History and English had always been Locke's strongest classes. He enjoyed the memorization of historic dates, reading about the battles that the brave fought for purposes that did not always seem clear at the time. History never changed, it was consistent, already determined. It wasn't like math where the right answer changed overtime, where the thing you had to figure out could be anything. America was not settled by the Australians, no queen of France ever said "Hey do you want pizza?". History made sense, because once you understood the first part of it, you could see where the later bits came in. When was the last time that someone told you that you could predict the next prime number based upon the first three?

Science was worse in some ways. Science was all about the unknown. Do potatoes really generate electricity? How does one determine terminal velocity? Is the earth really turning, or is it just the stars and sun moving? The only saving grace for science is that it explained things like earthquakes and Locke learned about the Moh's hardness scale.

English had uncertainty too, but it was the good kind. This kind of uncertainty had to do with viewpoints, not a number or a fact that could not be interpreted in a new way. Locke had eagerly laughed at the Simpson's episode when Lisa was asked how a number felt. That was the sort of math he could do. You could b.s. your way through that.

Helping Chase out was no big deal really. Yeah Locke was still under a mountain of work to make up, but Chase had his own work to do too. While Locke worked on his own history essay he could give Chase direction. Given that he wanted to go to college for childhood development it was probably a good idea to interact with kids in a more educational way than to pop in a video that promotes positive behaviors.

The stack of homework and classwork that Locke was going through never seemed to decrease as he worked not only on this marking period's work, but the previous one as well. Logically he had to be making it dwindle, it wasn't as though the past period had increased in size, so he had to be going through it. It just was every time he managed to get one assignment finished, there was yet another one that had to be done if he wanted his grades to improve for this semester. But he was Locke Tori, the Earthwalker, and he could make a mole hill out of a mountain. This was going to get done.

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars was playing softly on his laptop as he double checked his reference. No chocolate this time for Kid Death. Chase was going to have to focus, and that's hard to do when you're on a sugar buzz. Snacks really didn't belong in a library, but Locke snuck in a few of those peanut butter cheese cracker thingies. Now all he needed was his study companion for the evening.

Chase jogged down the halls of the Mansion, his little legs carrying him down towards the library. Chase didn’t go to the library very often—there weren’t a lot of books for kids his age, mostly because there weren’t a lot of kids his age at Xavier’s. Most of the students were in junior high or high school, ergo most of the books catered to teenagers. There were a few nonficition books that were straightforward enough for a kid to understand, but there wasn’t much in the way of childrens’ books. Two shelves, perhaps four feet in height, was all that Xavier’s had to offer the children. Chase pushed to heavy doors to the library open, slipping in quietly.

The library was even more expansive, and more impressive, from his stature. The tall stacks of books towering grandly up above him, and the two additional stories, above that. It made the nine-year-old feel even smaller, even more insignificant, in proportion. Chase jogged along the stacks towards the tables where Locke said to meet him. It was really nice for the older boy to help him. All Chase had was a few pages of homework, but such things seemed daunting for a child. And Locke had volunteered to assist him, which was far better than having Chase try and figure things out on his own, and then get frustrated.

Chase spied the older boy at one of the library tables, and his quick, hushed strides became a very noticeable run over to the table. The thunderous footfalls of the run came to an abrupt halt when Chase reached the table's edge, and it was there that he stopped. The nine-year-old gave the older boy a broad grin, and the simple greeting of, “Hi Locke!”

Chase deposited his bag onto the table and gave a casual, “How’s it going?”

Ah the sounds of a stampeding buffalo, or rather an excited nine year old. Chase had started off relatively calmly in the library, walking at the pace that was acceptable for such a studious environment, then Locke picked up on the run. If not for the carpet he was sure that when Chase hit the breaks the boy would slide and crash into the table. He knew that having someone help out with your least favorite subjects was a great thing, but it wasn’t that amazing. Locke’s best guess was that because the two of them usually getting together involved chocolate, Chase probably thought Locke was pretty cool. ”Hey Chase,” the Californian greeted Chase.

As you go through school it seemed that not only did you get more work, but you also got thicker and heavier text books. Looking at Chase’s materials Locke almost wanted to laugh. Why did little kids get backpacks that have wheels when their homework and books weighed next to nothing, but once you get to high school any one of your books would cause a concussion if it should ever fall on your head, the only options you have for book bags are ones that either will break your back or strangle your neck. It was right up there with having kindergartners take a nap during the middle of the day, yet when you are in high school it’s frowned upon to fall asleep at any point.

”I’m doing fine.” History essay was put on hold for the moment so that he could learn what Chase’s assignment was. Chances were high that it was on a topic that Locke knew. History repeats itself in the sense that you learn the same parts of history over and over again. Each time that you are taught about the American Revolution or the Civil War a little more information is given. As was he was learning more about the industrial revolution that happened in Europe. ”What do you need help with today?”

