(Untitled)

[smileforaliving]

Lots of people seem to be in Grant Park right now.

Neal and Elizabeth are settled in an open area, Neal paining her. He's been doing this all day, painting people but he wound up talking her into it when things were going slow

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[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie passed Spencer on the way into the cafeteria. She paused to see just what he was doing before heading off in search of tea.. and to get him coffee. Because he looked like he needed one.

She has papers of her own, tucked carefully under her arm. She set homework over the weekend in a bid to find out more about her students and their tastes in music. And she's actually really excited about marking them.

Making a tea for herself and a coffee for Spencer, she heads back over and cheerily puts it down on the table, careful not to get any on his notes. She presses a gentle kiss of hello to his temple, because she can, and goes to sit down.

"Hey," she says with a grin, "What'cha doing?" gesturing at the array of notes and books.

[physics_magic]

He lo9oks up at her smiling, then he looks at the coffee and smiles even more. "You are wonderful." he confesses as he reaches for the drini, taking a long gulp. "Thanks."

Looking around at the papers, he laughs. "I'm trying to put some order to my notes on the Rift. I've been taking them ever since i got here but someone wants to take a look at them and I...sort of let them get a little out of order." He laughs.

"What about you," he gestures to the pages under Cassie's arm.

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie smiles sheepishly, "I do try," she says modestly with a shake of her head, "You're welcome,"

She tilts her head to the side, frowning slightly, "... I didn't know people actually did research and stuff on the Rift," she says, "What sort of things do you write about on it?"

And then with a gleeful smile, she raises her papers and shows him, "Homework!" she says excited, "Like, actual homework from my students! I asked them to write a small essay on musical influences. Like, what music inspires you and why? That sort of thing? So I can get to know my students a little better,"

Cassie giggles, "I'm actually excited to mark them,"

[physics_magic]

"Anything I can get my hands on, really. Any activity reported, where common Rift sites are, what effects it seems to have on the residents of Chicago. Anything." He shrugs. "It just seems like t could come in useful at one point or another. I'll admit it hasn't yet but..." He shrugs a little. Keeping note on the rift is something to do, it makes him feel proactive and he's not really going to stop any time soon.

He watches her glee and laughs. "You know, I'm pretty sure most people don't get that excited over homework, even if you are a teacher." But he's not going to stop her from being happy. Far from it. In fact, he's going to encourage her to settle in and start right here with him.

If you give me a second to rearrange some stuff, I can make some room for you to spread out. I have pens and everything here too, in case you don't have one."

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie tilts her head as she listens. She's never given much thought on the Rifts, they're far too complex for her to really get her head around. She was never good at science in school either. A C at GCSE when she was sixteen was all she managed. But what she has thought about is...

"Do you think, that one day someone would work out how to get back?" she asks hesitantly.

She laughs, "But this is fun homework," she insists with nod of certainty, "I would love a homework like this back at high-school,"

And would probably write five pages. Um.

"That would be lovely, thank you," she says with another nod, "Oh, I have one!" she says brightly, reaching into her back jeans pocket and producing a red biro.

[physics_magic]

"Maybe one day," he says. "But probably not in our lifetime." It's an honest answer and oen he believes. He's pretty certain that they will be able to determine a way back eventually but Spencer highly doubts he'll be around to see it.

"Yeah, this is true." He grins a little. "I didn't listen to much music myself, so I would have had a bit of trouble with it. Then again, I liked the other work we got too. For a while at least. Then I got bored."

he laughs. "Well, at least you're prepared. Always a sign of a good teacher." He...might have occasionally given his teachers a hard time if he really didn't like them. Only a little. And that was when he was bored out of his mind anyway.

[starryeyed_cass]

"You never know," she says gently with a small shrug, "It might be when we're really old. But.. I don't think I'd like to go back by then. I think.. it would be too late for me,"

Cassie wouldn't know how to deal with that. Her parents would probably be dead and maybe even her brothers too. And who's to say she'll live to be old? Chicago doesn't seem to let people live that long, especially Wanderers like themselves.

"See, that's your problem there," she jokes, "Music makes everything fun. So.. it's all the more reason to listen to it," she laughs, winking. "Hmmm, I only got bored with Maths and Science. Wasn't really my thing, though. Numbers don't seem to mesh well in my head, I liked words and chords more,"

Cassie beams at him, "Definitely," she says and she's a little proud of that. She would never have dreamed of giving her teachers a hard time! Even if she didn't like their subject, she likes to think she got on well with all of them.

