TM 217: Impossible
Jean stopped, poised with the dry-erase marker against the white board, and turned to face the class. "What did you just say, Noriko?" She lowered her hand, though the marker kept moving behind her, finishing off the list of French verb forms.
Nori Ashida raised her eyebrows elaborately, cracked her knuckles in front of her, and repeated the words she had merely mumbled under her breath. "I said -- this assignment is impossible."
And that was Nori, the most hard-working and dedicated student at the Institute when her head was in the game, but easily frustrated and as stubborn as they came when all the gears weren't clicking for her. Jean smiled her best teacher-smile, while the pen kept on moving. "Let's try not to use words that are going to get in our way. I understand this is a lot of information, but --"
"No!" Nori shook her head, her spiky dyed-blue hair flying down into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ms. Grey, but there's no way you understand. You don't have to study this stuff. You're psychic."
"She's not psychic," said David Alleyne from the desk behind her. "She doesn't answer pay-for-dial phone calls on late night TV."
Nori whirled on him and snapped, "It figures the mutant brains would stick together."
"Nori!" Jean said. All the other students had their eyes on her now, even the ones whose attention had wandered. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, and wondered how ethical it would be to give the minute hand a telekinetic nudge. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary. "All right, folks; we can talk the assignment over some more tomorrow, but if you're late for phys ed, Professor Logan will have my --" She stopped, because Julian and Santo were smirking, and there was no good way to end that sentence. "All right, you have the assignment for tomorrow." Jean turned her back, used her teke to drop the pen and lift an eraser, then called over her shoulder. "Nori, please, hang back for a minute?"
She heard the girl sigh but, when she finished erasing and turned around, Nori was sitting obediently at her desk. Jean took the seat beside her and sat quietly for a moment, giving the student time to start the conversation herself.
Which she did. "Please, Ms. Grey, just -- don't ask me if I'm having boy problems or it's that time of the month. Please? Because -- both of those things are true, okay, but I don't understand why or how that means that nothing I have to say counts for anything." She looked up at Jean, who still didn't speak. "I'll try the homework, and I'll come in tomorrow and I'll try to ask better questions." Jean still didn't say anything, and Nori sighed, "And I'm sorry I was rude."
Jean waited long enough to be sure she had nothing to add, then said, "Thank you. And Nori? At the end of the day, it's just French homework. I'm more concerned with your general outlook. I've known you for a while now, and it seems like your first reaction when something frustrates you is to say it's impossible. Would that be a fair statement?"
"Yeah yeah, I know. Nothing's impossible, there's no 'I' in team, quitters never win and winners never quit, Emma made me squad leader for a reason --." Her lip quivered, and she raised a hand to rub aggressively at the corner of her eye. "God, I hate being so lame in front of you. It's like you said, it's just stupid French homework."
Jean's mouth twitched. "I don't think I said 'stupid.'" She reached out and patted the girl's shoulder. "Just do it, and you'll have it done. I'm fully aware it's not the biggest thing in your life right now, but it's a thing that I know you can handle -- and all the other things, too, okay?"
"Okay." Nori smiled and got to her feet. "I better go. I'm supposed to lead drills today and I wouldn't want Wolverine to, umm, take it out on you if --" Her words drifted off and she looked down, shifting awkwardly.
"Oh, I think I can handle him."
"Thanks, Ms. Grey." She turned to leave, then looked back. "Oh -- umm -- does this count as my turn?"
"Turn for what?"
"Just how you've been -- well, you drove Cessily to that book fair, and you took Victor with you to the Shoppers' Club, and everybody saw you playing basketball with Laura. It's sort of obvious that you're trying to have these private little meetings with all the students -- since you got back."
"Oh," Jean felt her face flush. "It wasn't really -- it's not like a plot, or -- just I feel like I've missed so much not being here."
"It's all right, you know. It's --" Nori pushed her hair back out of her eyes. "It's a pretty good plan, actually. And -- if you want to hang out longer sometime -- when I don't have all this homework --"
"I'd like that. And thank you for bringing it up. All the catching up I have to do, sometimes I think it's impossible --" As soon as she said the word, she bit her lip, but Nori grinned broadly.
"Let's try not to use words that are going to get in our way, Ms. Grey."
"Good advice, Nori. I'll give it my best shot."