>> ”Hey Chase. I’m doing fine.”

Once Chase deposited his backpack onto the table, he clambered onto a chair that was across from Locke, and sat on his knees, so that he could lean closer. He liked Locke. Locke was an older boy who was nice enough to talk to a kid Chase’s age, which made him a cool older boy.

>> “What do you need help with today?”

“English,” Chase sighed, sounding deflated. He unzipped his small Jansport, and pulled out a folder that was labeled “Homework” in the untidy script of a third-grade boy. Chase flipped the folder open, which had perhaps five or maybe six worksheets within. He pulled out the English worksheet, which bore only Chase’s name at the top of the page, and nothing more, except for the written instructions.

“Words With Two Meanings” the title said. Underneath, the instructions said, “Each of the words below has more than one meaning. Write to sentences for each word, one for each meaning. The first one is done for you.”

Underneath that, the word “bark” was listed, in which it was used in the manner of the bark on a tree, and a barking dog. Beyond that, were words like "watch", "plant", and "stamp", each accompanied by two lines.

“I don’t get it,” Chase said lamely.

The teen looked over Chase's mostly blank homework sheet. The assignment made sense to him, but there was a significant age gap between him and his pupil. It had been some time since Locke got to sit down with a little kid and help them with their homework. The easier work was a nice break from what he had to do, a chance for his brain to do something mindless and effortless. Words with double meanings? Not a problem at all. The challenging part was finding a way to get it to not be a problem for Chase.

"Alright," he said, thinking of his angle of approach, "You know what an orange is. It's a type of fruit. It's also a color. That's what these words are like. Oranges and oranges. Or... our names. Chase can mean to run after something, but it also means you. I'm Locke and my name can mean the thing that you put a key in, or something to do with boats and water." Technically those were spelled two different ways, which made them more of a homonym instead of a word with many meanings. No need to confuse Chase more by filling him in on that bit of information. There were plenty of words that meant more than one thing. It was hardly any wonder that English was one of the hardest languages to learn.

"You're suppose to think up something to say that has each different meaning for the word. Like you could say 'My name is Chase,' and then for the other meaning 'A dog will chase a rabbit.'" Chase's name wasn't on the list of words for him to figure out meanings and sentences for, so Locke had no problem giving him a clear example. If Chase asked he might help to think of how stamp could mean something other than postage, but he was not going to just give the kid all the answers.

>> "Alright. You know what an orange is. It's a type of fruit. It's also a color. That's what these words are like. Oranges and oranges. Or... our names. Chase can mean to run after something, but it also means you. I'm Locke and my name can mean the thing that you put a key in, or something to do with boats and water."

This earned a blank look from the nine-year-old. He didn't understand the assignment as it was, and even though the older boy was doing his best to assist him, Chase was still confused. He wasn't good at English. It was just... playing with words, and he didn't understand it.

>> "You're suppose to think up something to say that has each different meaning for the word. Like you could say 'My name is Chase,' and then for the other meaning 'A dog will chase a rabbit.'"

Chase looked down at the first word, and its pair of lines.

"Watch".

"So..." Chase trailed, digging into the small pocket of his backpack for a pencil, "I'm going to have... a watch like a clock, and then... I'm going to name someone Watch?"

That was a pretty poor choice of names, on the parents' part. Who named their child "Watch" anyways?

Needless to say, Chase didn't understand English. At all.

Ok, so maybe using names hadn't been the best idea. Chase seemed to be stuck on a second definition of words being a name. Should have stuck with the oranges. "Almost. Watch as in clock is one meaning. But there's another one. What do you do when Spongebob is on?" It was important that Chase get to the answer on his own. As much as Locke hated it at the time, he now understood why his dad wanted Locke to understand how six times five is thirty.

"I get excited!"[/i] Chase answered Locke's question. Well, ask a dumb question of a kid and expect an answer that is brilliantly dull. Of course Chase would get excited when Spongebob is on. Locke should have known to expect an answer that had to do with emotions rather than actions. High school health class had given him an equation. E for emotion over L for logic equals child. L over E equals adult. E, plus A for alcohol, over L equals child. Chase was still an E on top.

"Besides that," Locke said, giving Chase a smile. The answer might have been wrong, along with the kid's approach to his assignment, but that wasn't any reason to go hard on him. Maybe what Chase needed was to think of the list of words in more than just nouns as was the case for watch. What grade did they start teaching you the different parts of grammar that a word could be? Chase didn't need to know about adverbs, conjunctions, or dangling participles. Just that sometimes a word can be an action instead of an object. "To see what happens on Spongebob you need to do something with the TV. You what Spongebob?"