[physics_magic]

"Well," he says with a small laugh. "isn't that why I have you around? For more music in my life?" he smiles affectionately. She is the bright spot in his life,s he really is. She is the reason he smiles like that, the reason he is ever really happy. "I...got bored with everything after a while. It was too easy." He grins a little sheepishly. "I graduated high school when I was twelve. I picked everything up pretty quickly."

Spencer didn't give all of them a hard time, just the ones who were unprepared. He was usually busy thinking about his mother and it made him slightly bitter that he had to be away from her. He couldn't take care of her if he was in school and when people were making things take even longer, it just irritated him.

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie chuckles and looks down for a moment. She tilts her head to the side, "That is true, yes," she agrees, "One day, I'll make you listen to my entire music collection on my iPod. I've got all sorts on it: classical, indie, pop, rock ... even some demos of my own,"

She's never told anyone about that; she thinks it's vain to have your own music on your music player. They're poor quality, recorded in her friend Flynn's bedroom when she was seventeen, eighteen. Raw material, full of background noise. But.. she was proud of them.

She raises her eyebrows at that, "Twelve?" she says in disbelief, "Okay, I knew you were really smart... but that's... seriously smart," She sits back in her seat, "Wow.."

[physics_magic]

"I'd love to hear your music," he says without even thinking about it. It's true, so it doesn't matter. He wants to hear it, wants to hear her songs because it's something she's passionate about and that means he cares about it.

He sucks in his lip, laughing a little. "Yeah well, I was...smart. I don't know. I t was easy. It was public school too. There were programs for kids like me but we couldn't really afford them, so I got through regular school and graduated, I was able to get so many scholarships though, that I was able to get through college pretty easily.

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie grins bashfully at that, "Well... next time I've got my iPod on me - I'll let you have a listen, 'kay?" she tells him with a nod.

She pauses and silently listens as he talks, "To be honest, I don't think it really matters if it's public school or not. I mean, I know you got bored of your teachers and stuff. But... I've always thought most private schools are just the same teachers, but you're forking out a fortune to go,"

There were plenty of private schools around the Ealing area she could have gone to. Her parents earned well, and while she was mostly average at some subjects, she excelled almost impressively at Music and English. But she wouldn't have changed her time she spent in public school for anything.

"But you still got to college in the end, regardless of going to some kind of private school or not, which is the main thing," she chuckles, "And getting a lot of scholarships is definitely helpful,"

[physics_magic]

"There were programs though," he informs. "For people like me but between money issues and the fact that I was worried about my mother, I just didn't have the ability to go to them." he smiles a little. "It's all right though, like you said, I got there in the end. It's just not really that much fun being a twelve year old in a Las Vegas public school."

Yeah, he had problems. Lots of problems. He is not going to talk about his problems as per usual but still, they existed.

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie tilts her head to the side, eyebrows raised in concern when he mentions his mother. He's never mentioned much about his family or anything like that from back home. "Gosh, was she sick?" she asks, "I'm sorry you had all that as a kid,"

She reaches across the table and grabs his hand, giving him a soft smile.

"No, it's not much fun being a twelve year old in any kind of school," she says sympathetically. While she might have been fortunate, there were plenty others in her school who had problems. A lot of them, she knew. So she does understand, in a way.

[physics_magic]

"She was mentally ill," he informs with a shrug, looking down as she takes his hand. There are reasons he does not discuss his family and that ranks amongst the highest. There is too much baggage to go along with his relations to really deal with...ever. Not when he's busy dealing with himself and all his baggage.

He laughs a little. "This is true," he agrees. "I wasn't the only person who people chose to pick on nor would I be the last. "

He considers something for a moment before speaking. "Try and make sure your students are treated well, Cassie. School should be enjoyable for them, not something they dread going to."

[starryeyed_cass]

There's a moment of shock that passes over her face. She purses her lips in concern, but instantly gets the impression that he doesn't want to talk about. "I'm sorry about that, Spence," she says and leaves it at that.

She smiles weakly in agreement. It's definitely a sad fact of life.

And she tilts her head when he speaks again. There's something different in his tone, it's an issue close to heart. She gives his hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"Of course," she says softly with a small smile, "I did the same thing when I was a kid myself, I haven't changed now I'm grown up,"

She nods her head, "But yeah, I will. Promise,"

[physics_magic]

He doesn't talk about it and he won't do it unless pressed. It's just not something other people need to know about, it's in his past and there's nothing to be done, at least the bullying.

As for his mother....Well, it's jut easier for him not to think about htat.

"I'm not surprised," he says with a smile. "I know you. You'll take care of them." He squeezes her hand in return, smiling gratefully.