The rest of the evening was uneventful. I smiled as I heard Edith laughing at one of my father's stories, and realized from his sounds that it's one of my favorite stories from my youth.

It's all about this little rabbit who is trying to find his way in the forest, but each time he encounters an animal, things go bad. The fox wants to eat him, the bear aims to wipe his butt with him (don't ask, it's too stupid), the wolf intends to chase him to practice running, the snake would like to bite it, and to on. Each time, the rabbit uses his wit to outmaneuver them. Like, for the snake, the rabbit jumps just at the right time for the snake to finish tied into a knot.

The trick, is that I would play the animal. The snake was my arm, the bear was all of me, the fox was my hand, the wolf was my leg which he would expose from the sheets.

Nothing was serious, but I would laugh, until he did it often enough for me to need more than that to laugh. Well, Edith was receiving it for the first time.

It made me happy. It was one of the good memories of my father as a kid. And the best part is, the story evolved, so Edith probably got the most refined one.

The comments from the rabbit would be each time a bit funnier, and his ability to perform the voices was a bit better.

I got a great story too, but it wasn't an original. He was reading me a book, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, one of his favorite series of books. It's now one of my favorites, too.

The next morning, Edith seemed happier, more relaxed. We didn't comment on the story, that was between her and my father, and it was an important aspect of her fitting in.

"We have to go to the warehouse today and we will stay late. I think you want Marge to come over, would you be okay if I asked whether her mom could take care of the three or four of you at our house?"

I looked at my mom.

"Wait, you want Ellie to babysit us?"

"No, you girls are old enough to babysit yourselves, but like, prepare a meal and such. I think Ellie might enjoy that, getting the opportunity to spend from time nude with her daughter and her friends"

"I don't understand why she can't do it at her home, but yeah. I like Ellie"

"I like her too", says Edith.

"It's complicated with her husband"

"He is weird"

"Now, what did I say about that word?"

"Right, sorry. It's a big judgment from me"

Still, it wasn't a bad idea.

It was now Thursday, and tonight, we will be just 48 hours before Ellie undressed at the non-landed club.

This brought me a smile on my face. I was making friends, and they were joining my lifestyle.

But that morning, we had math, and with math, came geometry. Worse, we had more advanced exercises to do, first alone, and then, with a partner.

I partnered with Olivia, who was happy to help me.

I mentioned her earlier, but almost nothing about her.

Well, that will start to change now.

Olivia is a shy girl who is always quiet, both in class, and outside of class. Now, don't think she is neurodivergeant like we suspect Marge to be. She isn't traumatized like Edith, either.

Olivia, plainly, is just shy. And it's not just that she is introverted. I am introverted, and while most people who don't know me would describe me as shy, I am not. I can speak to most people, I can interact with most people. I met my ex because I was able to be outgoing and talk to strangers.

Not Olivia. Sure, she is introverted, if only by virtue of being shy, but it's more than that.

Well, I got to know her enough to say that, well, there is nothing else wrong with her. Not that I know of. She is just, well, shy.

But as we worked the problems, it became clear that she got them, and I didn't. I had no idea why I didn't get it, but worse than that, I had no idea why she got it.

Now, this is built on top of what Marge helped me with, and which I didn't fully master. She did a good job, but I didn't fully master it.

Imagine that I taught you a new, complex cooking technique. You might understand 50% of it on the first try and will need more practice. The problem, is that everyone else in the class seemed to have gotten enough and not me, so the class as a whole moved on.

It's like everyone managed to make their cake rise, and now, they are learning to put the frosting on it, but mine is still not cooked, it still has lumps in it, and I am not sure what to do with the egg or even how to break it.

I felt like this work was simply built on top of the previous one, but I was failing to see how. Wait, I didn't feel like this work was built on top of the previous one, the teacher and Olivia both tried to make me see it, but I didn't.

Ok, it's not that dramatic. It's not that I don't understand the concepts, it's that...

Well, that's the thing, isn't it? I am missing something. And I can't put my finger on it. If I could, I would just, well, succeed. But I can't.

The teacher was starting to get frustrated by me, I was getting frustrated by myself. Who was the only person not getting frustrated? Olivia!

So, the teacher took a deep breath, and spoke unforgettable words.

"Julie, you need some tutoring. You are close to getting it, but it's not clicking. Tomorrow, will be tougher, and the day after. You need help, and I can't give it to you. I'll refer you to the tutoring program, and they will find a student to help you over lunch"

Olivia said something. It was so faint, that neither of us got it.

"Can you speak up, Olivia?", said the teacher.

"I am a tutor. In math and science."