Of course that was Chase's reply. Chase had gotten the first part of the question right, but then Locke switched the conversation to Spongebob. Why were they talking about cartoons while they were trying to solve the mysteries of the English assignment. So, when Locke posed the question of what Chase did when Spongebob was on, Chase matter-of-factly announced that he got excited.

>> "Besides that. To see what happens on Spongebob you need to do something with the TV. You what Spongebob?"

Chase stared intently at the older boy, rolling his lips together contemplatively. Maybe if he stared at Locke for long enough, he'd just see the answer in the older boys' eyes. Maybe if they stared at each other for long enough, Chase would look straight into Locke's brain. It dawned on Chase, and a smile touched his face.

"Oh!" Chase gasped, "I watch Spongebob on t.v.!"

"So... watch... like a clock... but watch, as in see?" Chase summarized, wiggling his pencil back and forth, "That makes sense."

Now he just had to make sentences out of those words.

"Watch..." Chase mused aloud. He'd attack the one that he hadn't grasped on his own first, "I... like... to watch... Spongebob."

He said each word as he wrote it, and when he'd finished writing, he jerked his gaze up towards Locke for either approval or a correction on how Chase had approached the problem. For the second part of the problem, he wrote another sentence, again sculpting the words aloud as they were written on the page.

"My mom... has a silver... watch."

Again, his gaze flicked to Locke.

It felt weird to have a small child try to stare into his brain. Locke knew that was what Chase was doing, because he often had done the exact same thing many times before, with anyone trying to teach him his hated subjects. He wanted them to tell him what the answer was, not how to get to it. Yes he knew that unless he knew how to do it himself it was pointless to know the answer, but that didn’t mean that on days when he just wasn’t getting it that he didn’t want someone to get his suffering over faster. Well, there were students here that probably could tell what you were thinking just by looking into your eyes, but Chase wasn’t one of them. He was going to have to figure out the watch thing on his own

Which given time he managed to do. That rare smile that was usually reserved only for Chris or Mai was now given to Chase. It took the kid some time, but when he got it, he got it. Chase was better off than Locke. If Locke didn’t get the assignment he kept trying the same stupid things over and over again. He was consistent, but he was also stubborn and determined to show that the way he was doing it could work. It never did, but Locke couldn’t understand the right way. ”Yes. Watch can mean the time telling thing, and it can mean to see something. Sometimes a word doesn’t mean just a thing. Like a fish isn’t just what swims in a tank. It’s also used for how you catch one. You go fishing for fish.”

Some of the words might be harder to think of the different definitions without a dictionary. Locke had brought his down with him. How many teenagers actually used their dictionaries on a regular basis for homework other than to look up the spelling of a word? Not only did he use his dictionary for his English homework, he also enjoyed the function of the thesaurus.

Chase looked rather pleased with himself, a small, satisfied grin touching his face. One problem down, eleven to go. And he pieced it all together with only a little help from Locke. That was as good as figuring something out on his own. And the smile that Locke gave him was a reassuring one in which Chase delighted.

>> “Yes. Watch can mean the time telling thing, and it can mean to see something. Sometimes a word doesn’t mean just a thing. Like a fish isn’t just what swims in a tank. It’s also used for how you catch one. You go fishing for fish.”

“Oooh…” Chase sighed, tapping his pencil lightly against his head. That made sense. He looked down at the next word.

“Plant,” Chase trailed, looking at the next question blankly. It was the same pattern, but Chase was struggling to see it. English was so hard. The gears were turning in his head, but there was smoke and no fire—he didn’t get it.

“I don’t like English,” Chase announced, letting his head hit the table with a dull thud.

He wasn’t giving up, per se, he was merely announcing that he wasn’t much good at English.

"It's so confusing," Chase said again. It wasn't like math. Math was all patterns. It was the same thing no matter what, just like a puzzle. With math, the number "5" was only that. There were no double-meanings.

Chase's anguish was palatable. Locke knew the frustration of being stuck on your least favorite subject and struggling through it. Your mind feels as though it no longer works properly because if it did then surely you would be able to breeze through this. How much more worse it must be when the subject was something that you did use on a regular basis? It wasn't as though Locke needed to find the cosine in his day to day life. Chase spoke the language that was giving him such problems. He knew what the words were, but he couldn't get the words to work for him.

"It's not that bad. Wait until you take another language. Learning Spanish is all about memorizing different endings for words and then you find out that sometimes the beginnings of words change." Locke hated irregular verbs in Spanish. He could remember how he was suppose to spell them, which was a good thing because for the life of him he could never remember the pronunciation.

It was time to offer Chase some more help. Right now it looked like Chase had no problem understanding what his assignment was. The directions were plain and clear. What made things complicated was trying to do it. "Alright, pretend that you're trying to teach me words. How would you describe 'plant'?" Sometimes his dad would do something similar with Locke when it came to science homework. If Locke had to explain something that he didn't know it made him think harder about it. There had been many topics in his science classes in elementary school where Locke said he didn't understand it, when in reality he did. He hated the subject so much that his mind told him that he didn't know anything, but explaining it showed that he got it. "What is plant?"

