-...No Comprendo...- ( Tag: Neta)

[TYLER COOR]

Tyler looked nervously around the dining hall. he was trying to find the closest smart person to sit with. Now, under ANY other circumstances he would he doing just the opposite, preffering to sit with the people who were at basically on his own intellectual level when he had to sit with anyone at all, but today was a special circumstance. If he didn't get some SERIOUS help like, ASAP he was going to fail the looming Spanish test in exactly, oh, 45 minutes. If he didn't figure out these stupid words and phrases in that time, he was doomed to fail that test, AND that class.

¡Que Asco!

There. He vaguely recognized one girl sitting alone at a table as being in the spanish course above him. Maybe if he just nicely and calmly asked her to help him with his problem then she would be nice enough to give him a quick tutoring session. It wasn't like he was tearing her away from anything pressingly important.

Scooting up to her table he nervously placed his Spanish text book and plate of food on the table, smiling as widley as he dared.

" Errm... you wouldn't happen to know a thing or two about Spanish, would you?"

[patricia]

As Neta sat at her lunch table alone, quietly eating her salad, she looked around the dining hall. Everyone was engaged in their dull, insignificant chatter. They screamed and laughed as if they were a pack of hyenas. Neta was appalled at this school. If this was how everyone acted in America, she would most definitely be moving back to Ireland as soon as she graduated from high school.

Neta thought about the friends she was missing back at home – friends who were smart, witty, and enjoyed engaging in serious conversations. She didn’t really mind eating alone, but Neta wished that there was somebody she could talk to. She scanned the room for anyone who wasn’t guffawing like a foolish ape-child and saw a frightened looking boy walking towards her, books in hand. Oh God, just what she needed – a stuttering, unintelligent teenager who needed help with his homework. She had to admit though, he really was the first person here at her new school to actually talk to her, and so she decided not to be too harsh on him.

“Errm…you wouldn’t happen to know a thing or two about Spanish, would you?”

Neta looked at him as he sat down. Not very confident, she thought. Starting off his sentence with that word “Errm”, which wasn’t really even a word – more like a sound that meant he didn’t know what to say. She detested when people did that.

“Yes, I do actually,” she said, looking at him. It was important for her to have polite manners when she was talking to people, even if they were being foolishly rude to her – it helped her maintain her dignity if they started to tease her about her accent or the fact that she was always alone. Neta looked down at his Spanish textbook, which was sitting open on the table. The subject he was having trouble with was so simple; she was having difficulty understanding how on earth he was confused about it, but Neta would help him nonetheless. She looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow.

“What exactly are you confused about?”

[TYLER COOR]

Tyler swallowed nervously. What was he supposed to say? That he barely understood any of it at all? The teacher had told him flat out in class that he was the worst conjugator she had ever seen. Now that they were onto learning about this weird new unit about "going to the movies" he didn't understand HALF the vocabulary and he didn't know how to say half the sentences he should have been able to.

" Uhh, well pretty much everything. But I guess I mostly need to know about conjugations and stuff... Would you mind helping me out or, uh, something?"

He swallowed nervously. Something about this girl made him feel like he wasn't worth her time. THIS was exactly why he didn't like the smart kids, they always seemed exhasperated that he even bother to go near them.

If this was what it was going to be like every time he asked someone for help maybe he should just suck it up and take the F next time instead of having to sit through this crazy moment of potential denial and unavoidable disapproval.

He sat there and fidgeted, staring intently at the spanish book on the table as ANYTHING was preferable to having to look into those condescending eyes.

[patricia]

“Uhh, well pretty much everything.”

Neta sighed. She almost felt bad for him; he really was confused. She attempted a small smile, but it he didn’t see it. He kept staring at the table, as if he was scared to look at her.

“Alright, I can definitely help you with that.” When he looked up at her, Neta smiled again, hoping it didn’t look like a grimace. It was a small gesture, but she hoped it would make him feel a bit less terrified. Why did she seem so frightening, anyway? Neta was never mean to anyone – not on the outside anyway – she just ignored other people most of the time. This boy didn’t really seem so bad, Neta decided. He was very quiet – not obnoxious and loud like most people seemed to be.