"Oh, could you help over lunch? I'll make sure you get your credits even if not officially booked"

And so, instead of spending the lunchtime with my friend, as the four queens, I only ran to our spot to explain why I missed lunch after I was done with Olivia, and confirmed that we would be at my home, and explained my mother's idea for Ellie to chaperone and feed us.

Marge liked the idea, Mindy was thrilled, but couldn't come, she was going to see one of Billy's soccer matches, and Edith was a little disappointed. She had gotten a good one-on-one moment with my dad, and now, another adult would take care of her. She didn't need to tell me, I could sense it.

But that's getting ahead of myself.

I ate my lunch with Olivia, in the math classroom. It's Olivia who explained it's the normal procedure. Good thing I had a thermos that day.

Olivia only had a boring sandwich, but she kept smelling my pot roast.

I ended up letting eat some of my meal, in exchange for half of her sandwich. You might think I was the loser in that trade, but I was getting valuable tutoring.

And it was very valuable!

Not quite enough to fully get it, but enough to not fall too much behind.

It was clear to both of us that I would need more tutoring. And more than a lunch session would offer.

"You could sometimes come to my house after school. I do my homework after supper, but I could help you."

"Or you could come to my house", I said.

"I can't. My parents don't let me go to my tutor student's house."

"Even if we become friends?"

She looked at me.

"I don't have friends"

"Well, maybe you will eventually."

She had a weird smile, which I can't quite grasp, but I barely knew the girl. And this book isn't called "Olivia", it's called "Marge". The next one will be called Olivia, but that's another story. Then we become friends, but it's a long process.

In fact, she won't be a friend before at least one more long time jump. I am not kidding. She is so shy, that all my attempts to connect with her were met with a wall. Well, to truly connect.

But her tutoring? Exemplary.

Not that Marge was bad, no, but Olivia was able to use her empathy to somehow understand what was frustrating me.

Ok, like, I remember a number she helped me with that really pissed me off.

We had a trapezoid, but it had 2 right angles on the right. Only the left wasn't made of right angles.

We had the dimension of the top line, the shorter one, and of the difference between the long one and the short one.

We also had the line on the right.

Finally, we had one of the two angles.

The assignment, was finding the length of the diagonal. How the hell can I find that, in 6th grade?

This isn't a problem I could do.

Until Olivia, traced a vertical line from the top angle, to the bottom line.

"So, What?", I said.

"What is that shape?"

"I don't know"

"You do"

"It's a triangle"

"What kind?"

"A right triangle."

"And that is that diagonal?"

"The hypotenuse"

"And how do you calculate it?

So, it was a simple Pythagoras theorem question.

Now, you will stop me here. You will tell me that Pythagoras is taught in 8th grade, not in 6th grade. That I was far too young to learn all of that.

And guess what? You are 100% right. I was too young, but our stupid match teacher believed in something I then hated, but I now love.

She believed in students. She believed that if you over-teach students, it helps them prepare for the future.

I hit a wall with these problems. I couldn't do them without tutoring.

For that reason, I redoubled my efforts and spoilers, I will figure out what's wrong with me.

In 6th grade, instead of in 8th, where it might have been too late for me.

Now, were those problems in the exam? No! It's not in the school curriculum. But having those tools, helped us with other, simpler problems.

She empowered us by giving us more advances material to deal with problems suitable for the 6th grade.

Later that year, she explained her process after other students began to complain. I'll tell you know, nothing was happening in my life of note in that period, so if it's a time jump, I will skip it.

She sat on her desk. That meant she was being serious.

"Imagine that you are still in first grade. You are learning addition. You are solving a problem where Tim, can pick 2 apples each time he climbs the ladder to the tree. He climbs 4 times. How do you solve that?"

Someone raised their hand. Not Olivia, she never did, and certainly not me.

"It's 8 because 2 times 4, is 8"

"Ah, but you don't know multiplications yet. So you do 2 plus 2 plus 2 plus 2. But if you are shown that multiplications exist, you can realize in your small brain that this problem is a multiplication. You might not know the tables of multiplication, but when you do learn them, it connects, instead of coming as a surprise. I even know a first grade teacher who gives basic algebra exercises. It helps the student a lot"

She gave us examples of things we had learned by then, including more advanced algebra that we should have learned.

In 6th grade, I hated her, but suddenly, 7th grade and 8th grade were easier, since we were prepared for it. Granted, I had her in 7th grade too, and she gave us 9th and 10th grade stuff, and I hated it then, but not when I reached those grades.

And Olivia? She got all of that. She was brilliant at math, and now, she is learning to become a math teacher. She will make a great one, I am sure of it.

Marge was still a great tutor, but she wouldn't understand what I needed. Olivia did.

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