he needed the credits. He left it for last though.
“I hate converting from subjunctive into the past using those weird rules…”
“So how do I do this?”
Jerome looked at Satoshi sympathetically. He tutored the boy occasionally, but this time, it seemed bad.
“Graphing is really not that hard…”
“But I don’t know how to do it without a calculator!”
“We’ll start with the simple function then, y = x… that’s a straight line, surely you can do that.”
“Hai…”
Sure, he could, and parabolas weren’t two bad, and neither were the cube functions. It was only the weird ones that he didn’t like, and the non-functions.
“Have you taken Geometry already?”
“No.”
“Well, you’re going to hate that then.” Jerome muttered. “All right, here, this is e^x, another common function… you should know ln x as well…”
Wataru closed the Spanish textbook quietly, checking his watch. Almost one… well, it wasn’t too bad. With a sigh, he stumbled over to his bed and fell asleep, trying to erase the strange verb tenses from his mind so he could relax.
I just need to hold on, until I can escape and fly away…
The dreams engulfed him in warmth.
“Ne, Lance-chan, can you help me with this?”
“You’re making Lorelei candy for her birthday?”
“Hai! Chocolate-covered strawberries.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard… let’s see, first we melt the chocolate over the stove…”
They took turns stirring the chips into melted brown syrup, before washing and dipping the strawberries. Who knew strawberries were so hard to wash?
It was kind of strange, and they also had to cut the tops off.
But it was worth it.
Then, the strawberries were sent off to the fridge to cool. Half an hour later, they were done, and Lorelei was very happy to receive their present.
It was better than Bruno’s book on abdominal exercises in any case.
_Much_ better.
Agatha had good taste though, or at least a good inkling of what Lorelei liked. She gave her a $200 gift certificate to the biggest swimwear manufacturer in Kanto.
Lorelei appreciated that as well.
“Lance-chan, do you like me?” Ash asked, after the party, when they had stuffed themselves on cake, even a taste of champagne. But he hadn’t liked that.
It didn’t taste good.
“Of course I like you. I love you, silly.”
“Even though I took your position?”
“You didn’t, really. I was never really Champion of the league, only champion of the Elite Four. I forgive you.”
Ash smiled brightly. “I’m glad.”
And he stayed, and listened, as Lance read him fairy tales, watching the sunlight sparkle off Lance’s pretty red hair.
This was a piece of heaven on earth then, wasn’t it?
“Ash, are you listening to the story?”
“No.” He said truthfully.
The older boy shifted, smiled. “Well, am I boring you?”
“No!”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t want anything else. I like it here.” He said truthfully.
“Do you?”
“Hai! I love not having to worry. I like peace.”
“So do we all…” Lance paused, fingers briefly brushing against Ash’s cheek. “So do we all…”
“Is it wrong to want that?”
“If it is, we’re both fallen.”
They were silent after that, watching the sunlight play over the grass and peonies. But it didn’t matter, did it?
Dreams were escape after all…
“Is it wrong to dream?” Ash suddenly asked, earnestly.
“If I had no dreams, I’d be dead.” Lance told him, golden eyes dark. “Life is not pretty, usually.”
“Hai.”
“We _need_ the pastel colors to remind us of happiness.”
“I suppose we do…”
That was the whole truth, wasn’t it?
The clock alarm was shrill.
Wataru sighed, turned it off, and got up. It was another day of life – but was he really living? What was there left?
Escape?
He pulled on a clean pair of blue jeans and his dark blue UC Berkeley sweatshirt with the hood and gold lettering, and quickly left.
Breakfast could wait; he had to talk to Ms. Campbell about the grade she had given him on the last report.
He wouldn’t fail. He couldn’t fail!
It was time for another mundane day to begin, as the fog descended around him in black, murky smothering waves.
End Chapter
Completed 7/16/04