“So, basically, with all of these verbs, like ‘durar’, you conjugate them the way you’ve been conjugating verbs since you began taking Spanish class: the yo form ends in -o, the tú form ends in -as, él, ella, y usted end in -a, nosotros ends in -amos, vosotros ends in -áis, and the ellos, ellas, y ustedes form ends in -an. Then for the -er verbs, you just substitute the ‘a’ in the -ar verb conjugations with an ‘e’. ¿Lo comprendes?” Neta looked at him, trying to think of a way to help him remember the conjugations better.

“Here, I will give you some index cards. You can write down your vocabulary words and verb conjugations on each card and quiz yourself on them.” Neta reached into her bag for her large stack of index cards, but knocked over her large cup of coffee in the process, spilling it all over her and the boy she was helping. She gasped, standing up and blushing in embarrassment. Neta grabbed her stack of napkins and began trying to wipe up the sopping mess of papers and coffee. Neta was just so embarrassed, she could cry. She had never meant to attract so much attention to herself, but now everyone at the table was looking over at them, all because of her goddamned coffee. What if people made fun of her for this little accident? What if she was back to being the laughingstock of a bunch of rowdy teenagers?

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Neta said, holding back tears, “You’re all covered in coffee!”

[TYLER COOR]

Tyler was trying desperately to absorb each little tidbit abot the spanish language that the girl was throwing out. So far he had learned only one thing, that he SUCKED at learning on the fly. He needed weeks and weeks, leading into months to learn these things. He might as well throw out any thought of passing this spanish examn right now and just scratch off one of the only distinguishing things about him, that he had never failed a class.

Oh god, he should just leave now, before she said anything more or tried to be any nicer to him. She didn't deserve to be forced to try and teach him this when he was so obviously failing at it! He realized that she still didn't know his name and he didn't know hers. If he just crept away right now he wouldn't feel guilty about ruining a perfectly nice girl's afternoon.

It was then that the coffee spilled and Tyler was guilted into staying. God, if he had just left her alone she probably wouldn't have spilled her coffee by wasting her time teaching him something he would never learn. Now he HAD to stay and help her clean up, if only so he wouldn't be wracked with guilt over ruining her entire afternoon for no reason.

Grabbing a few napkins off of his tray he started to wipe madly at the frothing formula and trying to to salvage what papers he could. he didn't even care that he himself was covered in the hot coffee, he just wanted to fix the problem he had caused her. he could worry about potential third degree burns later.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! You’re all covered in coffee!”

He looked at her, attempting a small smile.

" It-it's fine. . . I'm fine. . . . I'm Tyler, by the way."

[patricia]

“It-it’s fine… I’m fine…. I’m Tyler, by the way.”

Neta looked at Tyler when he spoke to her; both of them were trying to wipe up the sopping wet mess of coffee and papers. He was so sweet, and he wasn’t even mad at her for spilling coffee on him. She bit her lip, blushing, and looked down at the table. There was a pile of soaking wet napkins amidst a small puddle of coffee still left on the table – she wiped up what remained and tossed the used napkins into a trash can. Holding out some clean napkins to Tyler so he could wipe the coffee off of himself, she let out a little chuckle, trying to laugh off the embarrassment she knew they were both feeling.

“I’m so sorry about that Tyler. My name’s Neta. And thanks, you know…for, um, helping me…And, yeah…um…thanks.” Neta giggled, but on the inside she was cringing. Oh God, why was she being like this? Why wasn’t Neta able to act as confidently as she usually did? It was all her stupid coffee’s fault – she shouldn’t even be drinking the stuff, but she needed it to help her stay awake and functional during the long school day. If she had never spilled it, she would never have been so embarrassed in front of the whole lunch room – all the people passing by where snickering and mumbling, most likely about the awful mess they were walking past. Why did Tyler even have to come over here? It was his fault that she had been reaching into her bag and had spilled her coffee in the process.

Neta was a bit angry, but then she looked at him and shook the thought from her head. All the poor boy had wanted was a little help with his homework. She should be flattered that he thought highly enough of her intelligence to ask for her help. She felt dreadful for embarrassing him.

“So, back to the Spanish, do you understand what I told you or do you need some more help?”

