Chapter Two : The Ins & Outs

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"Did you figure out the answer to number three, Anita?"

"Yes. It's like I was telling you in class earlier. You need to find the mean difference in the population, then the standard deviation of the difference."

Liam hides his face in his hands, his English accent prevalent in a mumble, "Or I could find the nearest bridge and pitch myself off of it."

"Quit being so dramatic; you just need to go over your notes and take it slowly."

"I don't know whether I ought to curse you or bless you for being so gifted at statistics."

"I'm gifted at math in general. I just have a leg up on all this stuff because I learned most of it in high school," I try to give a reassuring smile, but Liam still sends me a playful glare before trying to solve the problem again.

My best friend Liam and I have been sat in our favorite cafe near campus for the past hour, working on our statistics homework and having conversation. We usually spend our Wednesday afternoons here, helping each other out with assignments and killing time before we meet up with the final member of our trio, Kaori. We're like the three musketeers; always doing things together. In the Summer, the three of us decided we would all take a tap class together this year just for fun.

Kaori is a dance teacher and is therefore beyond proficient in ballet along with a few other styles of dance, but one day she was lamenting her inexperience in the world of tap dancing. Long story short, she convinced Liam and I to sign up for a beginning tap class with her. Other than the fact that she would be thoroughly entertained at the sight of the two of us in tap shoes, she decreed the weekly class would be a wonderful bonding experience.

We have so far taken eight dance classes, and I would be lying if I said I didn't love it. Naturally, Kaori has picked up the craft incredibly easily, perhaps the quickest out of all thirteen people in our class. Liam and I have been taking to tap pretty well too, but we have all been quite astonished at how quickly our resident Brit has been learning. The man hasn't taken a single dance class in his life, but by week three he could do a maxiford in circles around me.

Liam and I finish our homework with less conversation and more concentration, as it seems he has finally figured out how to do standard deviation without my constant monitoring. He doesn't cease his whining, though. Our shared plates of fresh fruit and turkey/cucumber finger sandwiches are empty, and our books are closed at just the right time. After packing up and cleaning our space, we climb into my car and head to Kaori's dance school. As we walk into the rather large building, she is finishing up her preschool ballet class. The little toddlers in their tiny ballet clothes are ridiculously cute, so I can't help but smile largely as they exit the dance room and return to their families.

Our friend flashes us a smile and runs to clock out before joining us with her duffle bag slung over her shoulder. We are sat on the carpeted ground outside a different dance room amidst some of our classmates, waiting the usual ten minutes before our class starts.

As Kaori swaps out her ballet slippers for tap shoes, Liam asks, "How were your babies today?"

She takes a moment to push her round glasses further up her nose, her sleek black bangs dusting the tops of the frames, "Most of them were good. Although a little girl in my first class decided to pee on the floor instead of asking to go to the bathroom."

Liam laughs while I make a disgusted face. Kaori nods with a sarcastic smile, "Yeah, and guess who got to clean it up?"

"That's why they pay you the big bucks," I reply with a shake of my head.

"And yet, it's still not enough," she's finished tying the laces of her tap shoes, and now starts devouring a protein bar. Even sitting in the middle of the floor, Kaori's posture is perfectly poised. Whenever I notice it, I consciously sit up straighter. "Did you guys finish the statistics assignment already?"

Without You┃Dylan O'Brien ⓶Where stories live. Discover now