The grammer in his question made Locke want to smack his face with his palm. Here he was trying to get Chase to understand the language and now he was speaking like some fresh off the boat foreigner. He didn't even have an exotic sounding accent, so it just made him look like an idiot. But Locke didn't mind too much looking like an idiot to a kid. Better to look the fool to them than someone scary.

>> "It's not that bad. Wait until you take another language. Learning Spanish is all about memorizing different endings for words and then you find out that sometimes the beginnings of words change."

Chase groaned, inwardly dreading the day that he’d have to struggle with another language. He was already bad at English, as if he needed to be bad at some other language like Spanish, too. He let his head loll to one side, his gaze focusing on the older boy. Couldn’t he just… call it quits now? Couldn’t they do something fun.

>> "Alright, pretend that you're trying to teach me words. How would you describe 'plant'? What is plant?"

“How many words would you know?” Chase inquired, “Because I can’t tell you what something is if you don’t know any words. I’d probably just take you outside, point to a plant, and go ‘plant’.”

>> "Alright, so a plant is something that grows. How does it get in the ground in the first place?"

Chase huffed faintly. Now they were talking about science, which he was good at, but he hardly saw how it was relevant to English homework. That didn't answer the "how many words" Locke knew question, which Chase still lingered on.

“It starts as a seed,” Chase said with a nod, seeming rather certain of his answer.

It wasn't like Chase was stupid. That much Locke could see. The problem was that Chase had hit a wall and didn't know how to get past it, or maybe didn't even want to. Maybe what Chase wanted wasn't to do his homework, but rather to have it done. Learning by teaching wasn't going too well. Determined not to give up quite yet Locke had asked "Alright, so a plant is something that grows. How does it get in the ground in the first place?"

He hadn't answered Chase's question and the boy wasn't hiding his frustration about that. Well, he was going to have to get use to that. Sometimes you don't get answers because someone is trying to make a point. "Alright, so it starts as a seed, but how did the seed get in the ground?" The failed green bean experiment had proven that Locke knew that plants came from seeds. He could have failed the project, and he did, but Locke had planted the seed in the dirt. It just never grew.

This was his last attempt to get Chase to recognize that you planted plants. If asking about the seed didn't get Chase there, Locke was going to give him the dictionary to help him out. Yes Chase's assignment was smaller and simpler than Locke's, but he couldn't keep trying to pull the answers out of him. Locke needed to get some of his own work done. Hopefully Chase knew how to use a dictionary. What grade did Locke have to use one himself?

>> "Alright, so it starts as a seed, but how did the seed get in the ground?"

Chase sighed faintly, running his fingers through his hair. He was too practical, too literal and logical. He didn’t think of “how” things were done and then go to synonyms for “how” certain things happened. He went to the most practical, obvious answer and stopped there. Thus, abstract exercise like this proved trying.

And now Locke was asking him how seeds got into the ground. Chase knew that there had to be something that he was missing, but he couldn’t put his hand on what. He was reaching the simplest, most logical answer, and that’s where he would stop.

This was way too complicated for an assignment.

“Someone… digs a hole and puts it there?” Chase answered, though his reply was more of a question, or a guess. He had transitioned from frustration to outright confusion.

”You’re smart Chase,” Locke said. And he was. The problem was that Chase didn’t realize it. ”But you got to be more flexible.” Oh how ironic. Locke, the rock man, telling someone to be flexible. Having little siblings got him to loosen up a little, but over all Locke wasn’t the type to sway on a subject. Like Chase he followed logic, it was why he couldn’t process some of the things that Eaan did. By all means his logic ruled mind should do well at math. Math was anything but illogical, yet that was the subject Locke floundered in the most. ”English is about what can be, not always what is.”

Now might be the time to hand over the dictionary. Chase was lost, and Locke wanted the boy to find the answers. He wasn’t going to just give Chase all the meanings for plant. Hugo had never just given Locke the answers to his homework. Locke had to get to them on his own. ”You know, a dictionary is really useful when you work on English homework,” Locke said, sliding his over, ”If you aren’t sure if you spelled a word right it’s better than spellcheck on a computer. Sometimes it gives you different words that you can use so you don’t say the same thing over and over again. It also will tell you what is plant.”

This time Locke purposefully put a thick fake accent on the broken English. If Locke didn't throw something ridiculous in then this study session was no different than having to sit and ask the teacher over and over to explain something. Learning happened easier when you are relaxed. If Locke wasn't as stressed he did much better on his tests. One of the first things that teachers recommended in high school for those that would take the SAT was to wear comfortable clothes. Minds work better when the body isn't tensed.