Human Kid (II)

22.

Ethan, Suzanne, Ashley and Andrew were in school garden.

Ethan laid on the grass while Ashley knelt in front of him, bent over a textbook.

Andrew sat not too far from them, his legs were crossed as he said down. He kept his laptop in front of him and a textbook was by his side. Suzanne was furiously scribbling away in a book.

She sat beside Andrew.

"You won't get the formula by cramming it only, you've got to practice it," Andrew told her boredly after stealing a glance at what she was doing.

They were all studying Mathematics together.

"Waahhhh!!" Suzanne wailed and canceled down all the formulas she had been transferring from a textbook to her jotter.

"Don't be too rough Suzanne, you needn't have canceled it. You'll still need to know the formulas to get the solutions right," Ashley told her with a smile.

"I hate Mathematics!" Ethan groaned and slammed the textbook in his front close.

"Me too," Suzanne agreed and laid back on the grass.

Ashley laughed and closed her eyes, "Now, now, hating a particular subject can take you nowhere."

"Hating Mathematics won't help you pass the test we're having in three days time," Andrew stated nonchalantly.

"Waaahhh!!" Suzanne wailed again at the thought of the oncoming tests.

"It's not that hard," Ashley told them.

Ethan squinted his eyes at the examples given in the textbook.

"Why'd they ever mix up numbers with letters?!" he moaned, "My maths was fine without those nasty letters."

"Yeah!" Suzanne supported. "I wish Mathematics would grow up and solve its own problems!"

Ashley laughed again.

"Yelling about how much you hate Mathematics won't help you in studying it. You best be quiet now," Andrew told them as he looked up from his laptop boredly.

"Hey guys," Ryan said as he approached them.

"Hey Ryan!" Suzanne quickly sat up back.

Maybe Ryan could act as some sort of motivation for her, unless studying was a no-go area.

"I was wondering if it'll be cool if Marissa joins our little study group," Ryan suggested.

When he saw the annoyed look on Ethan's face he quickly added, "Just for today, that's all. She really needs help in mathematics also and Ashley and Andrew are real pros at it. Just to help, that's all."

Suzanne huffed and looked away. Ethan played with his blue pen absent mindedly.

Andrew just returned to typing his laptop.

It was Ashley that finally spoke up.

"Sure! The more the merrier! Besides--" She looked at the rest of their team, "It won't hurt to give her a second chance. And we should help if she needs help in mathematics."

"Whatever," Andrew said boredly.

"I guess," Ethan said reluctantly. Suzanne just nodded after a while of hesitating.

Ryan nodded at them and went to fetch her.

"You really said yes to Marissa studying with us?" Ethan asked Ashley a bit annoyed.

"Well, I did. It's just a study session, no harm in that. Besides, Ryan did ask us before calling her; unlike the last time," Ashley replied.

Suzanne wasn't really looking forward to it.