[TYLER COOR]

Tyler thanked whatever god may or may not have been out there, watching his back, because he had finally found a smart girl who didn't look down on him for his moderate stupidity. She was just too good, giving up her own lunch time and spilling her coffee in the process of tutoring Tyler for a spanish exam.

She deserved to be elevated to Sainthood. He made it a point to suggest Neta the next time any bishop came wandering around.

She was pretty, too, in that " I could kill you with the power of my brain, but I choose to flaunt my inherent beauty instead" kind of way. He would never be able to touch a being as fine as her, someone so sophisticated and wise. The fact that she was helping him out with this spanish stuff was in itself a minor miracle.

“So, back to the Spanish, do you understand what I told you or do you need some more help?”

Tyler swallowed nervously. " Umm, y'know, I think I'm good. I feel really bad about this whole coffee thing though. Are you sure you don't want me to go get you another one? Or more napkins or something? Your books were all ruined." His face was contorted into sympathy and guilt, a not too pleasant look.

[patricia]

"Umm, y'know, I think I'm good. I feel really bad about this whole coffee thing though. Are you sure you don't want me to go get you another one? Or more napkins or something? Your books were all ruined."

Neta felt so guilty for spilling her coffee now; the poor boy seemed so upset. She flipped through her history textbook, airing out the pages, and smiled at Tyler. He was so nice – most people probably would have run away from her if she spilled hot coffee all over them and their homework.

“Look, it’s completely fine! It wasn’t your fault or anything.” Ugh. That made it seem like she had considered that it could possibly be his fault; she didn’t want him to think she blamed her own problems on other people! Oh dear God, this day had been going so terribly. She kept saying these weird, embarrassing things. Okay, breathe. Nothing is even going wrong. There’s no need to be embarrassed – that was a perfectly normal thing to say, she thought, overly worrisome. Okay, okay. Just say, ‘Anyway, thanks so much. Sorry about your shirt’. Changing the subject is fine. He’s not mad at me. He’s not mad at me. She tried to convince herself that Tyler wasn’t acting – that he really wasn’t angry about the coffee.

“Um… anyway, th-thanks for your shirt.” Neta gasped and covered her mouth. That wasn’t what she had meant to say at all! “Oh-no, sorry. I-I mean… um, thanks for, um… helping me. Oh, yeah, and sorry about your shirt…” She closed her eyes. I give up, she thought. Goddamnit, could this day get any worse? She had expected it to just be another boring, lonely lunch, but then this Tyler guy came along and she got all embarrassed and stupid. Why the hell was she even being like this? She shouldn’t be embarrassed; it didn’t really matter what he thought… But she did care. She couldn’t help it – so much of what she did was to make herself look good, to make herself fit in. But she never really succeeded, as was exemplified in this whole ordeal with the coffee.

She didn’t open her eyes; she didn’t want to look at him right now, as he was probably trying to hold back hysterical laughter at her stupid, clumsy words.

[TYLER COOR]

She's Got Both hands
In Her Pockets

And She Won't Look at You, Won't Look at You

Tyler was a horrible person. He had ruined NEta's morning just by asking her this simple Spanish problem. If he had bother to pay ATTENTION in Spanish class, she would never have had to go through the disgrace and pain that was having to put up with Tyler.

He should just leave now, bring the entire meeting toa close. Look at her! The poor girl was practically crying as she tripped over her words, each an obvious plea for help from the awkward and ungainly Tyler. She had expected just a nice escape from the rest of the world, and Tyler had brought that crashing down. He was like a freaking bull in the chinashop of Neta's hopes and dreams.

"Umm. No problem.... any time. I, uh, really... thanks for the Spanish help."Tyler got to his feet, intensely aware of the horrible screeching noise made by his seat as he tried to get as far away as possible in as short amount of time.

Tyler stopped at the doors out of the dining hall and looked back. Neta was actually kinda pretty if he stopped to think about it. And she was totally smart and stuff... Maybe if he wasn't such a total clutz he could have...no. She would never like him. ( FUCK, THIS SUUUCKS AS A POST. I'LL FIX IT LATER)

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lyrics//Ants Marching~Dave Matthews Band
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