"Spell Frustrate ."
"Frustrate? Um... F-r-u-s-t-r.....a?....t-e? Is that rate?"
Looking over the word in the book in front of me I nodded.
"Yes!" Lauren cried, fist pumping the air.
"Okay smarty pants, spell Aardvark."
Lauren opened her mouth to reply however was cut off by a loud sigh from the large blonde boy sitting next to her.
"Ashton," Luke whined, holding out the n in my name, "I need help."
"What now Luke?" I sighed.
"This book is stupid."
"Are you sure it's the book that's the stupid one?" Lauren asked, as I kicked her under the table.
"Yes," Luke huffed, "It keeps asking me to divide pie but it's not even telling me into how many slices! Plus there's typos everywhere! They keep forgetting the e in pie."
"Luke," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, "They're talking about pi, not pie."
"What?" Luke cried.
"They're not talking about the kind of pie you eat," I replied, "They're talking about the number."
"Pie is a number?"
"Yes, we've been over this," I sighed, wondering how the kid was still struggling after a solid week and a half of tutoring.
"I don't recall," he replied.
"How the heck do you know words like recall but you've spend the last hour and a half thinking pi was a food?" I demanded.
"I heard Justin Bieber sat it," he answered with a shrug."
"He's a dream boat," Lauren sighed wistfully.
"What?" I demanded.
"He is," she replied, "He has the face of an angel but the swag of a gang leader."
"Lauren!" I cried.
"Is there a problem?" she questioned.
"What is your deal?"
Shrugging she turned back to the book she was reading. Shaking my head I refocused my attention on Luke.
"Pi is 3.14 Luke."
"Why?" he asked, writing it down.
"It just is," I replied.
"Always?"
"Always."
"Why?"
"I don't know Luke, it just is. The same reason the sky is blue!"
"Why is the sky blue? I've always wondered?"
"I don't know... something about the atmosphere and gas and our eyes and the sun and colors and pigments and stuff."
"Oh I get it," Luke replied, "The sky stays the same color all the time, but the earth turns, so when we're facing the black sky, the people in like Africa are looking at the sky we're looking at right now right?"
"What? No? I.. don't... Luke you're giving me a headache."
"Sorry," he mumbled, turning back to his paper, his brow furrowed in concentration and his bottom lip caught between his teeth.
"La la la la la the boys are waiting. My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and their like, it's better than yours. Damn right, it's better than yours. I can teach you, but I have to char...."
